PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Luigi Galvani, James Mill, Materialism
Chapter 1
Psychology is a relatively “young” science (1850-1895)
!Why is it so young? It’s all about soul. Souls are spiritual entities and do not
conform to natural laws, so studying them would be a foolish action.
Back in the day, people believed everything to be made of air, water, fire and/or earth. A
rock falls to the ground because earth sticks with earth. The same concept works for air,
fire and water.
Animism: believing that things have souls (the rock wants to be on the ground)
Rene Descartes
!-suffered from psychological issues/mental breakdowns
!-says that animals have no souls, they do not feel pain, they only scream like a
!car does when slamming the brakes
!-humans follow Cartesian Dualism (we are part material, part spiritual) We are
!partly machines; our bodies are ultimately controlled by souls like puppets)
Descartes’ ideas gave rise to biological investigations of humans and animals. People
started cutting animals/humans up to see bodily functions.
John Locke (1632 - 1704)
!-thinks that even the human mind is a machine, as well as the body
!-all of human behaviour is material and is open to scientific investigation
!-why should we believed Descartes just because he said something?
!!--> Empiricism, test ideas with experiments
James Mill (1773-1836)
!-Materialism: we do not have a soul; Anti-spiritual view (no souls/religion)
Luigi Galvani (1737 - 1798)
!-Applying electricity to a frog leg can cause it to move, so electrical signals can
control bodies
Johannes Muller (1801 - 1858)
!-Doctrine of Specific Nerve Language (cutting up bodies, realized that we have
nerve fibres sending electric signals to the body, like basic conducting wire)
Pierre Florens (1774-1867)
!-Albation studies; put rats in certain places and situations, observe their
behaviour, remove parts of brain and observe behaviour again. Depending on brain
part, certain abilities were lost.
Paul Broca (1824-1880)
!-noticed speech problems in some patients and investigated their brains after
death. Found brain damage in a certain area. That part of the brain has specific brain
functions, like a machine!
Germans have so much influence on the development of science because they were
ahead of the world in military and money, and thought that academic expansion would
keep them ahead.
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)
!-measuring speed of nerve impluses (for example, take the average wingspan
and number of people. Have people hold hands in a line, the time it takes for palm
squeezing between first person, to next and so on)
Ernest Weber (1795-1878)
!-called himself a psychophysicist
!-constant ratio: it took 1 gram out of 10 grams to notice weight change, and 5
!grams out of 50 grams
Now, people thought that maybe it is possible to study the mind scientifically!
William Wundt
-first to consider him a psychologist
-wrote first psychology textbook “The Principles of Physiological Psychology” (1898)
A lot of other scientists did not want psychology to be considered a science, because,
say, in physics, you can objectively inspect/observe something. However, in psychology,
you depend on your subject to introspect and this already risks inaccuracy.
Introspect: to “look within your mind”, subjective observance of one’s own experience
Consciousness: a person’s subjective experience of the world and mind
Darwin (1809-1882)
!Structuralism largely gave way to functionalism... a focus on the purpose of the
mental world, not what it “looks” like
-Not every characteristic has evolution behind it, such as nipples on men.
-Today, women may like wealthy men. Back in the day, they tended to like stronger men.
Even though wealth is considered more often today, strength is also considered
attractive.
Herman von Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
!-memory testing, forgetting 40% in 19 minutes, 50% in an hour, etc.
Document Summary
Psychology is a relatively young science (1850-1895) conform to natural laws, so studying them would be a foolish action. Back in the day, people believed everything to be made of air, water, re and/or earth. A rock falls to the ground because earth sticks with earth. Animism: believing that things have souls (the rock wants to be on the ground) Says that animals have no souls, they do not feel pain, they only scream like a car does when slamming the brakes. Humans follow cartesian dualism (we are part material, part spiritual) we are partly machines; our bodies are ultimately controlled by souls like puppets) Descartes" ideas gave rise to biological investigations of humans and animals. People started cutting animals/humans up to see bodily functions. Thinks that even the human mind is a machine, as well as the body. All of human behaviour is material and is open to scienti c investigation.
