Chapter 2 Part 1: Ancient Greeks Flashcards
What were some of the main ideas that arose during the Bronze age?
Warriors with a warrior mentality, age of rule by semi-divine kings, conceptions of virtue and the good life (battlefield glory and fighting well- if you die, make sure you die virtuously)
How was the psyche mentioned in Homer’s “the Illiad?”
Idea of the soul/conscious mind- soul-like entities.
What are the 3 soul like entities described by Homer?
Phrenes: Action
Thumos: mind
Noos: perception and visual recognition
Who was the first major philosopher?
Pythagoras.
What does the term philosopher mean?
Lover of wisdom.
What did the Pythagoreans believe (cult)
Believed math underlies all nature and can cleanse the mind- attune self to harmony of the universe.
What was Pythagoras idea of opposites?
Suggested natural opposites exist in nature- unity only described through tendencies that contradict. There are 10 pairs of opposites.
What are the 10 pairs of opposites?
1) Limited/unlimited
2) Odd/even
3) Unity/plurality
4) Right/left
5) Male/female
6) At rest/in motion
7) Straight/curved
8) Light/darkness
9) Good/evil
10) Square/oblong
What is the most important pair of opposites?
Limited vs unlimited- as people, everything we experience is limited even if it is viewed as unlimited.
What were Pythagoras’ two ideas on a dualistic world?
Physical and abstract worlds
What is the physical world?
Known through the senses, can’t provide true knowledge. Contempt for physical pleasure corrupts thinking- due to this he outlawed excess and eating of flesh, strict puritanical living.
What is the abstract world?
More permanent and knowable- focuses on our ability to reason rather than our senses. Believed to be an immortal world (soul, not body). Pre-cursor to mind body dualism.
How did Alcmaeon use these ideas of opposites in medicine?
Health results from balance, among the first to use dissection.
How did Alcmaeon contribute to psych?
Prior to him, the mind was believed to be in the heart and sensory information reached the brain via air channels.
Perception, cognition, memory, as well as founded epistemology.
What did Hippocrates believe in?
The natural healing of the body, rest, fresh air, and baths work to heal
What was Hippocrates known as?
The Father of Medicine- discovered medicine from superstition. Observe, diagnose, prognosis.
What were Empedocles’ 4 humours?
Blood (sanguine), yellow bile (choleric), black bile (melancholic), and phlegm (phlegmatic). These are all seasonally based.
What were Galen’s contributions to psychology?
Added temperament to the 4 humours- early version of personality theory.
Who were the Sophists?
A group of teachers of rhetoric (art of persuasion), and logic (characterizing valid arguments). Xenophanes, Protogoras, Gorgias. Anything can be true if you are convinced, focus on what humans know and what they come to know.
What was Socrates idea on induction?
A method to search for truth- examine common examples that are stable and knowable to find out the truth.
Why did Socrates view himself as the “midwife of thought”
Helped others find their own ideas- knowledge acquired through reasoning from within and not through experiencing.
How did Socrates influence psychology?
Views on knowlege influenced Plato, Kant and others. Innate trait ideas also influenced.
What was Plato’s republic about?
Features Socrates talking to Athenian’s about the meaning of justice.
What is Plato’s theory of forms?
Plato believed we inherently had knowledge- everything in our world represents a pure form (idea of an object). Form will always remain the same- things in the physical world as flawed perceptions of an ideal form.
What is reminiscence theory?
Plato assumed the soul was immortal, so Is knowledge. Sensory information contaminates perception, all knowledge is obtained through introspection (we remember knowledge which already exists). Consistent with nativist viewpoints.
What is the idea of the Tripartite soul?
Appetite, feeling, and reason.
What is appetite?
Mortal and part of the body- physical (hunger, thirst, sex)
What is feeling?
Also mortal and part of the body, emotions, fear, anger, love.
What is reason?
Immortal- rational pursuits and introspection, inhibits gratification, goal of life is to be free from temptation.
How did Plato influence psychology?
Furthered the discussion on mind body dualism, proposed early theories on human motivation, Tripartite soul as first nod to personality psychology, ideas also the root for cognitive psychology.
What was the Lyceum?
Founded by Aristotle after Plato didn’t allow him to be president of his society, first structure that resembled a university.
What is the idea of Peripatec school?
Aristotle was more open to sensory info and disagreed with plato on the theory of forms- he would go on walks and chat with his students, more emphasis on observation, less on math, more on underlying causes.
What is teleology?
Every object in nature serves a purpose
What are the 4 causes?
1) Material
2) Formal
3) Efficient
4) Final
What is the material cause?
What the object is made out of
What is the formal cause?
The essence of pattern of the object
What is the efficient cause?
The energy that creates it’s pattern
What is the final cause?
The purpose of the object.
What is common sense?
A mental process which consolidates each piece of sensory information and interprets it.
What is passive reason?
Using your own synthesized experiences to navigate the world.
What is active reason?
Abstract thinking, highest form of cognition, form the concept of an object with our minds.
What is the “golden mean” according to Aristotle?
Moderation as a key to living your best life- aiming for the mean or midpoint.
What were Aristotles ideas on memory?
Memories as a chain of associations, remembering (spontaneous recollection), and recall (intentional search for remembered information)
What are the 3 laws of association?
1) Association by similarity
2) Association by contrast
3) Association by contiguity
What is association by similarity?
We remember the object by thinking of something else that is like it
What is association by contrast?
We remember the object by thinking of it’s opposite
What is association by contiguity?
We remember an object because it is paired with another object (ex: PB and J)
What are mnemonics?
Based on imagination- techniques designed to help us remember lists of information
What is the method of loci?
Memory technique which incorporates both loci (places), as well as images to help remember a list.
What are the steps of the method of loci?
1) Learn places in a specific order
2) The path should be unique
3) The places on the path should be distanced
4) Every place should be distinct in your mind.
How did Aristotle impact psychology?
Invented logic, introduced notion of empiricism, first systematic investigator of biology, introduced metaphysics (structure of reality), theories of motivation, memory, personality and different types of intelligences.
