Lectures 1-5 History of Psychology + Summary of Exam Material (2017-18)
9 views 0 purchase
Course
History of Psychology (6463PS032Y)
Institution
Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Programme: International Bachelor of Psychology (IBP)
Course: History of Psychology
This document covers important points of Lectures 1 to 5.
It also includes a summary / short recap of the exam material.
Good luck!
History of Psychology
Exam material:
• Ideas & theories (check out the notes!)
• Pioneers of Psychology book
• Examples are explanatory, summary and explanation of key points
Group sessions:
o Download Course Book Practical Sessions
1- Mind vs. body
2- Nature vs. nurture
3- Subject vs. object (cognition vs. emotion)
4- Debate
o Essay – 10 points per essay, final grade: average of the 3 essays
What are you going to argue and how
Explain the thesis
Make your argument
Anticipate and answer possible objections
Grade: 0.7 exam + 0.3 work group
CHAPTERS 1 & 2 (Lecture 1)
Cognition vs. Emotion
1- Antonio Damasio (1994):
Descartes’ Error: ‘I think, therefore I am’
Damasio: ‘I feel, therefore I am’
People are who they are because of their emotions, not only thinking.
❖ Case study: Phineas Cage – his mind was radically changed after the accident, so decidedly that his
friends and acquaintances said he was no longer Gage.
❖ Emotional processing has affects on your decisions.
Mind vs. Body
2- John Anderson: How can the human mind occur in the physical universe?
Dualism: Mind and body are separable, they constitute different substances -Descartes
Monism: Body and mind consist of one whole.
Realism: Everything consists of matter.
Idealism: Mind is the basis of everything.
Nature vs. Nurture: How do we attain knowledge? Are there differences between people?
Innate vs. acquired
Genes vs. environment
Instinct vs. thought
Rationalism: Knowledge is innate (same for everybody) -Plato
Empiricism:
Behaviorism: What you think isn’t important. If you don’t act on it we cannot measure it.
After 1600: End of Medievalism.
Medieval Society: • Patriarchical (ruled by a man)
• Fixed order Medieval Science:
• Natural place/rigid • Everything has natural position/relation to
• Traditions other things
, • Applies to objects on earth • And the entire universe
– Start of Mechanicism
Society: Mechanicism -> Free-market capitalism Science: ‘How does this work?’
Quantification: Making the important measurable
Atomism: Taking things apart to find out what things consist of.
Reductionism: If you really want to understand stuff you should study what it’s made of
Ex: Sociologists – psychologists- biologists- chemists- psychics
Epistemology: Philosophy of knowledge -what, how can we know?
Rationalism: Everything you can know comes from inside –rational thought
Empiricism: Everything you can know comes from outside -senses, perception.
Rationalism vs. Empiricism
Descartes: New knowledge through innate faculty Behaviorism: Knowledge is learned
Comsky: Language is innate associations (nurture)
Cognitive psychology
CHAPTER 3 (Lecture 2)
How do we attain knowledge?
René Descartes: (rationalist, mechanicist, dualist)
• Rationalist (methodological skepticism):
Origin of knowledge is reason and mind.
Measure of truth: Rational evidence (introspection) ‘Everything I consider to be clear and distinct.’
Innate ideas.
Doubt experiment: Start by doubting everything you know. He did this:
o to show that you can raise skeptical arguments against almost everything you know.
o Against: empiricism, foundation for rationalism: are all deducted premises (axioms) true?
o As a measure of truth against empiricism: ‘Cogito er sum’ is clear and distinct. So any idea that
is clear and distinct is true.
o Skepticism: All knowledge could be a deception so doubt everything. – Paradox: you should
doubt this info too. Descartes: There are some things that you cannot doubt.
• Mechanicist:
Material body is a machine that could be explained mechanically.
Important discovery: Blood circulatory system.
Liquids in nerves ‘animal spirits’
Reflexes: involuntary movements as a machine
• Dualist:
Matter: spatial substance –substance: what stands beneath and on it’s own. It’s mechanical and
analyzable.
Mind: Thinking substance, consciousness (cognition), free will, language, and religious experience.
Not analyzable therefore psychology is not a science. Because it’s immeasurable.
Directs the body (interactionism) happens at the pineal gland: It is unique so mind & matter is
interacting here.
• Mathematician –He invented the Cartesian coordinate system (defining the place of something with
numbers)
Thomas Hobbes: monist, empiricist
• Monism: Everything is matter. Mind is matter so it can be analyzed.
o There’s only matter. The mind is material.
o Human body equals human mind. Mechanical automaton: self operating machine
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller zeynepd. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.88. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
