FIELD-THEORY IN SCIENCE - ITS ROLE AS A NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITION IN PSYCHOLOGY

Whereas physics has evolved through three conceptual stages, the third being that of field theory, psychology has remained largely at the se cond stage, that of mechanistic or statistical correlation, and it has retained even some elements of the first stage, that of substance-pro perty. However, some accomplishments in psychology utilize a field con ception. Two of these, the interbehavioral field and the subjectivity field, are closely interconnected and show parallels with modern physi cs. They replace single causation and self-causation, analogical expla nation, biological reductionism, and psychophysical dualism with the f ield as a necessary and sufficient condition for a psychological event . Q methodology for subjectivity adds an objective method of studying self-reference that the interbehavioral field lacks.