PSYA01H3 : Textbook Notes
Document Summary
psychology is a young science, started in late 19th century in germany. philosophical roots of psychology: animism the belief that all animals and all moving objects possess spirits providing their motive force. early people believed that anything that seemed to move or grow had some sort of spirit in them. latin animare meaning to quicken, enliven, endow with breath or soul : rene descartes. has been called the father of modern philosophy and of a biological tradition that led to modern physiological psychology. assumed that the world was purely mechanical entity that having once been set in motion by god, ran its course without divine interference. to him, animals were creatures of the natural world only, behaviours controlled by natural causes. to him, humans are machines affected by natural causes and producing natural effects (ex: reflexes)
