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THEORETICAL CONCEPTS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Author(s) -
Coan Richard W.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
british journal of statistical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.157
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 2044-8317
pISSN - 0950-561X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8317.1964.tb00257.x
Subject(s) - existentialism , epistemology , consciousness , psychology , scheme (mathematics) , psychology of science , management science , mathematics , philosophy , engineering , mathematical analysis
A more comprehensive scheme for classifying theoretical concepts is needed to clarify the issues involved in choosing concepts for psychology. The scheme here proposed concentrates on distinctions of observational and ontological status which seem basic to such issues. Psychology can best advance as a science through a more liberal acceptance of various types of concepts whose use is at present too often rejected, notably concepts embodying existential hypotheses, or designating so‐called ‘private’ phenomena of consciousness.