Re: Misc comments on categorisation, problem solving, etc (Was Re: Aaron Somon's....)

From: Neil W Rickert (rickert+nn_at_cs.niu.edu)
Date: 08/04/04 

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 21:37:59 +0000 (UTC)

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Wolf Kirchmeir <wwolfkir@sympatico.ca> writes:
>Neil W Rickert wrote:

>> For me, categorization has to do with inputs, while behavior has to
>> do with outputs.

>No wonder you fail to get it. The behaviorist looks for the relationship
>between "inputs" (ie, the ennvironment) and "outputs" (ie, the actions
>of the organsim.) A behaviorist that ignored the environment in studying
>behavior wouldn't get very far. NB that for "private behaviors" the
>environment _includes_ other private behaviors.

And where did I ever suggest that the environment should be ignored?

>Anyhow, if categories are "inputs," they're data. Where did the
>categorising take place?

The categorizing is part of perception.

>You snipped whole bunch of stuff here. If you must snip, kindly show
>where you did it!

I follow the rules of netiquette, according to which one should
quote only enough to provide context for the response.

>> I guess that makes me a behaviorist of sorts. But I am not a
>> radically stupid behaviorist. As far as I can tell, the "operant
>> conditioning" account cannot adequately explain the acquired ability
>> to solve original problems.

>That's because
>a) you persist in thinking of behaviour as wholly external, and ignore
>private behaviors (yet you use signs of private behaviours as criteria
>for "understanding"!);
>b) you fail to keep in mind that only behaviours that are performed can
>be conditioned;
>c) you forget the reward system that operates on "thinking." (Recall
>Archimedes' "Eureka!")
>d) you forget about the experimentation that occurs during "solving an
>original problem", and don't seem to see that we pursue those
>experiments that are "rewarding" (to use a phrase I've encountered more
>than once in books about the pleasures of math.) **

If you are a psychologist, then I suggest you quit your job and seek
employment cleaning up cow dung. Your assessment of what I think is
nonsense. But you do demonstrate an ability at shovelling bull***.

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