“A Game We All Play”: Identity, Epistemology, and Transformation in Undergraduate Psychology Students

Through the transformations of their beliefs and identities, students of a scientific discipline reflect its basic epistemological commitments. Despite its radical disciplinary change following the replication crisis, reflexive pedagogical study is rare in the psychological literature. This study aims to capture undergraduate psychology students’ changing commitments within their field. Interviews of first-year and fourth-year psychology students at the University of Toronto were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results show that the fourth-years, though more conversant with their field’s values, were mostly dissatisfied with their ethical and epistemological validity. Fourth-years unanimously reported feelings of alienation and disenfranchisement due to their practical powerlessness to address theoretical issues of which they were critically aware. The results suggest a broad dissolution of confidence in psychology’s knowledge justification, as well as a need for pedagogical change. Opening space in the curriculum and lab culture for critical challenge might allay alienation and resignation expressed by students.