Alles wat je nodig hebt voor het vak Theoretical Psychology
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Kurs
Theoretical Psychology (PSB2AS15E)
Hochschule
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
In dit bestand staan aantekeningen van de colleges, samenvattingen van de course components, aantekeningen bij de werkgroepen en de learning objectives.
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Theoretical Psychology
week 1: from phrenology to scientific theory
course component 1
college 1
pre-scientific approaches
neuroanatomy, time and psychophysics
modularity of the mind
werkgroep 1
studeren course component 1
week 2: the theoretical legacy of Wundt and James
course component 2
college 2
the birth of the new science in germany
the beginning of american psychology
formation of the first psychological schools
resisting temptation
werkgroep 2
studeren course component 2
week 3: the decline and return of consciousness theory
course component 3
werkgroep 3
studeren course component 3
week 4: from intelligent test to theory
course component 4
college 4
werkgroep 4
studeren course component 4
Theoretical Psychology 1
, week 1: from phrenology to scientific theory
course component 1
Aristotle (384-322 BC) assumed that the mind lacks content at birth, being a tabula rasa, and is filled by
perception. He maintained that the senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste provide modality-
specific sensory images that come together in a supra-modal mental faculty, called the common sense. Here,
associations may be formed between modality-specific images, like the taste and shape of an apple. After
this, the associated images may be used for thinking and other mental processes, or be put in memory. Thus,
Aristotle distinguished between modality-specific sensory images and supra-modal mental faculties,
which work on the images and associations. The theory that holds that mental processes proceed via
associations is called associationism. Aristotle also formulated a fundamental law about association, called
the Law of Contiguity: If two things repeatedly occur together, then the occurrence of one thing will
remember us of the other.
Englishman John Locke (1632-1704) used the ancient association theory as a psychological basis for a
philosophical theory on the limits of human knowledge. The philosophical theory that the mind is a blank
slate (tabula rasa) at birth and that all knowledge is ultimately obtained via the senses is called empiricism.
The opposing theory that assumes innate mental abilities and knowledge is called nativism, which was
defended by René Descartes (1596-1650) following the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC).
Aristotle and Locke assumed that mental functions are domain-general (horizontal faculties), that is, they
operate in the same way in different content domains.
Gall assumed that the mental functions are domain-specific (vertical faculties). Each domain-specific
function has a specific location in the brain, the organ of the mind, which is called localizationism.
Physiognomy concerns the belief that a person’s character is reflected by features of the face.
Mesmerism embraces the belief that magnets may cure mental disorders.
Spiritualism is the belief that particular persons, called mediums, may establish contact with the spirits of
the dead.
Mental healing is the belief that mental illnesses may be cured by establishing correct thinking.
Flourens, Gall & Fodor
The proposal by Gall that domain-specific mental functions are localized in specific areas of the brain was
contested by the Frenchman Jean Pierre Flourens (1794- 1867), which led to a long-lasting controversy
over localizationism versus holism. Flourens observed that lesioning of the brain stem led to a loss of vital
functions, lesions to the cerebellum resulted in a loss of motor coordination, and the lesioning of the
cerebral cortex impaired higher-level functions like perception and memory. However, he was unable to
find specific regions for perception and memory, which led him to conclude that these functions are
distributed across the whole cerebral cortex (holism), different from what Gall claimed.
Theoretical Psychology 2
, Gall = modules are domain-specific, vertical faculties
Flourens = central systems are domain-general, horizontal faculties
Jerry Fodor (1935-2017) combined aspects of the historical theories of Gall (localizationism) and Flourens
(holism). According to Fodor, the human mind consists of localized modules and holistic central systems.
In contemporary psychology, Nancy Kanwisher (1958-) argues that there are modules for the perception of
places, faces, visual words, body parts, and for the assignment of thoughts to others. Just as Fodor,
Kanwisher also assumes the existence of central systems, which she takes, however, to be localized in
specific regions of the frontal and parietal cortex. Thus, in her view and different from Fodor’s, central
systems are not holistically distributed but localized to specific areas of the brain. This is a widely accepted
view in modern psychology.
Broca & Wernicke
The foundings of Broca that the ability to articulate speech is localized to a specific area of the human brain
supported the assumption that higher mental functions are localized, different from what Flourens
maintained.
Carl Wernicke (1848-1905) discovered that damage to the posterior part of the left superior temporal gyrus
resulted in speech comprehension problems in a patient. According to Wernicke, the posterior part of the
left superior temporal gyrus, later called Wernicke’s area, stores auditory images of words, and Broca’s
area stores motor images of words. The brain areas are connected by a fiber tract, which mediates the
association between auditory and motor images, so that a person may repeat a heard auditory word.
If Broca’s area with the motor images is damaged, as in Broca’s aphasia, the patient has difficulty
producing speech and repeating heard words, but comprehension is relatively spared. If Wernicke’s area
with the auditory images is damaged, as in Wernicke’s aphasia, the patient has difficulty understanding
speech and repeating heard words, but speech production is relatively spared. And if the fiber connection
between Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area is damaged, as in conduction aphasia, then repetition of heard
speech is impaired but production and comprehension are relatively spared.
Helmholz & Donders
Helmholtz (1821-1894) embedded a motor muscle and nerve of a dead frog in an electrical circuitry that
was connected to a clock. Stimulation of the nerve led to contraction of the muscle, which closed the
electrical circuitry. The clock indicated the time between stimulation and muscle contraction. By
stimulating the nerve at different distances from the muscle, Helmholtz could measure the speed of nerve
conduction, which he estimated to be about 30 meters per second in the frog. He concluded that the
conduction of the nerve impulse takes time and can be measured.
Frans Donders (1818- 1889) invented a subtraction method to measure the speed of mental processing. He
made the important conclusion that mental processes take time, which can be measured. Measuring the time
required by mental operations to obtain insights into the mind is called mental chronometry, which is still a
dominant method in contemporary psychology.
Theoretical Psychology 3
, Weber & Fechner
Ernst Weber (1795- 1878) describes his experimental work and findings on the sensation of touch. To
determine the just noticeable difference in the perception of pressure on the skin, he consecutively placed
two small weights in the hands of blindfolded subjects and asked them to indicate whether the second
weight was different from the first weight. Based on his experiments, Weber concluded that “in observing
the disparity between things that are compared, we perceive not the difference between the things, but the
ratio of this difference to the magnitude of things compared” (Weber's law).
In 1850, Gustav Fechner (1801-1887) realized that Weber's observation on how perceived heaviness
increases with the weight of the stimulus implies that all just noticeable differences are subjectively equal,
which mathematically would produce a logarithmic relation between the stimulus intensity and the
sensation. This is called Fechner’s Law.
college 1
pre-scientific approaches
mental processes proceed by way of association
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
phrenology
the senses are domain specific
the brain is domain general with the tabula rasa (blank slate)
if two things repeatedly occur simultaneously, the presence of one of them will
remind us of the other - Aristotle
from Aristotle to Locke: the enlightenment 2000 years later
John Locke (1632-1704)
blank slate (white paper): we are born without built-in mental content
sensoristic: all mental content is sensory in nature
atomistic: these elementary sensations are the building blocks of more complex contents
associative: more complex contents are created by means of association
neuronal basis of the law of contiguity
Theoretical Psychology 4
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