Rachlin H
Department, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794.
Am Psychol. 1992 Nov;47(11):1371-82. doi: 10.1037//0003-066x.47.11.1371.
A psychological science of efficient causes, using internal mechanisms to explain overt behavior, is distinguished from another psychological science, based on Aristotelian final causes, using external objects and goals to explain overt behavior. Efficient-cause psychology is designed to answer the question of how a particular act is emitted; final-cause psychology is designed to answer the question of why a particular act is emitted. Physiological psychology, modern cognitive psychology, and some parts of behaviorism including Skinnerian behaviorism are efficient-cause psychologies; final-cause psychology, a development of Skinnerian behaviorism, is here called teleological behaviorism. Each of these two conceptions of causality in psychology implies a different view of the mind, hence a different meaning of mental terms.
一门关于动力因的心理科学,运用内部机制来解释公开行为,它与另一门基于亚里士多德目的因的心理科学不同,后者运用外部对象和目标来解释公开行为。动力因心理学旨在回答特定行为是如何发出的问题;目的因心理学旨在回答特定行为为何发出的问题。生理心理学、现代认知心理学以及包括斯金纳行为主义在内的行为主义的某些部分属于动力因心理学;目的因心理学是斯金纳行为主义的一种发展,在此被称为目的论行为主义。心理学中这两种因果关系概念中的每一种都意味着对心智的不同看法,因此心理学术语也有不同的含义。