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2.3 Problem 3 Summary
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2.3 Problem 3Toward the Science of Psychology
Primarily part of philosophy
Hartley
Based his psychology on principles of philosophy
o Wanted to create psych. That combined philosophy and physiology, but
philosophy came on top
Gall
Founder of Neuroscience (brain is the seat of the soul)
Brain is a specific organ of mental activity
o Study of human nature should begin with functions of the brain giving rise
to thought and action, not abstract and introspective inquiries into mind
Reacted to French empiricism and associationism
Localisation of function- each proposed faculty is innate and in a particular
region of the brain
Since brains of species differ, so should the corresponding faculties
o Carried out comparative anatomical studies to support this
Adopted a different, less time-consuming methodology: lead to the pseudoscience
of phrenology
o Assumed well-developed mental faculties corresponded to well-developed
parts of brain
o Organs corresponding to these faculties would be larger than organs to
corresponding less well-developed faculties
Size of the organs would show as bumps on the skull overlying the
larger organs
o Certain traits would cause certain bumps on the skull
Can observe individual personality via cranial observation
Nativistic approach
Compared humans with other animals
Materialistic
Behaviouristic (not introspectionistic)
o Studied people via the bumps and behaviours
Psychology of individual differences
Later studies showed Gall correct in that different parts of the brain responsible
for different mental processes
Scientific experiments found Gall specific locations were faulty, and that size of
brain corresponds to faculty strength is foundation-less
Flourens- ridiculed phrenology, argued cerebral hemisphere is unit containing no
specialised organs for specialised faculties
Flourens
Cartesian dualist
Soul resides in cerebral hemisphere and is unitary- action of hemispheres
must be so too
Advocated idea of mass action- cerebrum is a single organ with a single
function- thought- acts as a mass
Bell
Based works on post-mortem dissections
Distinguishes 2 sets of nerves at base of spinal column
o Suggested one carried into to brain, other carried info from brain to
muscles
Emerging Reflex Theory of the Brain
Gristch and Hitzig- electrical excitation of the cerebrum elicits movement
different parts of the brain, when stimulated, regulate different movements
new phrenology formed
o some parts of brain receive sensations, others govern specific actions,
association of sensation and action produces behaviour
, Brain is complex reflex machine with cerebral hemispheres providing
associative connections between incoming stimuli and outgoing responses
Experimental Psychology
Studied normal human mind
o Regarded individual differences as error variance (should be minimised
by experimental control
Donders
Dutch psychologist
Time between stimulus and response can be used objectively to quantify
speed of mental processes
Simple reaction time- how long it takes someone to respond to a single
stimulus eg. turning on light bulb
Compound reaction time- how long it takes someone to respond to more
complicated stimuli eg. having 2 lights
o Subject must make a judgement
Compound reaction time- simple reaction time= mental judgement
Mental chronometry- the method founded by Donders, which provides an
objective way to measure physiological and mental processes that can’t be
directly observed
o Quantitative method
Brought the mind into the laboratory
Fechner
Showed Kant’s assumptions (mind can be subjected to neither experiment nor
mathematical analysis) to be false
Content of consciousness can be manipulated by controlling the stimuli
individuals expose to
o Makes mental experiments possible
Can mathematically relate stimulus magnitude with resulting sensation
o Strength of sensation (S) is a function of stimulus strength (R): S=k log
R
K= constant particular to sense modality
Work motivated by mind-body problem
Psychophysics
Mental testing
Fundamental for founding of applied psychology
Invested for public education
Concerned with measuring individual differences: average human mind, but
no normal one
Galton
British ;)
Aimed to measure intelligence (the master mental ability)
o Looked at exam scores
Devised Pearson product-moment correlation
o Found strong correlation between exam grades, suggesting intelligence
is a single mental ability
Galton followers believe most intelligence can be accounted for by single
psychometric factor, g
Critics- intelligence is composed of multiple skills
Measured intelligence based on methods from British Empiricism
Studied ordinary people, not highly educated
Show that intelligence is heritable as are other physical traits
Pushes eugenics
Interested in genetic variation
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