The Transfer Effect of a Learning Program in Social Causality on an Understanding of Physical Causality

Abstract

VARIOUS STUDIES have demonstra ted that participation in an experimental learning program designed to develop an understanding and appre ciation of the nature of human behavior and the dynamic factors operative in social situations, does substantially increase knowledge of social causality (10,13,14,16, 20). Social causality has been defined as an awareness of the dynamic com plexity of human motivation, and as an under standing of the interacting nature of the forces that operate in human behavior and in social sit uations in general. It involves flexibility in think ing, and a willingness to see things from the view point of others. A causally oriented person will suspend judgment until sufficient information is available. He realizes that his behavior has con sequences, and that there are alternative ways of solving most social problems (12). He has a func tional understanding of the concept of probability in respect to measurements and predictions. A more detailed theoretical discussion of the con cept of social causality can be found in the liter ature (8). The staff of the Preventive Psychia try Program at the State University of Iowa is in the process of developing a causally oriented learning program in an attempt t o investigate to what extent social causality contributes to school adjustment and mental health (12). The emphasis in the program is on social caus ality, that is, an u n d e r s t anding of the multiple causes of behavior, the effects of behavior, and the importance of thinking in probability terms when considering both causes and effects. The question arises whether Ss, who have participated in a learning program primarily designed to de velop a more thorough understanding of social causality and human motivation, also d e v e 1 op a more thorough understanding of the factors that operate in the physical world and that help to ex plain natural phenomena. In analogy to the definition of social causality, the concept of physical causality might be defined as: