environmentally biased? Ever since the days some American psychologists went to
Europe and started theirfunctionalist orientation-emphasizing environmental
adaptation as a critical aspect of mind and behavior-American Psychology has
paid more attention to environmental influences under the paradigm of
conditioning and learning.The conditioning and learning paradigm bias occupy
quite a pre-eminence in virtually all aspects of American psychology.If it was
not for the underlying assumption that behavior is "learned" and hence can be
"unlearned" there would probably not be a need for psychological science as we
know it today.Interesting enough,the argument that functionalism is correlated
with neo-Darwinism does not fly because Darwinian evolutionary theory had as
its starting point natural genetic changes.Actually American Psychology has
been more along the Lamarckian tradition. The concept of Americanization where
there is a de-emphasis on cultural differences and uniqueness
and emphasis on "equity" has also fueled the prominece on conditioning and
learning to achieve this equity.
Biological and ethological approaches,single-subject designs are usually viewed
as incomplete approaches because they do not allow for the isolation and
control of variables.The American cultural milieu seem to demand not only to
subscribe to the perspective that all are equal but the methods of assessment
must also be equal.
Michael Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,Florida Check out videos: Americanization of Emily
Moscow on the Hudson
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