phenomenological psychology

phenomenological psychology, in phenomenology, a discipline forming a bridge between psychology and philosophy. It is one of the regional ontologies, or studies of the kinds of fundamental being, that is concerned with what it means to experience a certain thing (e.g., to experience fear) and with what the a priori, or essential and universally applicable, structures of such an experience are.

It is the ontology that has been most thoroughly dealt with by phenomenologists. Although it is built upon the findings of phenomenological analyses of the structure of consciousness and of the world in general, it is not concerned with the whole or the transcendental, and thus is not philosophy. On the other hand, being based on philosophical phenomenology, it is not concerned with forming theories, and thus is not psychology.

The analyses and descriptions of phenomenological psychology are based on phenomena as they appear, apart from any scientific theories and without the phenomenological reduction. They take into account the intentionality of consciousness—i.e., its directedness toward an object (the description must include, for example, the object of fear when dealing with what it means to be afraid). Phenomenology has influenced many psychologists to develop descriptions and even therapeutic techniques.