Summary
A critique of the role of cognition and affect in contemporary psychology. A theoretical model is proposed which brings affect and cognition in a common perspective of behavior regulation. The model conceives of affect in terms of the behavioral cognition of meaning. The model depicts two operational tests for the functional distinction between cognition and affect, in terms of the physical structures of the environment and the impact of these structures on the functioning organism. The two tests (cognitive mechanisms) operate according to opposite but conjunctive, complementary or integrative action according to the evolutionary design of the informational relationship between organism and environment. The probability test detects novelty (non-redundant features of the environment), while the meaning test secures redundancy equivalent to the mechanism of homeostasis. The implications of this model are briefly discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Atkinson, J. W., & Birch, D. (1978). Introduction to motivation (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand.
Attneave, F. (1969). Informationstheorie in der Psychologie (2nd ed.). Bern: Huber.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss (VoL 1): Attachment. London: Hogarth Press.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss (VoL 2): Separation. Anxiety and anger. London: Hogarth Press.
Buytendijk, F. J. J. (1956). Allgemeine Theorie der menschlichen Haltungund Bewegung. Berlin: Springer.
Gibson, J. J. (1950). The perception of the visual world. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
Kelvin, P. (1970). The bases of social behaviour. London: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lazarus, R. S. (1982). Thoughts on the relations between emotion and cognition. American Psychologist, 37, 1019–1024.
Lazarus, R. S. (1984). On the primacy of cognition. American Psychologist, 39, 124–129.
Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). Plans and the structure of behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Schwanenberg, E. (1984). World of probability and world of meaning: Vista on affect or Miller, Galanter, and Pribram revisited. Paper presented at the VI. General Meeting of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, May 8–12, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Schwanenberg, E. (1987). Suggestion as a mode of social influence. Unpublished manuscript.
Schwanenberg, E. (in press). Suggestion as social biasing of meaning tests: A Heiderian extension of the Miller, Galanter, and Pribram paradigm catalyzing McGuire’s theory of attitude change. In V. A Gheorghiu, P. Netter, H. J. Eysenck & R. Rosenthal (Eds.), Suggestibility. Berlin: Springer.
Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151–175.
Zajonc, R. B. (1984). On the primacy of affect. American Psychologist, 39, 117–123.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Schwanenberg, E. (1990). Probability and Meaning: A Division in Behavioral Cognition Dividing Behavioral Science. In: Baker, W.J., Hyland, M.E., van Hezewijk, R., Terwee, S. (eds) Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology. Recent Research in Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9688-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9688-8_10
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-97311-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-9688-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive