Sometimes in the media we hear about a paradigm shift that has taken place in, for example, how we think about sustainability or other sorts of important sociopolitical issues. Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, introduced the expression ‘paradigm shift’ in his 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Although the term is used in a looser way today, Kuhn coined it to describe a change in the basic assumptions about a phenomenon under study within a dominant scientific framework. In the last 60 years, psychology has witnessed paradigm shifts of sorts in its conceptualization of how to study evolution and the mind. The general trend seems to be a movement from simpler single cause explanations to more complex multiply determined ones, and from models that see causes generating effects to more systems based views that suggest cause and effect are not always so easy to tell apart. These talks will describe the main overarching ideas that have guided psychological research in these domains and show how and why the thinking of psychologists has changed in important ways in recent years.
Presenters
What You See is Not Always What You Get:
Contrasting Different Paradigms for Studying the Mind
Dr. Kathleen Slaney
In the general population the perception of science is that it is a domain of activity aimed at the objective, and thus unbiased, pursuit of the truth. That is, generally speaking, the scientist and the discoveries he or she makes are often believed to be based on observations which reflect only the facts. However, due in large part to Kuhn’s (1962) identification of distinct “paradigms” which have dominated at different times over the history of science, there is at least a superficial recognition within the scientific community that the fruits of science may not always be completely “pure”, but will be influenced to some extent by the particular paradigm within which scientific activities are conducted. This talk will briefly introduce the notion of “paradigm” and then will describe the two major paradigms that have dominated within psychological science—behaviourism and cognitivism—and a newly developing systems-based paradigm which is beginning to gain some ground in the discipline.
Dr. Kathleen Slaney is an Assistant Professor in the Theory and Methods Research Area in the Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University. Her primary research interests concern the history of psychology, philosophy of science, and psychological measurement.
Website: http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/slaney
Evolutionary Systems Thinking and The Challenge of Human Nature
Dr. Tim Racine
Modern evolutionary theory can be traced to the publication of Charles Darwin’s monumental treatise, On The Origin of Species, which introduced his famous theory of natural selection 150 years ago. When George Mendel’s studies of inheritance of traits in pea plants were rediscovered in the early 20th century, it gave natural selection an engine to do its work. In the following 20 years, Darwinian evolutionary theory and Mendelian genetics became fused and dubbed the Modern Synthesis. Although this evolutionary paradigm has been very successful in psychological research and is the basis for an approach called Evolutionary Psychology, it has been challenged by a view that sees genes as part of an overall system, all components of which must be functional in order for typical development to occur. In part through discoveries in molecular and developmental biology, this new paradigm, called Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (“evo-devo”), comes to very different conclusions about the heritability of human traits. This talk will compare these different evolutionary paradigms and discuss what they imply about human uniqueness.
Dr. Tim Racine is an Assistant Professor in the Developmental Research Area in the Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University. His primary research interests concern the origins of communication and thought in human infants and nonhuman primates.
Website: http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/racine
