A History of Psychology

A History of Psychology Chapter two: Philosophical Influence on Psychology

1.The Spirit of Mechanism (17th-19th century Zeitgeist) • Clocks and mechanical figures • Influenced the direction of psychology • Mechanism • The universe as a great machine • Feature of science • Observation, experimentation, & measurement • Nature Philosophy = physics • Newton: the universe is a clock, made by God. It is measurable, predictable, and orderly

II. The Clock Universe • Clock as metaphor for mechanism • Determinism and reductionism • Automata • The calculating engine

II. The Clock Universe • Clock as metaphor for mechanism • Available to all levels of society • Behaviors are Regular, predictable, precise • Harmony and order of the universe

II. The Clock Universe • Determinism and reductionism • Determinism • Every act is determined by past events. • If universe = a clock, then we can predict change because we know the order and regularity of a clock • Reductionism • Like clock could be understood by reducing them to their basic components to know its functioning • Explain phenomena on one level (e.g., complex ideas) in terms of phenomena on another level (e.g., simple ideas)

Automata People as Machine Automata as models for human beings Bodies were like machines made by God II. The Clock Universe Automaton figure of a Monk

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Enrolled at Cambridge U. Knew about math more than faculty Became a mathematic professor at Cambridge Charles Babbage II. The Clock Universe– The calculating engine

II. The Clock Universe • The calculating engine • Automata: human physical action • Calculator: human mental action • Babbage invited 300 people to his home to look at his design • Called “The difference engine” • However, Government withdrew fundingupset

Calculator imitated human mental actions Influence modern computer, human cognitive process, a form of artificial intelligence II. The Clock Universe Babbage’s calculating machine

III. The beginnings of Modern Science • Empiricism • The pursuit of knowledge through observation and experimentation • Rene Descartes (1596-1650) • Applied the idea of the clockwork mechanism to the human body

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Inherited a lot money to travel and intellectual pursuits Poor health Queen in Sweden requested him to teach her philosophy in 1649 However, early morning lessons and cold weather, he died after four months in 1650. III. The beginnings of Modern Science Rene Descartes

IV. The contribution of Descartes: • 1. The Nature of the Body • Body is Matter, • Body is like Machine • Body is Involuntary Movement

IV. The contribution of Descartes: • Human behavior is predictable if input are known • Impact later on “classical conditioning” phenomena • Support from physiology • Blood circulation; digestion • 2. Reflect Action theory (S-R)

IV. The contribution of Descartes: • 3. Localization of functions in brain

IV. The contribution of Descartes: • 4. The Body-Mind Interaction • Mind thinks, perceives, and wills • Mind provided information about the external world • Mind influences and is influenced by the body

IV. The contribution of Descartes: • 5. The Doctrine of Ideas • Derived Ideas (from the external source) • from the direct application of an external stimulus • The sound of bell • Innate Ideas (from the internal source) • from the mind or consciousness • Impact: • Gestalt psychology—the principle of organization • Depth perception

V. Philosophical Foundations of the New Psychology • European philosophy: foundations of the science of psychology • Positivism • Materialism • Empiricism (major role)

V. Philosophical Foundations of the New Psychology • Positivism (August Comte, 1798-1857) • Recognize only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observable • Only knowledge from science was valid • Materialism • The facts of the universe could be described in physical terms and explained by the properties of matter and energy

V. Philosophical Foundations of the New Psychology • Empiricism (major role) • How the mind acquires knowledge • Attributes all knowledge to experience • Knowledge is from sensory experiences and objective observation • John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, David Hartley, James Mill, and John Stuart Mill

John Locke (1632-1704) Studied at Universities in London and Oxford Interested in politics; impacted on American Independence An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) started British empiricism John Locke Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704)

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704) • 1. How the mind acquires knowledge • At birth: individuals are blank and clean • Individual acquires knowledge through experience and leaning

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704) • 2. Sensation and Reflection • Ideas are the result of reflection and sensations • Sensation (impression): sense impressions • Reflection (idea): • mind operates on the sense impressions to form ideas • Combine the sense impresions to form abstractions and other higher-level ideas

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704) • 3. Simple idea and complex idea • Simple idea • Can not be analyzed or reduced to even simpler ideas • Complex Idea • Combining simple ideas • Can be analyzed and reduced to simpler ideas

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704) • 4. The theory of Association • Rejected Descartes’ innate ideas • Simple ideas may be linked or associated to form complex ideas • Association (early) = learning (today)

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Locke (1632-1704) • 5. Primary and secondary qualities • Primary: objective, exist independently of being experienced. • The size and shape of a building • Secondary: subjective, exist if experienced (perceived) • Color • Water: cold, hot, warm

Born and educated in Ireland An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision (1709) & A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) Taught at Trinity College in Dublin One school in California named “Berkeley” in honor of him Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: George Berkeley (1685-1753) George Berkeley

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: George Berkeley (1685-1753) • 1. Perception is the only reality • Mentalism: all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving or experiencing person • One can only rely on one’s perception of the physical nature of objects • Impact the phenomenology of the humanistic school, focus on the individual’s unique experiences

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: George Berkeley (1685-1753) • 2. The Association of sensations • Knowledge: composition of simple idea, held together by association • Depth perception: is learned and is the result of the association or synthesis of sensations.

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: David Hume (1711-1776) • If no God, one has no way of knowing • 1. Impression and Ideas • Impression: like sensation and perceptions • Idea: images of impression • Both may be simple or complex David Hume

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: David Hume (1711-1776) • 2. Law of Association • Resemblance (similarity) • The more alike two ideas are, the more readily they will be associated • Contiguity in time and space • The more closely linked two ideas are in time and space, the more readily they will be associated

Was prepared to be a minister, but later turned to medicine Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations (association) Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: David Hartley (1705-1757) David Hartley

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: David Hartley (1705-1757) • 1 Association by contiguity and repetition • Contiguity: explains memory, reasoning, emotion, voluntary and involuntary actions • Repetition: the more frequently two ideas occur together, the more readily they will be associated. • Infant (no knowledge)Children (rely on sensory experiences and mental connections) -adult (rely on thinking, judging, & reasoning) • The first to apply a theory of association to explain all types of mental activities.

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: David Hartley (1705-1757) • 2. The influence of mechanism • Explain psychological process in terms of mechanical principles and explain their underlying physiological processes • Impulses, vibration (human brain and nervous system)

Educated at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland Worked at church Was a writer Analysis of the Phenomena of Human Mind Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: James Mill (1773-1836) James Mill

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: James Mill (1773-1836) • 1. The mind as a Machine • No place for free will • Mind can be studied by it’s elements • Mental elements: sensations and ideas • Complex ideas solely due to association

His father is James Mill Received private tutoring: Greek, Latin, algebra, history, political economy…. John could read Plato in Greek at 3; wrote scholarly paper at 11; master university curriculum at 12; suffered depression by 21. Fell in love with Harriet Taylor Equality of sex John Stuart Mill Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Empiricism and Association: Acquiring knowledge through Experience: John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) • 1. Mental chemistry • Mental chemistry: Complex ideas are more than the sum of the simple ideas • Creative Synthesis: a combination of mental elements created something greater than or different from the sum of the original elements • Argued it is possible to make a scientific study of mind

A History of Psychology