Over the twentieth century, modern psychology contributed to a transformation of our understandings of self and others. Concepts of soul, sensibility, moral character and will commonly used in the nineteenth century have been replaced with those of intelligence, personality, subconscious processes and neurochemical states. Accompanying this conceptual transformation is a shift in the means of assessing human qualities – from reliance on qualitative judgment to that of quantitative, comparative measures. Our research program explores this extended revolution in human ontology, asking two central questions: what scientific practices were developed to dramatically alter conceptions of human psychology, and what are the effects of this knowledge on our thoughts and actions? Our lab uses a multi-methodological approach and incorporates archival, quantitative, critical theory and digital analysis of qualitative data. Current projects include close analysis of experimental techniques (the bogus pipeline method; practices of post-experimental debriefing), psychological theories (impression management; obedience) and the experience of research subjects (curiosity, suspicion, boredom).
Morawski Lab: Psychological Science and the Dynamics of Personhood
Research in Dynamic Personhood and the History of Subjectivities
