Lecture 4 - The birth of Psychology Flashcards
Look at picture 1 - who is this quote from?
Berkeley
Look at picture 2 - who is this quote from?
Hume
Overview of this lecture
- Kant’s challenge
- View on man up to 1800
- tilting view on man
- the birth of psychology
- the first psychologists:
→ Freud (psychoanalysis)
→ Wundt (first psychological lab + structuralism)
→ James (Functionalism)
→ Binet (first psychological tests)
How did the study of the mind develop from philosophy?
- from Aristotle onwards, there have always been thinkers that thought about the mind (philosophy)
- 19th century: the study of men’s mind becomes a science
Christian Wolff - what is he remembered for?
- 1679-1754
- the first representation of psychology as its own field of science
- launches idea of introspection as a scientific method
- wants to describe the results of introspection mathematically (Psychometriae)
What did Wolff write? What did these represent?
- published the first books with “psychology” in the title:
~ Psychologia Empirica (1732)
→ introduced the concept of introspection (the researcher looking inside their own mind and investigating their own conciousness)
~ Psychologia Rationalis (1734)
→ formulates way in which observations can be taken and transformed into general laws or mathematical formulations
! These two publications should be taken together, and they form the basis of psychology (according to Wolff)
Introspection - what is it?
- study of the mind by the mind by “looking inside”
- through introspection we can study the properties of our mental states
→ it immediately became controversial
What are the main problems with introspection?
- the researcher and subject are the same person, and this leads to many biases
- very hard to use introspection to report processes that happen in the mind (hard to put into words)
→ now we still study the mind through introspection, but with concrete questions and quantitative psychology to be as objective as possible (e.g. asking how many times you go to parties to measure extroversion)
Kant
Kant - empiricism or rationalism?
- 1724-1804
- he was between rationalism and empiricism
→ more on rationalism side: he valued knowledge about maths, logic and physics more than other types of knowledge
Kant
What is Kant known for?
- among the firsts to consider the possibility of a scientific psychology
- proper vs improper science
- psychology can at most describe, but will have no explanatory laws (such as in physics)
Kant
What are the proper and improper sciences?
- Proper science: lawful, quantitative description in maths terms
→ every science that can be described in mathematical terms is proper - Improper science: described in normal language (not maths), categorisation, merely empirical
→ also called “systematic art”
→ e.g. psychology, chemistry (you have to observe substances, so it’s not proper science)
Kant
How does Kant explain sciences?
“A rational doctrine of nature thus deserves the name of a natural scince, only in case the fundamental natural laws therein are cognized a priori, and are not mere laws of experience…
… in any special doctrine of nature, there can only be as much proper science as there is mathematics therein…
… proper natural science requires a pure part lying at the basis of the empirical part, and resting on a priori cognition of natural things”
Kant
What is Kant’s opinion on introspection? Why?
> Kant states that introspection is problematic:
- mental states have no quantitative properties (like objects have weight or length)
- introspection can therefore not provide a mathematical description
- consciousness “never stands still”, is always in flux, and cannot be kept constant to look at it closely, and thoughts cannot be separated (cannot be experimentally manipulated)
- observing the mind automatically changes the mind (e.g. practice bias)
Comte
Arguments against introspection
- Comte: introspection is not a reliable observation because there is no distinction between the investigator and the investigated
- objectivity is impossible with introspection, because we can’t check whether what is reported corresponds to the truth
- evidence from introspection is tehrefore not public and this is a problem for scientific principles (transparency)
What two positions can be taken regarding introspection and psychology?
- we could exclude introspection from psychology, and try to find other quantitative ways to measure the mind
- we could include introspection, and establish a framework where introspection can be studied
The view of men in the past - Copernicus, Descarte and Newton
- 15th-17th century
- man is put on earth by god with a purpose, and is not really part of nature
> does not fall under the scope of natural phenomena, therefore it cannot be studied mathematically
> qualitatively different from animal, so biology has nothing to do with psychology
> human body is governed by an immaterial cartesian spirit which only makes itself known through subjective experience - science is beautiful, but it is not at all obvious that man humself can be an object of scientific studies
Why were men not studied scientifically in the past?
- it was believed that men were put on Earth by god; and they were considered not to be part of nature
- men were considered very different from all the other objects and living things on earth, and that made it difficult to study them
How did psychology evolve?
- impossible to describe psychology mathematically → possible
- humans are not animals → humans are part of natural world, and therefore can be studied
- the mind is immaterial (Descartes) → the mind is material
now we’ll go through each development
psychology as mathematically describable
What was the first step to describing psychology mathematically? what is this process called?
- Franciscus Donders
- he starts measuring the duration of mental processes:
→ gives patients two tasks (one with repetition, and one with repetition+discrimination)
→ subtracs the time taken to complete both tasks
→ result is estimate of how long the mental processes of discrimination takes
! mental chronometry (provides mathematical description of mental processes)
psychology as mathematically describable
Why couldn’t mental chronometry be invented before?
there were no stop watches!
- first stop watch was built in 1816
- before that, there was the Huygens’ pendulum
psychology as mathematically describable
Reaction time research, in present time
- Donders’ idea is the basis for the study of mental processes through reaction time tasks
→ e.g. studies of decision making, attitudes (IAT), …
! much of these mathematical processes has been developed at the UvA and in Leuven (Donders was Dutch)
psychology as mathematically describable
Just-noticeable difference - what is it?
- it is the minimum difference that can be detected by humans
- e.g. people blindfolded keep one book on each hand (books weight the same)
→ a piece of paper is added to one book, and people will not be able to tell the difference between the weight of the two books
→ a small book is added to one book; now people will be able to tell the difference in weights
→ just-noticeable difference is in this cases the smallest book added that would make people be able to tell that there is a difference in weights
psychology as mathematically describable
Who studied the just-noticeable difference?
- Weber and Fechner
- J.N.D. in perceptions (e.g. weight, sight, …)
→ among the ones that investigated psychology and men mathematically
psychology as mathematically describable
The arrival of Statistics
- another step to psychology being studied mathematically
- now focus is on larger groups of people, not on individuals
- behavior cannot be predicted accurately, but through statistics trends and general probabilities can be calculated
psychology as mathematically describable
who was one of the first statisticians?
she kinda skipped him during the lecture
-
Quetelet (Belgian astronomer and sociologist)
→ introduced the science of l’‘homme moyenne” (the average human)
→ this resulted also in quantitative sociology
psychology as mathematically describable
Francis Galton - what is he known for?
- 1822-1911
- cousin of Darwin
- main focus: heredity and intelligence
- human qualities are just as heritable as “natural” qualities
- invented regression
psychology as mathematically describable
Eugenics
- most controversial part of Galton’s ideas
- he wanted to create a society based on intelligence
→ intelligence should be leading in who procreates and who doesn’t (only smart people should reproduce)
! this was a very common idea at the time
psychology as mathematically describable
“Statistics are full of racists”
- why?
- Galton: founded regression to predict someone’s intelligence based on their parents’ intelligence
- Pearson: founded Pearson’s correlation for the same field of Eugenics
psychology as mathematically describable
“humans are stochastic”
- what does it mean?
= “random probability distribution or pattern that may be analysed statistically but may not be predicted precisely”
→ humans can be studied statistically, but their behavior cannot be accurately predicted
psychology as mathematically describable
Now, back to Kant
- with the knowledge we have now, what can we say about Kant’s opinion on mathematical description of psychology?
- applying statistics to psychology appeared to be a great success (correlation, regression method, mental chronometry, …)
- Kant had perhaps underestimated the potential of describing humans mathematically
(picture 3)
psychology as mathematically describable
Does all of this mean that we should strive for psychology to be as mathematically describable?
- at the time of Donders (etc), reserachers worked mostly on natural sciences
- they strived to describe mathematically as much as possible, but this is not necessarily necessary
- now many branches of psychology consider psychology not to necessitate mathematical description
humans as god-sent → humans as animals
What were the steps to considering men as animals? (instead of men as different from animals, selected by God)
- Charles Darwin (1809-1882)→ evolution theory
→ man is not the king of animals - explains origin of species based on evolution
→ accidental mutation
→ natural selection (advantageous traits are passed on) - animals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more than animals less adapted
- humans developed certain advantageous traits and evolved as separate species from the apes
(picture 4)
humans as god-sent → humans as animals
What were the consequences of Evolution Theory?
- man loses its special status compared to animals
- humans and animal behavior are related
- the answer to “who are humans” now falls under the scope of sience
! Darwin encounters resistance, but what is surprising is how fast his theory was accepted
humans as god-sent → humans as animals
Evolution Theory in present times
- evolutionary psychology is currently a separate field of research
- reserach along the lines of functional psychological modules that are adaptive
- examples are inferring human emotions or detecting cheaters
immaterial mind → material mind
Mind becomes material
- in 18th-19th century, it became clear that mental functions are linked to the brain
- localization (Wernicke, Broca)
- discovery and study of reflexes introduce idea of mechanisms behind behavior
→ mind is not enchanted
(picture 5)
The Birth of Psychology - who are the founding fathers?
- Freud (1856-1939; Austro-Hungarian Empire)
- Wundt (1832-1920; German Empire)
- James (1842-1910; United States; student of Wundt)
- Binet (1857-1911; France)
Freud
The start of psychotherapy - Freud
- 1856-1939; very controversial man
- puts forward the first comprehensive psychological theory
- focus on the mind of people, not the quantitative measurements
-
psychoanalysis revolves around the tension between the conscious and the unconscious
→ the unconscious is a set of uncoordinated instinctual desires like sex and aggression, too threatening to allow in the consciousness
→ the ego censors the id by the order of the superego
→ problematic when unbalance between conscious and unconscious
(picture 18)
Freud
Ego, Superego and Id
-
Id: in the unconscious part
→ based on pleasure principle (sex, aggression, desires that society doesn’t allow)
→ internal drives, since we are born -
Superego: still in unconscious part
→ morality principles (e.g. you can’t kill people)
→ learnt throughout life, not innate -
Ego: in coscious part
→ controls superego and id
→ keeps balance between desires and social norms
(picture 6)
Freud
- where do psychological problems arise from?
- what is the solution?
- psychological problems arise from problems in the unconscious
→ e.g. complexes, repressed memories… - to solve problems, we must trace and address the latent cause
- the psychoanalyst should trace down the problem using all sorts of cues
→ Freud was convinced that hysterical symptoms were due to repressed sexual childhood experiences
! this is the foundation of psychodynamic therapy (focus on diving deep in background to find latent cause)
Freud
Freudian Slips
- what are they?
- what are they used for?
- the unconscious sometimes shows itself, when the censoring ego isn’t paying attention
→ slip of the tongue
→ dreams (language through which the unconscious speaks)
→ free associations - from their interpretation, problem and solution can be inferred
Freud (book)
Why were Freudian Slips important?
- Freud based his therapy on how the message of the patient was given, rather than the message itself
- the therapist had to focus on small cues in the patient’s speech, and from these try to interpret the meaning of e.g. dreams
Freud
What was Freud’s most valuable contribution to psychology?
- thanks to him, problems started being solved by talking to therapists, and not just through medication etc…
- if someone has problems, most times they can be helped. They don’t always have to be put in a home or considered crazy
! the lecturer was saying that despite being critical of Freud, we must also take into account his contribution to the scene of psychology
book (important!)
Psychological treatment & Psychoanalysis
Psychological treatment:
- treatment of mental health problems consisting of conversations between the patient and the therapist
- initiated by Freud as an alternative to prevailing medical and educational treatments
Psychoanalysis:
- Freud’s theory and therapy
- provided first coherent framework for the treatment of nervous disorders
- first complete theory of human psychological functioning
Freud
Controversy
- psychoanalysis was initiated and shaped by Freud and his wishes were father to many of its thoughts
- e.g. psychoanalysis can be used to prove that someone has a mental disorder, but to also prove that he doesn’t based on the situation (bias) - historians and methodologists have found unscientific practices and clinical scandals
→ this resulted in genuine scientific and ethical doubts (is psychoanalysis a science? Is it a cure?)
The 16th Century
- how were people with disorders considered/treated?
Before 16th century
- lived at home or on streets
- “possessed” by the devil or ghosts
From the 16th century onwards → responsability shifts to authorities
- first institutions look like prisons (asylums), then like hospitals
- treatments (e.g. cold showers or quickly turning around)
The 19th Century
- changing view on disorders throughout history
- focus shifts from “teaching morality” to biological components
- neurologists focus on nervous disorders
- use of hypnosis
- psychological therapy instead of medical or educational treatment (!)
- therapist-client conversations
Neurologists
- in the 19th century, neurologists entered the scene
- they were interested in disorders related to the brain
- only worst cases were then admitted in asylums
- Charcot was frontrunner of this movement (Freud attended his lectures)
Book
Why was Germany particularly fruitful in psychology compared to other countries (19th century)?
- academic rather than amateur role for both philosophers and physiologists
- better job oportunities in philosophy than in physiology encouraging the mobility of men and methods from physiology into philosophy
- academic standing of philosophy below that of physiology, requiring the physiologists to maintain their scientific standing by applying their empirical methods to the materials of philosophy
! these three variables all applied to Wundt
Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt
- what is he most known for?
- 1832-1920
- founder of the first formal laboratory for psychology (started in Leipzig, 1879)
- he became very influential for setting the stage: hundreds of phd students came to learn from him, and then went back to their countries and opened psychological laboratories
- (consciousness becomes a central theme)
(picture 10)
Wundt (book)
What was Wundt’s definition of psychology?
- he called it “Physiological psychology”
- particularly interested in:
→ measurement of just-noticeable differences (Fechner, 1860)
→ registration of response time (Donders, 1868)
(picture 9)
Wundt (Book)
What are the three methods used in Wundt’s laboratory?
- psychophysical methods to study the connection between physical stimuli and their conscious states
- measurement of the duration of simple mental processes
- accuracy of reproduction in memory tasks
(Wundt’s lab was part of a wider set of communicating labs, it was not isolated. At the time though, the experiments sometimes had only one participant, and they were not aware of Demand Characteristics)
Wundt
what important methods did Wundt work with?
- Experimental Observation → e.g. reaction time research
- Introspection → e.g. investigating affective states
- Völkerpsychologie → historical and cultural analysis of psychology
Wundt (Book)
Introspection - what was Wundt’s view?
(Kant and Comte had already criticized introspection beforehand)
- Wundt avoided criticism by introducing more control into the experimental situation
- he distinguished between:
→ internal perception (armchair introspection as in philosophy)
→ experimental self-observation (stimulus was presented repeatedly and participants reported their experiences to the stimulus)
- he claimed that experimental self-observation was a valid scientific method to measure consciousness
Wundt (Book)
Historical method
- studying the human mind by investigating the products of human cultures
- works well to investigate the “higher” functions of the mind
Wundt
What school of psychology was Wundt apart of?
-
Structuralism (study of the structure of the mind)
→ what are the components/building blocks of each attribute? (e.g. shame) - he studied this through introspection tests
Wundt
How did Wundt characterize “affect”?
In terms of valence and arousal
- frustrated = negative affect, high arousal
- depressed = negative affect, low arousal
- content = positive affect, low arousal
- excited = positive affect, high arousal
(see picture 7)
(Wundt)
Structuralism
- mental states are built from basic properties
- study the structure of mental experiences
- complex psychological states are systematic constellations of thoughts and feelings
→ guilt = a (negative) feeling linke to the thought (that you have done something wrong)
→ hope = a (positive) feeling linked to the thought (that something might get better in the future)
! this school of though is now not very common
(Wundt)
What is some criticism with Structuralism?
- through structuralism we get some structures of affects and mind, but then what?
- we still don’t know how they are related, we don’t know about causes-effects, experiences of people
- these building blocks do not really lead anywhere
Titchener (Book)
Edward Titchener
- 1867-1927 (US)
- Wundt’s student
(the book says that he founded structuralism, while the lecturer didn’t even mention him)
(picture 15)
Book
What were some reasons why structuralism was never really popular?
1- introspection did not intuitively give rise to the experience of elementary sensations (Wüzburg School)
2- structuralism did not address the issues that were important for the American society at the time, namely pragmatic issues (not consciousness); Americans were more interested in functionalism.
3- not convincing statements even to the psychologists interested in consciousness (Gestalt Psychology)
Book
Wüzburg School
- psychologists that used introspection as research method, but came to different conclusions than Wundt and Titchener
- “many thought processes are not available to introspection (e.g. imageless thughts)”
Book
Gestalt Psychology
- the human mind cannot be understood by breaking down the experiences into their constituent elements
- perception is more than the sensation of stimuli, it involves organization
(picture 14)
James
William James
- 1842-1910
- introduced psychology in the US
- wrote book “Principles of Psychology” (took him 12 years!)
(picture 13)
James (Book)
What was the best available method according to James?
Introspection
- James ackowledges that introspection is fallible and hardly objective
- however, through repeated observations and corrections over time psychologists can build a better understanding of this concept
- therefore, he thinks that introspection is flawed but necessary
(picture 11)
! James was a bit against experimental methods, saying that it eliminates nuances of introspection by operating on a large scale
James
What were James’ opinions on Wundt?
- agree: consciousness should be central
- doubts whether there really are these “building blocks” (that are the bases of structuralism)
! James as similar criticisms for Titchner (one of Wundt’s students)
James
What did James say about Structuralism?
“structuralism has plenty of school, but no thought; could not have arisen in a country whose inhabitants could be bored”
- the brain is constantly changing, so we can’t dissect it to look for building blocks
- we also don’t have access to the single building blocks, as sensations don’t come to us pure and single, they are always combined
(picture 8)
James
Who influenced James?
What school did James found?
- strongly influenced by Darwin
(Darwin pointed out that some of our features have a particular function in society; emphasis on function)
→ James adds that once we have consciousness, we don’t just survive, but we chase goals and purposes - James emphasizes the function of psychological phenomena (and not on how they are structured)
- founded functionalism (function and purpose of things)
(picture 12)
James
What was James’ view on emotions?
- emotion is a response to physiological change (The James-Lange Theory of Emotions)
- these physiological changes and emotions have a function
→ e.g. disgust coincides with sticking the tongue out, which has the function of spitting out bad food
→ e.g. fear coincides with an increased heart rate, which has the function of being ready to flee
(James)
Functionalism - what is the focus?
“What is the purpose of this psychological state?”
- evolutionary
→ fear serves to avoid danger
→ love serves to generate offspring
- cultural
→ religious faith serves to coordinate behavior in a society
- …
! James emphasizes the usefulness of everything, and how mental activities help to adjust to our surroundings
! consciousness is not an “entity”, but a function
Mary Calkins
The union of schools
- what did Mary Calkins argue?
- Mary Calkins: first female president of APA
→ argues for a union of functionalist and structuralist approaches
→ the self is both in relation with the environment and should be investigated structurally - (now both schools are not in use, it was only in the early days of psychology, in the 19th century)
Book
Ribot
- attacked Comte’s claims that introspection is not a valid research method, and psychology not a science
- stated that psychology could study psychological phenomena subjectively (consciousness, memory, reasoning) and objectively (facts, signs, opinions and actions) at the same time
Charcot (book)
Charcot
- one of the first neurologists
- interested in psychopathology
- made experiments with hypnosis to cure hysteria, but Delboeuf demonstrated that the results were stemming from demand characteristics (hypnosis cannot actually cure hysteria)
- Binet was his assistant
Charcot (Book)
Hypnosis
- Mesmer investigated animal magnetism to cure diseases
- discovery that what was important was the trance-like, somnambulist state
- studied by Charcot as similar symptoms as hysteria and Epilepsy; thought to be hereditary degeneration
→ three stages: lethargy, cataplexy (loss of muscle function), somnambulism
Binet
Alfred Binet
- first he tried to establish intelligence like Galton did: reaction times, basal perceptual tests, skill size, …
- doesn’t work, so he decides to administer simple tasks to kids
→ e.g. repeating a sentence, giving a simple definition, count money - calculated sum score of problems solved
! this appears to be a much stronger predictor of e.g. academic success than all previously constructed variables
(picture 16)
Binet
What is Binet known for?
What followed?
- 1857-1911
-
the first psychological test
… Lewis Terman (US)
→ Educational Psychologist, and Eugenicist
→ devises the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scales (still the basis of most IQ tests)
Binet (book)
Why did he start working on intelligence tests?
- in France primary school became mandatory, but they wanted to create special schools for children with more difficulties
- Binet asked the committee who was qualified to determine which child could attend which school
- measures such as head circumference were proven inaccurate to measure cognition → Binet & Simon created the first intelligence test (1912), with different questions not based on school teachings
(picture 17)
Binet
How did Binet’s psychological test contribute to Eugenics?
What was the problem?
- they had at that point an objective and concrete method to calculate intelligence, and knew that it was also rather accurate
- therefore, it could be used in the pursue of the ideal society, by measuring people’s intelligence
- of course, this also meant that black and hispanic people, women and immigrants were disadvantaged (and not offered trainings)
! however, better divider than sole race, relgion of teacher’s judgement (in schools)
How are these tests applied now?
- in the 20th century testing institutes are set up to classify students into educational levels
- in the Netherlands, CITO is founded (by A.D. de Groot)
- testing children in primary schools doesn’t have a good reputation anymore, but it was introduced as a solution for teachers’ prejudices
Summary
- psychology comes into existence in a turbulent time in which the image of man is tilting in all kinds of ways
- psychology becomes an independent discipline (no longer part of philosophy) and becomes an empirical science, initially based on introspection
- psychology is given shape: Freud, Binet, James and Wundt all still have a detectable influence in psychology
- there are some schools, but no dominant paradigm yet. This is being developed in the US, where Thorndike, because he couldn’t use children as subjects, started using chickens…
Book - What will this chapter focus on?
- the foundation of the first laboratory of experimental psychology in Germany
- Starting psychology in America: James and Titchener
- Psychology in France: Ribot, Charcot, Binet
- Freud and psychoanalysis
- starting psychology in the UK: finding a place between clerics, philosophers and biologists
- Focus on: What about the five schools of psychology?
the UK and its universities
Disclaimer!
This part was only in the book. She didn’t even mention it in the lecture, so I wouldn’t spend too much time memorizing everything. If there is part that I considered particularly important, I marked it in the Prompt part of the flashcard
The first universities in the UK
- one of the oldest and most important is Oxford (around 10th/11th century), followed by Cambridge and later by UCL (the neutral university, regardless of religion etc)
- Scotland, Wales and Ireland got their universities a later on
! Oxford and Cambridge were heavily influenced by the Church
When and with whom did psychology arrive in the UK universities?
- Cattell (19th century)
- Wundt’s student and inspired by Galton
- he brought all his equipment with him to Cambridge, but then went back to the US
→ Cattell was followed by Rivers and Myers
James Sully
- established the first laboratory of psychology in the UK (UCL, 1890s)
- founded the British Society of Psychology
Who are the well-known psychologists related to UCL?
- Galton (heredity of features, intelligence testing)
- Pearson (correlatio)
- Wissler (discovered with correlation that Galton’s measurements of intelligence were invalid)
- Spearman (factor analysis, general intelligence)
Bain & Stout (Scotland)
- Bain: created the journal Mind, that was used by Sully, Venn, Wundt, … to publish their articles
- Stout
Spiritualism
- belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by the mediums
- coined in USA in 19th-20th century
→ Psychological Society of Great Britain
Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis
- usually we would distinguish the schools of psychology in Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt psychology, Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis
- we should though distinguish the eras of psychology in:
→ Thesis (introspection; structuralism, functionalism and gestalt psychology)
→ Antithesis (experimentation; behaviorism)
→ Synthesis (mind as proper subject of psychology)
