A student complains, "I hate the information-processing perspective with its computer analogy. It make me feel that the person is nothing more than a ghost in a biological machine.". What are the pros and cons of this criticism?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The term "ghost in a biological machine" originated with John Watson, founder of the behaviorist perspective. He objected to the structuralist perspective that dominated psychology a century ago and focused on subjective conscious experience. For Watson, the structuralists' mentalism was unscientific because it was observable only to the thinker herself. The student's complaint reflects a humanistic concern that mechanical analogies reduce and dehumanize the richness and creativity of each person. Humanists take a holistic view of psychology, arguing that limiting our consideration to a single aspect of behavior or mental life makes us lose sight of the person's integrated wholeness of our experiences. This viewpoint is commonly held by humanists and others outside of psychology, who object against mechanistic or analytical approaches in scientific psychology. In their own defense, information-processing (IP) theorists would argue that the computer analogy is merely a metaphor that helps us understand how the child thinks and makes decisions. None would argue that the mind is controlled by a computer; yet, the metaphor helps us understand the nature of particular subprocesses that guide thought and action. The holistic approach limits psychology to the study of vague generalities, while the IP perspective allows precise scientific knowledge to be gained about fleeting mental experiences. Further, the indirect test methods pioneered by IP researchers enables the mental processes of infants to be studied and understood, even though the baby is totally unable to describe for others the contents of its thoughts.