aux Don Snygg, Phenomenological System of Psychology

Psychol. Rev. 1941, 48,404-424.

The Need For A Phenomenological System of Psychology

by Donald Snygg
Oswego State Normal School

(This is the "footnotes and references" page. If you already have the "guide" page open, please DO NOT click here.)

Basic Assumptions and Principles

Postulates
A.	All behavior is lawful.	p 412
B.	Behavior is completely determined by and pertinent to the phenomenological field of the behaving organism.
C.	There is some relationship between the phenomenological fields of different individuals.
Principles
D.	Greater precision of behavior (learning) is concomitant with greater differentiation of the phenomenological field.
E.	The characteristics of the parts of the phenomenological field are determined by the character of the field itself.
F.	Differentiation takes time.	p 413

Footnotes

1 The first assumption is common to all scientific systems, the second and third are matters of direct observation but impossible of proof.

p 411

2 Both D and E invalidate introspection by the learner as a means of reconstructing his own field. Much of the field is too vague and undifferentiated (D) to be verbalized; and the need to observe and report may considerably alter the character of the field (E) and the nature of the problem.

3 This recognition that the self we are trying to preserve is the phenomenal self, that is to say, is our own picture of ourselves, explains the need which various schools have described as drives for self-esteem, self-respect, security, status, superiority, power, or complacency. When self-preservation is thus referred to the phenomenal self, it is adequate for the explanation of suicide and martyrdom. These two forms of behavior have always been a source of difficulty from a systematic point of view. Objective systems have been forced to ignore them, along with other un-normal behavior, and mixed systems can include them only by postulation of independent motives conflicting with self-preservation, such as Menninger's death wish (12).

p 412

References

1. BARTLETT, F. C. Remembering. New York: Macmillan, 1932. Pp. 317.

2. BERNHARDT, K., & SNYGG, D. The effect of cues upon the choice of the shorter path. J. comp..Psychol., 1937, 24, 269-276.

3. BRIGDEN, R. L. A tachistoscopic study of the differentiation of perception. Psycho!. Monogr., 1933, 44, 153-166.

4. BUEL, J. Differential errors in animal mazes. Psycho!. Bull., 1935, 32, 67-99.

5. DECAMP, J. E. Relative distance as a factor in the white rat's selection of a path. Psycho-biol., 192o, 2, 245-253.

6. DUNLAP, K. Habits: their making and unmaking. New York: Liveright, 1932. Pp. 322.

7. HARLOW, H. F., & Toltzien, F. Formation of pseudo-conditioned responses in the cat. J. gen. Psycho!., 1940, 23, 367-375.

8. HULL, C. L. The conflicting psychologies of learning-a way out. PSYCHOL. REV., 1935, 42, 491-516.

p 423

9. KOFFKA, K. The principles of Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt, 1935. Pp. 720.

10. MAIER, N. R. F. Reasoning in humans. II. J. comp. Psychol., 1931, 12, 181-194

11. -. The behavior mechanisms concerned with problem solving. PSYCHOL. REV., 1940, 47, 43-58.

12. MENNINGER, K. Man against himself. New York: Harcourt, 1938. Pp. 485.

13. Pratt, C. C. The logic of modern psychology. New York: Macmillan, 1939, Pp. 185.

14. RAZRAN, G. H. S. Studies in configural conditioning: V. Generalization and transposition. J. genet. Psychol., 1940, 56, 3-11.

15. SHEPARD, J. F. More about the floor cue. Psychol. Bull., 1935, 32, 696.

16. SNYGG, D. Configurational aspects of tachistoscopic observation. State University of Iowa thesis. 1931. Unpub.

17. -. The relative difficulty of mechanically equivalent tasks: I. Human learning. J. genet. Psychol., 1935, 47, 299-320.

18. -. The relative difficulty of mechanically equivalent tasks: II. Animal learning. J. genet. Psychol., 1935, 47, 321-336.

19. -. Maze learning as perception. J. genet. Psychol., 1936, 49, 231-239.

20. -. Mazes in which rats take the longer path to food. J. Psychol., 1936, 1, 153-166.

21. THORNDIKE, E. L. Human learning. New York: Appleton-Century, 1931. Pp. 206.

22. WAKEHAKM, G. A. A quantitative experiment on Dunlap's revision of the law of habit formation. J. comp. Psychol., 1930, 10, 235-236.

23. WEES, W. R., & LINE, W. The influence of the form of a presentation upon reproduction: the principle of determination. Brit. J. Psychol. (Gen. Section), 1937, 28, 167-189.

p 424

Questions about this website may be directed to: "csnygg99 at yahoo.com".