Concept Creep

Abstract

This chapter argues that many psychological concepts have moved in a consistent direction in recent decades. It is the field's negative concepts those referring to undesirable, harmful, or pathological forms of experience and behavior whose meanings have changed, and those changes have involved a systematic semantic expansion, both horizontal and vertical. The chapter illustrates the concept creep hypothesis by reviewing changes in five concepts drawn from developmental, clinical, and social psychology: abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, and prejudice. It speculates on what has driven this dilation in the meaning of these concepts and what its implications might be, drawing on psychology. The chapter argues that concept creep is best explained by a modified version of Pinker's account, involving a gradual sensitization to harm in general rather than to violence in particular. The concept creep can be understood as an expansion of the moral circle, the domain of entities taken to be deserving of treatment and concern.