In four experiments, task-switching processes were investigated with variants of the alternating runs paradigm and the explicit cueing paradigm. The classical diffusion model for binary decisions (Ratcliff, 1978) was used to dissociate different components of task-switching costs. Findings can be reconciled with the view that task-switching…

The experiment in physics has often been pictured as an ideal for the less mature social sciences, especially by positivist philosophy of science. The thesis to be presented here is that the physical experiment as a paradigm for psychology is merely a pretext, a smoke-screen for a more fundamental and concealed technological paradigm for the study…

Results of psychological experiments usinganimals are presented. Use of the animal-human analogy to generalize these findings to humans is discussed. Ethological studies are interpreted in light of the total environment and situation involved. The completeness of the ethological model compared to the animal-experimental model is discussed. (LS)