Using the proper vocabulary.
This paper makes three points. First, inferences from biological and psychological evidence pertaining to psychological constructs must use distinct vocabularies because they represent different phases of a cascade of processes. Second, there are necessarily indeterminate relations between phases of the cascade that begins with an incentive evoking a brain state which, in turn, may generate a psychological reaction and/or action. Finally, all biological and psychological phenomena occur in particular species and specific contexts; hence it is useful to append to every conclusion information on the agent and the setting in which the evidence was gathered.
Kagan
Jerome
J
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridgen, MA 02138, USA. jk@wjh.harvard.edu
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008606:Mental Processes; D012660:Semantics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014825:Vocabulary