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Alternative views of behavior settings: A response to Schoggen
Author(s) -
Perkins David V.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198810)16:4<387::aid-jcop2290160404>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - grasp , epistemology , dialectic , heuristic , psychology , social psychology , empirical research , computer science , philosophy , programming language
The methods used and the meanings attached to phenomena in the social sciences are never investigator‐free, and our grasp of the methods and objects of scientific study is extended through critical debate. To illustrate, this rejoinder defends several alternative interpretations regarding important aspects of Barker and Schoggen's behavior setting theory. For example, the incommensurateness of person and environment is most usefully understood as a dialectical kind of problem, valid in some respects but not in others. Similarly, whether settings are better understood as pre‐existing contours in the stream of behavior, or as tools that are constantly invented and reinvented by humans to meet specific needs, is not an “either/or” question. Like behavior setting theory itself, the empirical findings of such landmark work as the Big School, Small School study (Barker, 1964) are open to multiple interpretations. Consideration of a range of alternative approaches and interpretations has a heuristic effect on behavior setting theory and on its implications for community psychology.