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Pavlov's Methodological Behaviorism as a Pre-Socratic Contribution of the Melding of the Differential and Experimental Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

John J. Furedy
John J. Furedy*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to John J. Furedy, Dept. of Psychology, 100 George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

The differential/experimental distinction that Cronbach specified is important because any adequate account of psychological phenomena requires the recognition of the validity of both approaches, and a meaningful melding of the two. This paper suggests that Pavlov's work in psychology, based on earlier traditions of inquiry that can be traced back to the pre-Socratics, provides a potential way of achieving this melding, although such features as systematic rather than anecdotal methods of observation need to be added. Pavlov's methodological behaviorist approach is contrasted with metaphysical behaviorism (as exemplified explicitly in Watson and Skinner, and implicitly in the computer-metaphorical, information-processing explanations employed by current “cognitive” psychology). A common feature of the metaphysical approach is that individual-differences variables like sex are essentially ignored, or relegated to ideological categories such as the treatment of sex as merely a “social construction.” Examples of research both before and after the “cognitive revolution” are presented where experimental and differential methods are melded, and individual differences are treated as phenomena worthy of investigation rather than as nuisance factors that merely add to experimental error.

La distinción diferencial/experimental que especificó Cronbach es importante porque una explicación adecuada del fenómeno psicológico requiere que reconozcamos la validez de los dos enfoques, a la par que una combinación de los mismos. Este trabajo trata de mostrar que la obra de Pavlov en psicología, basada en las primeras tradiciones investigadoras que se remontan hasta los presocráticos, proporciona una posible forma de conseguir esta combinación, aunque se deban añadir métodos de observación sistemática frente a la meramente anecdótica. Se contrasta el enfoque conductual metodológico de Pavlov con el conductismo metafísico, ejemplificado explícitamente en Watson y Skinner e implícitamente en las explicaciones del procesamiento de la información o de la metáfora computacional, empleadas por la psicología “cognitiva” actual. Una característica del enfoque metafísico es que variables diferenciales individuales como el sexo son básicamente ignoradas o relegadas a categorías ideológicas, como ocurre cuando se considera el sexo como mera “construcción social”. Se presentan ejemplos de investigaciones, antes y después de la “revolución cognitiva”, en los que los métodos experimental y diferencial se combinan, apareciendo las diferencias individuales como fenómenos dignos de investigación más que como factores molestos que meramente acrecientan el error experimental.

Keywords

Pavlovmelding of experimental and differential psychologymethodological vs. metaphysical behaviorismindividual differencessex differencescomputer metaphor in current “cognitive” psychologyPavlovunión complementaria de psicología diferencial y experimentalconductismo metodológico frente a metafísicodiferencias individualesdiferencias según el sexola metáfora computacional en la actual psicología “cognitiva”
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 6 , Issue 2: Special Issue: A Century of Pavlovian Theory: The Madrid Lecture (Pavlov, 1903) , November 2003 , pp. 133 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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