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Positivism in Psychology

Historical and Contemporary Problems

  • Book
  • © 1992

Overview

Editors:
  1. Charles W. Tolman

    1. Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

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Part of the book series: Recent Research in Psychology (PSYCHOLOGY)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction

    • Charles W. Tolman
    Pages 1-8

  3. Positivism Versus People: What Should Psychology Be About?

    • William J. Baker
    Pages 9-16

  4. The Demise of Logical Positivism: Implications of the Duhem-Quine Thesis for Psychology

    • Henderikus J. Stam
    Pages 17-24

  5. Neopositivism and Perception Theory

    • Charles W. Tolman
    Pages 25-45

  6. Positivist Conceptions of Induction and the Rejection of Classificatory Methods in Psychological Research

    • Don Kuiken, T. Cameron Wild, Don Schopflocher
    Pages 47-56

  7. Antecedents of Operationism: A Case History in Radical Positivism

    • Tim B. Rogers
    Pages 57-65

  8. Operationism, Scientism, and the Rhetoric of Power

    • John A. Mills
    Pages 67-82

  9. Watson’s Positivism: Materialist or Phenomenalist?

    • Charles W. Tolman
    Pages 83-102

  10. Positivism and the Prospects for Cognitive Science

    • William E. Smythe
    Pages 103-118

  11. Positivism and Cognitive Psychology: A Second Look

    • Siu L. Chow
    Pages 119-144

  12. Problems and Prospects for Cognitive Constructionism in Postpositivist Psychology

    • Anand C. Paranjpe
    Pages 145-154

  13. Positivist Influences in “Environment-Behavior” Studies: Egon Brunswik and Contemporary Social Ecology

    • Marvin J. McDonald, D. Vaden House
    Pages 155-184

  14. Mediating Between Mentalism and Objectivism: The Conventionality of Language

    • Leendert P. Mos, Casey P. Boodt
    Pages 185-216

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 217-221
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Keywords

About this book

Positivism needs further scrutiny. In recent years, there has been little consensus about the nature of positivism or about the precise forms its influence has taken on psychological theory. One symptom of this lack of clarity has been that ostensibly anti-positivist psychological theorizing is frequently found reproducing one or more distinctively positivist assumptions. The contributors to this volume believe that, while virtually every theoretically engaged psychologist today openly rejects positivism in both its 19th century and 20th century forms, it is indispensable to look at positivism from all sides and to appraise its role and importance in order to make possible the further development of psychological theory.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

    Charles W. Tolman

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Positivism in Psychology

  • Book Subtitle: Historical and Contemporary Problems

  • Editors: Charles W. Tolman

  • Series Title: Recent Research in Psychology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4402-8

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc 1992

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-0-387-97700-3Published: 05 November 1991

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-4402-8Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 1431-7532

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 221

  • Topics: Positive Psychology

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