?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=National+Institute+of+Mental+Health+Roundtable+Discussion%3A+Promissory+Notes+and+Prevailing+Norms+in+Social+and+Behavioral+Sciences+Research&rft.creator=Richters%2C+John+E.&rft.subject=Developmental+Psychology&rft.subject=Social+Psychology&rft.description=Most+workshops+convened+by+the+National+Institute's+of+Health+are+devoted+to+the+puzzle-solving+activities+of%0Anormal+science%2C+where+the+puzzles+themselves+and+the+strategies+available+for+solving+them+are+determined+largely%0Ain+advance+by+the+shared+paradigmatic+assumptions%2C+frameworks%2C+and+priorities+of+the+scientific+community's%0Aresearch+paradigm.+They+are+designed+to+facilitate+what+Thomas+Kuhn+referred+to+as+elucidating+topological+detail%0Awithin+a+map+whose+main+outlines+are+available+in+advance.+And+apparently+for+good+reason.+Historical+studies+by+Kuhn+and+others+reveal+that+science+moves+fastest+and+penetrates+most+deeply+when+its+practitioners+work+within+well-defined+and+deeply+ingrained+traditions+and+employ+the+concepts%2C+theories%2C+methods%2C+and+tools+of+a+shared+paradigm.+No+paradigm+is+perfect+and+none+is+capable+of+identifying%2C+let+alone+solving%2C+all+of+the+problems+relevant+to+a+given+domain+of+inquiry.+Thus%2C+the+essential+day-to-day+business+of+normal+science+is+not+to+question+the+limits%0Aor+adequacy+of+a+given+paradigm%2C+but+rather+to+exploit+the+presumed+virtues+for+which+it+was+adopted.+As+Kuhn%0Acautioned+in+his+discussion+of+paradigms%2C+re-tooling%2C+in+science+as+in+manufacture%2C+as+an+extravagance+to+be%0Areserved+for+the+occasion+that+demands+it.+Well%2C+as+the+marketing+people+say+---+this+is+not+your+father's+Oldsmobile.+We+are+breaking+with+tradition+today+by+stepping+outside+the+map+to+initiate+and+pursue+a+long-overdue+dialogue+about+paradigm+reform+and+scientific+retooling.+Our+warrant+for+prosecuting+this+agenda+is+a+Kuhnian+occasion+that+demands+it---+is+a+protracted+paradigm+crisis%2C+the+neglect+of+which+has+hurt+us+terribly+and+the+resolution+of+which+will+determine+the+viability+and+fate+of+the+social+and+behavioral+sciences+in+the+21st+century.+Since+the+details+of+the+crisis+are+well+know+within+and+outside+our+ranks%2C+a+brief+sketch+of+its+main+outlines+will+suffice+as+a+framework+for+our+dialogue%0Atoday.+They+include%2C+(a)+widespread+dissatisfaction+with+the+meager+theoretical+progress+and+practical+yield+of%0Amore+than+a+century+of+social+and+behavioral+sciences+research+in+many+substantive+domains%2C+(b)+long-neglected%0Ayet+widely+recognized+deficiencies+in+the+epistemological+assumptions%2C+discovery+practices+and+justification%0Astandards+of+the+dominant+paradigm+on+which+the+social+and+behavioral+sciences+have+relied+---+and+rely---+to+conceptualize%2C+interpret%2C+and+guide+their+empirical+research%2C+(c)+a+broadly+based+consensus+among+leading%0Ascholars+and+scientists+about+the+need+for+fundamental+paradigm+reforms%2C+and+(d)+institutional+incentive+structures%0Athat+not+only+encourage+and+reinforce+the+status+quo+but+discourage+constructive+reform+efforts.+%0A%0AOur+objective+for+the+next+eight+hours+is+to+formulate+strategies+and+recommendations+for+leveraging+the%0Aresources+and+influence+of+the+National+Institute+of+Mental+Health+to+foster+a+climate+of+constructive+reforms+where%0Athey+are+needed+by+freeing+investigators+in+from+the+oppressive+constraints+of+existing+paradigms+and+facilitating%2C+encouraging%2C+and+funding+their+retooling+their+efforts&rft.date=1997-12&rft.type=Other&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1018%2F3%2FTranscript_of_NIMH_Paradigm_Roundtable_Discussion_-_Promissory_Notes_and_Prevailing_Norms_in_Social_and_Behavoral_Sciences_Research.pdf&rft.identifier=++Richters%2C+John+E.++(1997)+National+Institute+of+Mental+Health+Roundtable+Discussion%3A+Promissory+Notes+and+Prevailing+Norms+in+Social+and+Behavioral+Sciences+Research.+++++(Unpublished)++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1018%2F