“The first reason for psychology's failure to understand what people are and how they act, is that clinicians and psychiatrists, who are generally the theoreticians on these matters, have essentially made up myths without any evidence to support them; the second reason for psychology's failure is that personality theory has looked for inner traits when it should have been looking for social context.” PeopleShouldFirstsHas BeensMadeMatterReasonSocialSupportPsychologyTheoryPersonalityEvidenceShould HaveMythTraitsShould Have BeenPsychiatristClinicians Author:Naomi Weisstein
“Although the formulations of science now offer the most advanced knowledge of nature, men continue to use obsolete forms of thought long discarded by scientific theory. In so far as these obsolete forms are superfluous for science, the fact that they persist violated the principle of the economy of thought, that characteristic trait of the bourgeois temper.” MenLongFactsUseFormPrinciplesEconomyTheoryOffersCharacteristicsTemperTraitsPersistBourgeoisObsoleteSuperfluousDiscardedScientific Theory Author:Max Horkheimer
“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.” PersonsMomentsFormPoliticsImaginationObjectsTheoryFavorsLove LifeTraits Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson Source: Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
“Trait X is fitter than trait Y in a population of organisms if those organisms have other biological traits T and live in an environment that has properties E. The theory of natural selection is filled with statements of this form.” IfsFormNaturalEnvironmentTheoryFilledPropertyPopulationStatementsTraitsOrganismsSelectionNatural Selection Author:Elliott Sober
“Adam Smith's uncritically enthusiastic modern disciples portray his invisible hand theory as saying that market forces reliably harness selfish individuals to serve the common good. That's often true, but as Darwin recognized clearly, many traits that serve the interests of individual animals make life more difficult for larger groups.” HandsIndividualForceDifficultInterestAnimalCommonGroupsModernTheorySelfishInvisibleAdamTraitsDiscipleEnthusiasticCommon GoodHarnessInvisible Hand Author:Robert H. Frank