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Clinical Psychology—Art or Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Theodore R. Sarbin
Theodore R. Sarbin*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

This paper questions the oft-repeated statement that clinical psychology is an art by examining the main functions of clinical psychologists, i.e., diagnosis and treatment. In examining the concept of diagnosis, evidence is presented which supports the notion that a diagnostic statement has meaning only when it has a referent in the future—when it provides a prediction. A prediction (probability-statement) is determined empirically and may be stated in terms of a regression equation or in terms of a crude generalization from clinical experience. Treatment likewise is determined by tacit or expressed predictions of behavior under alternative conditions. The various conceptions of art as applied to clinical psychology are examined and the conclusion is drawn that clinical psychology is a scientific as opposed to an artistic or intuitive enterprise.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 6 , Issue 6 , December 1941 , pp. 391 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © 1941 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

Paper read at the 49th annual meeting of the American Psychological Association at Evanston, Illinois, September 3–6, 1941.

†

This analysis may be applied with little modification to the fields of social work, psychiatry, vocational guidance, and related professions.

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