PSY220H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Jeremy Bentham, Cognitive Load, Hunter-Gatherer
23 Jan 2019
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Human being like to see ourselves as rational animals: homo sapiens: humans the wise. To a great extent, how we make sense of the world depends on a combination of our intuitions: our personalities and ways of perceiving the world, and a set of fundamental social motives. For bentham, the role of governments and economic systems was to ensure the greatest happiness for the greater number : this notion became one of the foundational ideas of modern capitalism. John locke"s portrait of the mind as a tabula rasa or blank slate, meaning personalities and traits as shaped entirely by learning and experience, the way one would draw upon a blank sheet of paper. John watson, the founder of behaviourism, claimed that with sufficient control over the environment and the right combination of rewards and punishments, he could shape a randomly selected healthy baby into virtually anything; a doctor, lawyer, beggar, thief, etc.
