William James, the Father of American Psychology, Once Wrote the Following

question 20

Multiple Choice

William James, the father of American psychology, once wrote the following: "Thinking is for doing." What did he mean by this?

• A)The human brain probably developed its current cognitive abilities in large part to enable effective decision making and to facilitate behavior.
• B)People typically engage in conscious thought only when engaged in a task (e.g., only when solving a puzzle, trying to construct an argument, or making a decision about something).
• C)Every behavior that a person engages in implies a particular thought or set of thoughts; researchers can therefore infer thoughts from behaviors.
• D)Because the primary role of thoughts is simply to plan behaviors, the proper focus of study for psychologists is behaviors themselves (and not thoughts).