Book Excerpt:
Psychology as Religion:
The Cult of Self-Worship
by Paul Vitz
(Paul Vitz is Professor of Psychology of New York University)
This book provides a compelling look into the self-actualization theories
first popularized in the 1960's and 1970's. Self theories are significant
because they set the stage for many social changes--including the cultural
acceptance of homosexuality, and the increasingly radical redefinition of
the family. The philosophy--i.e., "religion"--of unconstrained
self-actualization ("selfism") now underlies much of today's psychotherapy.
Because of its association with the hard sciences, psychotherapy is often
erroneously considered to possess scientific-truth status. But as Jeffrey
Satinover has noted, psychology is meaningless without the backdrop of a
framework of values. So the question then becomes, whose values? Religious
values have been banished from the discussion--but as another observer
recently commented, this merely frees the "religions that don't call
themselves religions from the burden of competition."
Here, Paul Vitz says that contemporary psychology has abandoned its earlier
attempts at objectivity. Instead, it has devoted itself to a religion of
self-centeredness which refuses to acknowledge reasonable limits and
responsibilities.
Here, we quote from the book:
This book is for the reader interested in a critique of contemporary
psychology--the reader who knows, perhaps only intuitively, that psychology
has become more a sentiment than a science, and is now part of the problem
of modern life, rather than part of its resolution.
Self theory is a widely popular, secular, and humanistic cult or "religion,"
not a branch of science...for our present purpose of showing that
self-psychology commonly functions as a religion, it is appropriate to use
Fromm's own definition of religion: "any system of thought and action shared
by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object
of devotion."
Life Has Limits
Fromm's definition...set[s] in bold relief the aggressive ideological
character of the kind of secular humanism we have been talking about, with
its devotion to the "self" and to humanity. We shall use the term selfism to
refer to this religion and its rationale for self-expression, creativity,
and the like...Selfist psychology emphasizes the human capacity for change
to the point of almost totally ignoring the idea that life has limits, and
that knowledge of those limits is the basis of wisdom.
For selfists there seem to be no acceptable duties, denials, inhibitions, or
restraints. Instead, there are only rights, and opportunities for change. An
overwhelming number of the selfists assume that there are no unvarying moral
or personal relationships, no permanent aspects to individuals. All is
written in sand by a self in flux.
The tendency to give a green light to any self-defined goal is undoubtedly
one of the major appeals of selfism, particularly to a people in a culture
in which change has been seen as intrinsically good...
...The claim that self-theory is a science in invalid by any useful meaning
of the term science, since humanist definitions no longer distinguish
psychology and psychotherapy from religion, literature, political theory,
and ethics. Yet by keeping the name psychology, which has been represented
as a science for decades, by having self-theory taught by psychologists
(that is, experts), in countless university classes, and by vaguely
suggesting ways in which self-theory might be tested, selfism has falsely
benefited from the prestige and generally acknowledged special truth value
accorded to any science.
Science Cannot Verify Values
A related weakness is the tendency of selfists to imply that psychology as a
science has somehow verified the values of secular humanism found in
self-theory. Many proponents of selfism are generally quite aware of the
ethical character of their system. Indeed, they argue congently that
therapeutic psychology cannot possibly operate without values. This position
is widely accepted by most thoughtful people today. But how do you
demonstrate scientifically the intrinsic goodness of the self, the moral
desirability of an "actualizing," "experiencing in the present," "becoming
creative" self? Obviously, such values have not been scientifically
verified.
At present, there is no satisfactory evidence that science can verify ANY
value. Yet the aura or authority that psychology has derived from its
scientific status is often used by those teaching selfism to imply that its
concept and values somewhow have, or approach, a scientific truth status.
Here I speak from considerable personal experience. As a student I sat in
many classes in which, a few weeks after listening to aggressive talk about
psychology as the "science of behavior" or the "scientific study of mind," I
heard lectures on "self-actualization" and "encounter group processes and
goals." No questions were raised about whether the initial arguments for
psychology's scientific status still held.
As a young professor during the 1960's, I taught courses on motivation and
personality, in which lectures on the theories of Maslow, Fromm and Rogers
followed close after lectures on instinctual, hormonal and biochemical
interpretations of motivation. All this was, and still is, typical of the
curriculum in the so-called scientific study of motivation and personality.
However, had I lectured on [for example] Christian interpretations of human
motivation as providing a reasonable, observationally grounded synthesis of
the problems of the self, it would have been seen--and would be seen
today--as an arbitrary and unacceptable intrusion of religion into a secular
discipline that many still think of as a science.
Selfism and the Family
There is every reason to believe that the spread of selfist philosophy in
society has contributed greatly to the destruction of families...With
monotonous regularity, the selfist literature sides with those values that
encourage divorce, breaking up, dissolution of marital and family ties. All
this is done in the name of growth, autonomy, and "continuing the flux."
...The problem begins with psychotherapy's neurotic preoccupation with the
individual patient. This is reflected in the absence during most therapy of
representation for the children, spouse, parents, and the like...Many
self-theorists, especially Carl Rogers, give very little value to
marriage--and indeed encourage divorce on theoretical grounds... Perhaps we
can summarize all this best by noting that a "Rogerian" understanding of
marriage created the popular expression that marriage is a "nonbinding
commitment."
...[M]odern psychology has created widespread "social pollution" by its
analytical and also reductionist emphasis on the isolated individual and its
relentless hostility to social bonds as expressed in tradition, community
structures, and the family. It is no accident that it was modern industrial
psychology which first reduced the extended family to the nuclear family,
then reduced the nuclear family to the increasingly common subnuclear family
of one parent, and now works toward the parentless family where the child is
raised by government programs.
The Social Sciences Rest on an Ideology
The assumption that the objective method of science is a fair and unbiased
procedure for correctly understanding a phenomenon is widely accepted in
modern society...used in the study of human beings, this method is a
profoundly prejudiced ideological tool, which leads inevitably to a
particular theory of humankind.
...The problem raised by the nonscientific character of humanistic
psychology began causing serious controversy within the discipline several
decades ago. Traditional psychological scientists became deeply concerned by
what they saw as the erosion of the legitimate standards of objectivity for
any science...[many psychologists] gave up on the APA because of its lack of
commitment to science and to objective research. Meanwhile, the APA has
increasingly shown itself to be both a professional society and a
political-ideological interest group. It has taken stands that are quite
consistent with its secular and humanistic psychology, in favoring abortion
and homosexual rights.
Thus the APA has supported the removal of homosexuality from any official
list of pathologies. A strong group of pro-homosexual activists is now
pushing the APA to make even psychological treatment of homosexuals who ask
to be cured of their homosexual orientation a violation of professional
ethics.
Whether this extreme expression of ideological bias will be accepted,
remains to be seen, but in any case, the APA has become just another
political interest group, lobbying for favors in Washington and elsewhere.
It now has the objectivity and professional integrity of the American
Tobacco Institute. ***
