This is a space where UIUC SPI participants in the Summer 2013 Research Methods and Writing Seminar engage each other as researchers, intellectuals and members of a cross disciplinary knowledge producing community.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Objective vs Subjective
The merits of objective vs subjective truth have always been a talking point in psychology, since the object of its study (the mind) is not directly observable. Psychology has always had to rely on observing phenomenon that only indirectly offer insight into the mind, such as brain activity and behavioral activity. The frustration of trying to find objective truth in a subjective phenomenon like the mind even led psychologists to totally abandon the mind as an appropriate object of study for a time, which led to the radical behaviorism paradigm of the mid-twentieth century. Even from the largely cognitive paradigm of current times and with all the increasingly sophisticated brain-imaging technology, psychological phenomenon are still highly variable in their interpretation.
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I enjoyed reading your post. I did not know psychologists tried abandoning it, very interesting.
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