| Summary: | "Our first task is to settle upon which psychological interpretation should be employed. There seem to be at least two means of threading our way amongst psychological interpretations. (1) One mode of discriminating between types of psychological interpretations derives from an inquiry into the nature of psychological investigation in general. Each dichotomy about to be suggested will be briefly indicated as such. Thus, psychology has as subject matter either behavior or not behavior. We choose behavior. Secondly, behavior may be interpreted either as a process or not a process. We select process. Thirdly, a process may be viewed: (a) in terms of a static cross section made at any chosen point or series of points; (b) in terms of the pathway it traverses toward some definable goal; (c) in terms of its exemplification of certain organizational 'laws' and as such, in terms of the adequacy with which it exemplifies and facilitates a more exact specification of such laws. These are the only choice of interpretation. (2) Another method is this. We may investigate individual types of psychological interpretations themselves. Some (Type A) we find frankly denying their interest in the problem of meaning and so formulating their experiments as to render reference to 'meanings' as inappropriate as possible. In all likelihood we would be wasting time undertaking to force these into our services. Another type of psychological interpretation (Type B) we find engaged in investigations which so absorb the attention of its adherents that they ignore the problem of meaning, however little they may deny its significance. These interpreters accumulate data which may or may not be applicable to our present problem; they do not choose, however, to be specifically concerned with meaning. Still a third type (C) of psychological interpretation may be mentioned. This attitude is one explicitly interested in the problem of meaning. Data in this case are interpreted on the assumption that certain variations of overt behavior indicate a something which may be designated the organism's meaning relative to stimuli. It would seem likely from the foregoing that Type C represents the mode of psychological interpretation most consistent with the needs of this essay. If we would have names for these we may designate Type A as 'Elementaristic Psychology, ' Type B 'Teleological Psychology, ' and Type C 'Gestalt Psychology'"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).
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