Stephen Black wrote:

"Gerald Peterson pointed out that Freud and Pavlov would not have
considered themselves psychologists. To be complete, we'd have to add
Piaget to that list--his Ph.D. was in biology. But it doesn't matter what
the individual in question thought he was. We're stuck with the
association of Freud with psychology, and the other two, physiologist and
biologist, are famous for their contributions to our field. So we've
appropriated them, whether they like it or not."

=======

Although it is true that Piaget's PhD was in biology (for work on nematodes or
somesuch), unlike Ivan Pavlov, he had no problem with the work that made him
famous being characterized as psychology. He was a heavily influenced by the
psychiatrist/psychologist Pierre Janet, with whom he worked closely in his
early years, and his theory of child development was in closely associated with
that of the earlier psychologist James Mark Baldwin. The connection between his
biological work and psychological work was the model evolutionary theory
provided for both.

In short, we can claim Piaget as one of "us" in good conscience.
Pavlov, influential as he was, was developing a speculative theory of the
neurological reflex which was immediately dumped by the American behaviorists
who "adopted" him in favor of a functionalist view of the *behavioral*
"reflex".

Regards,
Chris Green


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