susan stares at an orange vase and reports her PERCEPTION of the color. Is this called- introspection, objective reporting, imagination, or behavioral observation?

-- Jo Hull (jhull1@iprimus.com.au), May 31, 2001

Answers

Response to psychology

It would depend on the interests and theoretical persuations of the researcher. If one just wants to know what color the vase is, it is a (fallible) objective report. If one wants to know about Susan's subjective experience, and believes in the reliablility of introspection, then it would be (a report of) an introspection. I'm not sure how imagination fits in (the word itself is highly equivocal). If one were a behaviorist, then the utterance "orange" would be the regarded as the behavioral response to two conjoined stimuli: the presence of the vase and the question, "What color is it?" (along with Susan's conditioning history, of course).

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), May 31, 2001.