Alexa Ispas
Assistant Editor, Europe’s Journal of Psychology
PhD Student, Cardiff University
IspasA@cf.ac.uk
I remember one of my lecturers telling me a few years ago that psychology is different from sciences such as physics. Not just because of the ‘is psychology a science?’ debate. But more importantly, because the field of psychology is so diverse that psychologists working in different fields simply cannot properly understand one another.
As I don’t know much about physics, I cannot judge the accuracy of this comparison. But as for the diversity of fields that come under the heading of ‘psychology’ – just think: from intricate brain scans to unconditional love; from face perception to Alzheimer’s in transgenic mice; from conversation analysis to physiological investigations of remote staring.
In fact, you probably haven’t even heard about some of these, although they constitute key topics of research in different areas of psychology. Given that our interests are so different, and that each area of psychology has cultivated its own ‘lingo’, no wonder we are sometimes having trouble communicating with one another. Is psychology, as Anderson once called the nation, just another ‘imagined community’?
Diversity does not need to be a divisive force, though. If we learn to respect one another for the contributions that each one of us, in our particular area, makes to the broad field of psychology, diversity can become our strength. Rather than setting barriers between us, diversity could in fact help us communicate better by giving us a more rounded perspective on the subject of our enquiry. But in order to communicate with one another, we first have listen – and read – about other areas of psychology.
This is where Europe’s Journal of Psychology comes into the equation. As an online publication, the journal offers easy and free access to current research in all areas of psychology. The journal is intended as a communication tool between psychologists, as a way of helping us keep up to date with developments in other areas of our ever-so-diverse discipline. Let us all take advantage of this wonderful opportunity – the EJOP team is looking forward to your contributions!