PS390 Study Guide - Final Guide: Reflexology, Cerebral Cortex, Classical Conditioning
Document Summary
According to sechenov, all elements of behaviour are a sensory nerve, central connection (involving brain processes), and a motor nerve. Applied notion of reflex both to learned and inborn behaviour and held that motor activity is the basis of mental processes. Was a darwinian who assumed animal behaviour is foundational to human behaviour. Distinguished b/w involuntary reflexes and voluntary activity and argued learned behaviour can be reflexive or involuntary. Postulated that cerebral cortex can inhibit reflexes bc of previous experience or strengthen reflexes in situations of pain or pleasure. Jettisoning the conept of volution or will, he argued humans acquire increasingly inhibitory control over their reflexes as they develop. Thinking originates in empirical experience, not innate ideas and is possible w/o sensory stimulation. Reflexes aid brain"s capacity for producing a subjective reflextion of the objective world, while thinking consists of inhibited inner speech. Central concept of sechenov"s model: sensing and thinking are aspects of reflection.
