ABSTRACT
Specialization in any subfield is likely to be necessary for establishing a paradigm, refining basic principles, and getting training in the tools that allow integrative research. Technological innovation often spurs new lines of research and theory that advance a subfield, and without specialization, developing technical sophistication is often impossible. Specialization has thus remained the zeitgeist of academic psychology. Yet, in our view, it is often pivotal in successful integration as well. Generative contributions to understanding behavior often arise from cross-fertilization between highly specialized subdisciplines because sufficient sophistication has been gained. The challenge is to gain specialized knowledge while maintaining broad interests, and to do this before attempting to bridge. This is the surest, most probable route to the technical skills without which integrative conceptions frequently cannot be convincingly realized. The dynamic convergence of specialization and integration may thus be what best permits careful empirical scrutiny of long-unanswered and potentially elusive theoretical questions. We illustrate how specialization can precede and enable integrative contributions cutting
across subdisciplines using our research on the social-cognitive process of transference as an example, and also our work on the relational self.
