Abstract
In his extended critique Smedslund suggested that scientific theory and research on psychotherapy are not feasible because (1) people respond to myriad, constantly shifting determinants, and their behavior, (2) evolves in ever-compounding sequences that are not precisely predictable, (3) is never precisely repeated, and (4) is deeply enmeshed in interactions with other people. Instead, he suggests that therapists are and should be bricoleurs, drawing on psychological common sense, which includes knowledge shared by virtue of being human, understandings acquired though language and culture, and personal familiarity with the client.
Smedslund’s critique unpacks what I have previously characterized as appropriate responsiveness: therapists strive to do the right thing in response to ever-changing client requirements and emerging context. Despite his cogent critique, however, I am more optimistic than Smedslund about theory and research on psychotherapy.A key distinction is between explanatory theories and treatment theories. An explanatory theory describes what things are and how they are related to each other within a domain. They are evaluated by comparing detailed observations with theoretical tenets and derivations. I call this theory-building research. A treatment theory describes the principles and practices that guide clinicians in conducting a therapy. They propose to say what works, and they tell therapists what to do. They are evaluated by assessing whether the treatment is effective. I call this product-testing research, illustrated by clinical trials. I argue that Smedslund was on target for treatment theory and product-testing research but that qualitative theory-building research on explanatory theory offers a strategy that can address Smedslund’s critique.
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Notes
- 1.
Many descriptive process measures have been developed (e.g., Brauner et al. 2018; Worthington & Bodie 2018). However, these are generally not statistically associated with the evaluative outcome measures, presumably because therapists use them responsively, and hence approximately optimally, so they contribute negligibly to the prediction of outcome (Stiles 1988, 2013; Stiles et al. 1986, 1998). That is, because of responsiveness, statistical association of a process component with client improvement tends to be unrelated to the clinical importance of that component in producing that improvement. Nevertheless, because descriptive process measures have not predicted outcome, they have tended to be discounted.
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Stiles, W.B. (2020). Bricoleurs and Theory-Building Qualitative Research: Responses to Responsiveness. In: Lindstad, T., Stänicke, E., Valsiner, J. (eds) Respect for Thought. Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43066-5_20
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