Topic 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology Flashcards
Histroriography
the study of the proper way to write history
Presentism
interpreting and evaluating historical events in terms of contemporary knowledge and standards
Historicism
the study of the past for its own sake, without attempting t interpret and evaluate it in terms of current knowledge and standards, as is the case with presentism
Zeitgeist
the spirit of the times
Great-Person Approach
the approach to history that concentrates on the most prominent contributors to the topic or field under consideration
Historical Development Approach
the approach to history that concentrates on an element of a field or discipline and describes how the understanding or approach to studying that element has changed over time
an example is a description of how mental illness has been defined and studied throughout history
Eclectic Approach
taking the best from a variety of viewpoints, the approach to the history of psychology taken in this text is eclectic because it combines coverage of great individuals, the development of ideas and concepts, the spirit of the times, and contributions from other disciplines
Science
traditionally, the systematic attempt to rationally categorize or explain empirical observations
Empirical Observation
the direct observation of that which is being studied in order to understand it
Rationalism
the philosophical belief that knowledge can be attained only by engaging in some type of systemic mental activity
Empiricism
the belief that the basis of all knowledge is experience
Scientific Theory
traditionally, a proposed explanation of a number of empirical observations
according to Popper, a proposed solution to a problem
Confirmable Propositions
within science, propositions capable of validation through empirical tests
Scientific Law
a consistently observed relationship between classes of empirical events
Public Observation
the stipulation that scientific laws must be available for any interested person to observe
science is interested in general, empirical relationships that are publicly verifiable
Correlational Laws
laws that specify the systematic relationships among classes of empirical events
unlike causal laws, the events described by correlational laws do not need to be causally related
Causal Laws
laws describing causal relationships
such laws specify the conditions that are necessary and sufficient to produce a certain event
knowledge of causal laws allows both the prediction and control of events
Determinism
the belief that everything that occurs does so because of known or knowable causes that if these causes were known in advance, an event could be predicted with complete accuracy
also, if the causes of an event were know, the event could be prevented by preventing its causes
thus, the knowledge of an event’s causes allows the prediction and control of the event
Karl Popper (1902-1994)
saw scientific method as having three components: problems, proposed solutions to the problems (theories), and criticisms of the proposed solutions
because all scientific theories will eventfully be found to be false, the highest status any scientific theory can attain is not yet disconfirmed
Principle of Falsifiability
Popper’s contention that for a theory to be considered scientific it must specify the observations that, if made, would refute the theory
to be considered scientific, a theory must make risky predictions
Risky Predictions
according to Popper, predictions derived from a scientific theory that run a real chance of showing the theory to be false
for example, if a meteorological theory predicts that it will rain at a specific place at a specific time, then it must do so or the theory will be shown to be incorrect
Postdiction
an attempt to account for something after it has occurred
postdiction is contrasted with prediction, which attempts to specify the conditions under which an event that has not yet occurred will occur
Correspondence Theory of Truth
the belief that scientific laws and theories are correct insofar they accurately mirror events in the physical world
Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)
believed that the activities of members of a scientific community are governed by a shared set of beliefs called a paradigm
this paradigmatic, or normal, science continues until an existing paradigm is displaced by another paradigm
Paradigm
a viewpoint shared by many scientists while exploring the subject matter of their science
a paradigm determines what constitutes legitimate problems and the methodology used in solving those problems
Normal Science
according to Kuhn, the research activities performed by scientists as they explore the implications of a paradigm
Puzzle Solving
according to Kuhn, normal science is like problem solving in that the problems worked on are specified by paradigm, the problems are guaranteed solutions, and certain rules must be followed in arriving at those solutions
Anomalies
persistent observations that cannot be explained by an existing paradigm
anomalies eventually cause on paradigm to displace another
Preparadigmatic Stage
according to Kuhn, the first stage in the development of science
this stage is characterized by warring factions vying to define the subject matter and methodology of a discipline
Paradigmatic Stage
according to Kuhn, the stage in the development of a science during which scientific activity is guided by a paradigm
that is, it is during this stage that normal science occurs
Revolutionary Stage
according to Kuhn, the stage of scientific development during which an existing paradigm is displaced by a new one
once the displacement is complete, the new paradigm generates normal science and continues doing so until it too is eventually displaced by a new paradigm
Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994)
argued that science cannot be described by any standard set of rules, principles, or standards
in fact, he said, history shows that scientific progress occurs when individual scientists violate whatever rules, principles, or standards existed at the time
Biological Determinism
the type of determinism that stresses the biochemical, genetic, physiological, or anatomical causes of behavior
Environmental Determinism
the type of determinism that stresses causes of behavior that are external to the organism
Sociocultural Determinism
the type of environmental determinism that stresses cultural or societal rules, customs, regulation, or expectations as the causes of behavior
Physical Determinism
the type of determinism that stresses material causes of behavior
Psychical Determinism
the type of determinism that stresses mental causes of behavior
Indeterminism
the contention that even though determinism is true, attempting to measure the causes of something influences those causes, making it impossible to know them with certainty
this contention is also called Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
Nondeterminism
the belief that human thought or behavior is freely chosen by the individual and is, therefore, not caused by antecedent physical or mental events
Materialist
those who believe that everything in the universe is material (physical), including those things that others refer to as mental
Monists
those who believe that there is one reality
Idealists
those who believe that ultimate reality consists of ideas or perceptions and is, therefore, not physical
Dualist
anyone who believes that there are two aspects to humans, one physical and one mental
Interactionism
a proposed answer to the mind-body problem, maintaining that bodily experiences influence the mind and that the mind influences the body
Emergentism
the contention that mental processes emerge from brain processes
Epiphenomenalism
the form of emergentism that states that mental events emerge from brain activity but that mental events are subsequently irrelevant
Psychophysical Parallelism
the contention that experiencing something in the physical world causes bodily and mental activity simultaneously and that the two types of activities are independent of each other
Double Aspectism
the belief that bodily and mental events are inseparable because they are two aspects of every experience
Preestablished Harmony
the belief that bodily events and mental events are separate but correlated because both were designed to run identical courses
Occasionalism
the belief that the relationship between the mind and body is mediated by God
Mechanism
the belief that the behavior of organisms, including humans, can be explained entirely in terms of mechanical laws
Vitalism
the belief that life cannot be explained in terms of inanimate processes
for the vitalist, life requires more than the material objects or inanimate processes in which it manifests itself, for there to be life, there must be vital forces present
Naive Realism
the belief that what one experiences mentally is the same as what is present physically
Reification
the belief that abstractions for which we have names have an existence independent of their names
Irrationalism
any explanation of human behavior stressing determinants that are not under rational control
Nativist
anyone who believes that important human attributes such as intelligence are largely inherited
Epistemology
the study of the nature of knowledge
Passive Mind
a mind that simply reflects cognitively one’s experiences with the physical world
the empiricists assume a passive mind
Active Mind
a mind that transforms, interprets, understands, or values physical experience
the rationalists assume an active mind
Universalism
the belief that there are universal truths about ourselves and about the physical world in general that can be discovered by anyone the proper methods of inquiry
Relativism
the belief that because all experience must be filtered through individual and group perspectives, the search for universal truths that exist independently of human experience must be in vain
for the relativist, there is no one truth, only truths
Why study “Western” history?
western history obviously cannot be seen as “universal” history
yet, we take a decidedly “Western-focused” tour through the history of ideas
psychology as we know it today (as an academic, professional discipline) emerges in and through the history of Western philosophy
there are nonetheless hundreds of regional, indigenous psychologies that exist
psychology, through it has been increasingly interested in and influenced by “Eastern” though, reflects the power of Western thought and the indelible stamp that the West has put onto history more broadly
What were Hunter-Gatherer communities?
human psychology is necessarily social, as our heritage is found in groups
these groups have necessary but risky contact with their surrounding environment, mediated by techne
characterized by local, regional understandings, myths, rituals, and traditions
What was the transition from myth to “truth”?
gradually, local/regional understanding of humanness and communal life began to be universalized
in many civilizations, this was rooted in the identification of “something” that transcended local differences and offered a higher truth
What was the transition from concrete to abstract?
as local, regional understanding began to be superseded by more universalist views so to did our understanding of humanness become more abstracted, reflecting a movement away from the physical to the ideal
away from regional to universal views
What is historiography?
the study of the proper way of writing history
history of psychology didn’t start until the ’80s
do we write it neutrally or try to contextualize
Who was Edwin G. Boring (1886-1968)?
Boring is the most influential historian of psychology
his history was primarily concerned with the growth of experimental psychology
however, he also saw experimental psychology as only understandable when situated in the broader history of Western thought (progressivist understanding)
What are the two ways we can “carve up” history?
chronologically: Ancient Philosophy, Medieval, Philosophy, Renaissance, Enlightenment
eras of thought/worldviews: naturalism, subjective idealism, objective idealism
What are the choices of approach to studying history?
Zeitgeist-focused: ideas emerge because they are compatible with the times, ideas emerge given other advanced in the world, “spirit of the times”
Person-focused: focus on the most important people, at odds with the Zeitgeist approach
Historical development: hyperfocus on a specific narrow aspect and its development
Eclectic approach: borrow from all three
What is the progressive view of history?
see history as a movement from a fixed end forward, always moving forward and up always building on the past
What is the cyclical view of history?
recurrence, we can’t assume things are always getting better, most historians take this approach
Why should we study the history of psychology?
deeper understanding
recognition of trends in psychological thought
avoiding the repetition of mistakes/errors
a source of valuable ideas
perspective
Is psychology a natural science?
some thinkers have argued that psychology could never be a natural science because of its interest in subjective experience (mental events)
What is a natural science?
developed to answer questions about nature by directly examining nature, in contrast to unquestionable acceptance of church dogma, past authorities, superstition, or by using abstract reasoning alone
for a theory to be scientific, it needs to be testable
What is a scientific law?
a consistently observed relationship between two or more classes of empirical events which is amenable to public observation and verification
anyone should be able to replicate the results
What are the two forms of scientific laws?
correlational laws: how classes of events vary together
causal laws: how events are causally related
What is the assumption of determinism?
scientists tend to assume that what is being investigated is lawful
the assumption that what is being studied can be understood in terms of causal laws is called determinism
What is the traditional view of science?
empirical observations
theory formulation, testing, and revision
prediction and control
search for lawful relationships
assumption of determinism
How did Karl Popper revise the traditional view of science?
science starts with recognition of a problem, which determines what observations are made, scientists are motivated, start by identifying a problem
the next step is to propose solutions (conjectures) and find faults with solutions (refutations)
therefore, science involves problems, theories (proposed solutions) and criticism
a scientific theory must be refutable (principle of falsifiability)
What was Popper’s idea regarding falsification vs. justification?
Popper semi-formulized an approach that tried to anchor science empirically by emphasizing falsification, which is the idea that an assertion could be contradicted by an empirical observation
this is in distinction to justificationism, which sought to find support for a claim rather to contradict it
What were Karl Popper’s main theories?
theories must make risky predictions, predictions that run a risk of being incorrect
postdiction - explaining phenomena after they have already occurred
all theories will eventually be replaced by more adequate theories
science is unending search for better solutions to problems or better explanations of phenomena
What is Thomas Kuhn’s correspondence theory of truth?
the notion that the goal, when evaluating scientific laws or theories is to determine whether or not they correspond to an external, mind-independent world
What are paradigms according to Thomas Kuhn?
the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by the members of a given community
everything we see is in terms of that paradigm
What is normal science according to Thomas Kuhn?
normal science is likened to puzzle solving and is guided by the restriction of the paradigm
science following the implications of a given paradigm
not very creative, just follow a procedure
What were Thomas Kuhn’s main theories?
although normal science allows for the thorough analysis of the phenomena on which a paradigm focuses, it blinds scientists to other phenomena and perhaps better explanations for what they are studying
paradigms change as observations cannot be explained by the current paradigm
science develops as scientists are forced to change their belief systems, which are very difficult to change
What is the downside to Thomas Kuhn’s theories?
blinded, missing phenomena outside the paradigm
scientists get attached to certain paradigms, difficult to shift their thinking
What is the preparadigmatic stage of development?
bunch of competing ideas that disagree with each other
pre-scientific
random fact gathering
continues until one point dominates
What is the paradigmatic stage of development?
normal science happens
What is the revolutionary stage of development?
paradigm is challenged
can sometimes fracture a discipline
What are the paradigms in psychology?
standard scientific development
variability in perspectives
preparadigmatic discipline: a ton of perspectives competing with each other there is no one big theory
several coexisting paradigms: no need for a scientific revolution
How are Popper and Kuhn’s ideas contrasted?
Popper stated that scientific problem solving is a creative activity, unlike the puzzle solving that Kuhn describes it as
Popper’s analysis stresses logic and creativity while Kuhn’s analysis of sciences stresses convention and subjective factors
Popper accepted the correspondence theory of truth, while Kuhn rejected this theory and instead believed that scientists create the “reality” they explore
Who was Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994)?
was a student of Popper but proposed the idea that there is (and should be) no systematic methodological rules for doing science
What is “anarchist” science?
get rid of “overarching methods” or dogmatic methods
Feyerabend proposed an “anarchist” view of science
not one scientific method
What is a social science?
social sciences aim to apply scientific principles to the examination of social phenomena
What are positivists?
natural sciences in the way they study social phenomena
What are antipositivists?
natural sciences can’t explain social situations
can never accurately predict the social world
What is determinism?
our behavior is caused
know those causes = understand behavior
What are the different types of determinism?
biological determinism: evolutionary psychologists
environmental determinism: behaviorism, behavior caused by external stimuli
sociocultural determinism: social/cultural beliefs are the cause
physical determinism: there is some material thing that causes behavior
psychical determinism: causes of human behavior are rooted in emotions, might be unconscious
What is the uncertainty principle?
Heisenberg’s principle applied to psychology states that we can never learn at least some causes of behavior because in attempting to observe them we change them
What is indeterminism?
human behavior may be determined, but the causes cannot be accurately measured
can never measure causes when we try to measure causes we change them
What is nondeterminism?
some researchers reject science as a way of studying humans
human behavior is freely chosen, self generated
humans have free will
What is hard determinism?
because we function automatically we aren’t responsible for behavior just robots living their programming
What is soft determinism?
because we have different cognitive abilities, we can rationally deliberate on what we’re doing
What are ten persistent questions in psychology?
- what is human nature
- how are the mind and body related
- mechanism vs vitalism
- nature vs nurture
- rationalism vs irrationalism
- relationship of humans to nonhuman animals
- what is the origin of human knowledge
- objectivity vs subjectivity
- the problem of the self
- universalism vs relativism
What is human nature?
tendencies or characteristics that make us human
evolution/biological
essentialist: something essential at the core that makes us human
universal: trying to find something that applies to everyone
What are the materialist and idealist views on how the mind and body are related?
materialists: neuroscience, understand the material physical structures, all body no mind
idealists: everything is made up of our perception, all mind no body
What are the monist and dualist views on how the mind and body are related?
monists: mind and body are the same
dualists: there is a physical body and a mental mind separate but have a relationship
What are the types of dualism?
- interactionism
- emergentism
- epiphenomenalism
- psychophysical parallelism
- double aspectism
- occasionalism
What is interactionism?
mind influences the body
body influences the mind
What is emergentism?
mental states emerge from brain states
body produces mental states, mental states impact the body
What is epiphenomalism?
non-interactionist form of dualism
brain causes mental events, mental events don’t have an influence back, they are just a byproduct
What is psychophysical parallelism?
body and mind are affected by our environment
body and mind don’t interact
pre-established harmony between body and mind set up by God
What is double aspectism?
monist position
mind and body are two sides of the same coin
same thing emerging together
you can never really separate them
What is occasionalism?
God intervenes and coordinates the mental and physical states
there isn’t contact, but seems like there is because of God
What is mechanism?
behavior of all organisms can be explained as machines in terms of parts and laws
we are machines who’s components can be broken down
What is vitalism?
living things contain a force that does not exist in inanimate objects
living things can’t be broken down, cannot be explained in mechanical terms
What is nature versus nurture?
nativism (nature): emphasizes role of inheritance
empiricism: emphasizes role of experience
most psychologists take the position that human behavior is influenced by both nativism and empiricism
What is rationalism?
emphasizes logical, systematic, and intelligent thought processes in explanations of behavior
cognitive psychology
What is irrationalism?
emphasizes unconscious determinants of behavior which cannot be pondered rationally
How are humans related to nonhuman animals?
if difference is quantitative (one of degree), studying animals can contribute to understanding human behavior
if difference is qualitative (one of kind), studying animals can contribute nothing important to understanding human behavior
What is naive realism?
posits that our subjective experience is exactly what is present in the physical world
What is reification?
a fallacy in which we tend to believe that because something has a name, it also has an independent existence
What is the problem of the self?
often viewed as having a separate existence
often given attributes such as instigator and evaluator
the self as an autonomous power creates problems that psychology still struggles with today
assume that because we experience things in a certain way, there is a unity behind it
even though our bodies change, we’re still the same person
often prescribe that sense of unity a name: mind or soul
What is universalism?
the goal is to describe general laws and principles that govern the world and our perception of it
universal truths are to be discovered, if we use the right approach we’ll uncover that truth
What is relativism?
universal truths either do not exist, or if they do, they cannot be known
humans influence what they observe, thus the search for universal truths independent of human existence is in vain
truth is relative to the individual’s perspectives; there is no ultimate truth, just truths
truth is subjective to our perspective
What is the fallacy of historical uniqueness?
many of the figures that we discuss may appear to be “simpletons” or conversely that they were somehow “uniquely brilliant”
most of the figures aren’t that different from us
made contributions, but still humans
Who is Karl Danziger (1926-)?
founder of the discipline of the history of psych
what we study is shaped by our historical circumstances
less focused on fads
What does pseudoimperical mean?
try to validate truths that are already true by definition
Who was Sigmund Koch (1917-1996)?
psychology should take advantage of its place between science and humanities
contemporary scientism: relatively new historical phenomenon
