{"id":8680,"date":"2019-05-22T16:10:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/paradigm\/"},"modified":"2019-05-22T16:10:21","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:10:21","slug":"paradigm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/paradigm\/","title":{"rendered":"Paradigm"},"content":{"rendered":"

A vague term with a number of different meanings.  One interpretation resides with the introduction of the term into the history of science by Thomas S. Kuhn<\/a> (1922-1996) in 1962, where it means something like a world view: a set of assumptions and values, almost metaphysical in nature, shared and agreed upon by a scientific community (e.g., one working within the context of Newtonian mechanics) that delineates the legitimate problems and methods of that community’s field of research or ‘normal science’.  It forms a general conceptual framework within which theories in a particular area of research are constructed and evolve.  The vagueness of even Kuhn’s use of the term is indicated by the fact that Margaret Masterman <\/a>(1910=1986) in a paper published in 1970* could find no less than 21 meanings of ‘paradigm’.  Psychology, with a few exceptions (e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis, Skinner’s brand of behaviorism), has tended to lack paradigms in contrast with the physical sciences.  In linguistics, ‘paradigm’ means something entirely different: the class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (e.g., give, gave, giving, given are said to stand in a paradigmatic relationship to one another).  The relationships of a paradigm, or world view, to principles, theory, laws (if any), model (if any), and methods (including procedures and techniques) might be cast into a hierarchy, with downward determination from paradigm to method etc. as follows: <\/p>\n

Paradigm (mechanistic)<\/p>\n

\u2b07<\/p>\n

Principles (e.g., newborn: a bundle of reflexes)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u2b07<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Theory (e.g. reflexology)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u2b07<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Laws (e.g., law of effect)<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u2b07<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Model (what is observed: reflexes)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u2b07<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Method (how to observe)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u2b07<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Procedures –> Techniques<\/p>\n

* In: Lakatos, I., & Musgrave, A. The nature of paradigm. In Lakatos, I., & Musgrave, A. Criticism and the growth of knowledge<\/span>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970, pp. 59-90.  <\/p>\n

See Downward causation (or macrocausation)<\/a>, Hierarchy<\/a>, Law<\/a>, Linguistics<\/a>, Method<\/a>, Model<\/a>, Newtonian (or classical) mechanics<\/a>, Operant (or instrumental) conditioning<\/a>, Paradigm shift<\/a>, Principle<\/a>, Procedure<\/a>, Psychoanalysis<\/a>, Reflex<\/a>, Reflexology<\/a>, Technique<\/a>, Theory<\/p>\n

<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A vague term with a number of different meanings.  One interpretation resides with the introduction of the term into the history of science by Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996) in 1962, where it means something like a world view: a set of assumptions and values, almost metaphysical in nature, shared and agreed upon by a scientific community … <\/p>\n

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