The concept of "behavior" in psychology, epistemology, and economics. Starting from G.H. Mead

Titolo Rivista PARADIGMI
Autori/Curatori Guido Baggio
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2016/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 15 P. 119-133 Dimensione file 175 KB
DOI 10.3280/PARA2016-003008
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Mead referred to behaviorism as the science that describes human activity in terms of conduct, highlighting its importance for understanding human psychological processes. However, Mead also specified that the observation of behavior is just one of the methods of psychology. The active involvement of the individual in the social act points out the role that consciousness plays in the individual’s experience of signifying and evaluating "the world that is there". Thus Mead’s social behavioral psychology is related to his behavioral theory of meaning according to which the social character of "meaning" is expressed in the functional identity of individuals’ responses to the same sensible stimulus. Mead’s social psychology and theory of meaning also offers some useful elements to overcome critical observations that Sen has mobilized to Samuelson’s and Little’s theory of consumer behavior in economics, as well as integrating Davidson’s linguistic approach to Decision Theory. Comparison with Sen’s and Davidson’s proposals would in fact offer the occasion to argue in favor of a pragmatist theoretical approach to Decision Theory related to the communicative dimension.

Mead evidenzia l’importanza del comportamentismo di Watson per la comprensione dei processi psichici dell’essere umano. Specifica anche, però, che l’osservazione del comportamento è uno dei metodi della psicologia, non l’unico. Il coinvolgimento attivo dell’individuo nell’atto evidenzia il ruolo che la coscienza, intesa come comportamento mentale, riveste nell’esperienza di significazione del "mondo che è lì" da parte degli individui. La prospettiva meadiana chiama così in causa anche una concezione comportamentale del significato. Il significato ha natura sociale e si esprime nell’identità funzionale delle risposte comportamentali degli individui a uno stesso stimolo. Tale approccio permette un confronto con le osservazioni critiche mosse da Sen alla teoria del comportamento del consumatore attraverso la preferenza rivelata di Samuelson e Little e con la proposta di Davidson di una teoria della decisione che ponga attenzione alla dimensione interpretativa delle probabilità e desiderabilità dei soggetti. Secondo l’Autore, un confronto con le proposte di Sen e Davison permette di porre in luce il potenziale di un approccio pragmatista alla teoria della decisione connessa alla dimensione linguistico-comunicativa

Keywords:Comportamentismo, Pragmatismo, Comportamento economico, Mead, Sen, Davidson.

  1. Baggio G. (2015). La mente bio-sociale. Filosofia e psicologia in G.H. Mead. Pisa: ETS.
  2. Baggio G. (2016a). Teoria sociale della condotta umana. Il contributo di Mario Calderoni a una filosofia pragmatista dell’economia. Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, 45: 445-461.
  3. Baggio G. (2016b). Sympathy and empathy. G.H. Mead and the pragmatist basis of (neuro)economics. In: Madzia R. and Jung M., eds. Pragmatism and embodied cognitive science. Berlin: De Gruyter & Co.: 183-208.
  4. Baggio G. (2016c). Comportamento economico e semiotica pragmatista. Una proposta. B@belonline, n°1, nuova serie, Roma Tre Press: 250-268.
  5. Baggio G. (2016d). Mead’s bio-social theory of the self and the economics of happiness. For a pragmatist philosophy of economics. In: Stikkers K. and Skowronski K., eds. Philosophy in the time of crisis. New York: Routledge [forthcoming].
  6. Berger P.L. and Luckmann T. (1966). The social construction of reality. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co.
  7. Boring E.G. (1950). A history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  8. Buckley K.W. (1982). The selling of a psychologist, John Broadus Watson and the application of behavioral techniques to advertising. Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences, 18: 207-221,
  9. Caldwell B.J. (1994). Beyond positivism: economic methodology in the twentieth century. London and New York: Routledge.
  10. Carnap R. (1959). Psychology in physical language. In: Ayer A.J., ed. Logical Positivism. New York: The Free Press.
  11. Cook G.A. (1977). G.H. Mead’s social behaviorism. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 13: 307-16.
  12. Davidson D. (2001). Subjective, intersubjective, objective. London-New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. Davidson D. (1985). A new basis for decision theory. Theory and Decision, 18: 87-98,
  14. Davidson D. (1970). Mental events. In: Forster L., Swanson J.W., eds. Experience and theory. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press: 79-101.
  15. Dennett D. (1969). Content and consciousness. New York-London: Routledge & Kegan.
  16. Dewey J. (1896). The reflex are concept in psychology. In: Boydston J.-A., ed. John Dewey: The early works, Vol. 5. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972: 169-188.
  17. Dewey J. (1903). The relation of thought and its subject. In: Boydston J.-A., ed. John Dewey: The middle works, Vol. 2, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972: 298-315.
  18. Dewey J. (1929). Experience and nature. In: Boydston J.-A., ed. John Dewey: The later works, Vol. 1. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981.
  19. Dolfsma W. (2009). Institutions, communication, and value. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  20. Fennell J. (2013). Davidsonian naturalism and “a-ontological” philosophy of mind. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 5, 2: 138-156.
  21. Granovetter M. and Swedberg R., eds. The sociology of economic life. Boulder, Oxford: Westview Press.
  22. Guègen N., Martin A. and Meineri S. (2011). Mimicry and helping behavior: an evalutation of mimicry on explicit helping request. Journal of Social Psychology, 151: 1-4.
  23. Fischer-Lokou J., Martin A., Guènen N. and Lamy L. (2011). Mimicry and propagation of prosocial behavior in a natural setting. Psychological Reports, 108: 599-605.
  24. Habermas J. (1987). The theory of communicative action. Vol. 2: Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason. Boston: Beacon Press.
  25. Heidbreder E. (1969). Functionalism. In: Krantz D.L., ed. Schools of psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  26. Lakin J.L., Jefferis V.E., Cheng C.M. and Chartrand T.L. (2003). The cameleon effect as social glue: evidence for the evolutionary significance of nonconscious mimicry. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 3: 145-162.
  27. Little I.M.D. (1949). A reformulation of the theory of consumer’s behavior. Oxford Economic Papers, 1: 90-99.
  28. McDowell J. (2006). Il pragmatismo e l’intenzione in azione. In: Calcaterra R.M., a cura di. Pragmatismo e filosofia analitica. Differenze e interazioni. Macerata: Quodlibet: 49-66.
  29. Mead G.H. (1904). The relation of psychology and philology. Psychological Bulletin, 1: 375-391.
  30. Mead G.H. (1909). Social psychology as counterpart of physiological psychology. In: Reck A.J., ed. Selected writings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964: 94-104.
  31. Mead G.H. (1910a). What social objects must psychology presuppose? In: Reck A.J., ed. Selected writings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1964: 105-113.
  32. Mead G.H. (1910b). Social consciousness and the consciousness of meaning. Psychological Bulletin, 7: 397-405,
  33. Mead G.H. (1922). A behavioristic account of the significant symbol. In: Reck A.J., ed. Selected writings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964: 240-47
  34. Mead G.H. (1925). The genesis of the self and social control. In: Reck A.J., ed. Selected writings. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964: 267-93.
  35. Mead G.H. (1926). The objective reality of perspectives. In: Brightman E.S., ed. Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.: 75-85.
  36. Mead G.H. (1930). Cooley’s contribution to American social thought. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 35: 693-706.
  37. Mead G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society, ed. by C.W. Morris, Chicago: University of Chicago.
  38. Mead G.H. (1936). Movements of thought in the nineteenth century, ed. by M. H. Moore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  39. Mead G.H. (1938). The philosophy of the act, ed. by C.W. Morris, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  40. Miller D.L. (1973). George Herbert Mead. Self, language and the world. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  41. Mills J.A. (1998). Control. A history of behavioral psychology. New York: New York University Press.
  42. Morris C.W. (1946). Signs, language and behavior. New York: Prentice-Hall.
  43. Müller B.C.N., Maaskant A.J., van Baaren R.B. and Dijksterhuts A.P. (2012). Prosocial consequences of imitation. Psychological Reports, 110 (3): 891-898.
  44. Putnam H. (1980). Brains and behavior. In: Butler R.J., ed. Analytical philosophy: Second Series. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
  45. Putnam H. (2002). On the rationality of preferences. In: The collapse of the fact/value dichotomy and other essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  46. Samuelson P.A. (1938a). A note on the pure theory of consumer’s behavior. Economica, New Series, 5, 17: 61-71, DOI: 10.2307/2548836.
  47. Samuelson P.A. (1938b). A note on the pure theory of consumer’s behavior: An Addendum. Economica, New Series, 5, 19: 353-354, DOI: 10.2307/2548634
  48. Samuelson P.A. (1948). Consumption theory in terms of revealed preference. Economica, New Series, 15, 60: 243-253, DOI: 10.2307/25499561.
  49. Sellars W. (1980). Behaviorism, language and meaning. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 61: 3-30, DOI: 10.2307/2549561
  50. Sen A. (1973). Behaviour and the concept of preference. Economica, New Series, 40, 59: 241-259, DOI: 10.2307/2552796
  51. Van Baaren R.B., Holland R.W., Kawakami K. and van Knippenberg A. (2004). Mimicry and prosocial behavior. Psychological Science, 15: 71-74.
  52. Watson J.B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 2, 20: 158-177,
  53. Watson J.B. (1936). Autobiography. In: Murchison C., ed. A history of psychology in autobiography, Vol. III. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press: 271-281.
  54. Zuriff G.E. (1985). Behaviorism: A conceptual reconstruction. New York: Columbia University Press.

  • Sen and Mead on Identity, Agency, and Economic Behavior Guido Baggio, in European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy /2017
    DOI: 10.4000/ejpap.989
  • Women in Pragmatism: Past, Present and Future Michela Bella, pp.67 (ISBN:978-3-031-00920-4)

Guido Baggio, The concept of "behavior" in psychology, epistemology, and economics. Starting from G.H. Mead in "PARADIGMI" 3/2016, pp 119-133, DOI: 10.3280/PARA2016-003008