Psychology as history, and the biological renaissance: A brief review of the science and politics of psychological determinism

Abstract

This article briefly examines biological determinism in the context of research on human differences, and outlines how this orientation has historically functioned to legitimise social inequality. It is then argued, in contradiction to the “received view” in contemporary psychology, that “extra-scientific” factors shape and inform all aspects of scientific inquiry. An historicist-contextualist perspective is subsequently used to highlight the “justificatory function” of psychological research. It is concluded that an unreflective adherence to traditional positivist-empiricist theories of science, and a refusal to admit “consequence” arguments into scientific discourse has contributed to a situation where social research has persistently served to reinforce and reify normative social values as natural and immutable.