The feminizing of psychology

When I was a graduate student in the late 1950s psychology was a masculine dominated discipline. Oh, there were women doing university teaching and research, and even a few clinicians,mostly child psychologists, but the major psychologists on a national level were primarily men. Towering figures develped elegant theories of loearning, perception, memory, and personality. These were grand rational conceptualizations backed by brilliant research. Proponenets of major schools of psychology did battle in learned journals--Hull v. Tolman, Rogers v. Skinner, for example. Emotion was a part of those theories but largely played a secondary role.

Today there seems to be major paradign shift. Practianers increasingly seem to be women, particularly school psychologists. With this feminine shift there seems also to be increased emphasis upon feelings. Yes, cognitive behavioral theory places cognitions first, followed by emotions and behavior. But concern about abuse,trauma, marital problems, disfunctional families, the effects of poverty appears to place more and more emphasis on feelings. Simultaneously conceptualizations appear to be based more emotional than rational. What gets tossed of as thoery would never make the Psych. Review.

Recently I attended a three hour seminar about eating disorders. The speaker, a female university lecturer and clinician shifted seamlesly from anorexia, bulemia, binge eating, and the like to disconnectedness and social isolation as determining factors. She offered a disclaimer that most eating disorders affect women and that her experience at an eating disorder clinic was primarily with women. All theories are basicly the same she added--psychoanalytic, cognitive, behavioral-- they are all coming from the same place. (However, she was quick to add that is cognitive-behavioral in persuasion.) We learn at an early age, she explained, that thin is good and fat bad. That accounts for the cognitive part of her theory.

It seems to me that when I sit and watch the Piladelphia Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys with my male riends and relatives we are all well connected. We bond nonverbally. There is little talk except about football strategy and plays. We can go an entire hour without anyone saying anything but we are still communicating. We may sometimes discuss politics or the stock market or finance but I don't ever remember anyone bringing up feelings or relationships, except for an occasional smutty joke. Oh, did I mention, none of us has an eating disorder?

One last thought. I have been a practicing clinician for over forty years but I can honestly say that never once have I ever asked a client "How did that make you feel?" I would choke over the words.