PS390 Study Guide - Final Guide: Human Science, Critical Inquiry, Vitalism
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Naturalism: understanding reality in natural not supernatural terms, only use sensory processes to
gain knowledge, use secular terms for description
Materialism: the only reality is matter, can be adopted with naturalism
Mechanism: body and mind constitute one material substance that obeys the mechanical
natural/scientific laws
Vitalism: life processes cannot be reduced to material mechanisms, the life force or soul must be
included. Matter is incapable of self generation or motion
Idealism: ultimate reality is not material but mental, rationalists were idealists
Explain the terms ‘Psychology’, ‘History’, ‘History of Psychology’, ‘Philosophy’, and
‘Critical History of Psychology’.
Psychology: a modern discipline as a science and profession
-psychological subject matter with ancient roots, practised in diverse cultures through
philosophical inquiry or self-reflection
-in Anglo-America, it is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes while
accounting for social, developmental, clinical, and biological factors
-human science (subjectivity, personal experience) vs natural science (prediction, control)
History: the study and interpretation of the past from multiple perspectives to understand their
meaning
-historical knowledge informs the future; includes people, events, norms, ideas etc that
characterizes or happened during a certain time in the past
History of psychology: how psychology as a discipline came to be; was simply a part of