Abstract

Psychological Inquiry, 22: 115–127, 2011 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1047-840X print / 1532-7965 online DOI: 10.1080/1047840X.2011.555216 Bridging Token Identity Theory and Supervenience Theory Through Psychological Construction Lisa Feldman Barrett Department of Psychology, Northeastern University; and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts A psychologist’s task is to discover facts about the at the level of the brain and those taken at the level of mind by measuring responses at the level of a person the person. (e.g., reaction times, perceptions, eye or muscle move- The overall approach is applauded, but a closer look ments, or bodily changes). A neuroscientist’s task is to at the details of how Kievit et al. operationalized iden- make similar discoveries by measuring responses from tity and supervenience theory is in order. In science, as neurons in a brain (e.g., electrical, magnetic, blood flow in philosophy, the devil is in the details. In the pages or chemical measures related neurons firing). Both psy- that follow, I highlight a few lurking demons that haunt chologists and neuroscientists use ideas (in the form of the Kievit et al. approach. I don’t point out every idea concepts, categories, and constructs) to transform their that I