How to rethink psychology : new metaphors for understanding people and their behavior / Bernard Guerin.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Understanding our own psychology : alternative ways to think?. New metaphors to help rethink how people work ; Causes and contexts : shifting metaphors from current psychology ; The rethinking to take away from Chapter 1 -- The ubiquitous social : from social constructionism to social contextualism. Contextual influence better thought of as waves than particles : three metaphors ; Twelve ways that being alone is social : how can we think that? ; How do social relationships pervade our actions, thinking, and self-thinking? ; What does the wave metaphor get us? -- Language use as the original virtual reality. Words do not control language use : social contexts do ; Language use as the original virtual reality ; Two metaphors that help rethink language use as virtual reality ; What does all this mean for language use -- Thinking, self-talk, and how to read minds. Rethinking thoughts and thinking ; What do we know about contextual strategies of thinking ; How can we rethink thoughts -- The Zen of running our lives : doing, thinking, and talking. Summary of the plot so far ; Where to go from here? How should we understand people? Appendix : tractatus psychologica.