| Abstract: | Reviews the book, "Current trends in information theory," by B. McMillan, D.A. Grant, P.M. Fitts, F.C. Frick, W.S. McCulloch, G.A. Miller and H.W. Brosin (1953). This is the seventh in a series of annual conferences on "Current Trends in Psychology" arranged by the Department of Psychology of the University of Pittsburgh. As is frequently the case with such compendia, this one is rather a hodgepodge with different authors trying to do different things in different ways. The unifying theme, such as it is, is modern communication theory. McMillan attempts a brief and general account of communication theory, in which attempt he is very successful. It is gratifying to know that mathematicians can communicate with psychologists if they want to. Of all the authors only Frick and Miller describe some classes of psychological experiments to which information theory has been able to contribute something other than a new vocabulary. Miller is especially levelheaded in his appraisal of the usefulness of information theory for psychology and a paraphrase of the first two pages of his contribution might well summarize the outcome of this conference: There are not yet many places in the study of human behavior where information theory can be profitably applied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
