认知心理学的实用性转向

认知心理学实用性转向的根本涵义在于强调认知对于行动的效用与价值。传统认知心理学视认知系统的主要工作是怎样精确地 “表征” 世界,以便在大脑中建立一个外部世界的心理模型。实用性转向则强调认知系统的主要工作不是 “表征” 或 “反映”,而是指导有机体更有效地行动,认知是有 “效用” 的,它的效用就在于指导有机体适应和改造环境的活动。认知产生于行动、服务于行动,与行动水乳交融。这些理论观点来源于实用主义哲学。詹姆斯、杜威等人的经典实用主义对行动和效果的强调深刻影响了部分认知心理学家,促使他们放弃表征为中心的认知观而转向行动导向的认知观。在作者看来,由于这种转向强调了认知的 “效用”,因而对于认知心理学的健康发展将产生积极影响。

The Pragmatic Turn in Cognitive Psychology

In recent decades, there is a pragmatic turn in cognitive science in general and in cognitive psychology in particular. Instead of emphasizing formal operations on abstract symbols, the pragmatic turn focuses attention on the fact that cognitive processes occur in very particular environments, are employed for very practical ends, and exploits the possibility of interaction with external world. The basic meaning of the pragmatic turn is to emphasize the utility and value of cognition to action. In a sense, traditional cognitive psychology is not “pragmatic”, because it is about “representation” and “computation” “ in the head”, which is separated from bodily action. Ever since its establishment as a researching paradigm, cognitive psychology has been dominated by a computational-representational view of cognition, which has become the mainstream in cognitive psychology in 1960s. The key proposition that characterize this old-fashioned representation-centered paradigm are that cognition is a computation over mental representations. According to the paradigm, the brain is like a computer: the physical structure of the brain is like the hardware of a computer, and the cognitive process is like the software of a computer. However, over the past few decades, cognitive psychology is witnessing a pragmatic turn away from the traditional representation-centered paradigm of cognition toward one that focuses on considering cognition as being “enactive”. It emphasizes the idea that cognition is for action, and that this action-orientation shapes most cognitive processes. Cognition has pragmatic "utility", and its utility lies in guiding organisms to act more effectively, rather than representing the world and establishing mental models of the external world. The key assumptions of this pragmatic view are: (1) cognition is not a way of "representation", but an embodied action. Fundamentally, cognition is a way of physical activity, and the main task of the cognitive system is to structure environmental information by the actions of organisms. (2) Cognition is inseparable from bodily action. The cognitive structure comes from the recurring mode of sensorimotor contingency. (3) cognitive agent do not "reflect" the world, but “enact” or “bring forth” a world by action. (4) The cognitive system is extended into environment, and environment is an active component of the cognitive system. (5) There is no clear dividing line between so-called "higher" cognitive processes and "lower" sensorimotor abilities. Higher cognitive processes such as thinking, reasoning and imagination are rooted in, and based on, the sensorimotor contingency of the organism. In the past, it was generally believed that the pragmatic turn was mainly influenced by the body phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, and little attention was paid to the effect of classical pragmatism on the pragmatic turn. In fact, the pragmatic philosophy of James and Dewey is the philosophical basis of this turn. James and Dewey et al. 's pragmatism emphasis on bodily action and practice has deeply influenced some cognitive psychologists, urging them to give up the view of representation-centered cognition and turn to the view of action-oriented cognition. In the author's opinion, the pragmatic turn will have a positive impact on the healthy development of cognitive psychology because it emphasizes the "utility" and “practice” of cognition.