Chapters 9–11 have the following format. First, I apply ‘tacitly’ RCR according to the eight steps of chapter 6 (pp. 103–4), and summarise the results here as desiderata. Then I compare the actual (or sometimes the past) state of affairs with those desiderata, and draw some conclusions, mainly as to the degree of overlap of the two.

In this chapter four issues are considered: (a) the discipline as a whole, (b) human development, (c) psychophysiological processes, and (d) functional music. That list could be lengthened without difficulty. The aim is not to cover psychology in its entirety, but to illustrate the potential of RCR by means of a few (otherwise arbitrary) examples.

Psychology as a discipline

Desiderata resulting from applying RCR

To begin with a statement from chapter 2 (p. 26): ‘a complete psychological investigation should in turn look at the biological grounding, the person-centred (conscious and unconscious) factors, and the bio-physical and socio-cultural environments involved in human development, and integrate the findings’ (Overton 1998, 1999). Applying RCR to that statement, (1) a more narrow, ‘internal’ desideratum, and (2) a wider, ‘external’ desideratum result. The idea is that the effects would be markedly positive if psychological research were inspired by these two desiderata. Here they are:

1. Given the unavoidable specialisation of present-day research and the (narrowly) targeted application of its results, a concerted effort is required (a) to create and maintain active contacts between the practitioners of the various schools of psychology, (b) to study the commonalities and differences of their knowledge and insights, (c) to search for intrinsic links between the findings of those schools, (d) to elucidate possibilities for mutual fertilisation, (e) to establish the explanatory/beneficiary potential in function of various contexts, and (f) to strive toward an overarching synopsis/theory.

2. […]