Читать книгу Methods in Psychological Research - Annabel Ness Evans - Страница 15

Personal experience is a very powerful way of knowing the world. You know something because it happened to you, and now it’s part of your personal history. This way of knowing may be convincing to you, but often it is not convincing to others.

According to the Old Testament, Noah was told by God that the world was going to end in a flood and that he should build an ark. The conversation motivated him to do as he was told but had little effect on anyone else.

Often, this way of knowing puts an end to discussion with friends and family. Usually, it goes something like this: “You don’t understand _____ like I do. I know _____ is true because it happened to me.”

Consider the following:

“I know what it’s like to be poor and homeless because I’ve lived on the street.”

“I know that divorce has a negative influence on children because I was only 10 when my parents divorced.”

“I know that talking on a phone doesn’t interfere with driving because I do it all the time, and I’ve never had an accident.”

Personal experience is very difficult to argue against and equally difficult to convey to others. It often is the basis of religious or mystic experiences. The problem with this way of knowing is that personal experience is personal and subjective. There is no way for others to make it objective. It is also a problem because there is no way of knowing if your experience is typical or usual. It could be that your experience is very rare.