What is psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave.
Sigmund Freud is the ‘father’ of psychoanalytic theory whereby people decisions are
driven by subconscious forces or desires.
In contrast, Ivan Pavlov who was a ‘behaviourist,’ basically depositing that all behaviours are learnt, and we learn what are called contingencies, and repeated exposure to certain associations can help alter behaviour.
History is psychology
Zeitgeist is a word that means what is the kind of social context, particularly relating to knowledge generation or social factors that an idea emerges in.
Psychology is the study of the PSYCHE, the Ancient Greek word for ‘soul.’ The term ‘psyche’ today could either mean soul or mind
Greek Origins of Western Thought: 1. Pythagoras (580-500 BCE)
is the first person to connect physical events (tones) to
psychological events (pleasure) —>psychological responses to physical activity.
-Pythagorus believed that the world can only be explained by REASON and not the senses. He was the first with a clear cut mind-body dualism in Western thought.
He also began the tradition of imbuing senses as being inferior to ra onal or higher thought.
Greek origins of western thought:
2. Plato
(427-347 bc)
combined Socratic Method with Pythagorean mysticism. Socratic
method is a form of questioning where an idea is taken apart by a series of questions which is set to reveal its foundations.
Plato also educed the Theory of Forms, which asserts that objects in the material are inferior
representations of objects in the world of pure forms (ideas). Plato hence believed that true knowledge is attained by grasping the forms (ideas) themselves —> This is achieved by ignoring senses and sensory experience.
Greek origins of western thought: 3. Aristotle (384-322 Bc)
was the first to examine topics such as; memory, sensation, sleep, dreams, geriatrics (ageing) and learning.
He thought that essences could only become known by studying nature. Senses bring in
information. This is done by studying many examples of types of events or objects, hence
refuting the claim of the Theory of Forms.
Aristotle was termed a rationalist Empiricist —> the mind must analyse information from the
senses to produce knowledge.
Aristotle explained physiological events through biology —> he was the first physiological psychologist.
His main contribution to psychology, however, is that he postulated several laws of Association with respect to memory. Associaitonism is the basis of modern theories of Learning.
Aristotle also established deductive logic, which established a rigor in analytical thinking —> that is, you could pull apart an argument and see if it really made sense.
He emphasised purpose, which is teleology.
The Dark Ages in the West (400s – 1300s CE)
Greek learning largely lost to the West.
Dominant movements and writings of the time based on mysticism, superstitions and anti-intellectualism —> more so about emotive comfort rather than critical thinking.
The preservation of Ancient Greek learning was only carried out by Islamic scholarship, hence
the availability of such writings despite being lost to the West.
This period effectively stopped open inquiry concerning the nature of human beings. Rather, the role of human reason was down played in favour of adherence to faith as espoused by the Church.
Towards the end of this period, the rediscovery of Aristotle’s work lead to a re-awakening of discussion and inquiry.
Renaissance Humanism (1400s - 1600s CE)
This period gave rise to social and intellectual focus on human beings and human activities.
- Four main themes are prominent:
1. Individualism
2. Personal religion
3. Interest in the past, Greek and Roman writers.
4. An -Aristotelianism
During this period, establish dogma (doctrine) was no longer unchallenged.
This era brought about the rise of Skepticism —> intellectualised Aristotelian religion of the
day was challenged
Principles of Newtonian Science
- God created but did not micromanage
- Rather, the material world is governed by natural laws
- He rejected Aristotle’s ‘final cause concept’ —> he asserted that there were intermediate clauses, and things followed from that.
- Accepted Occam’s Razor —> which is the asser on that a theory should be as complicated as necessary to explain a phenomenon but no more complicated than necessary.
- Knowledge is imperfect because of limitations of human beings.
- Classification (naming) is not explanation.
Observation Francis Bacon (1561-1626 CE)
- Stressed the observation of events.
- Desired no theories but only induction —> A true scientist must come to their task without preconceptions.
- Bacon recognised only empirical observation as the ultimate authority in matters scientific.
- Scientific endeavours should benefit society —> practical knowledge was the rationale for
expending public funds on science
Rationalism
Descartes (1596-1650 CE)
- Invented analytical geometry from observing files in a room —> wanted to be able to locate them exactly in 3 dimensions —> wanted exactness in measurement.
- Wanted to establish human knowledge on the same certain basis as the truths of mathematics.
- Essentially, he wanted to be able to identify the sure foundation of knowing.
- From this foundation, all knowledge could be deduced.
- His method consisted of 4 rules:
1. Avoid all prejudgement, all is up for examination
2. Divide problems into as many parts as might be required to obtain a solution
3. Analyse the parts in an orderly fashion —> start with the simplest and work towards the hardest
4. Be extremely thorough so as to leave no aspect unexamined - Descartes came to the conclusion —> ‘Cogito ergo sum = I think, therefore I am.’
- However, he also became convinced that certain ideas were so clear they must be INNATE —> placed there by God.
- Descartes was clearly a RATIONALIST —> that is because he emphasised the dominance of logical thought processes in the quest for knowledge.
- Interactive Dualism – the ancient Mind Body problem was brought into focus by Descartes.
Clearly the body was necessary for existence which is necessary for thinking, yet the Mind did not work according to the same physical principles. The two interacted, but HOW?
Empiricism
Locke (1632-1704 CE)
- Locke opposed innate ideas —> for him all knowledge came from ‘experience’.
- Ideas were simple mental images. They are produced by either sensation or reflection.
- The operations of the mind are innate. Its task is the arranging of the images/ideas, it does
not create or destroy them. - He maintained that humans are motivated by the seeking of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
- The mind was a blank slate or ‘tabula rasa’. This was in opposition to Descartes who
emphasised the role of experience in creating knowledge. The mind did not come with all it needed. Experience was the missing ingredient. - The science of man must be laid upon the foundation of experience and observation.
- Hume believed the first step was careful observation and then generalise from those
observations. - Knowledge begins from simple impressions by which he meant strong vivid perceptions.
- Once can never know reality directly, only the received perceptions.
- Hume asserted that a causal relationship is nothing more than a consistent co-occurrence of two events. Thus, causation is primarily a psychological experience not necessarily a reality.
- Hume had 4 conditions for 2 events to be causally related:
1. Contiguous (together) in space and time
2. Cause must precede the event.
3. Constant union of cause and effect.
4. Same cause for same effect. - Human wanted NEWTONIAN CERTAINTY for psychology.
Kant (1724-1804 CE)
- Kant brought to the divide between the Empiricists and early rationalists a synthesis of ideas.
- Kant asserted that categories could not be derived from experience. They had an existence prior to observation.
- He postulated that though experience was critical, further analysis of the experience showed the operations of an active mind —> you need both.
- For Kant —> centre of the universe was the human mind.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882 CE)
- He asserted that survival of the best was viewed from the perspective of an entire species as a whole, NOT focusing on the individual.
- Individuals carry the traits that ‘ fit’ the environment.
- Survival of the BEST FITTED.
- Darwin asserted that emotions are the remnants of animal emotions —> remnants of by-gone survival needs
- Evolution is the most influential theory in modern Psychology.
- Darwin asserted that both humans and great apes descended from a common primate
ancestor. - Today, genetics has provided a mechanism for explaining the process of passing on traits.
SUMMARY
Reason / Ration —> Descartes, Aquinas, Occam, Plato —> (Reason onto theory) Theory —> Hegel, Kant
Observation —> Newton, Hume, Aristotle, Bacon, Locke —> (Observation onto data) Data Mathematics —> Plato, Galileo, Newton
What 3 categories make up modern empirical psychology
The aforementioned 3 categories (Theory, Mathematics, Data)
