PS390 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Logical Positivism, Intelligence Quotient, Psych
Document Summary
Natural science psych describes invariant realities about human nature and so the language used also has to be invariant (these constant realities are why operational definitions" were developed) Developed in psych during 1930s so that descriptions of the observable behaviour could be used to quantify the abstract concept. Ex learning" defined as x number of correct successive turns a rat took in a maze. Intelligence" became a score on an iq test. Measuring psychological phenomena is equivalent to measurement of physical phenomena. The meaning of concepts is identical to the operations employed in measuring them, Variable" was adopted from physics to link psychological phenomena w complexities of behaviour. Operationism and variables are closely linked to logical positivism. Logical positivism supported neobehaviourist approach and justified making metaphysical claims about psychological knowledge, which led neobehaviourists to believe their theories were just as justifiable as their experimental methods. Change in language used by psychologists had significant influence on natural science.
