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The Living Fossil of Human Judgment

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Abstract

Although the biases and anomalies characterizing psychometric data should serve as conclusive evidence of systematic flaws in scientific methodology, these problems are usually ignored, which reduces empirical psychology to the closed system of its error theory. However, psychometric scores are ambiguous, and response-shifts and fluctuating validities point to fundamental differences in what the measuring-apparatus questionnaire records and how the measuring-apparatus person judges. Therefore, empirical methods fail when psychology requires evidence-based knowledge about cognitive processes and phenomena. Correcting these flaws requires a reassessment of basic scientific premises and careful consideration of Homo sapiens’ biosemiotic heuristics. Based on comprehensive biopsychosocial, data, the author reconstructs the evolutionary axioms of self-referenced cognitions and reveals what is usually obscured by the axioms of normal science. He substantiates the need for a paradigm shift toward basic bio–cultural principles and an evolutionary understanding of human thinking and behavior.

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Notes

  1. Although “bio-psycho-social” is usually not hyphenated, the hyphenated version is used in this paper to underscore to the unresolved scientific and institutional issues related to this concept.

  2. German statutory pension insurance scheme.

  3. Cases were classified as losers when no difference between t1 (beginning of treatment) and t2 (end of treatment) was observed or when the t2 score indicated a worsening effect compared with the t1 score. The winner classification included all other cases.

  4. Computationally, the items were dichotomized according to the scale labels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reha-Zentrum Borkum - Klinik Borkum Riff, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, Hindenburgstr. 126, 26757, Borkum, Germany

    Michael Schwarz

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Correspondence to Michael Schwarz.

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Schwarz, M. The Living Fossil of Human Judgment. Integr. psych. behav. 48, 211–237 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-014-9262-6

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