Annals of Theoretical Psychology

292 Pages·1994·30.67 MB·English

by  Hans van Rappard (editor), Pieter J. van Strien (editor), Leendert P. Mos (editor), William J. Baker (editor)

Annals of
Theoretical
Psychology
Volume 8
EDITORIAL BOARD
D. Bakan, York University, Canada
J. S. Bruner, New York University
D. T. Campbell, Lehigh University
R. B. Cattell, University of Hawaii at Manoa
H. J. Eysenck,. University of London, England
C. F. Graumann, Universitiit Heidelberg, Germany
R. L. Gregory, University of Bristol, England
M. Henle, New School for Social Research
F. Klix, Humboldt Universitiit zu Berlin, Germany
S. Koch, Boston University
K. B. Madsen, Royal Danish School of
Educational Studies, Denmark
D. Magnusson, University of Stockholm, Sweden
G. Mandler, University of Californin, San Diego
G. A. Miller, Princeton University
K. Pawlik,. University of Hamburg, Germany
K. Pribram, Stanford University
G. Radnitzky, Universitiit Trier, Germany
R. Rieber, The City University of New York
D. N. Robinson, Georgetown University
J. F. Rychlak,. Loyola University, Chicago
J. Smedslund, University of Oslo, Norway
P. Suppes, Stanford University
O. K. Tikhomirov, Moscow University, Russin
S. Toulmin, The University of Chicago
B. B. Wolman, New York
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of
each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment.
For further information please contact the publisher.
Annals of
Theoretical
Psychology
Volume 8
Edited by
v.
HANS RAPPARD
Department of Psychonomics
Free University
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
J.
PIETER VAN STRIEN
Department of Psychology
University of Groningen
Groningen, The Netherlands
LEENDERT P. MOS
Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology
University of Alberia
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
and
J.
WILLIAM BAKER
Department of Psychology
Concordia Lutheran College
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
The Library of ~ngress has catalogued this title as follows:
Annals of theoretical psychology.-Vol. 1--New York, N.Y.: Plenum Press.
1984-
v.: illus., 23 cm.
Annual.
ISSN 0747-5241 = Annals of theoretical psychology.
ISBN 978-1-4613-6298-2 ISBN 978-1-4615-2982-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-2982-8
1. Psychology-Philosophy-Periodicals.
BF38.A53 15O'.5-dc19 84-644088
Library of Congress (8501) AACR2MARC-S
ISBN 0-306-44564-6
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Origina11y published by Plenum Press, New York in 1993
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition
A1l rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
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Contributors
Mitchell G. Ash, Department ofH i story, The University ofIowa, Iowa City
Iowa, USA
Kurt Danziger, Department of Psychology, York University, Downsview,
Ontario, Canada
Kenneth J. Gergen, Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College,
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA
Carl F. Graumann, Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg,
Heidelberg, Gennany
Ian Lubek, Department of Psychology, Guelph University, Guelph, On
tario, Canada
Helmut E. Liick, Department of Psychology, Open University, Hagen,
Gennany
John Mills, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Hans V. Rappard, Department ofP sychonomics, Free University, Amster
dam, Netherlands
Franz Samelson, Department of Psychology, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Roger Smith, Department of History, University of Lancaster, Lancaster,
Great Britain
Irmingard Staeuble, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy
and Social Sciences, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Gennany
Pieter J. van Strien, Department of Psychology, University ofGroningen,
Groningen, Netherlands
v
Preface
This volume and its companion, to be published as Volume 9 in the
Annals series, had their origin in a visit by the first editor to our Center in
1983, a year prior to our initiating publication of the Annals. Some three
years later, Hans Rappard formally proposed to edit, together with the
historian of psychology in the Netherlands, Pieter van Strien, an Annals
volume devoted to history and theory. Rappard emphasized, however, that
it was to be "not just a volume on the relation between history of psychology
and theoretical psychology, but rather a volume on the relevance of history
to theory, or psychology in general. In other words, how and what could
'doing history' contribute to (theoretical) problems that face contemporary
psychology." Another four years passed before commitments from the
twenty-seven contributors were received.
The plan was to publish a single volume devoted to history and theory,
however, the length of six major papers, eighteen commentaries, and replies
to commentaries, necessitated a decision to publish the manuscript in two
volumes. It was not an easy decision especially as the contributors and
editors had achieved an integrity of theme and content that is unusual for
edited volumes. Moreover, in view of the manuscript's long past, we felt
little inclination to extend its history. Nevertheless, rather than attempt to
reduce the length of the major contributions and commentaries in an effort
to fit a single volume, we decided that the high quality of the manuscript
and the international character of its compostion justified a decision to give
all the contributors an opportunity to fully express their views without page
constraints. We therefore decided to publish the manuscript in two vol
umes.
Kurt Danziger (Canada), Irmingard Staeuble (Germany), and Pieter van
Strien (Holland), are the major contributors, and Mitchell Ash, Franz
Samelson, John Mills, Carl Graumann, Roger Smith, Helmut Luck, Ken
neth Gergen, and Ian Lubek are the commentators, included in Volume 8.
Hans Rappard (Holland), William Woodward and David Devonis (USA),
and Christfried Togel (Bulgaria) are the major contributors, and Daniel
Robinson, Eckart Scheerer, K. B. Madsen, William Bechtel and Adele
Abrahamsen, Lindley Darden, James Pate and Debra Sue Pate, Arthur
vii
VIII Preface
Staats, Robert McCauley, Michael Heidelberger, and Luciano Mecacci are
the commentators, included in (forthcoming) Volume 9. The Introduction
and Preface included in the present volume are intended as a prelude to both
volumes.
Neither history nor theory can be said to have respected traditions within
our discipline. Until recently history served primarily to document a chron
ology of curious errors, while theory was an ethereal move beyond empiri
cal generalization, reminiscent of our speculative past. Neither history nor
theory were deemed capable of the kind of objectivity demanded of scien
tific fact; both were antithetical to the discipline's aspiring scientific status.
Fortunately, none of the contributors to this volume can be accused. of
holding such views as, indeed, all have labored hard to demonstrate that the
role of history and theory is essential to our scientific endeavors.
What is remarkable about the papers in this volume, despite their
considerable diversity concerning the role of history and theory in psycho
logical science, is their expository nature. Whether the authors are writing
as historians or theoreticians, the stories they tell are strategically intended
to persuade the reader to consider psychological science in a radically
different light. However, in so doing, the contributors to this volume are
also distinctive in their subjectivity, in the salience of their style whereby
they expect to persuade us of the value of their perspectives on history,
theory, and experimental research. Moreover, they frequently wrestle with
the limits of their perspectives, especially on being challenged by their
commentators, in offering new interpretations that, in tum, give their
writing on history and theory in psychology, its own history and theory.
This is to be expected, for if history is to inform our theorizing, as was
the editors' intent in construing the theme for this volume, then surely the
manner in which it does so matters. Not only the manner in which we narrate
the history of our discipline, but the manner in which we theorize also
matters. Nevertheless, if there is something disconcerting in speaking about
the manner of history, it is probably not half so disconcerting than it is to
speak about the manner or style of theorizing. For to revert to speaking of
an author's style or manner in this context might appear to lend credence
to our traditional eschewal ofh istory and theory from our science. It is well
to be reminded, therefore, that it was, for example, E. G. Boring's theoretical
view of scientific inquiry that informed the style ofh is historiography -one
that proudly documented, for more than a half-century of psychologists, the
course of our discipline as an emerging experimental science. Yet it was
precisely in his historiography that Boring exemplified an uncritical stance
Preface ix
towards the historical context that grounded his theoretical view of scien
tific inquiry. If as a consequence his narration remained radically incom
plete, his historiography, informed as it was by his view of science, was not
trivial. In fact, Boring's view ofh istory is one that continues to confront the
discipline, namely, that history is thought to be a poor source with which to
inform our theorizing, to say nothing of our everyday scientific practices.
How could history possibly inform our theoretical claims if these are to
have any objectivity, or universality?
Ironically, if psychologists are sceptical about the possible contribution
of history, a sober consideration of our discipline cannot but lead to the
conclusion that we badly lack theoretical coherence and have little to offer
by way ofa convincing account or measure ofs cientific progress. We appear
to be as doomed to perspectivism in our science as the historian is believed
to be in an understanding of it. If our explanations too quickly reach their
limits, theorizing has become an endeavor of giving reasons for this state
of affairs. It is here that the contributors to this volume attempt to persuade
us that history can inform our theorizing and, indeed, our uncommon
scientific practices. For if theorizing is intended to reconcile theories, to
fmd some common ground for the diversity ofo ur explanations with a view
towards advancing research, then an understanding of our theoretical en
deavors, ift hese are to transcend the history ofo ur scientific practices, must
be historically informed. At least, such is one conclusion from the theme of
this volume.
Neither one-sidedly historical nor theoretical, the contributions here
expose the prejudices, presuppositions, conceits, and ignorance that are
concealed in the very possibility of psychological knowledge. If some
authors appear combative in forging a vision of scientific progress, or in
imposing unity or coherence on the discipline, others appear more sophis
ticated and patient in charting the historical complexities that have grounded
the course of psychology. However, for the most part, they share an
epistemological scepticism and metaphysical relativism that is entirely
foreign to the aspiration of truth in an experimental science. Nevertheless,
for those who feel more than a little irked by all this, they are compensated
by a clarity of vision, and by a grasp of the whole, that moves beyond the
authors' subjectivity to understanding, and beyond history and theory to the
imagination.
In a sense the contributors to this volume are apostates. Ifhistory is most
useful when free from theory, their critical history risks imposing new myths
in accounting for old ones. Nevertheless, as the papers in this volume attest,
x Preface
a historically contextualized inquiry into psychological theory not only
prepares the way for a more disinterested historical inquiry, but challenges
any theoretical view of the discipline or its subject matter as a-historical.
Thus, the manner in which theory actually informs and reflects our day-to
day scientific practices fmds its reality in the articulation of our historical
understanding. Moreover, if theory and practice are instruments of history,
just so historical narration is an instrument that uncovers the reified veils
not merely of scientific theory and practice, but history itself.
A good many of the papers included here have gone through extensive
revision. Problems of translation were not always easily resolved and
occasionally awkward sentences remain. However, we refrained from
tampering with the authors' style of writing; their narrations are critically
reflected in the commentaries. In preparing this volume, we acknowledge
the assistance of Valerie Welch for entering the text, and Casey Boodt for
proof-reading the text and constructing the indexes. We are especially
grateful to Hans Rappard and Pieter van Strien for their dedication in the
selection of contributors. Their voluminous correspondence is ample evi
dence oft he seriousness with which they carried through the preparation of
the papers for this volume.
Leendert P. Mos and William J. Baker
February, 1993