2020! Summary of Theoretical psycholog": lectures by A. Roelofs, including additonal information from the workgroups and reader. Course at the Radboud University, Psychology.
Theoretical Psychology
Lecture 1 : From phrenology to scientific theory
Willelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Suggested career at school: postman
Three Nobel prize nominations
First psychological laboratory: 1879 in Leipzig
First psychological journal: Philosophische Studien
About 180 doctoral students
Wrote approximately 50,000 pages he was extreme productive
Challenged 2,500-year-old theory of association
William James (1842-1910)
Bestseller: Principles of Psychology (1890)
• Started out as a painter
• Integrated psychological knowledge
Mary Calkins (1863-1930)
• Student of William James
• Designed technique of paired associates (1896)
o Paired-associate (PA) learning was invented by Mary Whiton Calkins in 1894 and
involves the pairing of two items (usually words)—a stimulus and a response. For
example, words such as calendar (stimulus) and shoe (response) may be paired, and
when the learner is prompted with the stimulus, he responds with the appropriate
word (shoe).
• First female president of the APA (1905)
Helen Thompson (1874-1947)
• Performed first studies of differences between men and women (1910)
• Used experimental methods in these studies
Lightner Witmer (1867-1956)
Student of Wundt
Founder of clinical psychology
First psychological clinic (1896)
First journal: The Psychological Clinic (1907)
The “Millers”
Johannes Müller (1801-1858)
Georg Müller (1850-1934)
George Miller (1920-2012)
Earl Miller (1962-)
From phrenology to scientific theory
• Pre-scientific approaches
• Neuroanatomy, time, and psychophysics
• Modularity of the mind
,Pre-scientific approaches
Associationism
Mental processes proceed by way of associations
Associationism is the theory that the mind is composed of elements -- usually referred to as
sensations and ideas -- which are organized by means of various associations. Although the original
idea can be found in Plato, it is Aristotle who gets the credit for elaborating on it. Aristotle counted
four laws of association when he examined the processes of remembrance and recall:
1. The law of contiguity. Things or events that occur close to each other in space or time tend
to get linked together in the mind. If you think of a cup, you may think of a saucer; if you
think of making coffee, you may then think of drinking that coffee.
2. The law of frequency. The more often two things or events are linked, the more powerful
will be that association. If you have an eclair with your coffee every day, and have done so
for the last twenty years, the association will be strong indeed -- and you will be fat.
3. The law of similarity. If two things are similar, the thought of one will tend to trigger the
thought of the other. If you think of one twin, it is hard not to think of the other. If you
recollect one birthday, you may find yourself thinking about others as well.
4. The law of contrast. On the other hand, seeing or recalling something may also trigger the
recollection of something completely opposite. If you think of the tallest person you know,
you may suddenly recall the shortest one as well. If you are thinking about birthdays, the
one that was totally different from all the rest is quite likely to come up.
Association, according to Aristotle, took place in the "common sense." It was in the common sense
that the look, the feel, the smell, the taste of an apple, for example, came together to become the
idea of an apple.
For 2000 years, these four laws were assumed to hold true. St. Thomas pretty much accepted it lock,
stock, and barrel. No one, however, cared that much about association. It was seen as just a simple
description of a commonplace occurrence. It was seen as the activity of passive reason, whereas the
abstraction of principles or essences -- far more significant to philosophers -- was the domain of
active reason.
From Aristotle to Locke: The Enlightenment 2,000 years later
John Locke (1632-1704)
Blank slate (actually, “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 content
forms
Associative: More complex forms are created by means of association
,Law of contiguity, basic law of associationism
“If two things repeatedly occur simultaneously, the presence of one of them will remind us of the
other.” A green apple reminds you of the test of the apple.
Long-term potentiation, neuronal basis of the law of contiguity
Hebb’s law (1949): If two nerve cells are simultaneously stimulated for a period of time, the
synapse binding them is strengthened.
Long-term potentiation is a prolonged rise in the efficiency of a synapse resulting from a
change in the neuronal structure. Discovered in 1973 in the hippocampus of rabbit
Connectionism: Modern form of associationism
They made computer simulation with those associative processes. Associationism still lives, but now
it is called connectionism!
Horizontal faculties: domain-general functions (Aristotle, Locke)
o These functions operate, no matter where the information comes from.
Learning
Memory Memory of words works the same way as memory of mathematics.
Attention
Perception
Will
Vertical faculties: domain-specific functions (Franz Josef Gall, 1758-1828)
Functions are localized in the brain
Bumps on skull reflect a faculty If you’re good at something, it pushes from the brain to
the outside and it bumps on the skull. So if you want to see whether someone is good at sth,
you measure the bump at the skull. This is called phrenology.
o Language
o Arithmetic
Phrenology is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict
mental traits.
, Phrenological bumps for language and mathematics
Each function is represented twice (once in the right hemisphere, once in the left hemisphere).
Pseudo-science: Physiognomy
= Face reflects character
Lombroso’s “criminal type” (1911) Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)
Lombroso: A criminal has a large forehead.
Pseudo-science: Mesmerism
= Healing through magnetic forces
Use of hypnosis and magnets during treatment Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815)
Pseudo-science: Spiritualism
= Contact with the spirits of the dead
Alternative scientific explanation by James Randi: “Cold reading”
Debate over spiritualism between W. James and skepticist J. Cattell (whom we will meet in
Course component 2) in the journal Science in 1898 A skepticist who tried to explain why
it’s logical to make certain assumptions based on what someone says, and why people think
it’s spiritualism.
Neuroanatomy, time and psychophysics
Flourens versus Gall: Controversy over holism versus localizationism He said higher mental
functions are holistic,
Flourens (1794-1867) experimented with the brains of pigeons and rabbits. Scientific approach.
Removal of brain stem: loss of vital functions
Removal of cerebral cortex: loss of higher mental functions, but not of specialisations
Removal of cerebellum: loss of motor coordination
Broca’s discovery (1861): Localization of language aspects (Paul Broca (1824-1880))
Damage to left frontal cortex causes speech production difficulties
The brain of Leborgne, Mr Tan He could only say “Tan”. After he died, Broca took his brain
out toe examined where the damage was: in the left frontal cortex.
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