Science in the Soulkitchen of Everyday Life – A Research Paradox

What happens when scientific research leaves the laboratory and – as Kurt Lewin demanded – becomes more involved in people’s everyday lives? With the help of the film Kitchen Stories and the Grimm fairy tale The Sea-Hare, the article explores this question and highlights the fundamental tension between accepting involvement and rejecting distance. This tension characterises the psychological observation and recording of everyday actions, which tends towards a peculiar form of overlooking: on the one hand, it wants to see all forms, even the most hidden ones; on the other hand, it overlooks forms, especially those that are changing and transforming. The ideal of objectivity demands data that is as unadulterated as possible and therefore requires that everything subjective be kept out of the investigation. Such a separation of the relevant research conditions can be at the expense of the essential and living aspects of the reconstruction. In contrast, a method of co-moving with the subject attempts to keep the paradox of proximity and distance in psychological research alive in a joint work for as long as possible. This, in turn, can bring it close to unscientific regions. While modern physics has apparently learned to live with this risk, large areas of contemporary psychology do not yet seem ready to do so.