Psychobabble
Psychobabble is a pejorative term for the use of jargon from the field of psychology. It can imply that a specific usage of jargon is not meaningful -- for instance, when a legitimate term from mainstream psychology is being mis-applied by non-professionals -- or it can imply that the jargon itself is meaningless, especially when the jargon comes from popular psychology rather than mainstream psychology.
Basis of the term
The term came into popular usage following the 1977 publication of Psychobabble: Fast talk and quick cure in the age of feeling. [1] The text explores a virtual explosion of psychological treatments in professional and non-professional settings based on conversational approaches that were said not to address underlying social and personal conflicts.
Most professional fields develop a unique terminology that, with frequent usage, becomes a jargon of buzzwords referring to recognized concepts. As such, practitioners of pscyhology may reject the label "psychobabble" when applied to their unique terminology. But the vagueness inherent in many psychological concepts also permits the use of terminology in ways that may seem inappropriate to others.
Some pejoritive allusions to psychobabble can imply certain concepts of psychology themselves so lack precision as to become meaningless or pseudoscientfic. Science demands that ideas be testable in experiments where results are repeatable. In this context, psychobabble can imply the language of pscyhology is not based in proven concepts. In other cases, pscyhobabble can refer to usage of jargon to imply meanings beyond those accepted by scholars and formally trained practitioners.
Likely contexts
In some contexts, use of psychological jargon may be labeled psychobabble because it is used by untrained individuals, or in the context of pop pscyhology. Language often dubbed psychobabble includes the phraseology of New Agers, self-help groups, personal development coaching and LGATs (Large Group Awareness Training).
The term psychobabble in some contexts refers disparagingly to grandiloquent but allegedly empty use of jargon with a psychological tinge. Automated talk-therapy offered by various Eliza computer programs produce notable examples of language patterns that, while not loaded with jargon, can be seen as psychobabble because of their ostensible therapeutic purpose outside the context of a clinical setting.
Examples
Examples of concepts, words and phrases in common use that are possibly seen as psychobabble by some people.
- authentic
- blocked
- breakthrough
- closure
- co-dependent
- congruence
- empowerment
- envision
- facilitation - as in "I think our meeting could do with some faciliation" . Meaning an independant 3rd party needs to be present to help us stay on our agenda.
- getting it
- grounded
- holistic
- integration
- new paradigm
- meaningful relationship
- metamodel
- self-actualization -
- self esteem - as in "he has really low self esteem" , for someone who is self effacing or self sacrificing.
- spaced out - as in "I'm feeling a little spaced out today", meaning I'm not really able to say how I feel.
- stressed out
- stuff - as in "My stuff" gets in the way of ...., meaning I experience innappropriately strong emotions around some subject which stop me thinking clearly.
- submodality
- synergy
- transformation
- validation
- visioning
- well-being
- win-win