斯宾塞 | Kenneth Spence

斯宾塞(1907-1967),

美国新行为主义心理学家,由于对条件作用和学习的理论和实验研究而著名。1955年当选为国家科学院院士,1956年获美国心理学会颁发的杰出科学贡献奖。

 

Kenneth Wartinbee Spence , a neobeahvioral psychologist, was known for his theoretical and experimental studies of conditioning and learning. His analyses and interpretations of the theories of other psychologists also were very influential. Spence was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1954 and was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychological Association (APA).



Spence's contributions fall into three major categories: (1) learning and motivation theory, (2) the experimental psychology of learning and motivation, and (3) methodology and philosophy of science. (In some of the writings on methodology and philosophy of science Gustav Bergmann was a major collaborator.) In this latter area one of Spence's contributions was to help clarify for all of us the role in psychology of operationism and the nature of theory construction, and to point out the difficulties that exist in the formulation of psychological theories. Among his insights was that psychologists, unlike physical scientists, are faced with the necessity of constructing theories even at the level of trying to establish the basic laws of behavior; because of the nature of their observations and the fact that they do not work in closed systems, psychologists cannot in most cases begin with simple empirically derived generalizations.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2699/0006/2699000633/p1/article.jhtml
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/kspence.html