The Nature of Psychological Explanation
The Nature of Psychological Explanation

Author: Robert Cummins

Publisher: Bradford Books

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 9780262530651

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In exploring the nature of psychological explanation, this book looks at how psychologists theorize about the human ability to calculate, to speak a language and the like. It shows how good theorizing explains or tries to explain such abilities as perception and cognition. It recasts the familiar explanations of "intelligence" and "cognitive capacity" as put forward by philosophers such as Fodor, Dennett, and others in terms of a theory of explanation that makes established doctrine more intelligible to professionals and their students.In particular, the book shows that vestigial adherence to the positivists' D-N model has distorted the view of philosophers of science about what psychologists (and biologists) do and has masked the real nature of explanation. Major sections in the book cover Analysis and Subsumption; Functional Analysis; Understanding Cognitive Capacities; and Historical Reflections.Robert Cummins is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. A Bradford Book.

The Nature of Psychology
The Nature of Psychology

Author: Kenneth J. W. Craik

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1966

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0521047544

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This selection of papers from Kenneth Craik, explores the measurement of perception, sensory physiology and the relationship of nervous function to machines.

Explanation and Experiment in Social Psychological Science
Explanation and Experiment in Social Psychological Science

Author: John D. Greenwood

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1461388015

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This book is about explanation and experiment in a science of human action. It aims to provide a philosophy of social psychological science that both embodies sound principles of scientific reasoning and is sensitive to the social psychological dimensions of human action. The guiding principle of this book is the belief that the logical forms of causal explanation and experimental evaluation can be ef fectively employed in the scientific analysis of meaningful human action. According to most accounts, social psychological science has been in a more or less constant state of crisis for the past decades, having been subject to a host of criticisms on moral, political, methodological, and philosophical grounds. Many of these critiques have been directed against the still dominant conception of social psychological enquiry as a causal and objective scientific discipline that is closely analogous to (if not to be identified as a branch ot) the natural sciences. Thus, many of the most vigorous debates have concerned the nature of explanation and the utility of experimentation in a social psychological discipline.

The Nature of Theory and Research in Social Psychology
The Nature of Theory and Research in Social Psychology

Author: Clyde Hendrick

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2013-10-22

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 1483260895

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The Nature of Theory and Research in Social Psychology aims to provide advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a solid foundation in the logic of theory construction and the experimental method; and to teach students how to read, critically evaluate, and appreciate professional literature in the behavioral sciences. The book is believed to be unique in this latter respect and that it will serve a vital need in several different courses. The book is organized into two parts. Part I contains a detailed exposition of the nature of theory and research. It discusses the nature of formal theory, derivation of hypotheses, and the testing of hypotheses. It explicates in great detail the experimental approach to hypothesis testing. Both formal and informal aspects of a psychological experiment are discussed. Part II includes five chapters that enable students to put their analytical skills to use. Five substantive areas from social psychology have been selected. Each chapter includes three reprinted journal articles, and the chapter may be considered a ""case study"" in the analysis of experimental research in a given problem area. The following topics are covered in this section: dissonance and disconfirmed expectancies; dissonance and severity of initiation, primary-recency in personality impression formation, forewarning and anticipatory attitude change, and dependency and helping.

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology
The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology

Author: Sarah Robins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-09-11

Total Pages: 736

ISBN-13: 1134155786

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The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology is an invaluable guide and major reference source to the major topics, problems, concepts and debates in philosophy of psychology and is the first companion of its kind. A team of renowned international contributors provide forty-two chapters organised into six clear parts: I. Historical background to the philosophy of psychology II. Psychological explanation III. Cognition and representation IV. The biological basis of psychology V. Perceptual experience VI. Personhood The Companion covers key topics such as the origins of experimental psychology; folk psychology; behaviorism and functionalism; philosophy, psychology and neuroscience; the language of thought, modularity, nativism and representational theories of mind; consciousness and the senses; personal identity; the philosophy of psychopathology and dreams, emotion and temporality. Essential reading for all students of philosophy of mind, science and psychology, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Psychology will also be of interest to anyone studying psychology and its related disciplines.

The WEIRDest People in the World
The WEIRDest People in the World

Author: Joseph Henrich

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 0374710457

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A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A Bloomberg Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 A Behavioral Scientist Notable Book of 2020 A Human Behavior & Evolution Society Must-Read Popular Evolution Book of 2020 A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history. Includes black-and-white illustrations.

The Nature of Explanation in Social Sciences
The Nature of Explanation in Social Sciences

Author: Rajesh Ranjan Tiwari

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-07

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 1000903621

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This book provides a comprehensive overview of the nature of explanations as given in both natural and social sciences. It discusses models of explanation adopted in natural and social sciences. The author also elaborates upon naturalistic and anti-naturalistic views and other types of explanations such as functional, purposive, etc in social science. The volume elaborates upon themes like bridge principle; functional explanation; purposive explanation; teleological explanation; prediction; methodological individualism; methodological collectivism; illocutionary redescription; principle of action; and dispositional explanations to understand whether the explanations given in the realm of social sciences are the same or different from the explanations that are given in the field of natural sciences. This introductory book is a must read for students and scholars of philosophy of science, logic, science and technology studies, social sciences and philosophy in general.

Folk Psychological Narratives
Folk Psychological Narratives

Author: Daniel D. Hutto

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2012-08-24

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 0262263173

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An argument that challenges the dominant "theory theory" and simulation theory approaches to folk psychology by claiming that our everyday understanding of intentional actions done for reasons is acquired by exposure to and engaging in specific kinds of narratives. Established wisdom in cognitive science holds that the everyday folk psychological abilities of humans—our capacity to understand intentional actions performed for reasons—are inherited from our evolutionary forebears. In Folk Psychological Narratives, Daniel Hutto challenges this view (held in somewhat different forms by the two dominant approaches, "theory theory" and simulation theory) and argues for the sociocultural basis of this familiar ability. He makes a detailed case for the idea that the way we make sense of intentional actions essentially involves the construction of narratives about particular persons. Moreover he argues that children acquire this practical skill only by being exposed to and engaging in a distinctive kind of narrative practice. Hutto calls this developmental proposal the narrative practice hypothesis (NPH). Its core claim is that direct encounters with stories about persons who act for reasons (that is, folk psychological narratives) supply children with both the basic structure of folk psychology and the norm-governed possibilities for wielding it in practice. In making a strong case for the as yet underexamined idea that our understanding of reasons may be socioculturally grounded, Hutto not only advances and explicates the claims of the NPH, but he also challenges certain widely held assumptions. In this way, Folk Psychological Narratives both clears conceptual space around the dominant approaches for an alternative and offers a groundbreaking proposal.