Economics, Psychology, and Professional Coaching II: Multiple Realities

W Berquist 2025

As I noted in the first essay in this series, a 21st Century intellectual revolution is currently taking place, involving three disciplines (psychology, economics and neurobiology). Called behavioral economics, this revolution is as if three tectonic plates were coming together, creating majestic mountains but also disturbing earthquakes. In offering a series of essays that explore the implications of this revolution for professional coaching, I offer in this second essay a philosophical (or more precisely an epistemological) framework for understanding the profound nature of the tectonic collision that has taken place. I have based the concepts I offer in this essay on an interview I conducted with Julio Olalla (Olalla and Bergquist, 2008), a renowned coach and philosopher, as well as work I did several years ago with Kristin Teresa Eggen, my Norwegian colleague, and Simon Selvakumar, my colleague from Singapore. I propose that there are two different perspectives regarding the nature of being and, more basically, the nature of reality which have been challenged by behavioral economists: objectivism and constructivism. Furthermore, each of these perspectives breaks down into two subgroups. I will introduce all four of these frameworks and consider how each one relates to the new field of behavioral economics. In keeping with the theme of this set of essays, I will also consider the implications of these perspectives for those engaged in professional coaching as related to matter of economics and psychology.