The Würzburg School today: The three—now four—world theory and new psychological research

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-416
Author(s):  
John Wettersten
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
World Theory ◽  
Rational Thought ◽  
Biological Entities

Research in cognitive psychology has been by and large dominated by attempts to explain how psychological processes can be explained as products of biological ones; these processes are presumed to be causal. These theories fail to account for and be integrated with theories of non-causal mental activities. In order to bridge this gap a new theory of mental processes is needed. Karl Popper and John Eccles’s three world theory offers a promising path. According to this view there are biological entities, rational thought processes and ideas’. It is a revision of a view that Popper adopted as a member and student of the Würzburg School, which held that there are biological entities, causal psychological processes and ideas’. By going back towards the original and redoing it as a four world theory, by adding to it non-causal rational thought processes, the unfortunate widespread influence of associationist psychology and inductivist methods may be overcome and new social aspects of cognitive psychology may be opened.

From Selz to Gigerenzer: A thought-psychological research history, which needs a Popperian, fallibilist theory of rationality to effectively develop

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Wettersten
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Herbert Simon ◽  
Research History

Two sharply separated traditions in the philosophy of science and in thought psychology began with Otto Selz’s psychology. The first tradition began with Karl Popper; it has been developed by many others. The developers of the second tradition have included Julius Bahle, Adriaan de Groot, Herbert Simon, and Gerd Gigerenzer. The first tradition has ignored empirical studies of thought processes. The second tradition is widely based on Simon’s inductivist philosophy. The first tradition can be improved by integrating empirical studies of rationality into its research. The second tradition can be improved by replacing its inductivist assumptions with a fallibilist framework.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Saks ◽  
Barbara A. Spellman
Keyword(s):  
Basic Research ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Psychological Understanding ◽  
Trial Judges ◽  
Rules Of Evidence ◽  
Evidence Rules ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Rules of evidence are designed to facilitate trials by controlling what evidence may be presented at trial. Those rules came into being, and evolved over time, due to changes in trial process and structure – especially following the rise of adversarial procedure, whereby control over the marshaling and presentation of facts shifted from judges to lawyers. Refinements and reforms continue to be undertaken to try to improve the scope and clarity of the rules. Trial judges must not only apply the rules, they also have the discretion to make rulings in light of their expectations of the impact they think the evidence will have on jurors. This task involves metacognition: one human trying to estimate the thought processes of others. Thus, evidence rulemakers have been and are, effectively, applied psychologists. The rules of evidence reflect their understanding of the psychological processes affecting, and capabilities and limitations of witnesses, lawyers and jurors. Psychological research and methods provide an additional source of insight and assistance in that endeavor. Better psychological understanding should lead to more effective rules. Psychologists typically employ the scientific method: empirically testing hypotheses in an effort to discover which are valid understandings of how people perceive, store, and retrieve information. To evaluate evidence rules, one could conduct experiments directly on a rule, or borrow from existing knowledge developed in basic research and see whether those understandings support existing or proposed evidence rules.

Foundations of Neuropsychology

2020 ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Barre Vijaya Prasad ◽  
Sumit Kumar ◽  
Shazia W Ali
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Behavior And Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Defects

Neuropsychology is one of the branches in neuroscience (or sub-branch of psychology) that seeks to understand the brain structure and further relates it with specific human behavior and psychological processes. Neuropsychology's central aim is to understand how the brain produces behavior, mental processes, and cognition and then applies it for diagnosis and treatment of different behavioral and cognitive defects in various neurological disorders. Neuropsychology is a field that draws information and material from neurology, cognitive psychology, and psychiatry and also act as a junction point for investigators belonging to related disciplines. Its central aim is to understand how brain functioning influences behavior and cognition. Further, the chapter discusses the relationship between structure and function of the brain, the rise of neuropsychology as a distinct discipline, logic of cerebral organization, and localization and lateralization of functions. Finally, the authors had also explain the approaches and methodologies of clinical and cognitive neuropsychologists.

“The Unconscious” in Current Psychology

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Norman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Verbal Report ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Intermediate States ◽  
Definition Of

A series of vignette examples taken from psychological research on motivation, emotion, decision making, and attitudes illustrates how the influence of unconscious processes is often measured in a range of different behaviors. However, the selected studies share an apparent lack of explicit operational definition of what is meant by consciousness, and there seems to be substantial disagreement about the properties of conscious versus unconscious processing: Consciousness is sometimes equated with attention, sometimes with verbal report ability, and sometimes operationalized in terms of behavioral dissociations between different performance measures. Moreover, the examples all seem to share a dichotomous view of conscious and unconscious processes as being qualitatively different. It is suggested that cognitive research on consciousness can help resolve the apparent disagreement about how to define and measure unconscious processing, as is illustrated by a selection of operational definitions and empirical findings from modern cognitive psychology. These empirical findings also point to the existence of intermediate states of conscious awareness, not easily classifiable as either purely conscious or purely unconscious. Recent hypotheses from cognitive psychology, supplemented with models from social, developmental, and clinical psychology, are then presented all of which are compatible with the view of consciousness as a graded rather than an all-or-none phenomenon. Such a view of consciousness would open up for explorations of intermediate states of awareness in addition to more purely conscious or purely unconscious states and thereby increase our understanding of the seemingly “unconscious” aspects of mental life.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic status in Brazilian psychological research: I. validity, measurement, and application

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodolfo de Castro Ribas Jr. ◽  
Maria Lucia Seidl de Moura ◽  
Isabela Dias Soares ◽  
Alessandra Aparecida do Nascimento Gomes ◽  
Marc H. Bornstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Psychological Literature ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Research Areas

This review has several objectives: To describe and discuss theoretical conceptions of the construct of socioeconomic status (SES) and to argue for its vital role in psychological research; to present and analyze procedures employed to measure SES and trends in their utilization; and to review and discuss the use of SES measures in Brazilian psychological literature. The relative position of individuals, families, and groups in a given hierarchy (frequently converted into a score produced by a scale) is what has usually been called SES. The main indicators and procedures used to measure SES are discussed in regard to its advantages and disadvantages. A review of the literature offers evidence of the importance of the SES in different psychological processes. A systematic evaluation of articles from the PsycARTICLES database was conducted and revealed that the percentage of articles published annually that employed socioeconomic status increased steadily and substantially from 1988 through 2000 and that SES has been consistently applied more in some research areas (e.g., developmental, clinical, social psychology). A content analysis of the use of SES in articles published from 1981 through 2001 in three prominent Brazilian psychology journals was conducted showing that reliable SES measures are not commonly used in the Brazilian psychological literature. The results of these reviews and analyses are discussed in terms of their implications for further progress of psychological literature, especially in Brazil, with regard SES.

Creativity in interpreting

Interpreting ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildikó Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Professional Behaviour ◽  
Empirical Survey ◽  
First Case ◽  
Primary Object ◽  
Special Area ◽  
Area Of Study ◽  
Psychology Of Creativity

The objective of this paper is to examine how the findings of psychological research concerning creativity can be explored within the framework of interpreting studies. I will begin by reviewing the literature on the psychology of creativity, followed by the presentation and analysis of an empirical survey. Finally, I will suggest that creativity in interpreting can be examined on three levels, depending on the aspect we are focusing on: (1) the products; (2) mental processes; or (3) the behaviour of the interpreter. In the first case, the primary object is the product, while in the second and third, it is the process. What makes interpreting a special area of study in terms of creativity is not only the creative nature of the mental processes involved, but also, and perhaps even primarily, the creativity required of interpreters in terms of their professional behaviour in a communicational situation, where they are present but in which they are not natural participants.

Three Decades of Psychological Research in the Journal Cognitive Psychology (1979–1999)

2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 972-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Mestre ◽  
F. Tortosa ◽  
P. Samper ◽  
M. J. Nácher
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Citation Index ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Social Science Citation Index ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Productive Authors

We examined the journal Cognitive Psychology, as representative of the evolution of cognitive psychology during the last three decades (1979–1999). Analysis of changes in the impact factor defined according to the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) is an indication of the ranking of this journal both in the general classification of archival research journals as well as in relation to other periodicals in the area of cognitive psychology. This single quantitative measure of articles published in Cognitive Psychology indicates a change in the topics of interest. An analysis of the research topics and identification of the most productive authors identifies important indicators of the psychological topics of primary interest during this time.

A Common Language for the Psychotherapies?

1978 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 585-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Ryle
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Mental Processes

SummaryThe account of mental processes emerging from the work of cognitive psychologists is briefly reviewed, and aspects of the theoretical basis of the work of psychoanalytic and behaviourist psychotherapists are considered in the light of this. It is argued that in both traditions increasing attention is being paid to cognitive processes. A restatement of psychoanalytic theory in cognitive terms could free it from its present confusion of metaphors, and an extension of behaviourist theory in this direction could free it from reductionism. The advantages of the adoption of a common language, based on the models of cognitive psychology, to theory, practice and research are briefly considered.

Contributions to the History of Psychology: XXXIX. T. V. Moore and His Cognitive Psychology of 1939

1985 ◽  
Vol 57 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1311-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry J. Knapp
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
History Of Psychology ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Work Interaction

In 1939 Thomas Verner Moore authored a book entitled Cognitive Psychology which shared many commonalities with the psychological perspective that emerged under the same name 25 years later. Moore rejected the behaviorism of his day, took knowing as the fundamental problem of psychology, employed reaction time procedures to differentiate among mental processes, and was committed to representationalism as an epistemology. His career, early experimental work, interaction with E. C. Tolman, and textbook are discussed.

The Role of Acceptance and Mindfulness in the Treatment of Insomnia

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Gunnar Lundh
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Schematic Model ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Daytime Functioning

The present article explores possible reasons why acceptance and mindfulness techniques may be beneficial in the treatment of insomnia. First, it is argued that sleep is facilitated by cognitive deactivation, with less controlled information processing as compared with daytime functioning, and correspondingly more acceptance of spontaneously occurring physiological and mental processes. Second, it is argued that mindfulness practice, in the form of nonjudgmental observation of spontaneously occurring physical and psychological processes, may be an effective way of training the skills of cognitive deactivation. As a complement, psychoeducational methods are advocated to help the client develop a more functional schematic model of sleep and sleeplessness.

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