This book provides a framework within which the long-standing problems of psychology can be better understood. Part 1 reviews the background issues which have led to controversy and discusses the nature of theory and method in science. In Part 2 the basic conflict between the "computerized" or mechanistic conception of man and the "humanistic" or dynamic one is shown to have grown out of the historical bifurcation between dialectical and demonstrative reasoning. These two strains of thought are traced from their early Greek origins to their contemporary counterparts. Dr. Rychlak argues that psychologists must learn to consider both points of view in reasoning about man, or run the risk of being incorrect in their conceptualizations or unscientific in their methods of study.
This book provides a framework within which the long-standing problems of psychology can be better understood. Part 1 reviews the background issues which have led to controversy and discusses the nature of theory and method in science. In Part 2 the basic conflict between the "computeri/ed" or mechanistic conception of man and the "humanistic" or dynamic one is shown to have grown out of the historical bifurcation between dialectical and demonstrative reasoning. These two strains of thought are traced from their early Greek origins to their contemporary counterparts. Dr. Rychlak argues that psychologists must learn to consider both points of view in reasoning about man, or run the risk of being incorrect in their conceptualizations or unscientific in their methods of study.
Psychological explanations should specify the domain in which they are grounded and should be measured by how well they explain the phenomena on those grounds.
There are two generally conceded aspects to the meanmg of language the denotative and the coimotative meanmgs it bears. Meanmg refers to the intent or the aim of an item of communication, vi^hether that item be a wntten or spoken word, statement, or possibly even some nonverbal sign or token like a raised eyebrow Meanmg is therefore tied to the very mtention of a language system, as an act of expression, including the biased vantage of a pomt of view When the mtent is marked out plainly and clearly, so that complete understanding is easily reached between commumcants, we speak of denotative meaning When the mtent or aim goes beyond the more clear-cut denotations and suggests less clear mtents, we speak of the connotative meanmg of an item of communication. The item of communication "mother" has an exphcit denotative meanmg, easily defined on the basis of genetic ties, but the connotative meanmg of the term is considerably more complex and more difficult to identify for any given communicant at any given point in timeIt IS for this reason that we have had to rely on an mdirect estimate of what has been called "meanmgfulness" m order to study the eflEects of meaning on the learnmg, retention, etc of verbal matenals As Noble (1963) has said, meanmgfulness is not to be confused with meanmg Meanmg is a relational term, implymg that "this" verbal item (mother) has certam specified relations to "that" complex of items (denotative genetic and familial ties, connotative emotive or symbohcal ties, etc ) Meanmgfulness, on the other hand, is an attempt to assess the range of convenience which any given verbal item occupies in the
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