Philosophy of Mind and Structuralism

Key Terms in Psychology

Philosophical Questions

• Free will: The debate about whether our actions are determined by our intentions or physical processes in our bodies or environment.

Early Schools of Thought

• Structuralism: Developed by Edward Tichener, used introspection to uncover basic elements of consciousness and how they combine to form ideas.
• Functionalism: Influenced by Darwinian theory, sought explanations for psychological processes in terms of their role in helping individuals adapt to their environment.

Perspectives in Psychology

• Psychodynamic perspective: Focuses on the dynamic interplay of mental forces, initiated by Sigmund Freud.
• Behaviourist perspective: Focuses on the relationship between environmental events and the responses of the organism, pioneered by John Watson and B.F. Skinner.
• Humanistic perspective: Emphasizes personal growth and human potential, focusing on aspects of personality that are distinctly human, led by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
• Cognitive perspective: Focuses on how people perceive, process, store, and retrieve information.
• Evolutionary perspective: Understands human behavioural proclivities in the context of their evolutionary and adaptive significance.

Key Concepts

• Stimuli: Objects or events in the environment that elicit a response in an organism.
• Self-actualisation: People are motivated to fulfill the whole range of needs that human experience.
• Information processing: The transformation, storage, and retrieval of environmental inputs through thought and memory.
• Radical behaviourism: Focuses on observable behaviour, championed by B.F. Skinner.
• Natural selection: A theory that states natural forces select traits in organisms that help them adapt to their environment.
• Reproductive success: The capacity to survive and reproduce, and maximise the reproductive success of genetically related individuals.

Interdisciplinary Approaches

• Biopsychosocial model: Recognises the interrelated influences of biological, psychological, and social processes on our behaviour and mental states.
• Behavioural genetics: Examines the genetic and environmental bases of differences among individuals on psychological traits.
• Behavioural neuroscience: Investigates the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as motivation, emotion, and stress.

Additional Concepts

• Cartesian dualism: The doctrine of separate spheres of mind and body.
• Cognition: Thought and memory.
• Conservation psychology: Studies the reciprocal relationships between humans and nature, aiming to promote environmental conservation.
• Critical thinking: A skill that involves carefully examining and analysing information to judge its validity.

Explore the fundamental questions of philosophy, including the concept of free will, the mind-body problem, and the development of structuralism in psychology.