Topics in Experimental Psychology Seminar
Friday, April 21, 2006, 3:30 - 4:30 pm
403 Byrne Hall
Psychology has had a serious case of "physics envy" since its inception as a science with Wundt and James. In the 20th century this manifested itself in a discipline that was positivistic, materialistic, and reductionistic. But physics has moved on to the quantum and more recently to complexity and dynamic systems theory. So, too, can psychology profit from following these new trends in physics. I will show how the ideas of .emergence. and dynamic systems fit into a new scheme of psychology which focuses on the neglected concept of development. Psychology can be viewed as a natural science and as a developmental science. Note that in my formulation, comparative psychology is another term for general psychology.