Reductionism in the Comments and Autobiographical Accounts of Prominent Psychologists

Abstract

Many of the researchers in the field of psychological science use strategies and methods in which human actions and experiences are reduced to behavioral contingencies, statistical regularities, neurophysiological states and processes, and computational functions and models. However, many psychologists talk readily and easily about how their research might assist human agents to solve problems, cope, make decisions, self-regulate, and more generally "make a difference" and "take control." The authors considered informally selected comments by several eminent psychologists, and more formally, 73 autobiographical accounts of prominent psychologists to see what could be learned about the attitudes of these psychologists toward reductionism in their own work and in the field of psychology in general. In interpreting these comments and accounts, the authors posit a gap between many psychologists' contemplation of their work and their actual research practices. The authors also suggest that such a gap may be related to psychologists' educational experiences and their scholarly and professional socialization, as well as to their subdisciplinary attachments and contexts.

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