What is psychology?
Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Mental processes refer to all the internal, covert activity of our minds like thinking,
feeling, and remembering. – this makes psychology a very hard topic to study.
Behavior includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions such as talking,
facial expressions and movement.
There is quite a debate on what behavior is, so how far can we go?
Can we go as deep as a neuron defect?
Can that be seen as behavior?
Is psychology a science?
What do you think, and what makes science a science?
Supporters of why not;
- Lack of scientific method
- Lack of definitions
- Lack of predictive possibilities (that is not completely true)
Supporters of why yes
- Methods (psychology is using methods, that are scientific methods)
- Empirically tested hypothesis
➔ Problems of scattered definitions and cumulative progression
Young science with a long tradition
1. Ancient Egypt
Interest and experiments in ancient Egypt
The brain is the site of mental functions
“Every personality has an open and a hidden part that sum up to make the
person.”
They recognize “mental disorders.”
When was psychology started being called a science? And where does it come
from?
It is a relatively young science as compared to medicine but also has a long
history.
,2. The Greeks
Aristotele “De Anima” = soul is defined as “psyche” by Aristotele
Discusses the senses, intellect, soul (only humans can be rational creatures.)
Psyche is the goddess of soul and the mind
3. The roman period
Epictetus “Enchridion, where he recognizes that men are disturbed not by things,
but by the views which they take of things.”
Stoicism as a precursor of mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy.
The subjective nature of knowledge, the sentence that men are not disturbed by
things but by the views, is one of the crucial concepts of what reality is but what
we think that reality is. And this subjective nature is one of the elements that
borders psychology and the objectiveness of the science.
The concept of; you have a view of the world around you and that needs to reflect
how you feel but it can so that your thoughts and all are not a perfect
representation on what your world looks like.
4. Middle ages
The middle ages as the dark centuries, but still….
Avicenna (Ibn Sina = Persian philosopher Born 980 aC
Soul and body are separate (Descartes), we have intellect, reason and the senses
Albertus Magnus, Tommaso D’Aquino etc…
There were intellectual curiosity, often ground in philosophy.
However, the upper class (educated) was part of the Church or religious circles,
and the soul is something else.
So in the middle ages typically seen as the dark ages, there was no progression of
medicine and science. Descartes said that dualism is intellect.
The curiosity in the middle ages was not gone, so how come there was no
progression? Well the intellect was the people of the upper class so everything
that was progression had to be accepted by the catholic church and religion.
René Descartes “Passions of the soul” (1649)
Part of the brain connecting soul and body (pineal gland)
➔ Elaborated reflex theories
➔ Brain is a working machine (works as mathematics) (cfr Alan turing)
Descartes was the first attempt to say and prove a fysiologically appearance to
connect the soul and the body, so the body and the mind. That would happen
through the pineal gland.
, Empirism= knowledge comes from experience and observation (Empirism: we
are moving closer to scientific method)
Locke (1632-1704) – Reid (1710-1796)
Why is Empirism important for psychology?
Because they began to say that the knowledge comes from the experience and
the knowledge comes from observation.
It is not only the psychological and philosophical reflection of it but also how the
information is gathered.
They introduce concepts such as;
• Associations: more complex knowledge develops through
the association of simple ideas
• Experiencing two things together binds them (cfr. Pavlov,
Hebbian’s rule)
Body and mind are machines that can be studied as part of natural science.
Helmholtz (born 1821, experimental psychologist) -> neural impulse
Measured conduction velocity of hearing and vision – no perfect match between
the physics of an impulse and perception. But there is something happening
between the representation of the stimulus and the reaction of the stimulus.
Weber and Fetchner (principles of psychophysics)
they developed the first principles of psychophysics, there are laws that govern
out perception of the world: Laws to link the external reality and the experience
from the individual.
Weber’s law states that humans’ ability to perceive
a change in sensory attributes of a stimulus is
inversely proportional to the initial magnitude of
this attribute.
If you have to say and distinguish? The difference
between the first 10 point square or 20 point
square, it is easy to see that there is 10 point more
here.
But if we see the difference between 110 and 120 is
very difficult, or more difficult than 10-20 point the difference of 10 point has become
much smaller in 110-120 points.
, Darwin and the origin of the species (1859)
Evolution theory
→ We have evolved from other living forms
→ Contextual factors are fundamental
→ As the best adapted survives (survival of the fittest)
→ Natural selection and genetic variation
Why is Darwin interesting?
The evolution theory is criticized for being scientific as well. If we take
falsification as one of the key points of the scientific methods then we cannot
falsify a theory like the origin of the species. We can falsify other things.
The idea is that we are involved from the other living forms and we have adapted
and that is also the theory of the survival of the best
It has to be the fittest for that environment
Pigeons and cockroaches are the most intelligent organisms because they can
survive anywhere, so the survival is based on the environment
Why is Darwin important for psychology?
Both in terms of knowledge and method. Humans are a sort of animals:
comparative psychology. Humans are here seen of sort of animals so we can
derive the behaviour of human by observing the behaviour of animals
Method: systematic observation, formulation of hypotheses.
When was (modern) psychology born as a discipline?
Typically recognized is 1879 because Wundt opened the lab for experimental
psychology.
First schools of psychology in Europe and USA
- Europa
o Wundt (structuralism)
o Weber (experimental psychology)
o Binet (applied psychology)
o Freud (psychoanalysis)
- USA
o James (functionalism)
o Watson/skinner (behaviorism)
o Chomsky/Neisser/Turing (cognitive psychology-artificial intelligence)
What we do in Europe is slightly different where the USA is focusing on, we have different
streams that are developing.
Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Mental processes refer to all the internal, covert activity of our minds like thinking,
feeling, and remembering. – this makes psychology a very hard topic to study.
Behavior includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions such as talking,
facial expressions and movement.
There is quite a debate on what behavior is, so how far can we go?
Can we go as deep as a neuron defect?
Can that be seen as behavior?
Is psychology a science?
What do you think, and what makes science a science?
Supporters of why not;
- Lack of scientific method
- Lack of definitions
- Lack of predictive possibilities (that is not completely true)
Supporters of why yes
- Methods (psychology is using methods, that are scientific methods)
- Empirically tested hypothesis
➔ Problems of scattered definitions and cumulative progression
Young science with a long tradition
1. Ancient Egypt
Interest and experiments in ancient Egypt
The brain is the site of mental functions
“Every personality has an open and a hidden part that sum up to make the
person.”
They recognize “mental disorders.”
When was psychology started being called a science? And where does it come
from?
It is a relatively young science as compared to medicine but also has a long
history.
,2. The Greeks
Aristotele “De Anima” = soul is defined as “psyche” by Aristotele
Discusses the senses, intellect, soul (only humans can be rational creatures.)
Psyche is the goddess of soul and the mind
3. The roman period
Epictetus “Enchridion, where he recognizes that men are disturbed not by things,
but by the views which they take of things.”
Stoicism as a precursor of mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy.
The subjective nature of knowledge, the sentence that men are not disturbed by
things but by the views, is one of the crucial concepts of what reality is but what
we think that reality is. And this subjective nature is one of the elements that
borders psychology and the objectiveness of the science.
The concept of; you have a view of the world around you and that needs to reflect
how you feel but it can so that your thoughts and all are not a perfect
representation on what your world looks like.
4. Middle ages
The middle ages as the dark centuries, but still….
Avicenna (Ibn Sina = Persian philosopher Born 980 aC
Soul and body are separate (Descartes), we have intellect, reason and the senses
Albertus Magnus, Tommaso D’Aquino etc…
There were intellectual curiosity, often ground in philosophy.
However, the upper class (educated) was part of the Church or religious circles,
and the soul is something else.
So in the middle ages typically seen as the dark ages, there was no progression of
medicine and science. Descartes said that dualism is intellect.
The curiosity in the middle ages was not gone, so how come there was no
progression? Well the intellect was the people of the upper class so everything
that was progression had to be accepted by the catholic church and religion.
René Descartes “Passions of the soul” (1649)
Part of the brain connecting soul and body (pineal gland)
➔ Elaborated reflex theories
➔ Brain is a working machine (works as mathematics) (cfr Alan turing)
Descartes was the first attempt to say and prove a fysiologically appearance to
connect the soul and the body, so the body and the mind. That would happen
through the pineal gland.
, Empirism= knowledge comes from experience and observation (Empirism: we
are moving closer to scientific method)
Locke (1632-1704) – Reid (1710-1796)
Why is Empirism important for psychology?
Because they began to say that the knowledge comes from the experience and
the knowledge comes from observation.
It is not only the psychological and philosophical reflection of it but also how the
information is gathered.
They introduce concepts such as;
• Associations: more complex knowledge develops through
the association of simple ideas
• Experiencing two things together binds them (cfr. Pavlov,
Hebbian’s rule)
Body and mind are machines that can be studied as part of natural science.
Helmholtz (born 1821, experimental psychologist) -> neural impulse
Measured conduction velocity of hearing and vision – no perfect match between
the physics of an impulse and perception. But there is something happening
between the representation of the stimulus and the reaction of the stimulus.
Weber and Fetchner (principles of psychophysics)
they developed the first principles of psychophysics, there are laws that govern
out perception of the world: Laws to link the external reality and the experience
from the individual.
Weber’s law states that humans’ ability to perceive
a change in sensory attributes of a stimulus is
inversely proportional to the initial magnitude of
this attribute.
If you have to say and distinguish? The difference
between the first 10 point square or 20 point
square, it is easy to see that there is 10 point more
here.
But if we see the difference between 110 and 120 is
very difficult, or more difficult than 10-20 point the difference of 10 point has become
much smaller in 110-120 points.
, Darwin and the origin of the species (1859)
Evolution theory
→ We have evolved from other living forms
→ Contextual factors are fundamental
→ As the best adapted survives (survival of the fittest)
→ Natural selection and genetic variation
Why is Darwin interesting?
The evolution theory is criticized for being scientific as well. If we take
falsification as one of the key points of the scientific methods then we cannot
falsify a theory like the origin of the species. We can falsify other things.
The idea is that we are involved from the other living forms and we have adapted
and that is also the theory of the survival of the best
It has to be the fittest for that environment
Pigeons and cockroaches are the most intelligent organisms because they can
survive anywhere, so the survival is based on the environment
Why is Darwin important for psychology?
Both in terms of knowledge and method. Humans are a sort of animals:
comparative psychology. Humans are here seen of sort of animals so we can
derive the behaviour of human by observing the behaviour of animals
Method: systematic observation, formulation of hypotheses.
When was (modern) psychology born as a discipline?
Typically recognized is 1879 because Wundt opened the lab for experimental
psychology.
First schools of psychology in Europe and USA
- Europa
o Wundt (structuralism)
o Weber (experimental psychology)
o Binet (applied psychology)
o Freud (psychoanalysis)
- USA
o James (functionalism)
o Watson/skinner (behaviorism)
o Chomsky/Neisser/Turing (cognitive psychology-artificial intelligence)
What we do in Europe is slightly different where the USA is focusing on, we have different
streams that are developing.
