Psychodynamic Forgetting (was: Re: "Bad" Mothers: The Politics of Blame Re: Radio Doug

[RE]

What I recall of the behaviorist research paradigm may be biased, but at
Michigan they were known as 'rat runners,' or as people who experimented
with planaria worms -- self-deprecatingly, one prof ran The Planarian
Society --  thinking that the same sort of psychological principles that
governed these animals could be applied to humans.  In some very basic
levels of understanding and behavioral prediction they were correct, but at
both the level of theoretical paradigm and research practice they denied the
possibility that there's anything like 'emergent' or 'higher order'
properties that govern human behavior that come about because of more
complex neurophysiology + protracted development + symbolic mediation of
biological substrates via culture, and so on.

It probably will fall apart if pushed too far, but an analogy might be the
difference between understanding economic activity based on relatively
abstract mathematical models versus a political economic approach that would
focus not be averse to talking about historical periods, specific
institution complexes, etc
Randy


:
: Well, I am not quite sure what your point is here.  Unlike some
: other behaviorists, Skinner did not deny the scientific reality
: of private events, but insisted that they were to be understood
: in terms of the same principles that had been applied to more
: overt kinds of behaviors.  Thus, for Skinner thinking, fantasy
: etc. were treated as covert forms of behavior which were
: subject to the same laws of behavior as the more overt kind.
:
: Jim F.
:
: >
: > Randy
: >
: >
: >
:
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