On the Psychology of ‘As If’

Abstract

This paper explores the role that fiction in the broad sense might play in psychology, as a tool both for theoretical understanding and for individual self-understanding. Using Hans Vaihinger’s Philosophy of ‘As If’ as a point of departure, I attempt to show that theoretical understanding and personal meaning making in psychology are based in fundamental ways on fictions, that is, on imaginative or counter-factual constructions that we operate on using a hypothetical or as if mode of thinking. I identify and give examples of four broad types of fictions that seem especially to inform psychological theorizing and personal meaning making. Each of these exemplifies the characteristics of counter-factual thinking and imaginative engagement that are taken to be criterial for fictional thinking in general. Some implications for hermeneutic and narrative inquiry in psychology are suggested.