Observed signs

Observable features are the basis of objectivity. It is what makes a concept operational, judgment practical, action effective.

To say «good man» is to say nothing. What are the observable signs of a good person? How do you determine that this person is good? «Suppression of emotions» — until then, will also be a dummy concept, a concept about nothing, until we define clear observable signs.

As a rule, observable signs are obvious in sensory experience through external senses: they are things that we can see, hear or feel. At the same time, the observed signs are not good behaviorism, which denies everything internal. Observable signs are not reducible to data from the external senses, they can be messages from the internal senses, if they are confidently reproduced over and over again by those whom we can consider experts in this matter.

«I believe!» or «I don’t believe it!» K.S. Stanislavsky is one of the possible criteria. If Konstantin Sergeevich says “I don’t believe”, then the actors play weakly, unprofessionally.

Observable signs can be in our inner world if, being drawn in a picture or video, they are easily recognized by other people. It seems that this is a completely working criterion of whether there is some kind of reality behind the words or not: if under any psychological concept you can find and make a video clip from the film that shows it, there is reality behind the word. This can be easily verified: in the film, thinking can be shown, inner speech can be shown, empathy can be shown, love and tenderness are easily recognizable …

If it is impossible to find this in any film, it seems that psychologists have come up with something that people do not observe in life.

Observed signs and interpretations

In the video clip, we see that the mother holds the child in her arms and lowers or almost lowers the child to the floor several times. We see that the child begins to scream with a displeased expression at the moment when the mother begins to lower him to the floor, and stops when the mother again holds him in her arms. This is an objective, and interpretations can be very different. If our sympathies are on the side of the mother, we will say that the child is trying to train the mother, and the mother calmly studies his behavior. If our sympathies are on the side of the child, we will say that the mother is mocking him. “Mocking” is already an interpretation, behind which there are emotions. And science begins with the fact that we push emotions aside, science begins with the objective and observable signs.

Interview

In our survey, we asked students from the University of Practical Psychology to evaluate the following concepts: «Irresponsible behavior, the position of the Victim», «Unconscious desire (a deep desire according to Freud, as opposed to a random impulse, the manifestation of old habits or desires that are simply not very conscious)», «Personal growth (as opposed to personal development or the usual acquisition of life experience)”, “Responsible behavior, the expressiveness of the Author’s position”, “Psychological trauma (as opposed to anger at the trouble that has occurred or the desire to suffer under a plausible pretext)”, “The need for communication (in difference from desire and interest in communication)”, “Self-acceptance”, “Enlightenment”, “Centropupism” and “Egoism”

Namely, we asked them to answer the question which of the concepts they consider to be working, having observable signs, suitable for responsible use in practical work. Almost unanimously, the concepts of «Responsible behavior, the expressiveness of the Author’s position», «Irresponsible behavior, the position of the Victim», «Personal growth» and «Centropupism» were positively noted. As the most obscure, with no definite observable features, «Enlightenment», «Need for communication», «Psychological trauma» and «Unconscious desire» were noted.

And what do you think about this?