Abstract：
How do researchers in psychology view the relation between scientific knowledge, its applicability, and its societal relevance? Most research on psychological science and its benefits to society is discussed from a bird\'s eye view (a meta-scientific perspective), by identifying general trends such as psychology\'s dominant focus on lab-based experiments and general descriptive theories. In recent years, several critics have argued that this focus has come at the cost of reduced practical and societal relevance. In this study, we interviewed Dutch psychology professors to gauge their views about the relation between psychological research and its relevance to society. We found that psychology professors engaged in a variety of activities to engage science with society, from work in clinical and applied settings, to consultancy, education, and science communication. However, we found that the role of theory when applying scientific knowledge to practical problems is far from straightforward. While most participants regarded theories as relevant to understanding general contexts of application, psychological theories were seldom directly related to specific applications. We compare and discuss our findings in the light of recent discussions about the lack of applicability and societal relevance of psychological science.
摘要：
心理学研究人员如何看待科学知识之间的关系，其适用性，和它的社会相关性？大多数关于心理科学及其对社会的好处的研究是从鸟瞰（元科学的观点），通过确定一般趋势，如心理学对实验室实验和一般描述性理论的主要关注。近年来,一些批评家认为，这种关注是以降低实际和社会相关性为代价的。在这项研究中,我们采访了荷兰心理学教授，以评估他们对心理学研究及其与社会的相关性之间关系的看法。我们发现心理学教授从事各种活动，让科学与社会互动，从临床和应用环境的工作，到咨询公司，教育,科学传播。然而,我们发现，在将科学知识应用于实际问题时，理论的作用远非简单明了。虽然大多数参与者认为理论与理解一般应用背景相关，心理学理论很少与具体应用直接相关。根据最近关于心理科学缺乏适用性和社会相关性的讨论，我们比较和讨论了我们的发现。
