Logical Empiricism
- Also "logical positivism
- Developed as a counter-movement to psychoanalysis all meaningful statements of science
must be traceable to observations (which is not the case with psychoanalysis)
- basis of science = observation or experience
- language of logical empiricism or requirements for a theory: "standard conception of
scientific theories" theories should be empirically verifiable
o "Axiomatization": all theories should be expressed in a formal language like propositional or
predicate logic to avoid ambiguity of everyday language
o Should include theoretical terms & observational terms
o Theoretical terms should be unambiguous and fully traceable to observational terms
- Criticism: logical empiricism proceeds inductively + continuous axiomatization of theories
not possible + theory-free observation very difficult to impossible
- Logical empiricism no longer plays a significant role in its pure form; however, it had a great
influence on later approaches.
Critical Rationalism
- Criteria by which theories can be judged: Falsification, empirical content, test of theory
should use "reliable" background knowledge if possible e.g. from previous studies
o Background knowledge: Theories should be tested in different experiments that use
different background knowledge
- Critical rationalism is fallibilistic i.e. certain knowledge is generally not possible; all theories
always remain conjectures
- Critical rationalism is falsifications: by deduction, there is a logically correct way to use
observations to show that our theories are false
o Modus Tollens: if a hypothesis predicts that a certain event can be observed, then it can be
concluded from the non-occurrence of the event that the hypothesis is not true
- Science consists of proposing testable theories and then striving to falsify those theories
Theory should be considered to be subjected to the most rigorous tests possible in which it
can be shown to be false
o The degree of proof of a theory increases with the number and rigor of falsification
attempts it has withstood
o Our experience provides us with significant feedback from the environment at the very
moment we make an observation that is inconsistent with the hypothesis now there is an
opportunity to learn something e.g. about the circumstances under which frustration does not
lead to aggression better hypotheses emerge
o when modifying falsified theories there is a danger of ad hoc assumptions
i.e. theory is merely modified in such a way that falsification becomes impossible
- Falsifiability as "demarcation criterion" of science from non-science
o Not falsifiable are e.g. horoscopes from astrology. Tautologies, imprecise statements
- Metaphysics: differs from science in that it lacks the possibility of falsification by empiricism
scientists should criticize, make their own views open to criticism, seek and endure criticism.
Scientific institutions should encourage criticism
- Empirical content = is greater the more possible observations it prohibits; theories with
higher empirical content allow for more rigorous testing because they have more
opportunities to be falsified
- Criticism of falsification: if we have the possibility to reject observations, falsification is not
possible + in psychology often no deterministic hypotheses (but would be necessary)
very tedious to falsify theories
Methodology of scientific research programs
, - Scientific research program: theories occur in series of theories, with the next theory
emerging in response to an anomaly or an empirical finding incompatible with the previous
theory
All conventional approaches share the basic idea of positivism = position in the theory of
science, in which one makes the "positive" the principle of all scientific knowledge
o Positive means the given, factual or undoubtedly existing characteristics of positivism:
o there is a uniformly real world in which the events of interest to psychology take place
o the individual is part of this real world
o purpose of science: create experimental situations in which properties of psychological
processes are revealed
o world = assemblage of measurable variables that can interact with each other in law-like
ways
o Purpose of research: to test hypotheses about how variables interact and arrive at theories
that can be progressively viewed as scientific regularities
Reality as Construction
- Criticize positivism
o There is no world that exists independently of us, but each person constructs his or her
own world
o Task of science: discover these worlds What does this world look like? By what is it
created? How and by what is it influenced and controlled?
o Conceptualization of the world as a "variable structure" cannot do justice to the
understanding of human experience and behavior Specialization in qualitative methods
- A constructivist approach: discursive psychology
o Founders: Potter and Wetherell
o Central assumption: language constructs different versions of social reality and is used to
achieve social intentions and goals How do people use language to advance their interests in
social interactions? What do people do with their language? What are they aiming for?
o Language constructs social reality but does not necessarily represent it; thus, an objective
perception of reality is not possible in principle
Special problems of psychology
The approaches discussed earlier were not developed for scientific psychology, but by and
for the natural sciences. In this context, human experience and behavior is a research object
with special features that have to be taken into account in scientific psychology. These
include latent variables and relationship between researcher and research object.
Latent variables
- e.g. intelligence, memory, anger, joy, love, etc.
- the way latent variables are measured also determines their content
- contents of latent variables are always provisional & subject to change
Relationship between the researcher and the "researched
- In psychology, no clear separation between researcher & researched Professors also
participate in studies; students have to participate in studies at the beginning of their studies,
but later have to lead them themselves (reversibility of roles)
- Problem: expectations present on both sides of the research process (researcher and
researched) can strongly influence behavior and experience
- Principle interchangeability of the roles of researcher and researched and the possibility of
the
"subjects" to respond to measurement is a potential problem in psychological and social
science research
- Also "logical positivism
- Developed as a counter-movement to psychoanalysis all meaningful statements of science
must be traceable to observations (which is not the case with psychoanalysis)
- basis of science = observation or experience
- language of logical empiricism or requirements for a theory: "standard conception of
scientific theories" theories should be empirically verifiable
o "Axiomatization": all theories should be expressed in a formal language like propositional or
predicate logic to avoid ambiguity of everyday language
o Should include theoretical terms & observational terms
o Theoretical terms should be unambiguous and fully traceable to observational terms
- Criticism: logical empiricism proceeds inductively + continuous axiomatization of theories
not possible + theory-free observation very difficult to impossible
- Logical empiricism no longer plays a significant role in its pure form; however, it had a great
influence on later approaches.
Critical Rationalism
- Criteria by which theories can be judged: Falsification, empirical content, test of theory
should use "reliable" background knowledge if possible e.g. from previous studies
o Background knowledge: Theories should be tested in different experiments that use
different background knowledge
- Critical rationalism is fallibilistic i.e. certain knowledge is generally not possible; all theories
always remain conjectures
- Critical rationalism is falsifications: by deduction, there is a logically correct way to use
observations to show that our theories are false
o Modus Tollens: if a hypothesis predicts that a certain event can be observed, then it can be
concluded from the non-occurrence of the event that the hypothesis is not true
- Science consists of proposing testable theories and then striving to falsify those theories
Theory should be considered to be subjected to the most rigorous tests possible in which it
can be shown to be false
o The degree of proof of a theory increases with the number and rigor of falsification
attempts it has withstood
o Our experience provides us with significant feedback from the environment at the very
moment we make an observation that is inconsistent with the hypothesis now there is an
opportunity to learn something e.g. about the circumstances under which frustration does not
lead to aggression better hypotheses emerge
o when modifying falsified theories there is a danger of ad hoc assumptions
i.e. theory is merely modified in such a way that falsification becomes impossible
- Falsifiability as "demarcation criterion" of science from non-science
o Not falsifiable are e.g. horoscopes from astrology. Tautologies, imprecise statements
- Metaphysics: differs from science in that it lacks the possibility of falsification by empiricism
scientists should criticize, make their own views open to criticism, seek and endure criticism.
Scientific institutions should encourage criticism
- Empirical content = is greater the more possible observations it prohibits; theories with
higher empirical content allow for more rigorous testing because they have more
opportunities to be falsified
- Criticism of falsification: if we have the possibility to reject observations, falsification is not
possible + in psychology often no deterministic hypotheses (but would be necessary)
very tedious to falsify theories
Methodology of scientific research programs
, - Scientific research program: theories occur in series of theories, with the next theory
emerging in response to an anomaly or an empirical finding incompatible with the previous
theory
All conventional approaches share the basic idea of positivism = position in the theory of
science, in which one makes the "positive" the principle of all scientific knowledge
o Positive means the given, factual or undoubtedly existing characteristics of positivism:
o there is a uniformly real world in which the events of interest to psychology take place
o the individual is part of this real world
o purpose of science: create experimental situations in which properties of psychological
processes are revealed
o world = assemblage of measurable variables that can interact with each other in law-like
ways
o Purpose of research: to test hypotheses about how variables interact and arrive at theories
that can be progressively viewed as scientific regularities
Reality as Construction
- Criticize positivism
o There is no world that exists independently of us, but each person constructs his or her
own world
o Task of science: discover these worlds What does this world look like? By what is it
created? How and by what is it influenced and controlled?
o Conceptualization of the world as a "variable structure" cannot do justice to the
understanding of human experience and behavior Specialization in qualitative methods
- A constructivist approach: discursive psychology
o Founders: Potter and Wetherell
o Central assumption: language constructs different versions of social reality and is used to
achieve social intentions and goals How do people use language to advance their interests in
social interactions? What do people do with their language? What are they aiming for?
o Language constructs social reality but does not necessarily represent it; thus, an objective
perception of reality is not possible in principle
Special problems of psychology
The approaches discussed earlier were not developed for scientific psychology, but by and
for the natural sciences. In this context, human experience and behavior is a research object
with special features that have to be taken into account in scientific psychology. These
include latent variables and relationship between researcher and research object.
Latent variables
- e.g. intelligence, memory, anger, joy, love, etc.
- the way latent variables are measured also determines their content
- contents of latent variables are always provisional & subject to change
Relationship between the researcher and the "researched
- In psychology, no clear separation between researcher & researched Professors also
participate in studies; students have to participate in studies at the beginning of their studies,
but later have to lead them themselves (reversibility of roles)
- Problem: expectations present on both sides of the research process (researcher and
researched) can strongly influence behavior and experience
- Principle interchangeability of the roles of researcher and researched and the possibility of
the
"subjects" to respond to measurement is a potential problem in psychological and social
science research
