Jeffery Yen
I was trained as a counselling psychologist and have worked as both practitioner and researcher in university and public health settings in South Africa and China, focusing on cultural issues in mental health. My PhD and current work deals with the public understanding of psychology, and the socio-technical aspects of psychological science (such as the Implicit Association Test). I am also interested in the psychology of science and technology.
Education
2013 - Ph. D. Psychology (University of Toronto)
2000 - M. A. Counselling Psychology (Rhodes University)
1995 - B. Sc. Psychology and Physiology (University of the Witwatersrand)
Research
My research deals with the ways in which psychological concepts and practices become embedded in our cultural common sense, and employed in everyday reasoning and social discourse. In particular, I am interested in the social and political effects of framing issues such as racism and prejudice in psychological terms, or with the use of psychological metaphors.
I am also interested in the psychological and social impacts of new science and technology, with a particular focus on big data, self-tracking and wearable technology.
Key words: discourse; science and technology; history and theory; culture; mental health
Selected Publications
Yen, J., Durrheim, K., & Tafarodi, R. W. (2018). “I’m happy to own my implicit bias”: Public encounters with the Implicit Association Test. British Journal of Social Psychology.
Yen, J. & Vaccarino, O. (2018). “Health psychology”, or “psychology for health”? A history of psychologists’ engagement with health in South Africa. Journal of Health Psychology.
Van Ommen, C., Cromby, J. & Yen, J. (2016). The contemporary making and unmaking of Elaine Scarry's 'The Body in Pain'. Subjectivity. doi:10.1057/s41286-016-0012-8
Genik, L. M., Yen, J., & McMurtry, C. M. (2015). Historical analysis in pediatric psychology: The influence of societal and professional conditions on two early pediatric psychology articles and the field's subsequent development. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 40(2), 167-174.
Arfken, M. & Yen, J. (Guest Editors) (2014). Psychology and social justice: Theoretical and philosophical engagements. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 34(1), 1-13.
Yen, J. (2013). Positive Psychology. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. SpringerReference. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. DOI: 10.1007/SpringerReference_304876.
Yen, J. & Tafarodi, R. W. (2011). Becoming scientific: Objectivity, identity and relevance as experienced by graduate students in psychology. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum Qualitative Social Research, 12(2), Art. 26, http://nbnresolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1102260.
Stenner, P., Cromby, J., Motzkau, J., Yen, J. & Ye, H. (Eds.) (2011). Theoretical psychology: Global challenges and transformations. Concord: Captus Press.
Yen, J. (2010). Authorizing happiness: Rhetorical demarcation of science and society in historical narratives of positive psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 30(2), 67-78.
Yen, J. (2008). A history of community psychology in South Africa. In D. Painter & C. Van Ommen (Eds.), Interiors: A history of psychology in South Africa (pp. 385-412). Pretoria: UNISA Press.
Yen, J. & Wilbraham, L. (2003). Discourses of culture and illness in South African mental health care and indigenous healing. Part 1: Western psychiatric power. Transcultural Psychiatry, 40(4), 542-561.
PSYC1000 Introduction to Psychology
PSYC3000 Historical and Critical Perspectives on Psychology
PSYC6471 Psychology Practicum (Applied Social Psychology)
PSYC6900 Philosophy and History of Psychology as a Science
PSYC6910 Critical Approaches to Applied Social Psychology