Elsevier

New Ideas in Psychology

Volume 39, October 2015, Pages 23-33
New Ideas in Psychology

The behavioral, experiential and conceptual dimensions of psychological phenomena: Body, soul and spirit☆

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2015.07.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Psychological phenomena can be described on different levels of analysis: on an experiential level (e.g., what is it like to be attentive); and on a behavioral level (e.g., how does it become evident that someone is attentive). In the following, we outline how the widely prevalent focus on exclusively behavioral characteristics is insufficient and how our understanding of psychological phenomena can be enriched by taking the qualitative dimension of experience into consideration. We then scrutinize components of this experiential realm and report how it provides the stage for a third level: conceptual insight (e.g., what types or phases of attention can be distinguished). We subsequently look at the history of science and relate the behavioral aspect to the material realm (the realm of the body); the experiential aspect to what has been historically referred to as the soul realm; and the conceptual aspect to what has been historically referred to as the spirit realm. Finally, we add a first-person trial to delineate these concepts further and scrutinize them in light of contemporary theory-building.

Section snippets

Limitations of a purely cognitive-behavioral account

To begin with, we wish to illustrate the shortcomings of a purely behavioral account of psychological phenomena that disregards their experiential and conceptual dimensions, using a recent example that received prominent attention in the academic community. We use this example to highlight the need for a more balanced account of the different facets of psychological phenomena, not only their outwardly measurable/behavioral side. Following this we will illustrate the potential of considering

Principle objections against introspection in light of the available evidence

Historically, psychology was indeed defined as the science of behavior and experience. It thus allowed for a distinction between these two directions of enquiry implied above: an outward – one could also say: a third-person direction of enquiry; and an inward, first-person direction of enquiry. Here we claim that the study of behavior is well-suited to study the material aspects of psychological phenomena; and that the realm of experience or qualitative awareness would be the point to start

The use of introspective research methods today – steps towards a systematic approach

In parallel to the increasing rejection of introspection and the application of the natural sciences approach to psychology over the past two centuries, alternative methods have been developed in an effort to do justice to the actual phenomenology of consciousness. Different types of such phenomenology have formed in the thinking tradition of J.W. Goethe/R. Steiner as well as of F. Brentano/E. Husserl, to name the most important. The former will be dealt with in more detail below; as regards

Steps towards systematizing inward enquiry

A first step towards systematizing inward enquiry is an extensive immersion into the respective phenomenon (i.e. experiencing and practicing such immersion before entering the stage of formulating a hypothesis). It is about holding back premature interpretations for as long as possible while remaining receptive to the characteristics of the phenomenon. A sufficient immersion into the experiential side is imperative to a rigorous, open-minded approach in the research process, as it implies

Other accounts in the psychological/philosophical domain

We are not the first to discover the distinction between these dimensions of experience and conceptual lawfulness. Scholars since the earliest traditions have emphasized such levels – they have referred to them as body (the realm of behavior), soul (the realm of experience) and spirit (the realm of conceptual lawfulness): In the early Indian philosophical system of Samkhya, for example, we find three aspects of “primal matter” (pakriti) described as Tamas (inertial, dark, obstructing, i.e.

An extended enquiry into the experiential and conceptual aspects of mindfulness

Based on those reports from other scholars we decided to conduct a first-person enquiry to see for ourselves whether there is substance to these accounts. In doing so we follow up on our earlier pilot study (Weger & Wagemann, 2015) but now with a more specific focus: to examine the experiential (soul) and conceptual (spirit) qualities more thoroughly. We agreed on a brief (10min) daily mental exercise in which we sought to create the image of a blue circle on a grey background. No further

Conclusion

We have started our enquiry by pointing out that it is insufficient to explore psychological phenomena in purely behavioral terms. Other aspects – namely the experiential and conceptual dimensions – are equally important facets but the methods needed to study them are different from conventional third person exploration because experience and conceptual insight unfold only in first-person encounter. We have hence briefly alluded to the need to relate to appropriate forms of inward enquiry but

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    • ☆

    Equal authorship: This paper emerged out of a process of joined discussion and work – to which both authors contributed completely equally. We thank Tim Raettig for proofreading the manuscript.

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