THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

The methodologies of Husserlian and contemporary phenomenological psyc hology are compared. The Husserlian project was an a priori, descripti ve, intuitive inquiry into the universal, necessary structures of inte ntional phenomena. Contemporary phenomenological psychology, examined here through a review of contemporary psychological articles and metho dological sources, includes four types of methods: empirical, hermeneu tic, traditional and experimental. Phenomenological psychology continu es to attempt to describe the essences of experiences. However, in con trast to the Husserlian phase, the current stage of the movement is ch aracterized by the inclusion of the experience of a group of subjects in addition to that of the researcher, the use of hermeneutic rather t han descriptive methods, existentialism as an interpretive guide, and the use of empirical as well as a priori evidence for the generalizabi lity of descriptions. Essentialism as a central tenet of phenomenologi cal psychology is criticized in light of anthropological evidence.