The Future of Psychology: Connecting Mind to Brain
Open accessAbstract
Psychological states such as thoughts and feelings are real. Brain states are real. The problem is that the two are not real in the same way, creating the mind—brain correspondence problem. In this article, I present a possible solution to this problem that involves two suggestions. First, complex psychological states such as emotion and cognition can be thought of as constructed events that can be causally reduced to a set of more basic, psychologically primitive ingredients that are more clearly respected by the brain. Second, complex psychological categories like emotion and cognition are the phenomena that require explanation in psychology, and, therefore, they cannot be abandoned by science. Describing the content and structure of these categories is a necessary and valuable scientific activity.
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“conceptual choices and assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon under study have a significant influence on which experiments are conducted and how their outcomes are interpreted (Barrett 2009; Irvine 2013; Francken and Slors 2014; Abend 2017).”
From An academic survey on theoretical foundations, common assumptions and the current state of consciousness science (2022) · cites this paper as Barrett 2009
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- Authors
- Barrett, L. F.
- Affiliations
- Boston College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Barrett, Lisa Feldman
- Venue
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-07
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 326-339
- ISSN
- 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-6924
- PMC
- PMC2763392
- OpenAlex
- W2162241822
- Cited by
- 347
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 25.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (DP1OD003312)
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG030311)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K02MH001981)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- mind-brain relationship, psychological state, brain states, emotions, cognition, psychological categories, philosophy of psychology, future of psychology
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