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Field Theory In Science: Its Role As a Necessary and Sufficient Condition in Psychology

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Whereas physics has evolved through three conceptual stages, the third being that of field theory, psychology has remained largely at the second stage, that of mechanistic or statistical correlation, and it has retained even some elements of the first stage, that of substance-property. However, some accomplishments in psychology utilize a field conception. Two of these, the interbehavioral field and the subjectivity field, are closely interconnected and show parallels with modern physics. They replace single causation and self-causation, analogical explanation, biological reductionism, and psychophysical dualism with the field as a necessary and sufficient condition for a psychological event. Q methodology for subjectivity adds an objective method of studying self-reference that the interbehavioral field lacks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, New York, 12901, USA

    Noel W. Smith

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, USA

    Lance L. Smith

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  1. Noel W. Smith
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  2. Lance L. Smith
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Additional information

The authors are grateful to Steven Brown, Dennis Delprato, and Tom Sharpe, for their helpful commentaries on the manuscript. A version of this paper was presented as the invited address at the Eighth Annual Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity, University of Missouri-Columbia, October 22–24, 1992.

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Smith, N.W., Smith, L.L. Field Theory In Science: Its Role As a Necessary and Sufficient Condition in Psychology. Psychol Rec 46, 3–19 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395160

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