A Guide to the Unified Theory-Unified Approach

Psychology is a fascinating field that has lots to offer, but it has always had a very basic problem. Since its inception, it has lacked a framework that ties it together into a coherent picture. Students in introductory psychology courses are often led to believe that psychology is a coherent scientific discipline, like biology or physics. But scholars of the field know this unity is an illusion. Scratch the surface and one can clearly see that psychology is lacking in what E. O. Wilson called “consilience”, which refers to conceptual unity or a “jumping together” of facts, findings, and ideas in a way that allows one to see the whole.

For a contrast, consider chemistry. The Periodic Table of the Elements and the atomic theory of matter provide chemistry with a shared understanding from which chemists operate. Psychology lacks anything like a Periodic Table. There is no shared definition, no clear subject matter, and no shared model. Instead, there is a massive plurality of views with no core of agreement about key concepts like behavior, mind and consciousness.

Does it have to be this way? Is it just in the nature of psychological phenomena that a plurality of fragmented views must be the state of our knowledge? Certainly, some degree of plurality is necessary, and is found in all the scientific disciplines. But what is striking about the field of psychology is just how much fragmentation there is.

I have developed a framework that attempts to change the current state of the field and move it from the current state of fragmented pluralism, to a state of “integrated pluralism.” An integrated pluralism will be achieved when there is at least a basic shared conceptual structure to the field of psychology. That is, psychologists will have a shared sense of what the field of psychology is about, and what the key terms like behavior, mind, and consciousness mean.

My journey that resulted in this "unifying" framework started largely by accident. I found that there were many interesting and helpful approaches to psychotherapy (i.e., psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive behavioral, family systems), but that they could not be put together connected at the conceptual language level. That launched me on a quest to do so, in a way that became guided by the question: What, exactly, is psychology about? I realized that there was no good answer to that question. Then, some insights popped, and ultimately I developed a new conceptual system that I have found effectively solves the problem of psychology.

The system I have build is called the “UTUA” Framework. The word UTUA (pronounced ə tü ä’) comes from the combination of “UT” and “UA”, where UT stands for the unified theory of psychology and UA stands for a unified approach to psychotherapy. As these two components suggest, the UTUA framework includes a system that describes and explains psychological phenomena and a system for conducting psychotherapy (i.e., assessment and intervention to foster healthy psychological adaptation).

What follows are links that allow curious readers a guided tour of the UTUA system. All of the links are located here.

For a summary of UTUA in an FAQ format, see here.

For links to papers on the unified theory of psychology, see here.

For links to papers on the unified approach to psychotherapy, see here.

For professional papers on the system by other authors, see here.

For powerpoint presentations on the 8 key ideas, see here.

For an overview of the Garden representation of UTUA, see here.

For an index of Psychology Today blogs on the system, see here.

For a link to a book, A New Unified Theory of Psychology, see here.

For a link to a new “Theory of Knowledge Society” interested in this system, see here.

Unlike physics, chemistry and biology, psychology is what philosophers of science call “pre-paradigmatic.” What that means is that there is no, general shared language or conceptual framework that binds psychologists together. Indeed, there remains a very real and ongoing debate as to whether psychology is even a science.

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The UTUA framework suggests that we can change this state of affairs, with the correct map of the universe, one that effectively defines behavior, mind and human consciousness and assimilates and integrates the key insights from all the major paradigms into a coherent whole. For folks who yearn for such a synthesis, I hope you find the above materials helpful in your journey through this fascinating, but confusing field.