33:144/31:174 - MIND AND BEHAVIOR
NATURAL SCIENCE AND COGNITION AFTER DARWIN
SPRING 2004 (10:55 - 12:10, TU - TH, 120 SLP)

PROFESSOR JON RINGEN Office: 414 JB Email: jon-ringen@uiowa.edu Phone: 335-3497 Office Hours: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM, Tuesday and Thursday (or by appointment)

PROFESSOR E. A. WASSERMAN Office: E222 SSH Email: ed-wasserman@uiowa.edu Phone: 335-2445 Office Hours: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (or by appointment)

Course Overview

The Darwinian Revolution in biology coincided with the first explicit efforts to develop psychology as a modern scientific discipline. This course explores how post-Darwinian efforts to consolidate a scientific psychology have shaped and might continue to shape our understanding of ourselves and our relations with other aspects of animate and inanimate nature. Discussion focuses on contemporary behaviorist, cognitivist, and ethological views of the concept of mind and its historical, philosophical, scientific, and practical significance for understanding human and nonhuman consciousness and intelligence. Students will be expected to participate in vigorous discussions of these matters after doing thorough background reading and thinking. Three brief essays will be required that each address issues concerning the nature of scientific psychology and its implications for understanding “the nature of human nature.” A final paper will assemble these brief writing exercises and other ideas into a coherent essay. Grades will be based on the quality of students’ discussions and papers.

Literature, Science, and the Arts courses are typically team-taught (and often cross-listed) interdisciplinary seminars. These courses provide opportunities to explore challenging issues with faculty and students who share an interest in these issues, yet approach them from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives. Mind and Behavior focuses on the general issues noted above and is taught by a philosopher and historian of science (Ringen) and an experimental psychologist (Wasserman).

The course demands individual effort and initiative. Students must engage in considerable reading, thinking, and writing. Because this is a seminar, the instructors’ roles will be largely supportive. They will provide initial background for the issues, suggest readings, structure discussions, and assign topics for the brief essays. There will be few, if any, formal lectures.

Texts: Andy Clark. (2001). Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science. New York: Oxford University Press.

Daniel C. Dennett. (1996). Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness. New York: Basic Books.

Donald R. Griffin. (2001). Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

B. F. Skinner. (1976). About Behaviorism. New York: Vintage Books.

ASSIGNMENTS

Reading. The course will focus on reading the four assigned textbooks (two written by eminent psychologists, two by eminent philosophers).

Daily Questions. For each class, each student will bring three typewritten questions that they are prepared to present, discuss, and submit. The questions should be related to aspects of the assigned class reading for the day that are of particular interest to the student submitting the questions. The questions may pertain to material presented directly in the texts, but we also encourage questions that relate material in the texts to current events or issues encountered elsewhere, for example, in other classes or in the news or personal experience.

Discussion. Class discussion will begin with issues presented in the reading assigned for the day. Class participation is important and will be carefully tracked. Students are expected to actively discuss the submitted questions as well as pose them.

Journals. Each student will be required to keep a journal (notebook) recording thoughts about the readings and class discussions and relevant materials encountered outside the class. The notebook also should contain at least one news or internet story each week, for a total of at least 15 stories that pertain to the course material. The stories should be on different topics covered in the course. Along with the printed story, there should be a short (one paragraph) description of how the story pertains to the course. This notebook should be submitted on Thursday, March 4 (for a preliminary check) and on Thursday, May 6 (for final grading) at the beginning of class. A list of web sites that may help with this assignment will be emailed to students at the beginning of the course. The journals along with the texts, further reading, and class notes should provide background material for the student presentations and course writing assignments.

Student Presentations. Each student will be required to do an oral report (individually, or in collaboration) and to report individually on their final paper projects.

Each oral report should focus on a recent news or internet story on a topic that is relevant to the course; the report should be described in reasonable detail and its relevance to course content should be clarified. These presentations should be no more than 10 minutes long. Students are encouraged to use PowerPoint to illuminate these oral presentations. The report may be a debate that presents arguments for and against some specific hypothesis that is relevant to the topic of the report. It will be up to the students to identify a topic/story for the report.

The report on the final paper project will be an individual oral report that focuses on the final research project. The report should present the main topic of the paper, sketch completed and projected research, and summarize the expected conclusions and results. Student reports will be scheduled shortly after the due date for preliminary paper proposals (April 1). You should begin thinking about what you would like to do for a project well before Spring Break.

Writing Assignments. Each student will write three brief essays and final paper to be graded.

The topic and due date for each brief essay is noted in the course schedule below. Each brief essay should be 2 to 4 double spaced pages (12 point Times) in length and present the writer’s own reasoning in defense of their answer to the question posed. Handouts describing each brief essay assignment will be distributed in class on the days indicated on the class schedule. The completed essays should exhibit clear understanding of the relevant material from class discussion and reading. The essays are intended to encourage research and writing that can be used in the preparation of the final paper.

The final paper should be a 10 to 15 page research paper on a topic of the student’s own choosing that is related to main topics discussed in the course. It should include a complete bibliography of works used and cited and appropriate referencing (APA style) of citations in the text. The preliminary proposals are due as indicated above (and see class schedule). The papers are due at the time scheduled for the final exam (see class schedule.)

Final grade

The final course grade will involve +/- designations and will be based on the three brief essays, the final paper, and class participation points. Participation points will include: the oral report, the final notebook, the questions submitted daily, and classroom discussion.

Each essay is worth 15% of the final grade (for a total of 45%).

Final paper is worth 25% of the final grade.

Participation is worth 30% of the final grade:

10% = oral reports

5% = final notebook

10% = questions submitted daily

5% = in class participation

Cheating and Plagiarism

Any student found plagiarizing will receive 0 points on the assignment.

Problems

Problems or concerns about the course should first be discussed with Professor Ringen (students enrolled in 033:144) or Professor Wasserman (students enrolled in 031:174). If that is not possible or if the problem is not resolved, then students in 031:174 should contact the Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies, Debra Johnson, E24 SSH or the Chair of the Department of Psychology, Professor Gregg Oden, E12 SSH. Students in 033:144 should contact the Director of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Professor Helena Dettmer. If the matter still cannot be resolved, then you will be referred to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 120 Schaeffer Hall, 335-2633. (See Student Academic Handbook, Section IX, at www.clas.uiowa.edu)

Disabilities

We would like to hear in a timely fashion from any student who has a disability that may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements, so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please contact one of the instructors after class or during office hours.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Course Topics (and assignments)

January 20 Organization of course (syllabus, nuts and bolts, questions: What is a science of psychology? What can such a science tell us about ourselves or about the nature of human nature?).
Handout: First brief essay topic.
Video: Pavlov

January 22 Human nature, science, and behavior theory.
Read: Skinner, 3 - 23. Article: Psychology Defined (by William James)

January 27 Causes of behavior.
Read: Skinner, 24 - 79.
Schedule Oral Presentations
Video: B.F.Skinner (Murray Sidman documentary)

January 29 Perceiving.
Read: Skinner, 80 - 97; Article: Are Dreams Experiences?
(By Daniel Dennett)
Experiment: Introspection (in class)

February 3 Representation: Traditional and radical behaviorist formulations.
Read: Skinner, 98 - 131.
Film: Epstein, et. al., Columban Simulation Project.

February 5 Explaining and Justifying: Traditional and radical behaviorist formulations of knowing.
Read: Skinner, 132 - 162.
Due: First brief essay: Do/could animals/computers dream/sleep?

February 10 Explaining and Justifying: Traditional and radical behaviorist formulations of valuing.
Read: Skinner, 163 - 207. Articles: Monkeys reject unequal pay (by Sarah F. Brosnan and Frans B. M. de Waal); The mind’s best trick: how we experience conscious will (by Daniel M. Wegner).

February 12 Behavior control.
Read: Skinner, 208 - 240. Article, Rogers/Skinner Debate

February 17 Summing up.
Read: Skinner, 241 - 277; Articles: Radical Behaviorism: B.F.
Skinner’s Philosophy of Science (by Jon Ringen); Behaviorism (by Edward Wasserman).
Video: Skinner, 1990 APA Keynote address.

February 19 Philosophical questions.
Read: Dennett, iii - 18. Chomsky Review of Skinner

Chomsky Mind and Language Text
Video: Mind and Language (Noam Chomsky)

February 24 Intentionality.
Read: Dennett, 19 -56; Articles: Animal mind and the argument from design (by Mark Blumberg and Edward Wasserman); Wynne discussion of Anthropomorphism; The rational soul (by Rene Descartes); Natural and Artificial Selection (by Charles Darwin); Chimpanzee minds: suspiciously human (by Daniel Povinelli and Jennifer Volk).

Handout: Second brief essay topic.
Schedule Final Project Presentations

February 26 Bodies and minds.
Read: Dennett, 57 -80.

March 2 Selection processes.
Read: Dennett, 81 - 118; Article: Superstition in the Pigeon (by B. F. Skinner):Selction by consequences (by B.F. Skinner)

March 4 Goal-directed behavior.
Read: Griffin, 37 - 79. Articles: Review of Behaviorism, Science, and Human Nature (by Jon Ringen); Adaptation, Teleology, and Selection by Consequences (by Jon Ringen)
NOTEBOOKS DUE (for preliminary check)

March 9 Our thoughts and others’.
Read: Dennett, 119 - 168. Article: The Stream of Consciousness (by William James)

March 11 Introspection, solipsism, and Wittgenstein.
Read: Article: The 0perational Analysis of Psychological Terms (by B. F. Skinner); Evidence of complimentary afterimages in pigeons (by J. Williams) Philosophical Investigations, #293 (by Ludwig Wittgenstein).
Video: Wittgenstein.
Due: Second brief essay: Is operant behavior the field of purpose and intention? Compare Skinner, Dennett, and Griffin.

March 16 NO CLASS (spring break)

March 18 NO CLASS (spring break)

March 23 Non-human consciousness.
Read: Griffin, ix - 36. Article: Communication concerning private states: A second look. (by Jon Ringen and Edward Wasserman)

March 25 Discussion: Privacy and "The beetle in the box", Wittgenstein, Skinner, and Dennett.

March 30 Artifacts. Griffin, 80 - 147.

April 1 Minds and brains.
Read: Griffin, 148 - 163; Clark, 162 - 188.
Handout: Third brief essay topic. Assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of animal models and computer models of human nature.

PRELIMINARY PAPER INFORMATION DUE (FINAL PROJECT)

April 6 Cognition, consciousness, and nature.
Read: Clark, viii - 61.

April 8 Explaining, perceiving, and building.
Read: Clark, 62 - 119.

April 13 Summing up.
Read: Clark, 120 - 161; Griffin, 252 - 286.
Final Project Presentations

April 15 Think like an animal.
Read: Article: Discriminating the relation between relations: The role of entropy in abstract conceptualization by baboons and humans (by Joel Fagot, Edward A. Wasserman, and Michael E. Young). (More info about discriminating relations: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/14/tech/main611736.shtml
Video: Think like an animal.

April 20 Symbols, thought, and language.
Read: Griffin, 164 - 226.
Final Project Presentations

April 22 Comparative Cognition.
Read: Griffin, 228 - 251; Article: Comparative cognition: Beginning the second century of the study of animal intelligence (by E. A.Wasserman).
Due: Third brief essay:

April 27 Final project presentations.

April 29 Final project presentations.

May 4 Summing up.
Read: Clark, 120 - 161; Griffin, 252 - 286.

May 6 Discussion.
Read: Articles: Do animals have beliefs? (by Daniel Dennett); Animal Psychology and Criteria of the Psychic (by R. M. Yerkes). Outlining a Science of Feeling (by B. F. Skinner); A plea for psychology as a 'natural science'. (by William James)

NOTEBOOKS DUE (for final grading)

May 12 FINAL PAPER DUE at 12 Noon (Official Final Exam Date)