Interventions to Do Real-World Good: Generalization and Persistence

IF 18.2 1区 心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
C. Shawn Green
{"title":"Interventions to Do Real-World Good: Generalization and Persistence","authors":"C. Shawn Green","doi":"10.1177/1529100620933847","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In his 1955 address to the National Academy of Sciences, Richard Feynman delineated three key ways in which he saw science as having value (Feynman, 1955). One of these ways was the simple “intellectual enjoyment which some people get from reading and learning and thinking” (p. 13). For many scientists, there is intrinsic value in simply coming to understand how things work. They feel a certain joy when aspects of the world that previously seemed completely mysterious or idiosyncratic become less so. And this is true regardless of how the knowledge is eventually put to use. Yet it is inarguably the case that those eventual uses represent the greatest long-term value of science to our broader society. As Feynman said in discussing this second way that science has value, science is important because it “enables us to do all kinds of things and to make all kinds of things” (p. 13). In other words, increasing scientific understanding of a domain provides for the increasing possibility that we can apply some degree of control in the domain. Science offers the promise that we can manipulate, and thus potentially master, our circumstances. This core notion certainly permeates the behavioral sciences. Throughout the literature, one consistently sees manifestations of the idea that if we come to truly understand the mechanics by which human abilities, skills, knowledge, and other life outcomes emerge, then we might be able to purposefully intervene so as to alter those outcomes for the better. And although we are absolutely (very, very) far from mastering our circumstances in this domain, there are at least many reasons to be hopeful that such goals will eventually be within our reach. Such reasons for optimism include, for example, promising and ever-growing bodies of research on behavioral interventions meant to increase mental health and well-being (Creswell, 2017; Davidson & Dahl, 2018), interventions meant to decrease bias and prejudicial actions (Lemmer & Wager, 2015; Paluck & Green, 2009), interventions meant to increase cognitive and perceptual functioning (Au et al., 2015; Bediou et al., 2018; Deveau, Jaeggi, Zordan, Phung, & Seitz, 2014), and interventions in the educational sphere, such as those to promote reading abilities (Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1999; Kim & Quinn, 2013). Yet in considering previous work, as well as in evaluating the potential of future work, it is critical to recognize that in most cases of human behavior, truly “doing good” necessitates that the effects of interventions meet at least two key criteria: (a) The impact of the given intervention needs to generalize reasonably broadly and (b) the impact of the given intervention needs to be enduring. If the impact of an intervention is exceedingly narrow, or if the positive impact lasts for only a short period of time, this will obviously reduce the real-world good that will be realized from the intervention. It is therefore somewhat unfortunate that the field of human learning has consistently run into significant obstacles on both key fronts—generalization and persistence.","PeriodicalId":20879,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science in the Public Interest","volume":"21 1","pages":"43 - 49"},"PeriodicalIF":18.2000,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1529100620933847","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychological Science in the Public Interest","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100620933847","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1

Abstract

In his 1955 address to the National Academy of Sciences, Richard Feynman delineated three key ways in which he saw science as having value (Feynman, 1955). One of these ways was the simple “intellectual enjoyment which some people get from reading and learning and thinking” (p. 13). For many scientists, there is intrinsic value in simply coming to understand how things work. They feel a certain joy when aspects of the world that previously seemed completely mysterious or idiosyncratic become less so. And this is true regardless of how the knowledge is eventually put to use. Yet it is inarguably the case that those eventual uses represent the greatest long-term value of science to our broader society. As Feynman said in discussing this second way that science has value, science is important because it “enables us to do all kinds of things and to make all kinds of things” (p. 13). In other words, increasing scientific understanding of a domain provides for the increasing possibility that we can apply some degree of control in the domain. Science offers the promise that we can manipulate, and thus potentially master, our circumstances. This core notion certainly permeates the behavioral sciences. Throughout the literature, one consistently sees manifestations of the idea that if we come to truly understand the mechanics by which human abilities, skills, knowledge, and other life outcomes emerge, then we might be able to purposefully intervene so as to alter those outcomes for the better. And although we are absolutely (very, very) far from mastering our circumstances in this domain, there are at least many reasons to be hopeful that such goals will eventually be within our reach. Such reasons for optimism include, for example, promising and ever-growing bodies of research on behavioral interventions meant to increase mental health and well-being (Creswell, 2017; Davidson & Dahl, 2018), interventions meant to decrease bias and prejudicial actions (Lemmer & Wager, 2015; Paluck & Green, 2009), interventions meant to increase cognitive and perceptual functioning (Au et al., 2015; Bediou et al., 2018; Deveau, Jaeggi, Zordan, Phung, & Seitz, 2014), and interventions in the educational sphere, such as those to promote reading abilities (Bus & van IJzendoorn, 1999; Kim & Quinn, 2013). Yet in considering previous work, as well as in evaluating the potential of future work, it is critical to recognize that in most cases of human behavior, truly “doing good” necessitates that the effects of interventions meet at least two key criteria: (a) The impact of the given intervention needs to generalize reasonably broadly and (b) the impact of the given intervention needs to be enduring. If the impact of an intervention is exceedingly narrow, or if the positive impact lasts for only a short period of time, this will obviously reduce the real-world good that will be realized from the intervention. It is therefore somewhat unfortunate that the field of human learning has consistently run into significant obstacles on both key fronts—generalization and persistence.
对现实世界有益的干预:泛化和持久性
在1955年对美国国家科学院的演讲中,理查德·费曼描述了他认为科学具有价值的三个关键方面(费曼,1955年)。其中一种方式是简单的“一些人从阅读、学习和思考中获得的智力享受”(第13页)。对许多科学家来说,仅仅了解事物如何运作就有其内在价值。当以前看起来完全神秘或特殊的世界变得不那么神秘时,他们会感到某种快乐。不管这些知识最终如何使用,这都是正确的。然而,无可争辩的是,这些最终用途代表了科学对我们更广泛的社会的最大长期价值。正如费曼在讨论科学具有价值的第二种方式时所说,科学之所以重要,是因为它“使我们能够做各种各样的事情,并制造各种各样的东西”(第13页)。换句话说,对一个领域不断增长的科学理解为我们在该领域应用某种程度的控制提供了越来越大的可能性。科学为我们提供了一个希望,即我们可以操纵,从而有可能掌握我们的环境。这个核心概念当然渗透在行为科学中。纵观文献,我们总是能看到这样一种观点,即如果我们真正理解了人类能力、技能、知识和其他生活结果产生的机制,那么我们就可以有目的地干预,从而使这些结果变得更好。尽管我们离掌握这一领域的环境还有很长的路要走,但至少有很多理由让我们相信,这样的目标最终将是触手可及的。这些乐观的原因包括,例如,旨在增加心理健康和福祉的行为干预研究的前景和不断增长的机构(Creswell, 2017;Davidson & Dahl, 2018),旨在减少偏见和偏见行为的干预措施(Lemmer & Wager, 2015;Paluck & Green, 2009),旨在提高认知和感知功能的干预措施(Au等人,2015;Bediou et al., 2018;Deveau, Jaeggi, Zordan, Phung, & Seitz, 2014),以及教育领域的干预措施,例如促进阅读能力的干预措施(Bus & van ijzendororn, 1999;Kim & Quinn, 2013)。然而,在考虑以前的工作以及评估未来工作的潜力时,认识到在大多数人类行为的情况下,真正“做好事”需要干预措施的效果至少满足两个关键标准是至关重要的:(a)给定干预措施的影响需要合理地广泛推广,(b)给定干预措施的影响需要持久。如果干预的影响范围非常狭窄,或者如果积极的影响只持续很短的时间,这将明显减少从干预中实现的现实世界的好处。因此,令人遗憾的是,人类学习领域一直在两个关键方面——泛化和持久性——遇到重大障碍。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Psychological Science in the Public Interest PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-
CiteScore
44.80
自引率
0.40%
发文量
7
期刊介绍: Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI) is a distinctive journal that provides in-depth and compelling reviews on issues directly relevant to the general public. Authored by expert teams with diverse perspectives, these reviews aim to evaluate the current state-of-the-science on various topics. PSPI reports have addressed issues such as questioning the validity of the Rorschach and other projective tests, examining strategies to maintain cognitive sharpness in aging brains, and highlighting concerns within the field of clinical psychology. Notably, PSPI reports are frequently featured in Scientific American Mind and covered by various major media outlets.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信