Mark Koltko-Rivera

To be published in 2013 by American Psychological Association Books.

Excerpts from the Preface:

The central insight of this book is that personal and cultural assumptions about reality have profound effects upon thought and behavior. This insight has largely escaped the notice of theorists and researchers within the discipline of psychology until relatively recently. The insight has monumental consequences for the study of cognition and behavior, and for professional practice. Consequently, it is my aspiration, through this book, to bring the study of such assumptions—the study of worldviews—to the front and center of psychological research and theory, by providing theory, models, and questions worth investigating.


* * *

I expect that many researchers and professionals in a variety of social sciences and other applied disciplines will find worldview to be central to the future development of theory and practice in their several domains. To put it more pointedly: I expect “worldview” to be as important to the discipline of psychology in the 21st century as “self” and “ego” have been in the 20th—but with a better basis in research and theory.

* * *

In Chapter 1, I introduce the worldview construct, and give definitions of it both in broad, conceptual terms, and in rigorous terms more suitable for formal psychological theory; I also take positions on various theoretical questions and controversies regarding worldview. I describe, in Chapter 2, the ways in which worldview has been addressed during especially the last century, in both theory and research. I propose an overarching theory of worldview in Chapter 3, where I relate worldview to other foundational mental structures (e.g., personality), and show how worldviews work with these structures in the genesis of cognition and behavior. I propose a model of worldview itself in Chapter 4, where I consider many dimensions of worldview, that is, the many different issues and questions that any given worldview addresses, and the range of answers that a given worldview may propose to answer these questions.

Chapters 5 and 6 describe the development, preliminary validation, and psychometric properties of the Worldview Assessment Instrument—6 Core Dimensions (WAI-6CD). This instrument was developed to assess six worldview dimensions with relevance to counseling and psychotherapy; these dimensions are likely relevant to many aspects of cognition and behavior.

In Chapter 7, I propose a number of research questions for specialists in counseling and psychotherapy (both practitioners and educators). In Chapter 8, I describe ways in which the practitioner might use the worldview construct, and the WAI-6CD, in intervention.