[George Herbert Mead. Thought as the conversation of interior gestures].
For George Herbert Mead, thinking amounts to holding an "inner conversation of gestures ". Such a conception does not seem especially original at first glance. What makes it truly original is the "social-behavioral" approach of which it is a part, and, particularly, two ideas. The first is that the conversation in question is a conversation of gestures or attitudes, and the second, that thought and reflexive intelligence arise from the internalization of an external process supported by the social mechanism of communication: that of conduct organization. It imports then to understand what distinguishes such ideas from those of the founder of behavioral psychology, John B. Watson, for whom thinking amounts to nothing other than subvocal speech.
Centre d'etude des mouvements sociaux, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, 54, boulevard raspail, F-75006, Paris. quere@ehess.fr
Louis
L
Quéré
D001527:Behaviorism / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D011593:Psychology, Social / Q000266:history*