Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition) - a summary
This is a summary of the book: Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K. This book is about the history of Psychology and how
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The wider picture, where did it all start? - summary of chapter 1 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 1
The wider picture, where did it all start?
Introduction
This book describes the growth of psychology as an independent branch of learning and tries to comprehend the essence of the discipline.
The invention of writing
The introduction of written records represents one of the most important moments in the development of science.
The preliterate culture
Preliterate civilisation: civilisation before writing was invented.
Though these civilisations have not left us with written testimonies, it is possible to discern several important features of them by studying existing cultures that do not use writing.
This research revealed three important characteristics of knowledge in these kinds of cultures:
- Although cultures without literacy know how to make tools, start fires, obtain shelter, hunt, fish, and gather fruit and vegetables, their skills are not based on an understanding of how things work, but rather on practical rules of thumb of what do do when.
- There knowledge is confided to ‘know-how’ without theoretical understanding of the underlying principles
- The fluidity of knowledge
Knowledge of the actual history of the tribe is limited to two generations and the function of the oral tradition is mainly the transmission of practical skills - The existence of a collection of myths and stories about the beginning of the universe, life and natural phenomena, in which human traits are projected onto objects and events.
- Animism: explanation of the workings of the world and the universe by means of spirits with human-like characteristics.
The first writing systems
Written language appeard separately in at least four cultures:
- China (around 6000 BCE)
- Egypt (around 3200 BCE)
- Sumer (around 3200 BCE)
- America (around 300 BCE)
These four written languages were preceded by protowriting, the use of symbols to represent entities without linguistic information lining to them.
Characteristics of writing systems
From an early stage, writing systems were a combination of pictograms and phonograms.
Pictogram: an information-conveying sign that consists of a picture resembling the person, animal or object it represents.
Phonogram: a sign that represents a sound or a syllable of spoken language.
Phonograms were gradually replaced by simpler signs symbolizing meaningful sounds in language, (phonemes or syllables).
The use of phonograms to represent phonemes led to the alphabetic writing systems.
Logograph: a sign representing a spoken word, which no longer has a physical resemblance to the word’s meaning.
Written documents form an external
.....read more The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century and its aftermath - summary of chapter 2 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 2
The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century and its aftermath
Introduction
The word psychology did not appear in literature before 1500.
Scientific revolution: name given to a series of discoveries in the seventeenth century, involving Galilei, Descartes and Newton, that enhanced the status of science in society.
From a geocentric to a heliocentric model of the universe
The geocentric model of the universe in the sixteenth century
The earth as the centre of the universe
The model that of the universe used in the sixteenth century was the model described by Aristotle who built on others) and elaborated by Ptolemy.
Aristotle’s universe was a limited universe with the Earth in the middle
Geocentric model: model of the universe in which the Earth is at the centre; was dominant until the seventeenth century.
The addition of epicycles
A key problem within the Aristotelian universe was the movements of some of the wandering stars.
To explain strange movements, Ptolemy used the notion of ‘epicycles’.
Epicycles: small cycles made by the wandering stars in addition to their main orbit around the earth.
Copernicus’s alternative heliocentric model
The sun at the centre of the universe
Aristotle’s model was not the only one that had been proposed in ancient cultures.
Heliocentric model: model of the universe in which the sun is at the centre.
Copernicus saw the heliocentric model as a valid alternative for the geocentric model.
Why Copernicus waited to publish his model
Only shortly before his death, Copernicus was persuaded to get his book printed.
Possible reasons
- He was afraid of the reaction of the Roman Catholic church
- Copernicus did not feel the evidence for his model was strong enough to justify publication.
Galilei uses a telescope
Because of the many problems with Copernicus’s model, it failed to have much impact.
Galilei’s observations
Galilei built a telescope and found out that:
- There were many more stars than were visible to the naked eye
- The surface of the moon was not smooth, as claimed by Aristotle, but comprised of mountains and craters.
- Jupiter had four orbiting moons, so that the Earth’s moon was not longer the only heavenly body failing to turn around the centre of the universe.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth- century precursors to a scientific psychology - summary of chapter 3 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 3
Eighteenth- and nineteenth- century precursors to a scientific psychology
Individualisation of Western society
A characteristic of current Western society is that people derive their self-image and self-esteem from their own qualities and accomplishments rather than from the position of their family in society.
Individualisation: trend in a society towards looser social relations and a greater focus by individuals on themselves than on the groups they belong to.
Historians believe that this process of individualisation started sometime around the end of the Middle Ages and is still growing.
Following factors are contributions:
- Increased complexity of society
Increasing diversity in occupations and complexity of social relations
Increased urbanisation and industrialisation put people into more complex and competitive social networks, in which everyone struggled to maintain a sense of dignity and meaning.
As the number of occupations and trades grew, people felt a greater need to position themselves relative to others. - Increased control by the state
Society gathered and stored more and more information about its individuals, which was reported back to the citizens. This information gathering gave people the feeling of standing out of the crowd. - Individuality promoted by Christianity
This religion puts an emphasis on the solitary individual, because each person’s private state of faith and religion to God is the essence of piety. - Mirrors, books and letters
- The presence of a mirror in the house made people more aware of themselves and the impression they made on others
- Printing further enhanced the interest and fascination for others.
Novels had more depth in characters - As literacy increased and postal services improved, letter writing became more common and was no longer limited to formal messages. ‘Familiar letters’ became a way to explore, express and share intimate experiences.
Interim summary
Since the end of the middle ages there has been increasing individualisation in society. Factors hypothesised to play a role include:
- Increased complexity of society
- Increased control by the state
- Individuality promoted by Christianity
- The increased availability of mirrors, books and letters
Philosophical studies of the mind
Descartes was the first Western philosopher after the Ancient Greeks to value new and independent thinking.
Epistemology: branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge.
Empiricism instead of rationalism
The traditional rationalist view
The traditional view of understanding in philosophy was based on
.....read more Establishing psychology as an independent academic discipline - summary of chapter 4 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 4
Establishing psychology as an independent academic discipline
The foundation of the first laboratory of experimental psychology in Germany
By 1850 there was a thriving literature of psychological subjects in Germany.
The universities reform in Germany
Universities in the German states for a long time were dominated by the humanities and religion.
This was a feature proponents of the Enlightenment fought against.
The Enlightenment ideas mainly came from a group of academics who had been expelled from the University of Leipzig, because of their critical attitude and modern ways of thinking.
A reform took place after the defeat of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805-1806.
The defeat by the French particularly upset the Prussians, who decided it was high time to modernise their country.
The school system was reorganised and a new university model was installed.
- Whereas before the universities had been places of education, mainly aimed at the training of physicians, lawyers and clergy, scientific research now became part and parcel of an academic career with its own financing.
- Wissenschaft: scholarship and scientific research
- Bildung: the making of good citizens
- The power of the university was put in the hands of a limited number of professors who were given academic freedom and resources to pursue their interests and who had a number of assistants and lecturers under their command
The emphasis on scientific research and the freedom given to the professors made the German universities dynamic and open to new areas for scientific investigation.
Wundt and the first laboratory of experimental psychology
Wundt’s career
After this Phd in medicine, he obtained an assistantship with Hermann von Helmholtz where Wundt began to identify himself as a scientific psychologist.
In 1862 he gave his first course in ‘Psychology as a natural science’ and in 1874 he published a book on physiological psychology.
In the book, psychology was defined as the study of the way in which persons look upon themselves, on the basis of internal physiological changes that inform them about the phenomena perceived by the external senses.
Wundt called his psychology physiological because:
- He thought physiology should form the basis of psychology
- He was convinced that psychology should use the experimental methods that had been pioneered by the physiologists.
In 1875 Wundt was appointed Professor in Leubzig were
.....read more Strengthening the scientific standing of psychology - summary of chapter 5 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundations of psychology
Chapter 5
Strengthening the scientific standing of psychology
The USA began to rule psychology in the twentieth century.
- Sheer amount of research
- Textbooks
The perception of psychology in the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century
The expansion of psychology around the start of the twentieth century
As well as laboratories, in 1892 the American Psychological Association (APA) was founded, giving psychology researchers a forum to meet and discuss their findings.
Two journals were established that would dominate the field and that still exists today.
- American journal of psychology
- Psychological review
The first American psychology: functionalism
As psychology in the USA expanded, it got moulded by the expectations and preoccupations of American society.
- A strong interest in Darwin’s evolutionary theory
- Inheritance
America was one of the first countries where eugenics had a strong impact
Eugenics: social philosophy claiming that the fate of a nation can be improved by selective breeding of the inhabitants
- Inheritance
- Positive eugenics: encouraging people with desirable features to have more children
- Negative eugenics: improve society by preventing people with undesirable features from entering the country and/or having children
- Adaptation to the environment
Americans were convinced that human characteristics and achievements were not solely due to inheritance but depended on the environment as well.
One could change and control human actions for the better
- Adaptation to the environment
There was a mistrust of intellectualism, knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
America was a nation of common-sense businessmen, not interested in abstract science, but in practical accomplishments that at the same time made money, revealed God’s glory, and advanced the American dream.
If psychology were to prosper, it had to subscribe to American values, which it readily did.
Part of the attraction to the functionalist approach to the Americans was that Wundt’s experimental research programme ran into problems in 1880s.
Psychology and its position within universities
Most psychology laboratories were set up within philosophical and theological institutes.
Staff members were not always happy with this.
On other occasions experimental psychologists were told not to stay too far from good old psychology as developed in philosophical writings.
Trying to win over the public
Phrenology
Phrenology: view that mental functions are localised in the brain and that the capacity of a function corresponds to the
.....read more The input from brain research - summary of chapter 6 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundations of psychology
Chapter 6
The input from brain research
Ideas in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
Beliefs of the ancient Egyptians
The Edwin Smith papyrus
In 1862 an American collector, Edwin Smith, bought a papyrus scroll in the Egyptian city of Luxor.
In the text, written around 1700 BCE, but probably a copy of an older papyrus from 3000 BCE, a series of 48 cases were described dealing with the consequences of head and neck injuries.
Each case included a title, details of the examination, a diagnosis and an indication of the treatment.
The diagnosis consisted of one of three conclusions
- This is an ailment that I will treat
- This is an ailment that I will try to treat
- This is an ailment that I will not treat
The Edwin Smith papyrus: papyrus from Ancient Egypt that contains short descriptions of the symptoms and treatment of different forms of brain injury; named after the person who bought the papyrus in Egypt and had it analysed.
They illustrate how physicians treating wounded soldiers quite early became convinced of the importance of the head (brain) in controlling behaviour.
Beliefs in the wider society
The existence of the Edwin Smith papyrus did not imply that the knowledge contained in it was widespread.
In Ancient Egypt most scholars were convinced that the heart was the seat of the soul.
The roles of the heart and brain in Ancient Greece
The discussion over whether the soul was in the heart or in the brain continued in Ancient Greece.
Plato
Plato and Hippocrates placed the soul in the brain.
Plat also saw a function for the heart.
According to Plato, the soul was divided into three parts
- Highest part
Responsible for reasoning
Situated in the brain
Came directly from the soul of the universe, was immortal, separated from the body and controlled the body - Dealt with sensation
Situated in the heart
Mortal - Lower part
Dealt with appetite
Placed in the liver
Aristotle
Aristotle was convinced that the heart was the seat of the soul.
The function of the brain was to counterbalance the heat of the heart.
The heart and the brain formed
The mind-brain problem, free will and consciousness - summary of chapter 7 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundations of psychology
Chapter 7
The mind-brain problem, free will and consciousness
Introduction
Throughout history, humans have been impressed by their ability to reflect about themselves and the world around them.
Self: the feeling of being an individual with private experiences, feelings and beliefs, who interacts in a coherent and purposeful way with the environment.
Mind-brain problem: issue of how the mind is related to the brain.
Three main views
- Dualism
The mind (or soul) is something independent of the body - Materialism
The mind is nothing but a by-product of the biological processes taking place in a particular brain. - Functionalism
The mind is indeed realised in a brain, but it could be copied in any other brain.
Just like information on a computer can be copied to other computers
Dualism: the mind is independent of the brain
Mind: aggregate of faculties humans (and animals) have to perceive, feel, think, remember and want.
Dualism: view of the mind-body relation according to which the mind is immaterial and completely independent of the body; central within religions and also in Descartes’ philosophy.
Dualism in religion and traditional philosophy
Religion
Dualism is central to religions.
They are grounded in the belief that people possess a divine soul created by God, which temporarily lives in the body, and which leaves the corpse upon its death.
The soul is what gives people their purpose and values in life.
It usually aims for the good, but can be tempted and seduced by evil forces.
This gave rise to the demonologist view of psychopathology.
Demonologists view: the conviction that mental disorders are due to possession by bad spirits.
Plato and Descartes
Dualism was central in the philosophies of Plato and Descartes.
- Plato maintained that the soul exists before, and survives the body.
Human souls were leftovers of the soul of the cosmos and travelled between the cosmos and the human bodies they temporarily inhabited.- Human souls had knowledge of the realm of ideas
- According to Descartes humans were composed of a divine soul in a sophisticated body
The soul was immaterial and formed the thinking part of the person.
Cartesian dualism: theories in which the mind is seen as radically different from the body and as independent of the biological processes in the
.....read more How did psychology affect everyday life? - summary of chapter 8 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 8
How did psychology affect everyday life?
Introduction
Over the course of the twentieth century, the discipline of psychology grew from a marginal academic field to a discipline that has done more than any other to transform the routines and experiences of everyday life.
Applied psychology: the application of psychological knowledge and research methods to solve practical problems.
Changes in the treatment of mental health problems
Evolutions before World War II
Mental health problems must be treated by partitioners with a medical degree
Psychologists were not allowed to provide unsupervised therapies in official settings and their private practices were not covered by health insurance.
The first clinical psychology centres
Treatment centres run by psychologists started in the USA and were university-related.
Lightner Witmer
Opened the faculty that was the first psychology health centre in 1896.
Aimed at helping behavioural and learning problems in school children.
The founding of clinical psychology centres was impeded by the lack of support from academic psychologists.
- The psychology departments were dominated by experimental psychologists, who wanted to promote psychology as a science
- The academics did not want to upset their medical colleagues, whose help they needed for the expansion of their departments.
In the meantime mental health problems and psychoanalysis became popular courses in psychology.
Clinical psychology: branch of psychology applying psychological knowledge to the assessment and treatment of mental disorders.
The first clinical psychology centre in the UK was set up in 1920 in a private house in London.
The impact of World War II
An urgent need for psychological advice and treatment
Shell-shock: anxiety response of battlefield that prevents soldiers from functioning properly; was one of the first topics addressed by applied psychology.
The finding of shell-shock in World War I gave rise tow two developments
- There was a need for increased psychological testing to predict who would be prone to shell-shock and hence should not be employed by the paid armed forces
- There was an increased pressure to treat personnel who suffered from shell-shock.
When the USA decided to join World War II they also decided to properly staff the military psychiatric service.
A crash course in the treatment of mental disorders was offered to all medical officers, and clinical psychologists were taken on broad, both for testing and treatment.
The beginning of client-centred therapy
The rising demand for psychological help provided a rich environment for new developments in therapy.
Psychoanalysis required a long series of treatment sessions and was not
What is science? - summary of chapter 9 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 9
What is science?
Science’s claim of superiority was based on four principles
- Realism:
There is a physical world with independent objects, which can be understood by human intellect - Objectivity:
Knowledge of the physical world does not depend on the observer.
‘Objective’ agreement among people is possible, irrespective of their worldviews.- Science aims to uncover this knowledge so that it becomes public, verifiable and useable
- Truth
Scientific statements are true when they correspond to the physical reality - Rationality
Truth is guaranteed because scientific statements are based on sound method.
Thoughts about information acquisition from Ancient Greece to the end of the nineteenth century
Thoughts before the scientific revolution
Plato, Aristotle and the sceptics
Plato
A strong rationalist view of knowledge acquisition.
Human perception was fallible and the observable world was only a shadow of the Real world.
The human soul had innate knowledge of the universe, which could be harnessed
Aristotle
More scope for observation and made a distinction between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
True, theoretical knowledge started from axioms, form which new knowledge was deduced via so-called demonstrations.
Perception was the source of information but not knowledge itself.
Correspondence theory of truth: a statement is true when it corresponds with reality. Assumes that there is a physical reality which has priority and which the human mind tries to understand it. First formulated by Aristotle.
Pyrrho of Ellis
Scepticism: philosophical view that does not deny the existence of a physical reality, but denies that humans can have reliable knowledge of it; first formulated by Pyrrho of Ellis.
Humans must suspend judgment on all matters of reality.
Augustine
Augustine (354-430CE)
True knowledge was knowledge based on God’s revelations.
This view became dominant until well into the seventeenth century.
Interaction between theory and experiment: the scientific revolution
Galilei’s thought experiments
Galilei is usually credited as the person who convinced the world of the importance of observation and experimentation for the acquisition of knowledge.
But Galilei might in reality be a transition figure steeped in the Aristotelian tradition.
- Galilei referred more often to thought experiments than real experiments in his writings
- Galilei may have derived his law of motion from real
Is psychology a science? - summary of chapter 10 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 10
Is psychology a science?
Reasons why psychology is claimed to be a science
The foundation of psychology as an academic discipline was legitimised on two pillars
Psychology has a long, respectful past and uses the scientific method
Steven Ward
Makes the case that a new branch of knowledge can establish itself and survive only if it succeeds in convincing the ruling powers of the need for such knowledge as well as reassuring them that it is no threat to their prosperity.
The founders of psychology promoted it as a new academic discipline by stressing two messages
- Psychology was the continuation of the old and respectful tradition of mental and morel philosophy, going back to Aristotle
- The new element was the scientific method, so successful in other disciplines, would be applied to the study of the human mind
Consequences for the psychology curriculum
Because psychology was promoted on the basis of its long past and its sound method, both ‘history of psychology’ and ‘research methods’ were major components of the curriculum.
These books on history were self-legitimisation as much as essential stepping stones for a good psychology education.
Science is defined by its method rather than by its subject matter
Every topic studied within the scientific method is a science
To be accepted as a science, psychologists had to make the case that what differentiated sciences from non-sciences was the way in which problems were investigated, and not the type of problems addressed.
Although few people spontaneously associated the study of mental life with scientific research, the first academic psychologists maintained that there was nothing inherent in the subject matter that prevented it from being studied using the scientific method.
Methodolatry
Because of its emphasis on method in the definition of science, academic psychology invested heavily in developing appropriate research designs and analysis techniques.
It has been argued that psychology throughout its existence has overplayed the role of research methods at the expense of theory building.
Methodolarty or methodologism: tendency to see methodological rigour as the only requirement for scientific research, at the expense of theory formation.
The shadow of positivism
One reason why psychologists tended to stress valid testing rather than theory formation was that they tried too hard to be good scientists.
- Science proceeds from facts to knowledge on the basis of observation, inductive reasoning and verification
- Non-observables must be excluded, unless they have an operant definition
- Theories are limited to
The contribution of quantitative and qualitative research methods - summary of chapter 11 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 11
The contribution of quantitative and qualitative research methods
The essence of quantitative research
Quantitative research methods: research methods based on quantifiable data; are associated with the natural-science approach based on the hypothetico-deductive method.
Assumptions underlying quantitative research methods
There is an outside reality that can be discovered
Quantitative psychologists start from the assumption that phenomena in the world have an existence outside people’s minds.
They defend the idea that humans can discover reality by using the scientific method.
They are well aware of the fact that science is not a linear accumulation of facts but proceeds through trial and error. But are convinced that in the long term the scientific method based on the hypothetico-deductive model leads to an understanding of reality → scientific knowledge is cumulative
The main aim of scientific research is to find universal causal relationships
Researchers are primarily interested in discovering relationships between causes and effects.
How general are principles? And how do humans function?
Ideally they hope the mechanisms they discover will apply to all humans.
Trying to avoid confounds and sources of noise
Users of quantitative research methods are extremely vigilant about the possible intrusion of undesired factors into their designs.
They try to maximally control the circumstances under which they run their studies
They also try to eliminate the impact of random variables called noise.
Suspicion about the researcher’s input
A source of confounding and noise that is of particular interest to quantitative psychology researchers is the researcher him- or herself.
To protect themselves against biases and noise, quantitative researchers make use of standardised measurements and instruments.
Progress through falsification
Researchers constantly try to prove each other wrong.
Research methods are divided into three broad orientations
- Descriptive research
- Relational research
- Experimental research
Descriptive research
Observation of numerical data
Detailed observation is the start of scientific research.
Typical for quantitative research is that the data are gathered in a numerical form, either by collecting measurements or by counting frequencies of occurrence.
Before researchers collect data, they have a good idea of how they will analyse them; what types of measurements they will obtain and what types of statistics they can apply to summarise and evaluate the data.
Large samples and a few data points per participant
The vast majority of descriptive quantitative studies involve the collection of a limited amount of data from a reasonably large group of participants.
Two main reasons to include
Psychology and society - summary of chapter 13 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of psychology
Chapter 13
Psychology and society
Ways in which society has influenced psychology
Science overtakes religion in Western society
Initial strong links between psychological thinking and religion
Psychology as a separate branch of knowledge grew out of the rising role of scientific thinking in Western society.
Education for a long time was controlled by the churches, which did not look favourably upon those who tried to examine the soul.
Many early psychologists had strong connections with religion.
Alliance formation with the expanding sciences
Rapidly, the experimental psychologists distanced themselves from religion, because it jeopardies their scientific credentials.
They sought to align themselves with the rapidly growing natural sciences, by denouncing weaker fields that might contaminate them, such as religion, philosophy, and sociology.
Psychologists replace pastors
Fewer people felt comfortable discussing their mental health problems with religious authorities.
Whereas for a long time churches were the first port to call for mental health problems, growing secularisation increased the need for non-religious counselling.
At the same time, a growing number of clergy started to study psychology to improve the help they were able to provide.
Changes in society impinge on psychological practice
Impact on psychological research
The massive changes in the organisation of Western society in the nineteenth and twentieth century generated ideas and research opportunities for psychologists.
Six historical developments that affected psychological research
- The emergence of industrialisation and increased number of European immigrants to the USA
- The historical commitment to a material basis for all natural phenomena
- The Cold War and computers
- The entry of mothers into the workforce
- The discovery of statistical techniques such as analysis of variance and regression
- The unique position of physics among the empirical sciences
Societal influences were not limited to the science-oriented track of psychology, but also shaped thought in the hermeneutic part.
Impact on clinical practice
Changes in society influenced clinical practice.
Mental disorders show cultural variation.
This is not only true between cultures, but also across time within a culture.
Each culture has a symptom pool, a collective memory of how to behave when ill.
At each time period patients with psychological problems gravitate towards the symptoms that at the time are thought to be legitimate indications of disease, as no patients wants to select illegitimate symptoms.
Society as a metaphor provider
Metaphors: in science, stands for an analogy from another area that helps to map a new, complex problem by making reference to a better
.....read more Historical Psychology
This is my personal collection of content about the history of psychology
All the interim summaries of the first half of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Chapter 1
The invention of writing
- Features of the preliterate civilisation:
- Knowledge confined to know-how without theoretical knowledge of the underlying principles
- Fluidity of knowledge
- Collection of myths and stories about the beginning of the universe (animism)
- Written language appeared separately in at least four cultures, in each case it was preceded by proto-writing
- Writing consists of a combination of pictograms and phonograms
- Written records form an external memory, which allows an accumulation of knowledge
- For a long time the number of readers was limited. In addition, they were not encouraged to think critically about what they were reading (scholastic method)
The discovery of numbers
- Knowledge depends on counting and measuring. The first written forms of counting consisted of lines (tallies) in the bones and stones
- Because it is difficult to discern more than four lines in a glance, the tallies were grouped. The grouping usually occurred in fives
- Gradually a separate symbol was used for five and multiples of five
- Later numbers systems were based on multiples of 10
- Number names indicate that the intention of numbers was a slow process; it took quite some time before a useful system was discovered
- The Greek and Roman number systems were suboptimal because their notation did not assign a meaning to the place of digits. Such a place coding system was developed in India. This required the symbol for 0.
The Fertile Crescent
Civilisations in the Fertile crescent:
- Ancient Mesopotamia: mathematics (algebra, astronomy, calendar)
- Ancient Egypt: geometrical knowledge, calendar, hieroglyphs
The Greeks
- Ancient Greece was the birthplace of philosophy and saw major advances in medicine.
- Two great philosophers were Plato and Aristotle.
- Plato and Aristotle founded schools (Academy and Lyceum) which together would educate students for centuries. The two other schools were the Stoa (with an emphasis for self-control) and the Garden of Epicurus (which emphasised the enjoyment of simple pleasures)
- Under Alexander the Great, there was significant expansion and interaction with other cultures, leading to what is called the Hellenistic culture and a shift to Alexandria, where knowledge became more mathematical and specialised.
Developments from the Roman Empire to the end of the Middle Ages
Ancient Romans:
- Assimilated the Greek methods and knowledge
- Were more interested in technological advances than in philosophy
Byzantine empire
- Eastern part of the Roman empire
- Preservation of the legacy of the Ancient Greeks
Arab empire:
- Founded on Islam, contained the Fertile Crescent
- Translation and extension of the Greek works
- Particularly strong on medicine, astronomy, mathematics (algebra) and optics
- Occupied most of Spain
Western Roman empire:
- Largest decline in scientific knowledge
- Catholic church main preserver; not very science-oriented
- In the Renaissance referred
All the interim summaries of the second half of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Chapter 7
Introduction
Mind-brain problem: issue of how the mind is related to the brain.
Three main views
- Dualism
The mind (or soul) is something independent of the body - Materialism
The mind is nothing but a by-product of the biological processes taking place in a particular brain. - Functionalism
The mind is indeed realised in a brain, but it could be copied in any other brain.
Just like information on a computer can be copied to other computers
Dualism
- The mind refers to a person’s faculties to perceive, feel, think, remember and want
- In religions the mind is often equated with an immaterial, divine soul. This is an example of dualism. A similar view was defended by Descartes and, therefore, in philosophy is often called Cartesian dualism
- Dualism is an intuitively attractive model of the mind-brain relationship because it gives humans free will and it readily accounts for the existence of consciousness in humans. The latter refers to the rich and coherent, private, first-person experience people have about themselves and the world around them.
- Dualism does have problems explaining how an immaterial mind can influence the body, and how it is possible that so much information processing in humans occurs unconsciously. It also does not agree with a scientific world view, where there is no place for mysterious and animistic substances.
Materialism
- Materialism holds that there is no distinction between the mind and the brain, and that the mind is a direct consequence of the brain in operation. To make the distinction with functionalism clear, we take this to imply that the mind is linked to the specific brain in which it has been realised
- According to the strongest versions of materialism, there is no consciousness or free will. Consciousness is an illusion, a form of folk psychology, and humans are comparable to robots or machines. According to Dawkins, they are the slaves of their genes
- A fist problem with materialism was that it seemed unable to account for the identity problem: how can different exposures to the same event be experienced as the same if they are not encoded similarly? A second problem was that attempts to simulate the human mind as a by-product of biological or mechanical processes were not successful, whereas computers running sequences of instructions on stored information started to thrive
Functionalism
- Computer science has shown that information may transcend the medium on which it is realised. It can be copied from one Turing machine to another
- This insight provides a solution to the identity problem, the fact that it is unlikely that two identical thoughts are physiologically realised in exactly the same way
- This insight led to functionalism
Foundations of psychology
In this magazine, you can find the summaries you need to finish the course foundations of psychology in the second year of the study psychology at the uva.
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