Thomas Teo

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - Department of Psychology

Degrees

Mag. rer. nat. - 1986
Vienna
Austria

Dr. phil - 1992
Vienna
Austria

Biography

Thomas Teo is a professor of psychology in the Historical, Theoretical, and Critical Studies of Psychology Program at York University, Toronto, Canada. He has been active in the advancement of theoretical, critical, and historical psychology throughout his professional career. His research has been meta-psychological to provide a more reflexive understanding of the foundations, trajectories, and possibilities of human subjectivity. He is co-editor of the Review of General Psychology (Sage), editor of the Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology, and co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology. He is former president of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, of the American Psychological Association’s Society of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (Division 24), and former chair of the History and Philosophy of Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association. He has research record with more than 200 academic publications and refereed conference presentations.

Selected Publications

2014-2020 (last 7 years)

Books

• Teo, T. (Ed). (2019). Re-envisioning theoretical psychology: Diverging ideas and practices. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.


• Teo, T. (2018). Outline of theoretical psychology: Critical investigations. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.


• Walsh, R., Teo, T., & Baydala, A. (2014). A critical historyand philosophy of psychology: Diversityof context, thought, and practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.


• Teo, T. (Ed.) (2014). Encyclopedia of critical psychology. New York: Springer.

Chapters

• Mulvale, S. & Teo, T. (2020). Psychologization and its vicissitudes. In V. Balz & L. Malich (Eds.), Psychologie und Kritik: Formen der Psychologisierung nach 1945 [Psychology and critique: Forms of psychologization after 1945] (pp. 43-58). Springer. doi https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29486-1


• Teo, T. (2019). Academic subjectivity, idols, and the vicissitudes of virtues in science: Epistemic modesty versus epistemic grandiosity. In K. O’Doherty, L. Osbeck, E. Schraube & J. Yen (Eds.), Psychological studies of science and technology (pp. 31-48). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 


• Teo, T. (2019). Beyond reflexivity in theoretical psychology: From philosophy to the psychological humanities. In T. Teo (Ed.), Re-envisioning theoretical psychology: Diverging ideas and practices (pp. 273-288). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.


• Teo, T. (2017). Subjectivity, aesthetics, and the nexus of injustice: From traditional to street art. In S. H. Awad & B. Wagoner (Eds.), Street art of resistance (pp. 39-62). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.


• Teo, T. (2016). Embodying the conduct of everyday life: From subjective reasons to privilege. In E. Schraube & Ch. Hojholt (Eds.), Psychology and the conduct of everyday life (pp.111-123). London: Routledge.


• Teo, T. (2015). 从理论和哲学视角看批判心理学 [Critical psychology from theoretical and philosophical perspectives] (B. Wang, Trans.). In Y. Zhang (Ed.), Register of Critical Theory of Society (Vol. 6, pp. 2-34). Nanjing, China: Jiangsu People’s Publishing.


• Teo, T. (2015). Theoretical psychology: A critical-philosophical outline of core issues. In I. Parker (Ed.), Handbook of critical psychology (pp.117-126). New York: Routledge.


• Teo, T. (2015). Historical thinking as a tool for theoretical psychology: On objectivity. In J. Martin, J. Sugarman & K. L. Slaney (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of theoretical and philosophical psychology: Methods, approaches and new directions for social sciences (pp. 135-150). New York: Wiley.


• Teo, T., Gao, Z., & Sheivari, R. (2014). Philosophical reflexivity in social justice work. In C. V. Johnson & H. Friedman (Eds.), The Praeger Handbook of Social Justice and Psychology (pp. 65-78). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Articles in refereed journals  

• Teo, T. (2020). Subhumanism: The re-emergence of an affective-symbolic ontology in the migration debate and beyond. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, n/a(n/a). doi:10.1111/jtsb.12237


• Teo, T. (2020). Gender and socio-intentionality: Why are “things” the way they are? [Commentary] Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 40(1), 58-61. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/teo0000131


• Teo, T. (2019). Diffraction when standing on the shoulders of giants: With and beyond Holzkamp. Annual Review of Critical Psychology, 16, 102-116.


• Teo, T. (2018). Homo neoliberalus: From personality to forms of subjectivity. Theory & Psychology, 28(5), 581-599. doi:10.1177/0959354318794899


• Teo, T. (2017). From psychological science to the psychological humanities: Building a general theory of subjectivity. Review of General Psychology, 21(4), 281-291. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000132


• Aalbers, D., & Teo, T. (2017). The American Psychological Association and the torture complex: A phenomenology of the banality and workings of bureaucracy. Journal für Psychologie, 25(1), 179-204.


• Teo, T. (2015). Critical psychology: A geography of intellectual engagement and resistance. American Psychologist, 70(3), 243-254. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038727


• Teo, T. (2015). Are psychological “ethics codes” morally oblique? Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 35(2), 78-89. doi: 10.1037/a0038944

Chapters in refereed conference proceedings 

• Teo, T. (2015). Essay on an aesthetics of resistance. In J. Cresswell, A. Haye, A. Larrain, M. Morgan & G. Sullivan (Eds.), Dialogue and debate in the making of theoretical psychology(pp. 303-310). Concord, ON: Captus. 

Encyclopedia entries 

• Teo, T. (2017). Spranger, Eduard. In V. Zeigler-Hill & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences(pp. 1-3). Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2037-1


• Teo, T. (2014). Systems of critiques. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1913-1920).New York: Springer.


• Teo, T. (2014). Epistemological violence. In T. Teo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 593-596).New York: Springer.

Book Reviews and Book Review Essays

• Teo, T. (2016). Acquired color blindness: How a deficiency became a virtue [Review of the book The myth of racial color blindness: Manifestations, dynamics, and impact, by H, A. Neville, M. E. Gallardo, and D. Wing Sue (Eds.)]. PsycCRITIQUES, 61(6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0040110

​Prefaces, Introductions and Editorials

• Pickren, W. E. & Teo, T. (2020). A new scholarly imaginary for general psychology [Editorial]. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 3-5. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268020901799


• Teo, T. (2014). Editorial. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 34(4), 213. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037959


• Teo, T. (2014). Preface. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. vii-viii). New York: Springer

 

Other Research Outputs

2018-2020 (3 years)

Peer-reviewed presentations

• Teo, T. (2019, September). Subjectivity and the sociohistorical imagination: A critical psychology of homo neoliberalus. In. K. Dvorak (Chair), Virtual panel. Zoom Panel conducted at the International Critical Psychology Praxis Congress, Española, NM.
• Teo, T. (2019, August). A theory of subjectivity and socio-intentionality. In. A. Kaulino & T. Teo (Chairs), Subjectivity and its discontents: The dialectics of the personal and the societal, and beyond. Symposium conducted at the Biennial Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark. 
• Teo, T. (2019, August). The de facto and not de jure primacy of justice in epistemology. In M. Gergen (Chair), Ethical and political dimensions of research methodologies. Symposium conducted at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
• Teo, T. (2019, August). Caring for generalizability: Subhumans and humans in the migration debate. In M. B. Morrissey and A. Halkovic (Cochairs), On the shoulders of activist scholars: Building healthy environments for immigrants and refugees. Symposium conducted at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
• Teo, T. (2019, March). The homunculus of (philosophical) psychology: The dominance of interaction and the abandonment of working subjectivities. In M. Arfken (Chair), A critical psychology of work: Historical, conceptual and philosophical interventions. Symposium conducted at the Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Division 24 of the American Psychological Association, Nashville, TN.
• Teo, T. (2019, March). Is teaching critical psychology subversive or irresponsible? In B. Wiggins & J. Ostenson (Chairs), Teaching as activism. Symposium conducted at the Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Division 24 of the American Psychological Association, Nashville, TN.
• Teo, T. (2018, August). The conditions for the possibility of the psychological humanities. In T. Teo and W. Pickren (Cochairs), Interference in general psychology through the psychological humanities. Symposium conducted at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
• Teo, T. (2018, August). Agency, relationships, and mental life in a neoliberal, capitalist political economy. In M. Arfken (Chair), Pathologies of capitalism: Ways of knowing and doing in critical psychology. Symposium conducted at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
• Teo, T. (2018, July). The tribulations of epistemic humility: Decolonization and entrepreneurship. In G. Adams (Chair), Cross-cultural psychology as decolonial tool. Symposium conducted at the Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Guelph, Canada. 
• Teo, T. (2018, March). Critical theories. In S. Downs (Chair), Theoretical and philosophical psychology 101: Basic themes, concepts and theories. Symposium conducted at the Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Division 24 of the American Psychological Association, Phoenix, Arizona.
• Teo, T. (2018, March). Interference in practical Reason: Psychosocial and political- economic constraints to agency. In S. Yanchar (Chair), The development of agency: Exploring grounds, manifestation of possibility and constraint. Symposium conducted at the Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Division 24 of the American Psychological Association, Phoenix, Arizona.

Invitations

• Teo, T. (2019, August). Discussant. In C. Green (Chair), Meta-methodology: Assumptions, practices, critiques, and alternatives. Symposium conducted at the Biennial Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark. 
• Teo, T. (2019, August). Discussant. In Producing and resisting neoliberal citizens. Symposium conducted at the Biennial Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark. 
• Teo, T. (2019, August). Discussant. In Aesthetics and pre-reflective experience. Symposium conducted at the Biennial Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Teo, T. (2018, November). Aphorisms on neoliberal agency. Invited presentation at the “Pathologies of Capitalism: Critical Psychology in an Age of Uncertainty” conference at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY.

​

•  

Affiliations

APA
Fellow

CPA
Fellow

Awards

Theodore Sarbin Award (sponsored by the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Division 24 of APA). - 2019

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: No

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: Yes

Current Research

My current research focuses on:

(a) Psychological humanities: This research is located within the History and Theory of Psychology Program at York University, one of the very few programs in the world where faculty and students pursue advanced research on historical and theoretical issues of psychology. The proposed project has three major goals: (i) To lay out the conceptual foundations for a major research initiative that is labeled psychological humanities; (ii) To show the relevance of the psychological humanities by reclaiming subjectivity as a core topic for psychology, grounded in the reconstruction, integration, and advancement of knowledge; (iii) to show the implications of the psychological humanities for current issues concerning subjectivity.

(b) Critical studies in the history and theory of psychology: I am interested in analyzing the ontological, epistemological, methodological, and ethical problems of psychology. Specifically, I am reconstructing the history of psychology as the history of the critique of psychology, the history of philosophical psychology in the 19th century, and the history and theory of racism in psychology and the social sciences from a scientific, political, social, and developmental point of view.