What is the Social Impact of Behavioral Generalizations?

pact of these generalizations, a useful approach might
be to focus on those behavioral generalizations that
have emerged from the behavioral sciences literature,
because those that have emerged from other sources, as
Simonton suggests, often provided hypotheses for be­
havioral research.

So, if we consider the science of behavior as the
source of behavioral generalizations that represent or
identify the critical contributions of our field, questions
might be raised concerning their impact. Why are gen­
eralizations that emerge from the behavioral sciences
often dismissed by even well-educated members of
society and, thus, are unlikely to influence public pol­
icy? From the viewpoint of the individual, do behav­
ioral generalizations imply that the individual is
ultimately responsible for his or her own behavior, or
is the individual simply acting out behavior generated
from social-environmental or genetic-biological influ­
ences? Within society, do behavioral generalizations,
if they have at least some impact, lead to a better
understanding of self and others, thus serving as mech­
anisms for reducing stress and conflict?

Even educated members of the lay public often find
it difficult to differentiate between behavioral general­
izations that emerge from psychology and "common
sense." For example, many supposedly self-evident
findings were produced from the "new look" perceptual
research when, in the 1940s and 1950s, psychologists
seemed to have rediscovered phenomenology. The
generalizations produced by such research suggested
that, when presented with ambiguous stimuli, individ­
uals were more likely to perceive them in terms of their
own needs and attitudes. The behavioral generalization
derived from such functional selectivity of perception
might, in effect, be self-evident to most laypersons. If
we examine any past or present behavioral research, as
the generalizations produced are made known (increas­
ingly through the mass media) to members of society-

at-large, are they generally dismissed as merely
"common sense," or, when they appear to contradict
"common sense," are they even taken seriously? Can
the general public truly grasp the notion suggested by
Simonton that testing the validity of so-called conven­
tional wisdom may, in fact, be one of the challenges for
the behavioral sciences? In any event, such skepticism
concerning behavioral generalizations would obvi­
ously deter their impact on public policy.

Another question regarding behavioral generaliza­
tions might address the perceived genesis of behavior
and its effect on society and the individual. Do not
behavioral generalizations often reflect a bias concern­
ing the relative importance of self-, social-environmen­
tal, or genetic-biological determinism? This concept
reflects one general theme used in the dialogues I am
conducting in our National Science Foundation--sup­
ported Oral-Visual History project. This project pro­
duces films, videotapes, and books based on dialogues
with notable contributors to the behavioral sciences
(e.g., C. G. Jung, Gordon Allport, Erik Erikson, B. F.
Skinner, Jean Piaget, Konrad Lorenz, Albert Bandura).
It is clear that considerable diversity involving this
issue of free will versus determinism exists among even
our most sophisticated scholars. If members of society
accept behavioral generalizations that emphasize the
importance of one of the three facets of the determi­
nants of behavior, a particular behavioral generaliza­
tion emerges that can be quite powerful in its impact on
society and public policy. The refrain of the juvenile
delinquents in the Leonard Bernstein musical, West
Side Story--"We're not responsible for our delinquent
acts, society is"--reflects a sarcastic rationalization for
individual behavior that is at the core of the conception
of the "bleeding-heart liberal" and in fact may provoke
reaction against the concept of welfare or "socialistic"
public policy and the programs that emerge. How far
should a generalization about the effects on an
individual's behavior of a dysfunctional family or of
being brought up under circumstances of extreme eco­
...