Lecture 4 – The Birth of Psychology
Does man (study of the mind) fall under the scope of science?
RECAP
Kant’s challenge: denies psychology the status of (proper) science. Psychology can at most
describe, but it will have no explanatory laws (such as in physics).
Researchers start thinking about what psychology could look like, although they didn’t call
themselves psychologists yet (natural philosophers instead).
Wolff: observations can be translated into mathematical laws. He introduces
introspection as a scientific method and wants to describe the results of introspection
mathematically (psychometrics). Introspection is the study of the mind by the mind. To
learn about the mind, look inside. Becomes immediately controversial.
He is the first one to present psychology as its own field of science.
Kant: mental states not quantifiable.
Introspection is problematic because:
1. consciousness never stands still, is always in flux, and cannot be kept constant to look at
it closely; thoughts cannot be separated
2. observing the mind automatically changes the mind (e.g., observation effect)
Comte: introspection is not reliable because there is no distinction between the
investigator and the investigated (you cannot verify the accuracy of it).
Objectivity is impossible with introspection (you can’t look inside my mind to check my
introspection). Evidence from introspection is therefore not public, which is not in line
with the scientific principles.
For a scientific psychology to develop, we need a new view of the mind and more methods.
View of man up to 19th century:
Man has a special status (immortal soul, superior, qualitatively different from animals, not
part of nature, etc.).
This has to be changed for man to become object of scientific investigation and fall under
the scope of science.
, Challenges and how they have been overcome:
1. The mind is immaterial
Shift from immaterial to material mind
Medicine knowledge poor (didn’t understand much of the body and the brain). This
changes in the 18-19th century, when it becomes clear that mental functions are
linked to the brain. The discovery and study of the reflex introduces the idea of
mechanisms behind behavior… why wouldn't the brain also just be a machine?
There were certain mechanisms in the brain that explain our behavior.
2. No mathematical description possible
Man can be described mathematically:
Mental chronometry provides a mathematical description of mental
processes.
Donders studies the duration of mental processes, by estimating how long the mental process of discrimination
takes by comparing time on tasks.
Why did this only happen now? This idea of measuring how long something took.
Mainly instruments were missing (first stopwatch in 1816).
Today:
Donders’ idea is crucial for the study of mental processes through reaction time.
Weber and Fechner are known for psychophysics (connect physical stimuli to
psychological processes) and the just-notable difference law.
Statistics:
Quetelet is the first to apply statistics to people. He studies crime statistics and
figures out that he can’t predict when and where a crime would occur, but he can
predict how many crimes there would be in a year (average) > You can’t predict
individual behavior, but you can predict average behavior. This also results in
quantitative sociology.
Galton (cousin of Darwin) is fascinated by genius: why are some people much
cleverer than others?
Does man (study of the mind) fall under the scope of science?
RECAP
Kant’s challenge: denies psychology the status of (proper) science. Psychology can at most
describe, but it will have no explanatory laws (such as in physics).
Researchers start thinking about what psychology could look like, although they didn’t call
themselves psychologists yet (natural philosophers instead).
Wolff: observations can be translated into mathematical laws. He introduces
introspection as a scientific method and wants to describe the results of introspection
mathematically (psychometrics). Introspection is the study of the mind by the mind. To
learn about the mind, look inside. Becomes immediately controversial.
He is the first one to present psychology as its own field of science.
Kant: mental states not quantifiable.
Introspection is problematic because:
1. consciousness never stands still, is always in flux, and cannot be kept constant to look at
it closely; thoughts cannot be separated
2. observing the mind automatically changes the mind (e.g., observation effect)
Comte: introspection is not reliable because there is no distinction between the
investigator and the investigated (you cannot verify the accuracy of it).
Objectivity is impossible with introspection (you can’t look inside my mind to check my
introspection). Evidence from introspection is therefore not public, which is not in line
with the scientific principles.
For a scientific psychology to develop, we need a new view of the mind and more methods.
View of man up to 19th century:
Man has a special status (immortal soul, superior, qualitatively different from animals, not
part of nature, etc.).
This has to be changed for man to become object of scientific investigation and fall under
the scope of science.
, Challenges and how they have been overcome:
1. The mind is immaterial
Shift from immaterial to material mind
Medicine knowledge poor (didn’t understand much of the body and the brain). This
changes in the 18-19th century, when it becomes clear that mental functions are
linked to the brain. The discovery and study of the reflex introduces the idea of
mechanisms behind behavior… why wouldn't the brain also just be a machine?
There were certain mechanisms in the brain that explain our behavior.
2. No mathematical description possible
Man can be described mathematically:
Mental chronometry provides a mathematical description of mental
processes.
Donders studies the duration of mental processes, by estimating how long the mental process of discrimination
takes by comparing time on tasks.
Why did this only happen now? This idea of measuring how long something took.
Mainly instruments were missing (first stopwatch in 1816).
Today:
Donders’ idea is crucial for the study of mental processes through reaction time.
Weber and Fechner are known for psychophysics (connect physical stimuli to
psychological processes) and the just-notable difference law.
Statistics:
Quetelet is the first to apply statistics to people. He studies crime statistics and
figures out that he can’t predict when and where a crime would occur, but he can
predict how many crimes there would be in a year (average) > You can’t predict
individual behavior, but you can predict average behavior. This also results in
quantitative sociology.
Galton (cousin of Darwin) is fascinated by genius: why are some people much
cleverer than others?
