Folk Psychology.
Folk psychology is ordinary day people`s thoughts about psychology. It
is based on the facts that people do certain things because they Want
to and Believe that by doing so they may reach a Wanted goal.
-eg. Why did X. put on a jacket before going out in the rain? Because
he wanted to put something on as he believed that by doing so he would
prevent himself from getting wet, being this his wanted goal.
This type of psychology does not explain what it does actually mean "to
want to do" something as we all know what it feels like but we do not
know what wanting actually is, as in what are the processes involved in
wanting, what is happening in your head that generates the feeling of
wanting. But we all believe that this psychology gives a satisfactory
explanation, because we have all experienced what it is like to want
and therefore we understand the actions of others knowing that we would
behave the same way if we wanted and believed the same things.
As this psychology actually does not tell us what are the mechanisms, the
psycho-physiological causes that give rise to this feeling, by definition the
answers that it provides are not GOOD answers and therefore needs an other
science to came and rescue it (in this case cognitive psychology).
In other words F.P. is what we say everyday, "I know why you did that!"
based on our personal experiences.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Feb 13 2001 - 16:23:47 GMT