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Related Experiment Videos

Essentialism and selectionism in cognitive science and behavior analysis.

D C Palmer1, J W Donahoe

  • 1Department of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063.

The American Psychologist
|November 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Selectionism, not essentialism, is key to understanding behavior. Variability is fundamental, and Skinner

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral science and psychology
  • Cognitive science
  • Philosophy of science

Background:

  • Selectionist paradigms, encompassing phylogenetic and ontogenetic contingencies, define boundaries for units but not blueprints.
  • Variability is an inherent characteristic of all entities shaped by selection processes.
  • B.F. Skinner's approach characterized behavioral units as generic, aligning behavior analysis with selectionism and avoiding essentialist pitfalls common in psychology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To refine the distinction between essentialism and selectionism in scientific analysis.
  • To identify and critique essentialist tendencies within various fields, including linguistics, memory research, representation theories, associationism, and behavior analysis.
  • To explore the potential for integrating contemporary cognitive science research, such as adaptive networks, within a selectionist framework relevant to behavior analysis.

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Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis and theoretical refinement of essentialism versus selectionism.
  • Identification and examination of prominent examples of essentialist thinking across different scientific disciplines.
  • Interpretation of recent trends in cognitive science, specifically adaptive networks, through a selectionist lens.

Main Results:

  • Essentialism, which posits fixed, inherent properties, is contrasted with selectionism, which emphasizes variation and historical contingency.
  • Essentialist analyses were identified in linguistics, theories of memory and representation, associationism, and even within behavior analysis.
  • Adaptive network research in cognitive science demonstrates amenability to a selectionist interpretation.

Conclusions:

  • Adopting a selectionist perspective, as pioneered by Skinner, is crucial for a robust understanding of behavior and avoids the limitations of essentialism.
  • Recognizing and mitigating essentialist biases is necessary across various scientific domains.
  • The selectionist framework offers a promising avenue for future interdisciplinary research, particularly bridging behavior analysis and cognitive science.