Lecture 1 - From Philosophy to Psychology Flashcards
What was the precursor to psychology?
Philosophy
How did psychology develop in Ancient Greece?
People made up stories, beginning with Homer
Gods explained behaviors and personality
What were Socrates and Plato’s contributions?
Psychological forces = cause of mental disturbances
Madness was the animal psyche overtaking the intellectual mind
Nature vs. nurture on intelligence and personality
What were Aristotle’s contributions?
Empiricism
Psychological ideas about sleep, dreams, sensation and memory
What were Goclenius’ contributions?
Credited with term “psychology”
What does psychology mean?
Psyche = soul Ology = science
What is ontology, and what is its importance?
Study of being/existing
Asked key q - “what exists?”
What are the steps to asking “what exists”?
- Define existence
- Have a perceiver
How is that which exists changed by perceiver?
What did ontology contribute to psychology?
Study of sensation and perception
What occurred between 1400-1500?
The Renaissance in Europe
Arts, tech, science increased
Printing press dispersed information
What were Descartes’ contributions?
Rationalism and Dualism
Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am (can be sure of nothing else)
Humans as machines: experience -> response
What is rationalism?
The idea that our knowledge comes from reasoning
What are the basic rules of rationalism?
- Accept nothing as true unless there is absolutely no doubt about it
- Take problems, analyze them, and reduce them to the fundamental
- Go from simplest to most complex elements
- Carefully review conclusions
What is dualism?
Humans are 2 parts - physical and immaterial
What is today’s perspective on dualism?
Disagree
Mind is what brain does
What were Spinoza’s contributions?
Rejected Descartes’ dualism
Said that body/mind are two different aspects of the same substance
Said that free will and human nature are determined
What is empiricism?
Method of knowledge derived from experience or experimens
What were Locke’s contributions?
Formalized Empiricism
Tabula Rasa or blank page/slate
What were John Stuart Mill’s contributions?
Supported empiricism
Helped the shift from philosophy of mind -> science of mind
What is the significance of the guillotine?
People wondered how/why arms/legs moved after heads cut off
“Is brain the center of consciousness?”
Psy testing during executions
When brain was cut off, so was consciousness
Opened door to reflexes
What is reflective action?
Galvani cut frogs legs
Stimulated them with electrical current
Concluded reflexes must be electrical
What were early findings on the spinal cord?
Brain = center of consciousness Reflexes = outside of brain - thru spinal cord
Who was Whytt?
A scientist that found the role of the spinal cord in reflexive behaviour
Cut spinal cord and reflexes stopped
What did Magendie discover?
Did dissections on live dogs
Cut posterior = no movement, feeling
Cut anterior = movement, no feeling
Cut both = no feeling or movement
What was the Bell-Magendie Law?
Posterior cord = movement
Anterior cord = feeling
What was early evidence for localization of brain function?
Similarities of brain sizes and structures
Could different sections = different functions?
What were Gall’s contributions?
Phrenology - studied shape of school mate heads
Believed that brain holds emotion and intelligence
Said that faculties were native
Contralateral function
What did phrenology contribute to psychology?
Early example of individual differences
Connections btwn brain sections and functions
Suggestion that brain changed with experience
Anticipated modern brain scan techniques
What did Flourens contribute?
Ablated sections of brain to see results
Showed main brain division functions
But did not find localization for memory, personality or cognition
Disproved phrenology
Give an example of early brain injury research.
Phineas Gage - 1848
Personality changes from frontal lobe damage
Went from dependable and hardworking -> irresponsible and obstinate
What was Broca’s contribution?
Tan in 1861
Intelligent man who could understand and reason
But was only able to respond with Tan
Broca found dmg to lower left area of frontal lobe
This was related to speech production ability
What did Hitzig and Fritsch contribute?
Stimulated live dog brains and produced brain maps
Showed which movement occurred when the area was stim’d
Evidence for localization
What did Penfield do?
- Exposed conscious human brains
Participants reported feeling and seeing things - Developed maps of motor/sensory function on cortex
Frontal = motor function
Parietal = sensory function
Maps were topographical but not size corresponding
Found that only 1/4th of cortex was involved in sensation
What is EEG?
Electroencephalogram
Records electric activity of thousands of neurons
What are CT scans?
Computerized axial tomography
X-rays that take pictures of narrow brain slices
Brain image is then reconstructed
What are PET scans?
Positron emission tomography
Measures brain activity - blood flow, metabolism and NT activity
What is MRI?
Magnetic resonance imaging
Measures response to magnetic pulses some minutes apart
More sensitive that PET/CT
What is fMRI?
Functional MRI
Images taken seconds apart while brain is doing a task
What is phrenology?
The study of human faculties identified and located in areas of the brain
Who was Spurzheim?
Worked with Gall on phrenology, spread it
Said that faculties were exercisable
Later broke away
What are the main tenets of phrenology?
- Brain is the organ of the mind
- Mind is composed of attributes/faculties (intellectual/cog and affective/emo)
- Faculties are in specific brain areas
- Some have more of one faculty than others
- Doctrine of the Skull - can determine faculties from shape of skull
Why was phrenology not successful?
Insufficient/weak evidence
Anecdotal
Ignored counter evidence
What is the Clinical Method? Why is it used?
Looking at the bhvrl/mental consequences of brain damage
Easier/more ethical than ablation
