PSY 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Phineas Gage, Pineal Gland, Ancient Greek Philosophy
Document Summary
Philosophy and biology together create the foundation of psychology. Dualism vs. monism - mind vs. body. Brain is an organ of minor importance . Resolution to this conflict came from biology. Anatomical studies of human and animal cadavers. Case studies of brain-damaged humans and animals. Aristotle and plato both saw the mind and soul as inanimate, spiritual, and non-physical in nature. Primary functions were rational thought and free will. Both eastern and western scholars adopted the belief that a divine immortal. Animals were either thought to have no soul or a nonrational soul. Stoics thought animals had natural promptings or instincts that guide their behavior. Non-human animals were essentially machines whose behavior was controlled by energy that flowed from the brain/spinal cord to the muscles. Humans shared these mechanisms but had an inanimate rational mind that could control these animal impulses. Sits in the middle of the two hemispheres of the brain. Controls sleep/wake cycles, but not responsible for consciousness.
