S.B. – 7
Objective Definitions and Communication

A characteristic of science is that it allows a maximizing of communication. Terminology in science is precise and useful only if it denotes a single defined concept, that is, one that is defined by a unique set of operations or properties.

The labeling of behavior does not substitute for an explanation. For example, consider the following answers to the question, “Why does the rat press the bar?” Answers that have been given in the author’s class were that the rat “hopes for water,” “thinks of the water,” “has self-preservation,” “knows that water is coming,” “has a drive for water,” “wishes for the water,” or “has an unconscious craving for water.”

There is a lot of extra baggage here. These answers suggest a variety of influences inside the person. These are inadequate. What is needed is what
conditions change in the environment which produce pressing the bar.

Everyday language, compared with the language of science, is usually ambiguous. When the poet uses language, he/she exploits the ambiguity, and when we talk in ordinary life we use ambiguity in order to get by. In science we try to get rid of that; we try to talk in such terms that match our talk with what we do. When we move from common sense into scientific things, we also use observations and experiments. (See Robert Oppenheimer.”Analogy in Science.” American Psychologist, vol. 11, March, 1956, p. 128.)

If you listen to people around you talk, you will probably be surprised to notice how many times circular exchanges such as the following occur:
ONE:
Joe: “John cries because he is emotional.”
Bob: “How do you know John is emotional?”
Joe: “Well, look at him cry!”
TWO:
Mary: “John has been playing the piano for two hours straight now. He sure has an interest in his work.”
Bill: “How do you know he has an interest?”
Mary: “Look how long he plays.”
THREE:
John: “Why doesn’t Mary walk?”
Bob: “Well, she does not walk because she is severely mentally retarded, and some are so severely mentally retarded that they don’t walk.”
John: “I see, but what is the reason for it?”
Bob: “She’s slow in walking, you see that for yourself.”
John: “I see, and what is responsible for her slow development?”
Bob: “It is the fact that she is mentally retarded.”
John: “I see, and how do you know that she is mentally retarded?”
Bob: “Why, you can see for yourself. See how she behaves? She doesn’t walk, she doesn’t talk, she isn’t toilet trained, and doesn’t do many other things like a mentally normal child.”

Circularity of this type (see examples 1-3 above) is apparent when we ask the investigator, “How do you know she is retarded?” and the answer is, “See how she behaves.” The behavior is fallaciously explained in terms of the concept, and the concept is verified by the behavior.

7-1. When a term which is first used to describe a behavior is then used to explain the same behavior, we have an example of reasoning that is _________.
A. circular
B. good
C. logical
D. inductive
E. deductive

Answer. (A)

A person does not smile because s/he is cheerful; on the contrary, we say s/he is cheerful (a description) on the basis of behavior s/he exhibits (smiling). Describing a behavior is not the same as discovering the cause.

7-2. The school psychologist who redundantly explains John’s constant fighting with the statement, “John fights because he is hostile-aggressive,” is really not saying more than the redundant ______________________.
A. John fights because he’s bored.
B. John fights because he’s small.
C. John fights because he hates other children.
D. John fights because he fights.

Answer. (D)

Terminology in science is only useful to the degree that it denotes a single precisely defined concept, i.e. one that is delineated by a unique set of
properties. All terms must be defined in terms of steps that were carried out in observation or measurement of the term. Objective definitions are based on the validity of the procedures employed in arriving at the findings.

Objectivity facilitates communication and points out meaningless questions by eliminating
1. obscurity – uncertainty of what a given term means, if it means anything at all
2. ambiguity – multiple, or plural, meanings
3. vagueness – the lack of preciseness in the use of terms

An area of study acquires the status of being science by the method of study it employs, rather than by the nature of its subject matter. The physicist P. W. Bridgman (see The Logic of Modern Physics, 1927) is responsible for a procedure called operationalism. Bridgman’s basic notion was that a concept is synonymous with the corresponding set of operations used to measure the concept.

7-3. P. W. Bridgman introduced a process of scientific study known as __________.

Answer. (operationalism)

7-4. Operational definitions __________
A. explain behavior in terms of internal causes.
B. are identical to definitions found in dictionaries.
C. reduce vagueness in communications.
D. represent the relationships between 5 independently defined concepts.

Answer. (C)

Before we can study the effect of punishment on anxiety, we must operationally define anxiety. One could define it in terms of different measures. Anxiety might be defined in terms of a reading on a lie detector or a Galvanic Skin Response machine. The procedure is to place two electrodes on the palm of the subject’s hand and place a small voltage across these electrodes. One can measure the resistance of the skin with an ohmmeter.

A second alternative for an operational definition of anxiety might be a set of questions answered by the subject. The answers to these questions would then be considered the operational definition of anxiety. One could come up with various other operational definitions of anxiety, i.e. verbal statements of anxiety, pulse rate, etc.

Likewise, motivation or drive might be operationally defined as
(1) hours of food deprivation
(2) blood sugar level
(3) amount of behavior which a given stimulus produces
(4) verbal statements like “Gee, I am motivated.”

Any of these definitions of motivation would have advantages over the circular use of the term motivation as illustrated below:
Person A: “Look at John working so hard to get to the apple. I wonder why he works so hard.”
Person B: “He works hard because he is motivated.”
Person A: “How can you tell he is motivated?”
Person B: “Look how hard he works.”

7-5. Operational definitions come in to existence to facilitate communications by reducing vagueness of meaning.
A. True
B. False

Answer. (A)

7-6. By insisting that concepts contain an operational basis, it becomes easy to detect those assertions which cannot be answered by experimentation.
A. True
B. False

Answer. (A)

7-7. Operationalism refers to _______________________.
A. definitions found in a dictionary
B. relating inner events to an observed response
C. unscientific explanations of behavior
D. identification of inner unobservable causes of behavior
E. None of the above

Answer. (E)

7-8. The specification of the procedure which establishes a scientific concept is called _____________.

Answer. (operationalism)

7-9. An operational definition of intelligence would describe the procedures in terms of which intelligence is assessed. Which of the following is closest to an operational definition of intelligence? (AID: Which one refers to the actual procedure you use to get a measure of intelligence?)
A. power of mental understanding
B. ability to comprehend mental events
C. mental alertness
D. score on a particular test

Answer. (D)