PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: George Santayana, Bronze Age, Trepanning
24 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psychology 1001
Lecture - The Historical and
Philosophical Foundations of
Psychology
History of Psychology:
• George Santayana (1863-: Those who do not know history are
doomed to repeat it
Why study history of Psychology?
• Interference by time, discussion and other information
• History is more or less a consensus between scientists we believe are
smart and trustworthy
• Presentist bias: the tendency to discuss and analyse past ideas, people
and event in terms of the present
The facts:
• It is hard, not impossible to understand the present without
understanding the past
• Need to know how a field developed
• What they did and why they did it?
• Which mistakes were made?
• Why a field developed in a certain direction? Often related to Zeitgeist
and perspective of the west Greek Roman, later German, British and
American)
• Zeitgeist: spirit of the times
What makes historical significant events and how do they get their names?
• Today we live in the Bronze age
• The first world war was The Great War until WW)) happened
Where does the history of psychology start?
• Most books: starts with Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), establishing the
first psychological laboratory in Leipzig in 1879
• Considered start of scientific psychology
• Trepanation: )ncas in Peru: tool/scalpel to cut head to release demons
in the Stone Age
• Trypanon: drill turned by hand or string
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Psychology 1001
Ancient Times: Brain vs. Soul, Egypt
• Heart was the seat of the soul (Hegemonikon)
• Feelings came from the heart not he brain
• Heart stayed in body, liver, kidney, lungs, stomach were stored in jars
next to the bodies
• Brain was discarded (exacerbation: removing the brains before the
mummification via nostrils and iron hook)
The Edwin Smith Papyrus
• About head wounds of soldiers
• Brain lesions lead to distal symptoms
• Left side of the brain controls right side of the body
• Brain is responsible for speech
• Touching the brain can lead to epileptic seizures
What did it tell us?
• The seat of the soul was clearly different than the source of the behaviour
Thinking in terms of localised functions = cerebral localisation
ATTACH DIAGRAMS OF BRAIN HERE
Cell 1: collection of information from senses
Cell 2: cognition thinking
Cell 3: memory
When you havent seen someone before but you keep thinking youve seen the
person, you build a concept around it.
Franz Joseph Gall + Spurzheim
The lavery electric automatic phrenometer
Phineas Gage- 1848, iron rod through his head (frontal lobe)
Personality change
Even localised are for personality
Lobotomy
Paul Broca, patient Tan
Lost speech and motor function
Karl Wernicke
(is patient talked but didnt make sense having speech impairment
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Psychology 1001
Lecture
• Establishment of the first psychological laboratory is Leipzig in 1879
• Typical exam question: why is neuro-imagine sometimes criticizes as
Modern-Day-Chronology?
)dentifying highly specialised area doesnt tell is much about how the
world works
How do we gain knowledge of the world? How do we gain consciousness?
• Nature vs. nurture? What is there and what needs to be learnt.
• Nature: most knowledge is present at birth
• Nurture: you learn in your environment an thats how it gets to your brain
• Nativism vs. Empiricism (philosophical views: how dependent we are
on experience when acquiring knowledge (where rationalism sees a role
for reasoning; as a source to gain knowledge with parts being innate
• Body vs. mind
- (Monism) Materialism: everything is tissue (reductionism)
- (Monism) Subjective idealism: the world only exists in my mind
- (Dualism) Both mind and body exist, need to talk to each other
(interactionism)
William Molyneux
• The question Molneux asked to John Locke was whether a man who has
been born blind and who has learn to distinguish and name a globe and a
cube by touch, would be able to distinguish and name these objects to
simplify by sight, once he has been enabled to see
Aristotle
• 384-322 BC
• greek philosopher
• Knowledge through (perception)
Rationalism of Plato (nativism)
• Not just passive registering but an act
• Some information can be innate and we can reason; on it
• So, cant be empiricism
• Perception doesnt help to find real knowledge about the world
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Psychology: george santayana (1863-(cid:883)(cid:891)(cid:887)(cid:884)(cid:524): (cid:498)those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it(cid:499) Where does the history of psychology start? first psychological laboratory in leipzig in 1879: considered start of scientific psychology in the stone age, trypanon: drill turned by hand or string. What did it tell us: the seat of the soul was clearly different than the source of the behaviour. Thinking in terms of localised functions = cerebral localisation. When you haven(cid:495)t seen someone before but you keep thinking you(cid:495)ve seen the person, you build a concept around it. Phineas gage- 1848, iron rod through his head (frontal lobe) Paul broca, patient (cid:494)tan(cid:495) (is patient talked but didn(cid:495)t make sense having speech impairment. Modern-day-chronology: establishment of the first psychological laboratory is leipzig in 1879, typical exam question: why is neuro-imagine sometimes criticizes as. What is there and what needs to be learnt: nature: most knowledge is present at birth.
