The intention of this paper is to present a mathematical formalism that can be used to state anything that can be stated in natural language. The formalism is a formalization of a conceptual analysis due to P. G. Ossorio; there is nothing new here, conceptually. The contribution of this paper...
When we acquire a concept there is an extended family of possible ways of acting on it. We may, for example, use it in recognizing instances or non-instances and treating them accordingly. We may also use it in hypothesizing, imagining, predicting, wondering, instructing, speculating, asking, wishing, demanding, denying, pondering, or...
A survey assessment was made of mental-health-related needs among the Indochinese refugees in the Denver metropolitan area. The survey form used involved separate assessments for thirteen basic human needs, ten life area satisfactions, twenty-three psychological effects, seventeen psychophysiological indicators, and corresponding global scores. Analyses of age, sex, and ethnic sub9roups...
This report is a transcript of a talk delivered to the First Unitarian Fellowship, Boulder, Colorado on November 5, 1978. "The main reason I'm here today is that Earlene suggested a general topic that would be of interest to this group, and it's one that I have had some experience...
The purpose of this report is to delineate (a) two general research paradigms, (b) the relation of these paradigms to evaluation research methodology, and (c) the derivation of these paradigms from certain Descriptive Psychological schemas for representing real world phenomena. This report discusses the Actor-Observer-Critic Schema; the Precauthion-Assurance Paradigm; Process...
This report identifies some problems that may arise with research conducted by psychologists and philosophers, either in collaborations or by use of each other's research data. It is written as a warning to members of each discipline to remind them of potential problems they may encounter with indisciplinary research.
Transcript of a series of lectures and discussions on personality and personality theories which took place during the summer of 1976. Participants in the discussion are not identified, except for Peter Ossorio. Discussions about personality formation and theory, focusing on various aspects surrounding the interplay of knowledge, values, and ability....
Meaning and Symbolism was in part an attempt to present a comprehensive summary of thinking and research in Descriptive Psychology some five years after its overt beginning with the writing of "Persons" in 1964. In addition, it contained the first systematic Descriptive treatment of linguistic behavior. To date, it is...
The present report was written in 1971. The intent was to delineate an information processing system of an advanced type which would be capable of duplicating some of the essential characteristics of human behavior and some important achievements currently accomplished only by human beings. Probably the system described herein (the...
Report is based on a series of seminar discussions held during the summer of 1976. The text of the report is a transcript of tape recordings of the ten sessions. The discussions were of an exploratory sort. The major thrust was the use of Descriptive Psychological concepts in elucidating the...