Tilting at the paper mills of academe.
1981; American Psychological Association; Volume: 36; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1037/0003-066x.36.2.149
ISSN1935-990X
Autores Tópico(s)Cognitive Science and Education Research
ResumoErrant authors of empirical learning re- ports are often dashed to earth by editorial reviewers, who castigate them for trivial departures from the or- thodox associative paradigms subserving a vacuous gen- eral-process notion, which allows no consideration of specialized structures in humans or in beasts. Paradig- matic illustrations of immediate reinforcement were not subjected to the same zealous scrutiny, thus some classic experiments proved to be classic blunders. Im- mediate-reinforcement notions owe more to simplistic ideas of profit in a free-market economy than to em- pirical associationism. John Locke did not assume an unstructured neonate mind; he recognized natural con- nections as well as nurtured ones. He proposed neu- rological specificity of sensations over a century before J. Mu'ller and noted the existence of specialized taste- illness pathways nearly three centuries before J. Garcia. My material is drawn > from the field of learning and my title from a misadventure of that legend- ary knight,.Don Quixote de la Mancha (Cervantes, 1605/1867?). Sighting 30 or 40 large windmills newly established in South Central Spain during an energy crisis, when long droughts had stilled the waterwheels on the Rio Zancara, Don Quixote perceived them to be giant demons, threatening him with their multiple arms. He spurred his steed, Rocinante, charging the mills in God's good service to wipe so evil a breed off the face of the earth. The errant knight and his noble steed were swept into the air by the giant arms and dashed to earth again. The good squire, Sancho Panza, picked up his befuddled master and offered him a mecha- nistic and pedestrian explanation: They are only windmills. But Don Quixote defended his more
Referência(s)