PSC4009
Understanding
the Person
Conceptual
and Historical
Issues in
Psychology
Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology
• Week 1: The Development of Modern Psychology
• What is Psychology and why do we need it?
• Week 2: Philosophical and Scientific Influences
• How Psychology became the Science of the Mind
• Week 3: Evolutionary Psychology
• The Adapted Mind
Today’s Lecture
• Influences from Philosophy
• Influences from Experimental Physiology
• The Science of the Mind
Two Main Influences
1. Philosophy
• Belief that Mind could be understood
• Monistic conceptualization of Mind and Body
2. Experimental Physiology
• Demonstration that Mind can be studied scientifically
Influenc
es from
Philoso
phy
From Mythos to Logos
• Ancient philosophers, around 600 BCE
• Explanations based on reason and observation
• Beginning of shift towards scientific approach
• Systematic approach
• Natural explanations
• Encouragement of criticism
Natural Philosophy
• Universe seen as lawful and consisting of natural substances
• As such, can be explained by natural laws!
• If universe is lawful, it can be known!
• Means there is a truth that can be known
• But what can be known?
• How can we know it?
Epistemology and Ontology
• Can Reality be truly known?
• What is the nature of Knowledge and Reality?
• Distinction between physical and mental worlds
• Body (senses) vs. Mind (reason)
• Can the senses learn about ideas?
• How are the senses and the Mind related?
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Mind as the only source of real knowledge
The Mind-Body Problem
• Essential to understand the mental dimension
• How do we think? Feel? Know?
• For most ancient philosophers
• Soul viewed as immortal and immaterial
• Associated with the Heart: Cardiocentrism
Cardiocentrism vs. Encephalocentrism
The Mind-Body Problem
• Obvious physical body…
• What about the Mind?
• What is its nature?
• Can it have a physical basis?
• How is the Mind related to the Body?
• Same or different nature?
The Mind-Body Problem
• Dualism conceptualises the Mind as completely
separated from the Body
Mind Body
If Mind and Body are distinct, how can the Mind be known?
The Mind and the Truth
• Mind-Body separation relevant for epistemology
• Mind as the only source of true knowledge
• Senses are misleading: physical reality is not the truth
• The Mind cannot be examined by the senses
• Impossible to have a scientific approach
If Dualism is accepted, impossible to have a Science of the Mind
Descartes: Mind and Body
• Descartes agreed with Dualism
• But suggested Mind and Body interact
• Cartesian Dualism
Mind Body
• Interaction on the Pineal Gland
• Physical entity produces a mental quality
• Body and Mind have reciprocal influences
Descartes: Mind and Body
• New understanding of nature of the Mind
• Mind can be observed and measured
• Allows new methods of inquiry
• Mind can be subject to experimentation
• By measuring its relationship with the Body
Descartes: Mind and Body
• If the Mind can be objectively observed
• It can be objectively known
• Laws behind its functioning can be identified
• Mind can be studied objectively
• Essential to the development of a Science of the Mind
Empiricism
• Mind born as a blank slate
Body
• All knowledge derives from sensory
experience
• Mind depends on the Body for Mind
acquiring
knowledge
• Example of Monism
• Different manifestations of same reality
Empiricism and Associationism
• Mind viewed as part of the Body
• Follows same physical and mechanistic principles
• Like a machine, could be explained based on constituent parts
• Laws that govern the Mind can be known
• Laws of association explain knowledge
Empiricism and Mentalism
• Knowledge being empirically derived
• Depends on the senses, it is subjective
• Reality viewed as subjective, a perception
• Supports distinction between reality and perception
• Mind actively creates experience
• Mentalism
Empiricism: Implications
• Monism and empiricism
• Made the Mind more ‘observable’
• Laws of Association
• Framework to understand the Mind
• Mentalism
• Must have a science to study the mental world
Phrenology
Experimen
tal
Physiolog
y
The Zeitgeist in the 19th Century
• Mind and Body understood as closely interacting
• Possible to observe the Mind through the Body
• Belief that the Mind can be known objectively
• By means of understanding its laws
• Acceptance that Mental world is distinct
• Need for a Science of the Mind
Experimental Physiology
• In 19th Century, Mind understood as
• Linked to the Body, observable, following lawful associations
• Experimental physiologists focused on the Mind
• Physiological mechanisms behind mental experience
• Relationship between Physical vs. Mental
How accurate is perception?
Weber: Just Noticeable Difference
• Law quantifying relationship between physical and mental
• Amount of physical change required for mental change?
• Showed no direct correspondence
• Supported subjective experience
• Supported need for Science of the Mind
Weber: Two Point Discrimination
Experimental Physiology
• Applied scientific methods to study of the Mind
• Identified first laws behind functioning of the Mind
• Quantified mental phenomena and Mind-Body relationship
• Supported need for a Science of the Mind
• By showing discrepancy between physical and mental worlds
• Wundt (1879) founded Modern Psychology
Since then…
Wundt, Titchener, and Structuralism
• Wundt used sensation to study structure of the Mind
• Examined link between sensation and thoughts
• Examined conscious experience through introspection
• What are the components of consciousness?
• How are these combined?
• Mind consists of sensations, images, affections…
James and Functionalism
• Psychology should focus on understanding
• Function of mental processes and behaviour
• Adaptive view of the Mind
• Beginning of more applied Psychology
• Psychology to improve all aspects of life
Behaviourism
• Drive to make Psychology as scientific as it could be
• No mentalistic terms, focus on behaviour
• Objectively observable behaviour
• Psychology becomes the Science of Behaviour
• All about stimulus-response associations
Psychodynamics
• Non-scientific school of thought
• Kept the Mind under scrutiny
• Focus on understanding the unconscious Mind
• Its influence on Behaviour
• Overarching theory of Human Nature
Cognitivism
• Gradual discontentment with Behaviourism
• Evidence suggesting mental processes
• Psychology regained consciousness
• Focus again on mental processes
• Guiding principle in all psychological disciplines
Cognitive Neuroscience
• Technological developments in 19th and 20th Centuries
• Possible to observe and measure neural activity
• Ultimate triumph of Monism
• Brain seen as the organ of the Mind
• Biologisation of Psychology?
Cognitive Neuroscience
References
• Hergenhahn, B.R. & Henley, T.B. (2014). An Introduction to the
History of Psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
• Leahey, T.H. (2003). A History of Psychology: Main Currents in
Psychological Thought (6th ed.). London: Prentice Hall.
• Schultz, D.P. & Schultz, E. (1992). A History of Modern
Psychology (5th ed.). London: Harcourt Brace.
