A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE FACTORS LINKING PSYCHOLOGY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE.

摘要

Psychology and information science are linked by two phenomena, man and information. The first sees man as its primary phenomenon in which information is sensed, modified, transferred, and stored. The other begins with information as its primary phenomenon and sees man as one modifying media.; This study addresses five questions. Are the concepts of man and informations as held by the two disciplines, psychology and information science, the same? Can these concepts be defined in ways that will make them compatible and acceptable to both? Are both disciplines using inquiry methods that make results mutually compatible and acceptable? Are both disciplines working at the same intellectual level? For example, is one mainly interested in the nature of a phenomenon while the other is concerned primarily with the solution of practical problems? Finally, are psychology and information science communicating with one another at the research level?; The study plan is to: (a) identify the present state of the two disciplines through their historical developments; (b) identify a set of primitive conditions, terms, assumptions, boundary conditions, and underlying principles within which man and information can be studied; (c) identify the kinds of studies each discipline undertakes as it inquires into its problems or issues; and (d) determine the relationship that exists between information studies in three fields of common interest to psychology and information science. The selected fields are information processing, pattern recognition, and problem solving. The study's mode of inquiry is primarily axiomatic with the scientific method being used to determine the extent to which common practices correlate with an axiomatic "ideal."; The study researches three conclusions. Information related concepts are mutually compatible between these disciplines but, the definitions used are inconsistent, incompatible, and ambiguous. Inter-communication is almost non-existent. Finally, information can be profitably studied not only as a science but also with dialectic, humanistic, axiomatic, evolutionary, authoritative, traditional, and participant observation modes of inquiry.