2.3C History & Methods of Psychology- 2021/2022 - Lecture 1 – Olive Lindemann - Predecessors of Psychology - Nov 2021
We want to focus on:
1. Describing behavior 3. Predict the behavior
2. Understand or explain behavior 4. Control or modify behavior
Philosophy addressed many psychological questions e.g. mind-body problem, question/problems of
introspection, epistemology (philosophy of knowledge: what can we know, what do we know and how can we
prove our knowledge), free will problem. They also tried to cure depression (melancholia), anxiety etc. with old
medicine.
Before 1870 psychology was part of philosophy, not an independent discipline.
Father of Psychology: Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
- First experimental lab in Psychology (1879) in Leipzig, Germany. First who established psychology as
independent discipline instead of part of curriculum of medicine students/philosophy.
- American Psychological Association (APA) established in 1892.
Predecessors of Psychology
Plato (427-347 BC): truth has two properties:
1. It must be true in all times and all places. 2. It must be rationally justifiable.
Rationalism: to find truth through rational/logical reasoning.
Nativism: knowledge comes from one’s immortal, innate soul. There is an ideal world in us and we can
access this knowledge by rationalism.
Important for psychologists because of the mind and body problem:
- Not classical dualist(mind and body/brain are radically diff things), but still made a distinction between the
body and the soul.
Aristotle (384-322 BC): student of Plato.
Empiricism: relied on info via observation, measurements and the senses to acquire knowledge. The truth is
out there in the world that we can approach, it is not innate; there is no innate ideal world. Aristotle did not
question a difference between body and the soul: all beings have animate souls, but there are diff types of
souls. Humans have rational souls, which makes humans different from animals.
Came with psychological questions and therefore important within our field e.g. what is the link between
psychological and physiological phenomena. Also theorized about learning, memory, motivation, emotion,
perception and personality.
The mind body problem was not discussed for centuries until
René Descartes (1596-1650)
Most strongly connected to the concept of dualism: mind/soul
and body/brain are radically diff things that exist together but
when you die the soul leaves the body. The soul is
fundamentally diff from the body. Mostly dominated by religion
(immortal soul).
- Perception-Action Coupling and Reflex:
Image 1: eyes perceive something and gets info that is
processed in the brain, the brain is connected with muscle fibers in the arm and that is how motor systems
etc. interact with each other.
Image 2: I can feel something e.g. fire with my senses that does not have to be connected to the brain but
can work with a feedback loop.
- Cogito, Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am): it is not important that I see my body, most important is my
mind/soul and I can prove having a mind/soul by thinking.
, - The body is a machine that needs to be treated and can be studied, mind and body can influence each
other e.g. when you hurt the body you can influence the mind etc.
- Ideas are innate, basic knowledge is there, there is an absolute truth, given by God. Same view as Plato.
John Locke (1632-1704):
Empiricist: idea that we can experience info that ‘writes’ our knowledge.
The human mind is a ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate), fundamentally different from innate knowledge. Therefore a
revolutionary claim, especially in the time of theological theories. Most psychological theories are based on
empiricism. It’s important that we can assume that the truth can be falsified by empirical data.
Hedonist: people are motivated by approaching pleasure and avoiding pain, this is a view that current
psychology is also very interested in.
- Sensory perception yields ideas (knowledge), and these simple ideas are combined by the mental machine
to form complex ideas.
Another empiricist:
David Hume (1711-1776):
“Assume the mind is, say, a blank sheet of paper, without a letter, without any ideas. How does it get ideas?
(...) Where does thinking and knowledge come from? My answer to that question is simple: From
experience.”
Distinguished between two types of perception:
1. Impressions: sensory perceptions e.g. hairy, four legs, energetic.
2. Ideas: how we interpret perceptions, mental image used for thinking e.g. animal, dog.
Although philosophers lived in a time where religion influenced most of their thinking. All philosophers already
look at theoretical principles as used today in modern cognitive psychology.
TIP: Look at diff views, think about implications for psychologists, stay close to the literature, look at what the
philosophers say and try to classify the views according to the terminology we have in philosophy. You need to
be able to refer to the theories of philosophy and psychology.
2.3C History & Methods of Psychology- Lecture 2 – Olive Lindemann – History of Modern Psychology - Nov 2021
Biologists/medical doctors
Franz Gall (1758—1828): mind and personality depend on Charles Darwin (1809-1882): behavior serves a certain
the brain. One of the first to make a connection between function or goal. If the environment changes, behavior
the two. What happens in our mind happens inside our changes to adjust to the environment. Law of Natural
brain, thus phrenology: shape of a person’s skull reveals Selection or Theory of Evolution. Later conditioning
mental faculties and personality traits. One of the first definitely proves this, inspired the psychological school of
neuroscientists (remember with: Gall rhymes with skull). Functionalism.
Early Psychophysics/physicists
Ernst Weber (1795-1878): first systematic Gustav Fechner (1801-1887): student of Weber. Founder of
experiments/studies on sensation and touch. psychophysics; branch of experimental psychology focused on
Just-noticeable difference(JND) is the amount sense, sensation, and perception. Non-linear relationship
something must be changed in order for a difference to between psychological sensation and the physical intensity, in
be noticeable, detectable at least half the time order to make e.g. sound feel double as loud, you have to
(absolute threshold). possibly 3-double the intensity. Weber-Fechner Law: tries to
systematize the JND, the JND between
two stimuli varies in direct proportion to
the size of the stimuli (s) =
We want to focus on:
1. Describing behavior 3. Predict the behavior
2. Understand or explain behavior 4. Control or modify behavior
Philosophy addressed many psychological questions e.g. mind-body problem, question/problems of
introspection, epistemology (philosophy of knowledge: what can we know, what do we know and how can we
prove our knowledge), free will problem. They also tried to cure depression (melancholia), anxiety etc. with old
medicine.
Before 1870 psychology was part of philosophy, not an independent discipline.
Father of Psychology: Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
- First experimental lab in Psychology (1879) in Leipzig, Germany. First who established psychology as
independent discipline instead of part of curriculum of medicine students/philosophy.
- American Psychological Association (APA) established in 1892.
Predecessors of Psychology
Plato (427-347 BC): truth has two properties:
1. It must be true in all times and all places. 2. It must be rationally justifiable.
Rationalism: to find truth through rational/logical reasoning.
Nativism: knowledge comes from one’s immortal, innate soul. There is an ideal world in us and we can
access this knowledge by rationalism.
Important for psychologists because of the mind and body problem:
- Not classical dualist(mind and body/brain are radically diff things), but still made a distinction between the
body and the soul.
Aristotle (384-322 BC): student of Plato.
Empiricism: relied on info via observation, measurements and the senses to acquire knowledge. The truth is
out there in the world that we can approach, it is not innate; there is no innate ideal world. Aristotle did not
question a difference between body and the soul: all beings have animate souls, but there are diff types of
souls. Humans have rational souls, which makes humans different from animals.
Came with psychological questions and therefore important within our field e.g. what is the link between
psychological and physiological phenomena. Also theorized about learning, memory, motivation, emotion,
perception and personality.
The mind body problem was not discussed for centuries until
René Descartes (1596-1650)
Most strongly connected to the concept of dualism: mind/soul
and body/brain are radically diff things that exist together but
when you die the soul leaves the body. The soul is
fundamentally diff from the body. Mostly dominated by religion
(immortal soul).
- Perception-Action Coupling and Reflex:
Image 1: eyes perceive something and gets info that is
processed in the brain, the brain is connected with muscle fibers in the arm and that is how motor systems
etc. interact with each other.
Image 2: I can feel something e.g. fire with my senses that does not have to be connected to the brain but
can work with a feedback loop.
- Cogito, Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am): it is not important that I see my body, most important is my
mind/soul and I can prove having a mind/soul by thinking.
, - The body is a machine that needs to be treated and can be studied, mind and body can influence each
other e.g. when you hurt the body you can influence the mind etc.
- Ideas are innate, basic knowledge is there, there is an absolute truth, given by God. Same view as Plato.
John Locke (1632-1704):
Empiricist: idea that we can experience info that ‘writes’ our knowledge.
The human mind is a ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate), fundamentally different from innate knowledge. Therefore a
revolutionary claim, especially in the time of theological theories. Most psychological theories are based on
empiricism. It’s important that we can assume that the truth can be falsified by empirical data.
Hedonist: people are motivated by approaching pleasure and avoiding pain, this is a view that current
psychology is also very interested in.
- Sensory perception yields ideas (knowledge), and these simple ideas are combined by the mental machine
to form complex ideas.
Another empiricist:
David Hume (1711-1776):
“Assume the mind is, say, a blank sheet of paper, without a letter, without any ideas. How does it get ideas?
(...) Where does thinking and knowledge come from? My answer to that question is simple: From
experience.”
Distinguished between two types of perception:
1. Impressions: sensory perceptions e.g. hairy, four legs, energetic.
2. Ideas: how we interpret perceptions, mental image used for thinking e.g. animal, dog.
Although philosophers lived in a time where religion influenced most of their thinking. All philosophers already
look at theoretical principles as used today in modern cognitive psychology.
TIP: Look at diff views, think about implications for psychologists, stay close to the literature, look at what the
philosophers say and try to classify the views according to the terminology we have in philosophy. You need to
be able to refer to the theories of philosophy and psychology.
2.3C History & Methods of Psychology- Lecture 2 – Olive Lindemann – History of Modern Psychology - Nov 2021
Biologists/medical doctors
Franz Gall (1758—1828): mind and personality depend on Charles Darwin (1809-1882): behavior serves a certain
the brain. One of the first to make a connection between function or goal. If the environment changes, behavior
the two. What happens in our mind happens inside our changes to adjust to the environment. Law of Natural
brain, thus phrenology: shape of a person’s skull reveals Selection or Theory of Evolution. Later conditioning
mental faculties and personality traits. One of the first definitely proves this, inspired the psychological school of
neuroscientists (remember with: Gall rhymes with skull). Functionalism.
Early Psychophysics/physicists
Ernst Weber (1795-1878): first systematic Gustav Fechner (1801-1887): student of Weber. Founder of
experiments/studies on sensation and touch. psychophysics; branch of experimental psychology focused on
Just-noticeable difference(JND) is the amount sense, sensation, and perception. Non-linear relationship
something must be changed in order for a difference to between psychological sensation and the physical intensity, in
be noticeable, detectable at least half the time order to make e.g. sound feel double as loud, you have to
(absolute threshold). possibly 3-double the intensity. Weber-Fechner Law: tries to
systematize the JND, the JND between
two stimuli varies in direct proportion to
the size of the stimuli (s) =
