ABSTRACT
Over the years the identity I have come to choose as a psychologist is that of an ‘artist-experimenter’. This book is a product of that identity. But as I have explained in Chapters 3-5 and 13 dealing with my own case: my feet, when the chips are down, are firmly in the territory occupied by the artist even though experimentation is (wrongly in my view) seen as an activity solely to be pursued by scientists. The scientist regards a problem as something external to himself or herself. He or she then seeks to explain a phenomenon and find facts using instruments guided by theories. This is not really my way. The artist, instead, seeks to understand things via what he or she is guided by feeling. While the scientist deals in generalities and broad trends and works in the service of order, the artist has a feel for detail and individuality and a sense of the momentary and works in the service of expression. This latter approach is closer to my own preference for the way psychology should be done. But both the scientist and the artist are enamoured by the search for truth and in this endeavour certainly one must check. This is something from which philosophers shy away and has indeed prompted the call for an experimental philosophy (Gregory 1970; Piaget 1972). Rather in this vein this book is a contribution to experimental art.
