Mathematical Psychology

This project investigates mathematical psychology's historical and philosophical foundations to clarify its distinguishing characteristics and relationships to adjacent fields. Through gathering primary sources, histories, and interviews with researchers, author Prof. Colin Allen - University of Pittsburgh [1, 2, 3] and his students Osman Attah, Brendan Fleig-Goldstein, Mara McGuire, and Dzintra Ullis have identified three central questions:

What makes the use of mathematics in mathematical psychology reasonably effective, in contrast to other sciences like physics-inspired mathematical biology or symbolic cognitive science?
How does the mathematical approach in mathematical psychology differ from other branches of psychology, like psychophysics and psychometrics?
What is the appropriate relationship of mathematical psychology to cognitive science, given diverging perspectives on aligning with this field?

Preliminary findings emphasize data-driven modeling, skepticism of cognitive science alignments, and early reliance on computation. They will further probe the interplay with cognitive neuroscience and contrast rational-analysis approaches. By elucidating the motivating perspectives and objectives of different eras in mathematical psychology's development, they aim to understand its past and inform constructive dialogue on its philosophical foundations and future directions. This project intends to provide a conceptual roadmap for the field through integrated history and philosophy of science.

The Project: Integrating History and Philosophy of Mathematical Psychology

This project aims to integrate historical and philosophical perspectives to elucidate the foundations of mathematical psychology. As Norwood Hanson stated, history without philosophy is blind, while philosophy without history is empty. The goal is to find a middle ground between the contextual focus of history and the conceptual focus of philosophy.

The team acknowledges that all historical accounts are imperfect, but some can provide valuable insights. The history of mathematical psychology is difficult to tell without centering on the influential Stanford group. Tracing academic lineages and key events includes part of the picture, but more context is needed to fully understand the field's development.

The project draws on diverse sources, including research interviews, retrospective articles, formal histories, and online materials. More interviews and research will further flesh out the historical and philosophical foundations. While incomplete, the current analysis aims to identify important themes, contrasts, and questions that shaped mathematical psychology's evolution. Ultimately, the goal is an integrated historical and conceptual roadmap to inform contemporary perspectives on the field's identity and future directions.

The Rise of Mathematical Psychology

The history of efforts to mathematize psychology traces back to the quantitative imperative stemming from the Galilean scientific revolution. This imprinted the notion that proper science requires mathematics, leading to "physics envy" in other disciplines like psychology.

Many early psychologists argued psychology needed to become mathematical to be scientific. However, mathematizing psychology faced complications absent in the physical sciences. Objects in psychology were not readily present as quantifiable, provoking heated debates on whether psychometric and psychophysical measurements were meaningful.

Nonetheless, the desire to develop mathematical psychology persisted. Different approaches grappled with determining the appropriate role of mathematics in relation to psychological experiments and data. For example, Herbart favored starting with mathematics to ensure accuracy, while Fechner insisted experiments must come first to ground mathematics.

Tensions remain between data-driven versus theory-driven mathematization of psychology. Contemporary perspectives range from psychometric and psychophysical stances that foreground data to measurement-theoretical and computational approaches that emphasize formal models.

Elucidating how psychologists negotiated to apply mathematical methods to an apparently resistant subject matter helps reveal the evolving role and place of mathematics in psychology. This historical interplay shaped the emergence of mathematical psychology as a field.

The Distinctive Mathematical Approach of Mathematical Psychology

What sets mathematical psychology apart from other branches of psychology in its use of mathematics?

Several key aspects stand out:

Advocating quantitative methods broadly. Mathematical psychology emerged partly to push psychology to embrace quantitative modeling and mathematics beyond basic statistics.
Drawing from diverse mathematical tools. With greater training in mathematics, mathematical psychologists utilize more advanced and varied mathematical techniques like topology and differential geometry.
Linking models and experiments. Mathematical psychologists emphasize tightly connecting experimental design and statistical analysis, with experiments created to test specific models.
Favoring theoretical models. Mathematical psychology incorporates "pure" mathematical results and prefers analytic, hand-fitted models over data-driven computer models.
Seeking general, cumulative theory. Unlike just describing data, mathematical psychology aspires to abstract, general theory supported across experiments, cumulative progress in models, and mathematical insight into psychological mechanisms.

So while not unique to mathematical psychology, these key elements help characterize how its use of mathematics diverges from adjacent fields like psychophysics and psychometrics. Mathematical psychology carved out an identity embracing quantitative methods but also theoretical depth and broad generalization.

Situating Mathematical Psychology Relative to Cognitive Science

What is the appropriate perspective on mathematical psychology's relationship to cognitive psychology and cognitive science? While connected historically and conceptually, essential distinctions exist.

Mathematical psychology draws from diverse disciplines that are also influential in cognitive science, like computer science, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. However, mathematical psychology appears more skeptical of alignments with cognitive science.

For example, cognitive science prominently adopted the computer as a model of the human mind, while mathematical psychology focused more narrowly on computers as modeling tools.

Additionally, mathematical psychology seems to take a more critical stance towards purely simulation-based modeling in cognitive science, instead emphasizing iterative modeling tightly linked to experimentation.

Overall, mathematical psychology exhibits significant overlap with cognitive science but strongly asserts its distinct mathematical orientation and modeling perspectives. Elucidating this complex relationship remains an ongoing project, but preliminary analysis suggests mathematical psychology intentionally diverged from cognitive science in its formative development.

This establishes mathematical psychology's separate identity while retaining connections to adjacent disciplines at the intersection of mathematics, psychology, and computation.

Looking Ahead: Open Questions and Future Research

This historical and conceptual analysis of mathematical psychology's foundations has illuminated key themes, contrasts, and questions that shaped the field's development. Further research can build on these preliminary findings.

Additional work is needed to flesh out the fuller intellectual, social, and political context driving the evolution of mathematical psychology. Examining the influences and reactions of key figures will provide a richer picture.

Ongoing investigation can probe whether the identified tensions and contrasts represent historical artifacts or still animate contemporary debates. Do mathematical psychologists today grapple with similar questions on the role of mathematics and modeling?

Further analysis should also elucidate the nature of the purported bidirectional relationship between modeling and experimentation in mathematical psychology. As well, clarifying the diversity of perspectives on goals like generality, abstraction, and cumulative theory-building would be valuable.

Finally, this research aims to spur discussion on philosophical issues such as realism, pluralism, and progress in mathematical psychology models. Is the accuracy and truth value of models an important consideration or mainly beside the point? And where is the field headed - towards greater verisimilitude or an indefinite balancing of complexity and abstraction?

By spurring reflection on this conceptual foundation, this historical and integrative analysis hopes to provide a roadmap to inform constructive dialogue on mathematical psychology's identity and future trajectory.

The SDTEST^®

The SDTEST^® is a simple and fun tool to uncover our unique motivational values that use mathematical psychology of varying complexity.

The SDTEST^® helps us better understand ourselves and others on this lifelong path of self-discovery.

Here are reports of polls which SDTEST^® makes:

1) Virksomheders handlinger i relation til personale i den sidste måned (ja / nej)

2) Handlinger af virksomheder i forhold til personale i den sidste måned (faktum i%)

3) Frygt.

4) Største problemer står overfor mit land

5) Hvilke kvaliteter og evner bruger gode ledere, når de bygger succesrige hold?

6) Google. Faktorer, der påvirker teamets effektiv

7) De vigtigste prioriteter for jobsøgende

8) Hvad gør en chef til en stor leder?

9) Hvad gør folk succesrige på arbejdet?

10) Er du klar til at modtage mindre løn for at arbejde eksternt?

11) Eksisterer ageisme?

12) Alderisme i karriere

13) Alderisme i livet

14) Årsager til alder

15) Årsager til, at folk giver op (af Anna Vital)

16) TILLID (#WVS)

17) Oxford Happiness Survey

18) Psykologisk velvære

19) Hvor ville være din næste mest spændende mulighed?

20) Hvad vil du gøre i denne uge for at passe på din mentale sundhed?

21) Jeg lever og tænker på min fortid, nutid eller fremtid

22) Meritokrati

23) Kunstig intelligens og civilisationens afslutning

24) Hvorfor udsætter folk?

25) Kønsforskel i opbygning af selvtillid (IFD Allensbach)

26) Xing.com kulturvurdering

27) Patrick Lencionis "de fem dysfunktioner af et hold"

28) Empati er ...

29) Hvad er vigtigt for IT -specialister i at vælge et jobtilbud?

30) Hvorfor folk modstår forandring (af Siobhán McHale)

31) Hvordan regulerer du dine følelser? (af Nawal Mustafa M.A.)

32) 21 færdigheder, der betaler dig for evigt (af Jeremiah Teo / 赵汉昇)

33) Rigtig frihed er ...

34) 12 måder at opbygge tillid hos andre (af Justin Wright)

35) Karakteristika for en talentfuld medarbejder (af Talent Management Institute)

36) 10 nøgler til at motivere dit team

37) Samvittighedens algebra (af Vladimir Lefebvre)

38) Fremtidens tre distinkte muligheder (af Dr. Clare W. Graves)

39) Handlinger for at opbygge urokkelig selvtillid (af Suren Samarchyan)

40)

Below you can read an abridged version of the results of our VUCA poll “Fears“. The full version of the results is available for free in the FAQ section after login or registration.

Frygt.

Diagrammer Korrelation

VUCA

Kritisk værdi af korrelationskoefficienten

Normal distribution af William Sealy Gosset (studerende) r = 0.0318

Ikke normal distribution af Spearman r = 0.0013

Vis kun resultater > r = 0.0318

Fordeling	Ikke normal	Ikke normal	Ikke normal	Normal	Normal	Normal	Normal	Normal
Alle spørgsmål Alle spørgsmål Min største frygt er
Min største frygt er
Answer 1	-	Svag positiv 0.0548	Svag positiv 0.0285	Svag negativ -0.0173	Svag positiv 0.0940	Svag positiv 0.0358	Svag negativ -0.0156	Svag negativ -0.1560
Answer 2	-	Svag positiv 0.0192	Svag negativ -0.0048	Svag negativ -0.0394	Svag positiv 0.0659	Svag positiv 0.0491	Svag positiv 0.0117	Svag negativ -0.0981
Answer 3	-	Svag negativ -0.0003	Svag negativ -0.0088	Svag negativ -0.0450	Svag negativ -0.0440	Svag positiv 0.0471	Svag positiv 0.0739	Svag negativ -0.0191
Answer 4	-	Svag positiv 0.0429	Svag positiv 0.0271	Svag negativ -0.0230	Svag positiv 0.0182	Svag positiv 0.0351	Svag positiv 0.0239	Svag negativ -0.0995
Answer 5	-	Svag positiv 0.0273	Svag positiv 0.1298	Svag positiv 0.0101	Svag positiv 0.0772	Svag negativ -0.0006	Svag negativ -0.0183	Svag negativ -0.1784
Answer 6	-	Svag negativ -0.0026	Svag positiv 0.0050	Svag negativ -0.0621	Svag negativ -0.0081	Svag positiv 0.0240	Svag positiv 0.0856	Svag negativ -0.0346
Answer 7	-	Svag positiv 0.0105	Svag positiv 0.0339	Svag negativ -0.0661	Svag negativ -0.0304	Svag positiv 0.0517	Svag positiv 0.0686	Svag negativ -0.0515
Answer 8	-	Svag positiv 0.0635	Svag positiv 0.0732	Svag negativ -0.0275	Svag positiv 0.0143	Svag positiv 0.0370	Svag positiv 0.0172	Svag negativ -0.1336
Answer 9	-	Svag positiv 0.0734	Svag positiv 0.1618	Svag positiv 0.0069	Svag positiv 0.0644	Svag negativ -0.0109	Svag negativ -0.0489	Svag negativ -0.1811
Answer 10	-	Svag positiv 0.0764	Svag positiv 0.0679	Svag negativ -0.0139	Svag positiv 0.0290	Svag positiv 0.0338	Svag negativ -0.0123	Svag negativ -0.1342
Answer 11	-	Svag positiv 0.0634	Svag positiv 0.0535	Svag negativ -0.0091	Svag positiv 0.0113	Svag positiv 0.0238	Svag positiv 0.0247	Svag negativ -0.1260
Answer 12	-	Svag positiv 0.0449	Svag positiv 0.0941	Svag negativ -0.0341	Svag positiv 0.0342	Svag positiv 0.0332	Svag positiv 0.0255	Svag negativ -0.1534
Answer 13	-	Svag positiv 0.0691	Svag positiv 0.0966	Svag negativ -0.0393	Svag positiv 0.0295	Svag positiv 0.0417	Svag positiv 0.0148	Svag negativ -0.1626
Answer 14	-	Svag positiv 0.0775	Svag positiv 0.0903	Svag negativ -0.0019	Svag negativ -0.0089	Svag positiv 0.0048	Svag positiv 0.0140	Svag negativ -0.1223
Answer 15	-	Svag positiv 0.0544	Svag positiv 0.1280	Svag negativ -0.0345	Svag positiv 0.0152	Svag negativ -0.0178	Svag positiv 0.0236	Svag negativ -0.1158
Answer 16	-	Svag positiv 0.0703	Svag positiv 0.0262	Svag negativ -0.0371	Svag negativ -0.0377	Svag positiv 0.0697	Svag positiv 0.0204	Svag negativ -0.0788

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[1] https://twitter.com/wileyprof

[2] https://colinallen.dnsalias.org

[3] https://philpeople.org/profiles/colin-allen

2023.10.13

Valerii Kosenko

Produktejer SaaS SDTEST®

Valerii blev uddannet socialpædagog-psykolog i 1993 og har siden anvendt sin viden i projektledelse.
Valerii opnåede en kandidatgrad og projekt- og programlederkvalifikationen i 2013. I løbet af sin kandidatuddannelse blev han fortrolig med Project Roadmap (GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e. V.) og Spiral Dynamics.
Valerii er forfatteren til at udforske usikkerheden i V.U.C.A. koncept ved hjælp af Spiral Dynamics og matematisk statistik i psykologi, og 38 internationale meningsmålinger.

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