CHAPTER 1
Psychology ancestors:
Plato and Aristotle were some of many Greek thinkers who were interested in the way human mind works:
-Plato believed in nativism, so he argued that certain kinds of knowledge are inborn (congenito) or innate
-Aristotle believed in philosophical empiricism, so he argued that all knowledge is acquired through experience
Enlightment period, 17th/18th Century:
In these period philosophers were really interested in the topic of epistemology, which is the study of how
knowledge is acquired.
-Descartes, Spinoza, Lebniz (continental rationalism) believed in innate knowledge
-Locke, Berkeley, Hume (British empiricism) believed in the idea that knowledge derives from experience
Epistemology covered philosophical fields such as metaphysics (=the study of the nature of reality).
Descartes introduced the idea of dualism, questioning the mind’s supremacy and proposing an interaction between
the mind and the body. Hobbes came up with the idea that the mind is what the brain does, which means that body
and mind are not different things.
Franz Joseph Gall pointed out that mental ability depended on the size of the brain and developed a phsychological
theory known as phrenology, which states that specific characteristics are localised in specific regions of the brain.
Even if these idea was right, Gall suggested random connection between the size or the shape of different parts of
the body and the brain and phrenology was consequently soon discredited.
Flourens and Broca demonstrated that the mind is actually located in a material substance: the brain.
19th Century:
Charles Darwin (“On the origin of species”)in his theory of natural selection he also introduced the idea of
comparative psychology, which means that human and animals share the same ancestors and consequently have
similar faculties and behaviours. This allows scientist to compare behaviours in different species, including humans.
In these period rises a new science, named “psychology” (first time the word appeared in English press in 1853).
Although psychological issues have always interested humans, psychology becomes a scientific subject only in 19 th
century, when experts begin to try to scientifically measure psychological phenomena.
Russell Wallacedisagree with part of Darwin’s theory, giving a spiritual explanation
Other books: “The descent of Man” and “The expression of Emotions in Man and Animals”
Psychologists in this century benefitted of the work of those German scientists trained in physiology (=the study of
biological processes, especially in the human body), who developed methods that allowed them to measure such
things as the speed of nerves impulse (Herman von Helmholtz and William Wundt). Some psychologists started to
use such methods to measure mental abilities.
In particular Helmholtz measured the speed of nerve impulses, by applying to the partecipants a stimulus, which is a
sensory input from the environment, and recording their reaction time, which is the amount of time taken to
respond to a specific stimulus. He demonstrated that by applying the stimulus in different region of the body, the
reaction time changes.
Wundt specialised in sensory perception (=the way that we interpret and process signals received via our senses)
through a series of experiments, published in 1874 his book “Principles of Physiological Psychology” and founded the
first psychology laboratory in Leipzig in 1879. He believed that scientific psychology should focus on consciousness
(=a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind). The three main components of an experience are:
sensations, mages (memories) and feelings. The combination of these components gives rise a conscious experience.
,He adopted an approach called structuralism, which is the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind,
and broke consciousness down into elemental sensations and feelings using the method of analytical introspection
(=the subjective observation of one’s own experience). Around 1920, structuralism disappeared because the method
was very unreliable as the results could not be replicated.
William James developed an approach called functionalism, which is the study of the purpose mental processes
serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment, which took inspiration form Darwin’s theory of natural
selection, according to which an adaptive behaviour tend to remain during the process of evolution. James intended
consciousness as a fundamental biological function.
Gestalt psychology:
Illusions are errors of perception, memory or judgment in which subjective experience differs from objective reality
used by Max Wertheimer in some experiments, which led to the development of Gestalt psychology, a psychological
approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts, due to the way the
mind organises perceptions.
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka rejected Wundt’s structuralism (experience is more than a
function of sensation) and behaviorism, because complex behaviours is more than the sum of its components.
During this period psychologists started to study different types of mental disorder, such as dissociative identity
disorder or hysteria (=a temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally upsetting
experiences). One of those was Sigmund Freud, that, with his colleague Joseph Breuer, worked on patients affected
by hysteria and other disorders.
He developed the idea of unconscious, which is the part of the mind which operates outside conscious awareness,
but influences conscious thoughts, feelings and actions. Therefore he advanced the psychoanalytic theory, an
approach to understanding human behaviour that emphasises the importance of unconscious mental processes in
shaping feelings, thoughts and behaviours. This formed the basis for a revolutionary therapy called psychoanalys,
which focused on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological
disorders. This method was controversial, as it required the analysis of sexual desires and first experiences in order
to treat the patient and in addition lacked scientific rigour, since it was open to interpretation.
In contrast to Freud’s pessimistic vision of a new movement called humanistic psychology raised, an approach to
understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings. They introduced the
operational definition: e.g. hunger = duration of food deprivation measured in hours. The big advantage is that
precise measurements could made, thus stimulating comparisons between studies (replications).
20th Century:
In this period raised a new approach called behaviourism (=approach that require psychologists to restrict
themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behaviour). The figurehead of this movement was John
Watson, who believed that mental behaviour cannot be studied scientifically and whose work was strongly
influenced by the ideas of Ivan Pavlov. The basis of his approach is the stimulus-response method, (stimulus=
sensory input from the environment; response=action or physiological change elicited by a stimulus).
Another psychologist named Skinner, who believed in behaviourism, developed the concept of operant conditioning
through some experiments with his invention, the “Skinner box”, which allowed him to see evidence for the so called
principle of reinforcement, which states that the consequences of a behaviour determine whether it will be more or
less likely to occur again (ex. Rats press the lever for food). He stated that learning occurs through reward and
punishment. In order to understand behaviour, you have to study the external environment as well as its effects on
the behaviour.
He also thought that free will does not exist, as we are conditioned by present and past patterns of reinforcement.
His studies with animals, however, did not take into account the patterns of natural behaviour, which are instinctual
responses that were not learned, also because they belong to the field of ethology (=scientific study of animal
behaviour in natural habitat).
,Alan Turing (mathematician and scientist)one of the founders of computer science: developed the concept of
machine intelligence using algorithms to perform computations that could imitate human thought processes
brain=biological computational devicetherefore he could build intelligence machines indistinguishable from
humans, who should have passed the “Turing test”.
20th/21st Century:
Birth of cognitive psychology: study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory and reasoning.
-Bartlettmemory is not a photographic reproduction of past experience, as it is influenced by our present
thoughts, desires, ecc.
-Piagetyoung children lack the ability of understanding that the mass of an object remains the same even when it
is divided in pieces
-Lewinthe person’s interpretation of a stimulus, not the stimulus itself, determine the person’s behaviour
-Maria Montessoripedagogical approach (=scaffolding of learning by instruction)
After the 50s the computer start to be reputed as a metaphor of the human mind and since the 70’s, we speak of a
real cognitive revolution.
Rise of behavioural neuroscience: approach to psychology that links psychological processes to activities in the
nervous system and other bodily processes.
-Lashleydemonstrated that every area of the rats’ brain is equipotential (=equally responsible for enabling learning
to occur) and found out that performance is determined by the quantity of nervous tissue removed and is
independent of any particular area (=law of mass action). However this did not apply to humans, who have
specialised areas of the brain concerning learning.
-discover of non-invasive brain scan methods since the 80sPET= positron emission tomography; fMRI=Functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; DTI=Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Rise of cognitive neuroscience: field that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain
activity.
Rise of evolutionary psychology: a psychological approach that explains mind and behaviour in terms of natural
selection, where minor variations in the way we think and behave mean that some individuals are more suited to
their environments. Evolutionary psychologists think of the mind as a collection of specialised modules designed to
solve the problems our ancestor faced as they attempt to survive (eat, mate, reproduce). E.g. jealousy exist today, as
in the past it was needed for reproduction. Even though it is difficult to give evidence of evolutionary hypothesis, a
good starting point can be the analysis of behaviours and traits that occur universally in all cultures. E.g. facial
attractiveness is often linked to features that enhance physical and mental healthreproduction with healthy
individuals.
Rise of social psychology: a subfield of psychology that studies the causes and consequences of interpersonal
behaviour. The brain is considered as a social organ, the mind as a social adaptation and the individual as a social
creature.
-Lewin, Asch
-Tajfelhow groups form
Rise of cultural psychology: study of how cultures (given by ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or occupation)
reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members. Cultural psychologist study which phenomena are
universal and which vary from place to place and time to time. This field emerged mainly in the 80s/90s, when
anthropologist and psychologist started to collaborate. This science is the opposite of absolutism (=every
psychological phenomena is the same everywhere) and is based on the contrary on relativism.
, -Wilhelm Wundtcombine a laboratory approach with a broader cultural perspective
PSYCHOLOGY:
-Psychology: scientific study of the mind and behaviour
-Mind: private inner experience made of perceptions, inner thoughts, memories, feelings.
-Behaviour: observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals
Fields of psychological inquiry:
-Biological psychology= how biology interacts with psychological processeshow our bodies influence and respond
to events
-cognitive psychology= study of mental processes (cognition refers to thinking and problem solving)
-Developmental psychology= how psychological processes change over the life span
-Individual differences= study of how psychological processes varies from one person to another
-Social psychology= study of psychological processes when we interact with others and how we behave in group
All these subjects are connected one to the others.
Nowadays we know that perception, feelings, memory and in general all our subjective senses arise from the
electrical and chemical activities of our brain. Some discoveries and modern techniques in the field of Psychology
had been fundamental to show the connection between brain activities and perception/feelings/memory…
-Fmri: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging allows scientists to scan a brain and see which parts are active
when the person does different actions or feels different sensations and emotions
-DTI: Diffusion Tensor Imagingallows scientists to visualise the connection between different brain regions
Psychological processes are said to be adaptive, as they promote the welfare and reproduction of the organism that
engage in those processesex. Case of Elliot described by Antonio Damasioman with no feelings=bad decisions
because he missed adaptive functions
However the human mind can fall into mindbugs sometimes, which make our behaviour not completely predictable.
It can happen that we act in the right way but in the wrong situation or that we behave automatically without really
thinking about what we are doingex. William James “The principles of Psychology” described bizarre actions of
absent-minded people
Careers:
-clinical psychology: reduce the psychological distress from difficulties arising in mental health, relationships,
learning…
-counselling psychology: concealed with therapeutic practices
-educational psychology: applying psychological approaches and techniques in order to support young people or
children in learning
-forensic psychology: focused on criminal investigation, criminal behaviour and treatment of criminals
-health psychology: applies psychological research to promote good health
-neuropsychology: deals with psychological consequences of brain damage arising from disease, trauma, disorder
-occupational psychology: aims to improve job satisfaction and productivity through psychological methods
Sports and exercise psychology: applies psychological techniques to sport
CHAPTER 2:
