Dear Michael, This may only throw a huge spanner in the works, but McBurney and White's book on research methods use the term "law" as equivalent to "relationship". So, for example, the frustration-aggression hypothesis is a law for them. There would be many "laws" with this approach!
Stuart ___________________________________________________________________ Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: (819)822-9600, Extension 2402 Department of Psychology, Fax: (819)822-9661 Bishop's University, 2600 College Street, Sherbrooke, Québec J1M 1Z7, Canada. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page: http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy ___________________________________________________________ -----Original Message----- From: Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: August 12, 2008 10:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] "Laws" in psychology In a recent episode of my podcast I stated that contrary to the advocates of The Secret (who claim that the "law of attraction" is a "fundamental law in psychology"), I knew of only two concepts in psychology which are referred to as "laws" - Thorndike's Law of Effect and Weber's law. Fellow tipster Blaine Peden reminded me that there are some more that he could think of - the Gestalt laws of perception, Emmert's Law, and Herrstein's Matching Law. We may argue as to what constitutes a "law" in psychology and whether the aforementioned belong in that definition, but Blaine had a good suggestion: is anyone in TIPS aware of any other laws in psychology? I'd be happy to amend my podcast on this topic (http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2008/07/21/episode-64-a-scientist-goes-looking-for-a-self-help-book/ ). Thanks, Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
