Challenging the history of psychology PhD underway

The BPS has linked up with the University of Leicester to offer an Arts Humanities Research Council-funded PhD titled 'Challenging histories and changing future conversations at the UK British Psychology Society'.  We spoke to postholder Jack Duggan (They/them), who is excited to have the opportunity to unearth and shed light on these stories.

1]  Can you tell us a little about your professional background and the study/work you've done to date.

I began my undergraduate degree in psychology in 2015 as a mature student at Manchester Metropolitan University, starting with a foundation year. I hadn't worked in a field relating to psychology before this but was intensely interested in the subject and wanted to return to academia. I enjoyed the degree broadly but was particularly gripped by an optional unit in my third year, 'Conceptual and historical issues in psychology (CHIP)'. CHIP presented a critical and nuanced reflection on the discipline, one which highlighted how psychology has wielded power and influence. The context provided by a historical approach helped me develop a more well-rounded understanding of material taught in other units. 

I graduated with First Class Honours and began an MSc in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester, with a personal focus on the history of psychology. This was an amazing opportunity to broaden my knowledge and develop an understanding of how wider cultural and social developments impacted the formation and development of contemporary science and medicine. For my dissertation, I analysed archival material from late 19th and early 20th century asylums in Lancashire, focusing on how male madness was experienced and understood in contrast to, and in some ways as an extension of, the notion of madness as a female malady. I graduated from my Master's degree with Distinction, and later presented my research at a conference for the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences, which was more than a little daunting being my first conference presentation but also incredibly rewarding.

2]  What led you to apply to do this PhD?

My experience of being taught psychology was that it was often presented uncritically, with a superficial presentation of landmark case studies and theories that quickly moved on without interrogating the material. What greatly interested me was studying the history of psychology, in large part because it presented an opportunity to dig deeper and to question the impact of psychology on people across the lifespan of the discipline, to think about psychology in terms of power. This thesis is perfectly aligned with my research interests, thinking about psychology in terms of its power and its impact on the people it studies. I want this PhD to be a means for us to reflect on how we collectively produce psychology and where the pitfalls are.

In addition to this, as a non-binary and neurodivergent person, I have a great deal of personal experience with the impact of being non-normative or 'weird' on my wellbeing, of what it means to experience being inescapably outside of an established norm. This PhD then is personally meaningful to me, as it is an opportunity to seek out the experiences of those oppressed in the relentless pursuit of norms, to access hidden histories and to give voice to those who were made voiceless for being different.

3]  You are the first person to research hidden histories of eugenics, marginalised Black Histories, and those discriminated against because of their disability, gender, and/or sexual identity within the BPS archive. Why is it important to shed light on these stories?

One needs only look back a handful of decades to see an incredibly different social climate in the UK, where racism, homophobia and other discriminatory beliefs and actions were commonplace. Psychologists were embroiled in this social climate as was anyone living in this period. But beyond simply spectating, psychology performed a vital function in sustaining or challenging prejudice as the arbiters of normality and deviance, infamously with the pathologisation of homosexuality and the profound impact this had on gay people, and in turn the de-pathologisation and advocacy for understanding and integration.

This PhD is a vitally important reflection for the discipline, to put in perspective the great responsibility we as psychologists possess, and to make clear that the consequence of our discipline being irresponsible is psychology functioning as an agent of oppression and producing human suffering. The first step in any process of healing and growth needs to be bringing to light this suffering, so that those who have suffered and been made voiceless can be heard. We cannot undo or truly heal this pain, but as an absolute minimum we need to start doing a better job of looking and listening. Only by acknowledging that we as psychologists function within a discipline that historically has practised a great deal of epistemic violence can we honestly plan and prepare for our work to be better, to be fairer, to produce truly prosocial psychology.

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4]  As part of the research, you'll have access to the BPS's internationally important archive, much of which hasn't been accessed before. How do you feel about this and any significance attached to it? 

It is incredibly reassuring to know that the BPS is committing itself so thoroughly to this project. My experience of studying critical and historical psychology has been that sadly it often felt adversarial, that the conclusions you might reach coming from this approach were unpalatable to those in other areas of psychology and created tension, as they highlight a history of injustice and even challenge the authority of psychological knowledge.

It is not at all my intention to be adversarial; my aspirations are to be a part of helping psychology to grow and improve and this can only happen through collaboration. Accordingly, the opening of the archives and the BPS committing to this project is to me a powerfully significant first step in forming this collaborative bond, demonstrating that the Society is ready to work collectively to reflect and grow.

5]  It feels like an enormous undertaking. What will your first steps be in exploring these under-researched sources? 

Maybe some people will think this answer is too simple, but my plan right now is to choose a few different years from across the collection and to get in there and read, read, read! There are things I hope to find certainly, and my literature review is ready to be conducted which will provide some initial expectations. However, my previous experience working with archives and under-researched sources suggests that when it comes to first steps, it's important to embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty and to read as much as you can before committing too firmly to a specific plan. 

There are countless stories in the archives waiting to be found, and while I will be the one assembling the information and providing a narrative, at this very early stage I want to give the stories the opportunity to emerge naturally. I look forward to working with the BPS' excellent archives manager Sophie O'Reilly in making good use of the archives, and in formulating a more specific plan of action once I've had time to familiarise myself with the content.

6]  How do you hope the research findings will impact conversations at the BPS about its own history?

I hope that my findings will serve the BPS both in looking back and in looking forwards. Looking back, it is my hope that the BPS will be more able to identify instances where mainstream British psychology has caused harm to individuals and populations, so that we as psychologists can personally grapple with this knowledge and can begin taking steps to honestly make amends where possible.

Looking forwards, I have two main hopes. My first is that I hope the BPS and its members will commit to a meaningful plan for growth, making recommendations for best practice with the goal of understanding how epistemic violence arose and preventing it from being propagated further. 

My second hope is that the BPS and its members come away from this with a greater appreciation for the study of the history of psychology and why it's so important no matter your specific focus. In its ideal form, I hope that this work encourages psychologists from all backgrounds and focuses to advocate for a deeper integration of the history of psychology into psychology education at all levels, to give students more opportunities to build a richer and more nuanced understanding of the discipline.

7]  Do you think the research has relevance beyond the BPS and, if so, in what way?

Given that this research is being undertaken just a few years after the American Psychological Association publicly apologised for contributing to systemic inequalities and hurting people, I think this research is clearly relevant beyond Britain and the BPS. It remains to be seen what will come of this wider movement, but it feels as though psychology is at a turning point internationally, where we acknowledge the immense power gained by the discipline in the last century and a half, decide what to do with that power, and reflect on what has been done with it previously. Consequently, there is huge potential for this research to stimulate further discussion among national psychology communities and the wider international sphere.

Beyond the impact on institutional and organisational psychology, if the lessons learned from this period of reflection can truly be integrated and actioned, then this research stands to have profound relevance to the disadvantaged, the different and the divergent, who historically have suffered at the hands of psychology. I am going into this project with the aim of collaboration between myself and the BPS, but the most important collaboration is yet to come, the collaboration between organisational psychology, psychologists and the individuals who make up society, to make a discipline that serves all of us in understanding each other and ourselves.

8]  Considering your professional development, what skills do you hope this PhD will help you to develop/enhance?

Between my undergraduate and my Master's degree, I've dipped my toes into different research approaches like quantitative methods, semi-structured interviews and analysing archival sources, and I'm looking forward to utilising this PhD to bring this all together and develop a comprehensive mixed methods approach that can look at one problem in a lot of different ways. I'm particularly keen to undertake training for analysing oral histories which is something I don't have much prior experience with. 

Having the opportunity to share my research and get experience presenting at conferences will be very useful and fulfilling for me. I'm also excited about the prospect of assisting the BPS with public engagement and community outreach work, and in the communicative skills that make this kind of work especially useful. And of course, working directly with the BPS is a fantastic opportunity to meet the people that make the Society, to develop professional relationships and identify opportunities for future collaboration.

9]   If you could sum up in a sentence what you hope to achieve at the end of this PhD, what would that be? 

While I have some lofty hopes around fostering institutional growth and promoting the history of psychology, if my work can help even one 'different' person to be better understood and treated more fairly by psychology, this commitment will have been worth it 10 times over.