"Psychologists are simply, on an absolute scale, dullards... They seem to feel, many of them, that all we need to do is consolidate our scientific gains. Their self-confidence astonishes me. For these gains seem to me puny, and scientific psychology seems to me ill-founded. At any time the whole psychological applecart might be upset. Let… Continue reading Beneath The Replication Crisis
Misrepresenting Representation
"Many of the conceptual confusions fundamental to modern cognitivist theory had already been identified and widely recognised before the 'cognitive revolution' of the 1960s. Yet, whenever such confusions were pointed out, they are either fleetingly acknowledged, only to be quickly forgotten, or, more usually, emphatically denied. And, as I have found out to my own… Continue reading Misrepresenting Representation
Psychological Approaches to Cinematic Experience
It is important that psychology is capable of connecting in some sense to theories of art as well as connecting to theories of biology and chemistry, and this is a key strength of the naturalism of the ecological approach. Far from the grossly intellectualised cognitive theory, ecological psychology begins with experience and therefore connects fluidly… Continue reading Psychological Approaches to Cinematic Experience
On Purpose
The Cartesian assumptions of cognitive psychology give rise to an insoluable problem, the 'problem of other minds'. It is presupposed that people do not provide evidence of their intentions in the observable environment, but we seem to understand their intentions nevertheless (the ‘unobservability principle’: Krueger, 2012). The ‘problem of other minds’ is thus a kind… Continue reading On Purpose
Brain Size and Social Intelligence
There is a double-standard in psychology that claims that humans have unique socio-cognitive skills, and a prominent explanation for this is the Social Intelligence or Social Brain Hypothesis: that human brains are outsized due to the enormous complexity of our social relations. I have noted in previous posts that the skills psychologists assume are human-specific… Continue reading Brain Size and Social Intelligence
Psychology as Ideology
Much as the sociobiologists of the 1980's provided the 'neoliberal' capitalists of their era with the naturalisation of selfishness, cognitive psychology's conception of the mind makes it a suitable perspective for capitalist ideology: each person is isolated within their own head and must use a complex system of internal representations in order to mirror or… Continue reading Psychology as Ideology
Review: ‘What It Means to Be Human’ (Joanna Bourke, 2011, Virago Press)
It is increasingly evident that the skills psychologists assume are uniquely human are observable in many other animals. Chimpanzees appear to act according to the false beliefs of others; Ravens take into account the vision of others when hiding their cache; Bonobos use different vocal signals for different situations. As the latter study's author, Dr.… Continue reading Review: ‘What It Means to Be Human’ (Joanna Bourke, 2011, Virago Press)
Beyond Cognitive Hypocrisy
One thing that make's Frans de Waal's Chimpanzee Politics such an absorbing read, even today, is that it is unafraid to explicitly described chimpanzee behaviour in terms humans would recognise. There's times when this approach less useful than others (comparing Richard Nixon and a chimpanzee's behaviour strictly in terms of their reaction to losing power… Continue reading Beyond Cognitive Hypocrisy
Vicious Intellectualism
The computer metaphor, the idea that human behaviour, and more specifically the brain, can be usefully thought of as a computer, has hung around psychology's neck for 50 years or more. A post at Aeon by Roger Epstein takes the metaphor to task, and I'd recommend it, though it's some are finding it harder to… Continue reading Vicious Intellectualism
Reheated Chomsky
Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar has faced near-constant criticism since the 1950s, and recent criticism has been very strong indeed, but Chomksy-ist theory (if not Universal Grammar exactly) remains the primary force in modern psychology and lingustics. How is this? Chomsky originally proposed that there are underlying principles of grammar consistent across all languages, and… Continue reading Reheated Chomsky
Society In Mind 