PSYC375 CH 5 Study Questions and Definitions PDF

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC375 CH 5 - study questions and definitions History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC375: CH 5 p. 120- 164...

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC375 CH 5 - study questions and definitions History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 PSYC375: CH 5 p. 120- 164 1. Define British empiricism, and describe its general characteristics.  An empiricist is anyone who believes that knowledge is derived from experience.  stresses the importance of experience and attainment of knowledge  exclude such inner experiences (imagination, logic) from a definition of empiricism and refer exclusively to sensory experience  Characteristics: o sensory experience constitutes the primary data of all knowledge o knowledge cannot exist until sensory evidence has first been gathered; so for the empiricist, attaining knowledge begins with sensory experience. o all subsequent intellectual processes must focus on sensory experience in formulating propositions about the world. 2. Briefly describe the life and work of Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). Describe Hobbes’s position with respect to (a) empiricism and materialism, (b) psychological phenomena (i.e., attention, imagination, dreams, motivation, free will) and (f) complex thought processes (i.e., trains of thought). Physical monism is the idea that everything that exists has a concrete physical basis and that there is no nonphysical mental world. According to this view, mental processes are seen as biological processes that have a physical basis.  Hobbes had issues with Bacon’s inductive method; Hobbes chose the deductive method of Galileo and Descartes; apply the ideas and techniques of Galileo to the study of humans  Fear of death that motivated humans to create social order  Unless controlled, humans would selfishly seek power over others to guarantee the satisfaction of their own personal needs; a monarch needed to understand human nature  Summary: materialist – all was physical; mechanist – all were machines; determinist – all activity caused by forces acting on physical objects; empiricist – all knowledge from sensory experience; hedonist – human behaviour driven by good, avoid bad a) Empiricism & Materialism – a physical monist believed in material mind a. All ideas came from experience – sensory experience b. All that exists is matter and motion – internal motions causes by sense experiences (external bodies that stimulate sense receptors) Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 c. “mind,” for Hobbes, was nothing more than the sum total of a person’s thinking activities—that is, a series of motions within the individual. b) Explanation of psychological phenomenon a. Attention was explained by the fact that as long as sense organs retain the motion caused by certain external objects, they cannot respond to others. b. imagination - sense impressions decay over time c. memory – same as imagination d. dreams – imaginations that happen during sleep, in pieces or together – vivid dream when no sensory impressions compete with imagination e. appetite – seeking and maintaining pleasurable experiences (what motivated human behaviour) f. aversion – avoidance of bad (motivation of human behaviour) i. Hobbes accepted hedonistic theory of explanation ii. moral relativism: there were no objective moral properties, but what seemed good was what pleased any individual or was good for him g. free will – because of motivations it conflicted with tendency to act – free will is not possible c) Complex Thought Processes a. Trains of thought – one thought to follow another in some coherent manner b. Law of contiguity (artistotle) – experienced together = remembered together 3. Briefly describe the life and work of John Locke (1632–1704). Describe Locke’s position on the following topics: (a) empiricism, (b) the mind-body distinction, (c) innate ideas, (d) sensation and reflection, (e) simple and complex ideas, (f) emotions, (g) primary and secondary qualities, (h) association of ideas, (i) education, and (j) government. Comment: Much of Locke’s thinking with respect to associationism anticipates contemporary work in the field of behaviour analysis. Behaviour analysts interpret phobias and irrational ideas in terms of past associations of pleasant and aversive stimuli in much the same way Locke did. With Locke we see surprisingly modern attitudes insofar as he explains current behaviour in terms of specific past interactions with the environment. In addition, his suggested method for dealing Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 with a fear of frogs is much like the graduated exposure techniques that contemporary behaviour therapists use. Locke was also advanced in his admonitions against the use of intense physical punishment, which anticipates B. F. Skinner’s strong stand against the use of punitive forms of behaviour control. In Locke’s own time, of course, physical punishment was much more accepted as an educational method than it is today.  Most influential political philosopher post-renaissance Europe – oxford – Locke learned that physical objects were composed of “minute corpuscles” that have just a few intrinsic qualities  An Essay Concerning Human Understanding  Shaped most of subsequent British empiricism  Accepted mind-body dualism (rejected Hobbes monism/materialsism)  Somehow sensory stimulation caused ideas – all knowledge from sensory experience but context of mind are from sensory stimulation a) Sensation and reflection a. Idea was simple a mental image that could be employed while thinking b. Ideas result either by direct sensory stimulation or by reflection on the remnants of prior sensory stimulation c. The source of all ideas is sensation but the ideas can be acted on or rearranged by the operations of the mind and makes new d. Passive minds just receive and store ideas from sensory information e. No innate idea, just innate operations (faculties) b) Ideas and Emotions: a. Simple ideas = constitute the atoms of experience, cannot be divided or analysed into further ideas b. Complex ideas = composites of simple ideas and therefore can be analysed into their component parts (simple ideas) c. Operations (i.e. comparing, remembering, reasoning etc.) simple ideas are combined into complex ideas d. Cannot create or destroy ideas, but have infinite combinations e. Emotions all derived from pleasure or pain – greatest good to thing pleasurable thoughts f. Human motivation = hedonistic g. the information that the senses provided was the stuff the mind thought about and had emotional reactions toward. c) Primary and Secondary Qualities Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 a. What is physically present and what is experienced psychologically b. Both qualities refer to characteristics of the physical world – what distinguishes them is the type of psychological experience they caused c. Any aspect of a physical object that had the power to produce an idea is a quality d. Primary qualities = match between what is physically present and what is experienced psychologically e. Secondary qualities = ideas produced do not correspond to anything in the physical world f. Paradox of the basins (water basins – see glossary) – demonstrated nature of ideas caused by secondary qualities g. Subjective reality could be studied as objective as physical reality h. the important point was that some of our psychological experiences reflected the physical world as it actually was (those experiences caused by primary qualities) and some did not (those experiences caused by secondary qualities) d) Association of Ideas a. Association as the fundamental principle of mental life – explanation of higher thoughts b. By thinking of ideas, we understand the world, ourselves and morality c. Faculty beliefs – can result of accidents of time or circumstance – association explains this d. Ideas that succeeded each other because of natural or rational reasons represented true knowledge, otherwise ideas could result in unreasonable beliefs (e.g. fears) e) Education a. Nurture (experience) more important that nature (innate abilities) – encouraged parents to build tolerance in children (hardening); sufficient sleep, food, fresh air, exercise (health and learning connected) b. Teachers should make learning experience pleasurable; recognize and praise students f) Government by the People and for the People a. Seek truth for self, not imposed by others b. Replace religion with natural law c. Proposed government of people for people Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 4. Briefly describe the life and work of George Berkeley (1685–1753). Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to (a) materialism, (b) “to be is to be perceived” (c) primary and secondary qualities, (d) the existence of external reality, (e) the principle of association, and (f) his theory of distance perception. Comment: In Berkeley we see a reactionary philosopher who argued against the bold ideas of Hobbes in advocating physical monism and materialism. This led Berkeley to an odd philosophy, motivated by his desire to preserve religious beliefs that held that matter does not exist. It is not entirely fair to compare Berkeley’s philosophy to the ostrich’s fabled practice of burying its head in the sand in order to escape from enemies, but there are parallels.  Appreciated materialism for deteriorating foundations of religious beliefs but attacked it for it’s foundation of believing matter exists a) All physical events should be explained in mechanical laws Berkeley did not deny the existence of external. What he did deny was that external reality consisted of inert matter, To be is to be perceived b) Reality consists of our perceptions and nothing more c) Primary qualities = attributes of physical things, secondary qualities = ideas or perceptions – then rejected primary qualities – only secondary exist (“to be is to be perceived”) d) The existence of external reality is from God’s perception – god perceives the physical world, thus giving it existence, we perceive God’s perceptions, and give those perceptions life in our minds as ideas – if secondary qualities are understood as ideas, whose existence depends on a perceiver, then all reality consists of secondary qualities e) Association – several things are observed to accompany each other, they come to be marked by one name, and so to be reputed as one thing (e.g. colour, taste, smell figure observed together, accounted as one distinct thing) – the objects we name are aggregates of sensations that typically accompany each other – law of contiguity is Berkeley’s associative principle – all sensations experienced together are associated – objects are aggregates of sensations and nothing more f) Theory of Distance Perception - important because the sensations caused by the convergence and divergence of the eyes became associated with other sensations that became cues for distance - it showed how all complex perceptions could be understood as Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 compounds of elementary sensations such as sight, hearing, and touch. 5. Briefly describe the life and work of David Hume (1711–1776). Describe his (a) goal as a philosopher, (b) ideas regarding physical reality and perceptions of it, (c) notion of simple and complex ideas and the imagination, (d) account of the association of ideas (including the three laws of association), (e) analysis of causation, (f) analysis of mind and self, (g) conception of the role of emotions in determining behaviour, and (h) influence on the development of psychology.  never a university professor, skeptical of religion (irrational, impractical) a) Goal: all important matter reflect human nature and understand that nature is therefore essential – science of man foundation for other sciences so the foundation must be laid on experience and observation – moral philosophy = social sciences now, natural philosophy = physical sciences today – the science of man would be an experimental science – for Hume experience meant mental experience – for Hume experiment meant careful observation of how experiences are related to one another and how experiences in related to behaviour – Newtonian science + empirical philosophy = science of human nature – used Baconian inductive method – make careful observations and then carefully generalize from those observations – formulate hypothesis and test it against experience b) Impressions and ideas – the contents of the mind came only from experience – experience (perception) could be stimulated by internal or external events – we never experience the physical directly and can only have perceptions of it – didn’t deny physical reality, only denied the possibility of knowing it directly – impressions = strong, vivid perceptions, ideas = relatively weak perceptions (The difference betwixt these consists in the degrees of force and liveliness, with which they strike upon the mind, and make their way into our thought or consciousness) c) Simple and complex ideas and the imagination – role of imagination = ideas that exist in the mind that can be rearranged in an infinite number of ways – ideas that have been consistently experienced together create the belief that one will follow the other – belief of fact v. fantasy determined by experience and associations – can ponder thoughts that do not necessarily correspond to reality d) Association of ideas – chance alone can join ideas together – great deal of similarity exists among the associations of all humans – laws Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 e) f) g) h) of association as a general force which create certain relations as opposed to others – 3 laws – law of resemblance, law of contiguity, law of cause and effect – cause and effect is the strongest law Analysis of causation – we can never know two events occur together unless we have experienced them occurring together – a causal relationship is a consistently observed relationship and nothing more – a psychological experience - two events are causally related = cause and effect must be contiguous in space and time, cause prior or effect, constant union between cause and effect – quality constitutes this relation, same cause always produces same effect – custom = cumulative experience that allows us to live effective lives – the guide for human life Analysis of the mind and self – no mind independent of perceptions and no self independent of perceptions – never catch self at any time without perception and never observe anything but the perception emotions and behaviour - human history show same passions (emotions) motivated by similar behaviours – not always in the same degree – individual patterns, respond differently – determines character – character determines behaviour - Humans learn how to act in different circum- stances the same way that nonhuman animals do— through the experience of reward and punishment – reason = slave to passions hume’s influence = humans can be certain of nothing – demonstrative knowledge (math) is only accepted by definitions, entirely abstract and product of the imagination – empirical knowledge is based on experience, furnish knowledge that can effectively guide our conduct in the world 6. Briefly describe the life and work of David Hartley (1705–1757). Describe his (a) goal as a philosopher, (b) account of association, (c) notion of simple and complex ideas, (d) application of the laws of association to voluntary behaviour, (e) influence on the development of psychology. Comment: The notion that complex behaviours such as walking develop from simple reflexes was also popular with John B. Watson, a behaviourist who flourished in the early 20th century. However, as reflexes became more well understood, it became increasingly difficult to maintain that reflexive muscle twitches were the basis for skilled coordinated performances as seen in walking and other complex motor skills. Hartley’s ideas here, although intriguing, were not ultimately validated. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509  Physician, deeply religious, understanding natural phenomenon increased faith in God, book part 1 concerning human frame was contribution to psychology A) Goal = vibrations from sensory experience in nerves called impressions – impressions reach brain and cause vibrations in the infinitesimal and medullary particles which cause sensations – lingering vibrations = ideas (faint replications of vibrations) B) Account of Association - After sense impressions cease, there remain in the brain diminutive vibrations that Hartley called vibratiuncles; the vibratiuncles that correspond to ideas. experiences consistently occurring together are recorded in the brain as an interrelated package and that experiencing one element in the package will make one conscious of the entire package - attempt to correlate mental activity with neurophysiological activity - believed that all complex ideas are formed automatically by the process of association. C) Notion of Simple and Complex Ideas – simple ideas = associated by contiguity form complex ideas – complex ideas that are associated by contiguity become associated into “decomplex” ideas – all ideas are made up of sensations; association is the only process responsible for converting simple into complex ideas D) Application of the Law of Association to Voluntary Behaviour – involuntary behaviour gradually becomes voluntary and then becomes almost involuntary (automatic) – involuntary behaviour occurs reflexively in response to sensory stimulation – voluntary behaviour occurs in response to ones ideas or to stimuli not originally associated with the behaviour; voluntary behaviour can become habitual *** all behavior is at first involuntary and gradually becomes voluntary through the process of association voluntary behavior is determined by the law of contiguity E) Influence on Psychology - took the speculations concerning neurophysiology of his time and used them in his analysis of association - started the search for the biological correlates of mental events that has continued to the present - Hartley’s Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 brand of associationism became highly influential and was the authoritative psychological account for about 80 years 7. Briefly describe the life and work of James Mill (1773–1836). Describe his positions on the following: (a) associations and factors that determine the strength of associations (b) utilitarianism and hedonism, including Jeremy Bentham’s perspectives. Summarize James Mill’s influence on psychology.  Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind, which originally appeared in 1829 and was revised under the editorship of his son John Stuart Mill in 1869 - the most complete summary of associationism ever offered.  A) Analysis of Association - attempted to show that the mind consisted of only sensations and ideas held together by contiguity – complex ideas made up of simple ideas - when ideas are continuously experienced together, the association among them becomes so strong that they appear in consciousness as one idea - all things we refer to as external objects are clusters of sensations that have been consistently experienced together, can be reduced to simple ideas – all mental experience are sensations and the ideas they initiate. B) two factors caused variation in strengths of associations: vividness and frequency - more vivid sensations or ideas form stronger associations than less vivid ones do; and more frequently paired sensations and ideas form stronger associations than do those paired less frequently. (1) sensations are more vivid than ideas, and there- fore, the associations between sensations are stronger than those between ideas; (2) sensations and ideas associated with pleasure or pain are more vivid and therefore form stronger associations than sensations and ideas not related to pleasure or pain; and (3) recent ideas are more vivid and therefore form stronger associations than more remote ideas. C) Utilitarianism and Associationism - Thus, Bentham defined human happiness entirely in terms of the ability to obtain pleasure and avoid pain – we calculate pleasures and pains to determine the correct action – applied hedonism to society as a whole Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 D) Influence - his utilitarian approach, along with the axiomatic approach of Kant (who we will consider in the next chapter), forms the basis of almost all modern approaches to ethics he gave us a conception of the mind based on Newtonian physics - mind consisted of mental elements held together by the laws of association – carried associationism to its logical conclusions – mind had no creative abilities 8. Briefly describe the life and work of John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). Describe his philosophy with respect to (a) mental chemistry, (b) psychology as a science, (c) ethology, and (d) social reform. Comment: In evidence in John Stuart Mill’s work is a clear recognition of the oddity of his own culture’s unwillingness to consider women as fully human and equal to men. It is rare for people to be able to step out of their cultural context and recognize injustices of this sort, but it does occasionally occur. Mill married relatively late in life to a woman who had been a friend with whom he enjoyed intellectual companionship for many years. Much of Mill’s appreciation of women as intellectuals and as the equals of men may have been due to the nature of the relationship he had with his wife. John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill, also held unconventional attitudes for his time, and this unconventionality may have also influenced him.  Son to James Mill – revised the purely mechanistic, elemental view of father’s philosophies - he believed that the lawfulness of human thought, feeling, and action was entirely conducive to scientific inquiry.  A) Mental Chemistry - chemicals often combine and produce something entirely different from the elements that made them up - it was possible for elementary ideas to fuse and to produce an idea that was different from the elements that made it up - an entirely new idea, one not reducible to simple ideas or sensations, could emerge from contiguous experiences B) Psychology as a Science - He stressed the point that any system governed by laws is subject to scientific scrutiny, and this is true even if those laws are not presently understood Sciences, then, can range from those whose laws are known and the manifestations of those laws easily and precisely measured to those whose laws are only partially understood Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Mill placed sciences whose primary laws are known and, if no other causes intervene, whose phenomena can be observed, measured, and predicted precisely. However, secondary laws often interact with primary laws, making precise understanding and prediction impossible. I.e. meteorology/tidology are sciences, but not exact – inexact sciences could become exact the science of human nature has then is a set of primary laws that apply to all humans and that can be used to predict general tendencies in human thought, feeling, and action human behavior does not have is a knowledge of how its primary laws interact with secondary laws C) Ethology - first the science of human nature (psychology) would discover the universal laws according to which all human minds operate, and then ethology would explain how individual minds or characters form under specific circumstances - Mill’s ethology reemerged in France as the study of individual character D) Social Reform - freedom of speech, representative government, and the emancipation of women - treat the happiness of others as equal in value to our own - Societies can be judged by the extent to which they allow the utilitarian principle to operate - intellectual pleasures were far more important than the biological pleasures we share with nonhuman animals 9. Briefly describe the life and work of Alexander Bain (1818–1903). Describe (a) Bain’s goal, (b) his laws of association, and (c) his ideas regarding voluntary behaviour. Comment: Bain’s notion that recall is facilitated by making the conditions of recall similar to the conditions under which learning originally occurred has been empirically validated in modern experiments in the field of cue-dependent and state-dependent learning.  Friend of J.S. Mill – wrote biographies of J.S. and James Mill – first true psychology for book Senses and Emotions – journal “Mind” dedicated to psychological questions, relevant today – attempted to show how biological processes were related to psychological processes – first to Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 attempt to relate real physiological processes to psychological phenomenon A) Goal B) Laws of Association – mind’s components = feeling, volition, intellect – law of contiguity = basic associative principle - laws of contiguity and frequency was his suggestion that both laws had their effects because of neurological changes - the law of compound association and the law of constructive association associations are seldom links between one idea and another & the mind can rearrange memories of various experiences into an almost infinite number of combinations. C) Ideas regarding voluntary behaviour - Reflexive behavior occurred automatically in response to some external stimulus because of the structure of an organism’s nervous system; and then organisms simply act spontaneously - Spontaneous activity is one ingredient of voluntary behavior; the other ingredient is hedonism - voluntary did not mean “free.” Socalled voluntary behavior was as deterministically controlled as reflexive behavior; it was just controlled differently Bain explained the development of voluntary behavior as follows: 1. When some need such as hunger or the need to be released from confinement occurs, there is random or spontaneous activity. 2. Some of these random movements will produce or approximate conditions necessary for satisfying the need, and others will not. 3. The activities that bring need satisfaction are remembered. 4. The next time the organism is in a similar situation, it will perform the activities that previously brought about need satisfaction. 10.Describe the general features of French sensationalism. Briefly escribe the life and work of Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655). Briefly describe the life and work of Julien de La Mettrie (1709–1751). Describe his views concerning (a) man as a machine, (b) the differences between humans and non-human animals, and (c) the desirability of accepting materialism as a worldview.  Man as machine - reduced mental activity to its basic elements - only a few basic principles, and that minimized/eliminated metaphysical speculation Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509  sensations in explaining all conscious experience and because the label provides a convenient way of distinguishing between the British and the French  All ideas, said the British empiricists and the French sensationalists, came from experience, and most, if not all, mental activity could be explained by the laws of association acting on those ideas.  the universe can be explained in terms of mechanical laws, why should not humans, too, obey those laws  PIERRE GASSENDI – considered founder of modern materialism o major goal was to denounce Descartes’s purely deductive (axiomatic) and dualistic philosophy and replace it with an observational (inductive) science based on physical monism. o the observation that the mind, if unextended (immaterial), could have no knowledge of extended (material) things o anything that moves exists o humans are nothing but matter and therefore could be studied and understood just as anything else in the universe could.  JULIEN DE LA METTRIE o topics as venereal disease, vertigo, and smallpox o If the mind is completely separate from the body and influences the body only when it chooses to do so, how can the effects of such things as wine, coffee, opium, or even a good meal on one’s thoughts be explained? – You are what you eat Sensations and thoughts are also nothing but movements of particles in the brain – materialist o A) man as machine - every existing thing, including humans, consists of matter and nothing else – physical monist o B) Human and Nonhuman animals - equated intelligence and some personality characteristics with the size and quality of the brain humans can be considered superior to non- human animals, it is because of education and the development of language o - intelligence was influenced by three factors: brain size, brain complexity, and education (by education, La Mettrie did not mean only explicit instruction but also the effects of everyday experience) o C) the desirability of accepting materialism as a worldview (p.153) In short, the materialist, convinced, in spite of the protests of his vanity, that he is but a machine or an animal, will not maltreat his kind, for he will know too well the nature of those actions 11.Briefly describe the life and work of Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715–1780). Describe his idea of the imaginary sentient statue and explain its relevance to Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 human mental abilities. Briefly describe the life and work of Claude Helvétius(1715–1771). Comment: The sentient statue notion is helpful because it simplifies the analysis of sensation, perception, and consciousness by reducing the sensory channels.  ETIENNE BONNOT DE CONDILLAC o Critic of religious dogma – all powers from the mind could be derived simply from the abilities to sense, to remember, and to experience pleasure and pain o Sentient Statue (p.154) – attention of stimulus that brings the experience of pleasure or pain will be remembered better, with attending, comes feelings (i.e. pleasant smell = feeling of enjoyment) – all desire is based on the experience of pleasure and pain – pleasure provides more vivid sensations than pain – comparison raises ability to be surprised (experience you’re not used to) – sensations remembered in the order you experienced them (retrieval) – remembered not in the order it occured = imagination, dreaming is a form of imagination; dreaming/imagining something hated = fear, something loved = hope - sensations or memories are grouped in terms of what they have in common, the statue has formed abstract ideas – duration = remembered sensations or memories longer o The statue’s self, ego, or personality consists of its sensations, its memories, and its other mental abilities. With its memories, it is capable of desiring sensations other than the one it is now having; or by remembering other sensations, it can wish its present sensation to continue or terminate. o the meaning of words is determined exclusively by how they are habitually used: o  CLAUDE HELVETIUS - hedonist o explored in depth the implication of the contention that the contents of the mind come only from experience - control experience and you control the contents of the mind. o empiricism became radical environmentalism. All manner of social skills, moral behavior, and even genius could be taught through the control of experiences (education). o Habit formation = learning Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 12.Briefly describe the life and work of Auguste Comte (1798–1857). Describe the following aspects of his work: (a) positivism, (b) the law of three stages, (c) religion and the sciences. Briefly describe the life and work of Ernst Mach (1838–1916), focusing especially on his view of positivism. Compare and contrast the positivism of Comte and Mach.  Scientism = only valid knowledge from scientifically validated knowledge  AUGUST COMTE o attempt to use methods of the physical sciences to create a science of history and human social behaviour o A) POSITIVISM – equating knowledge with empirical observation - to be put into position or to be placed in the mind by experience – interested in science only as a means of improving society - science should seek to discover the lawful relationships among physical phenomena - Once such laws are known; they can be used to predict and control events and thus improve life – know in order to predict – two types of statements: “One refers to the objects of sense, and it is a scientific statement. The other is nonsense” – empiricists and sensationalists = positivistic leanings o B) LAW OF THREE STAGES - The first stage, and the most primitive, is theological, and explanations are based on superstition and mysticism. In the second stage, which is metaphysical, explanations are based on unseen essences, principles, causes, or laws. During the third and highest stage of development, the scientific description is emphasized over explanation, and the prediction and control of natural phenomena becomes all important. *sociology to describe the study of how different societies compared in terms of the three stages of development - the beliefs of a particular stage become a way of life for the people within a society critical period during which a society is in transition between one stage and another o C) RELIGION AND THE SCIENCES – religion of humanity - Comte’s utopia emphasized the happiness of the group and minimized individual happiness - Comte arranged the sciences in a hierarchy from the first developed and most basic to the last developed and most comprehensive as follows: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiology and biology, and sociology.  two ways in which a human could be studied objectively – embrace phrenology (relate mental events to brain anatomy Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 and processes) – but reduced psychology to physiology; second way = studying overt behaviour – reduced to sociology  ERNST MACH – physicist – second type of positivism – could never experience the physical world directly – the scientist’s job was to note which sensation typically cluster together and to describe in precise mathematical terms the relationship among them – cause and effect are just functional relationships among mental phenomena – formed into logical positivism which was influential in psychology (discussed in ch. 13) GLOSSARY Associationism The belief that the laws of association provide the fundamental principles by which all mental phenomena can be explained. Bain, Alexander (1818–1903) The first to attempt to relate known physiological facts to psychological phenomena. He also wrote the first psychology texts, and he founded psychology’s first journal (1876). Bain explained voluntary behavior in much the same way that modern learning theorists later explained trial-and-error behavior. Finally, Bain added the law of compound association and the law of constructive association to the older, traditional laws of association. Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832) Said that the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain governed most human behavior. Bentham also said that the best society was one that did the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Berkeley, George (1685–1753) Said that the only thing we experience directly is our own perceptions or secondary qualities. Berkeley offered an empirical explanation of the perception of distance, saying that we learn to associate the sensations caused by the convergence and divergence of the eyes with different distances. Berkeley denied materialism, saying instead that reality exists because God perceives it. We can trust our senses to reflect God’s perceptions because God would not create a sensory system that would deceive us. Complex ideas Configurations of simple ideas. Comte, Auguste (1798–1857) The founder of positivism and coiner of the term sociology. He felt that cultures passed through three stages in the way they explained phenomena: the theological, the metaphysical, and the scientific. Condillac, Étienne Bonnot de (1714–1780) Maintained that all human mental attributes could be explained using only the concept of sensation and that it was therefore unnecessary to postulate an autonomous mind. Empiricism The belief that all knowledge is derived from experience, especially sensory experience. Gassendi, Pierre (1592–1655) Saw humans as nothing but complex, physical machines, and he saw no need to assume a nonphysical mind. Gassendi had much in common with Hobbes. Hartley, David (1705–1757) Combined empiricism and associationism with rudimentary physiological notions. Helvétius, Claude-Adrien (1715–1771) Elaborated the implications of empiricism and sensationalism for education.That is, a person’s intellectual development can be determined by controlling his or her experiences. Hobbes,Thomas (1588–1679) Believed that the primary motive in human behavior is the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. For Hobbes, the function of government is to satisfy as many human needs as possible and to prevent humans from fighting with each other. Hobbes believed that all human activity, including mental activity, could be reduced to atoms in motion; therefore, he was a materialist. Hume, David (1711–1776) Agreed with Berkeley that we could experience only our own subjective reality but disagreed with Berkeley’s contention that we could assume that our perceptions accurately reflect the physical world because God would not deceive us. For Hume, we can be sure of nothing. Even the notion of cause Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 and effect, which is so important to Newtonian physics, is nothing more than a habit of thought. Hume distinguished between impressions, which are vivid, and ideas, which are faint copies of impressions. Idea A mental event that lingers after impressions or sensations have ceased. Imagination According to Hume, the power of the mind to arrange and rearrange ideas into countless configurations. Impressions According to Hume, the relatively strong mental experiences caused by sensory stimulation. For Hume, impression is essentially the same thing as what others called sensation. La Mettrie, Julien de (1709–1751) Believed humans were machines that differed from other animals only in complexity. La Mettrie believed that so-called mental experiences are nothing but movements of particles in the brain. He also believed that accepting materialism would result in a better, more humane world. Law of cause and effect According to Hume, if in our experience one event always precedes the occurrence of another event, we tend to believe that the former event is the cause of the latter. Law of compound association According to Bain, contiguous or similar events form compound ideas and are remembered together. If one or a few elements of the compound idea are experienced, they may elicit the memory of the entire compound. Law of constructive association According to Bain, the mind can rearrange the memories of various experiences so that the creative associations formed are different from the experiences that gave rise to the associations. Law of contiguity The tendency for events that are experienced together to be remembered together. Law of resemblance According to Hume, the tendency for our thoughts to run from one event to similar events, the same as what others call the law, or principle, of similarity. Locke, John (1632–1704) An empiricist who denied the existence of innate ideas but who assumed many nativistically determined powers of the mind. Locke distinguished between primary qualities, which cause sensations that correspond to actual attributes of physical bodies, and secondary qualities, which cause sensations that have no counterparts in the physical world. The types of ideas postulated by Locke included those caused by sensory stimulation, those caused by reflection, simple ideas, and complex ideas, which were composites of simple ideas. Mach, Ernst (1838–1916) Proposed a brand of positivism based on the phenomenological experiences of scientists. Because scientists, or anyone else, never experience the physical world directly, the scientist’s job is to precisely describe the relationships among mental phenomena, and to do so without the aid of metaphysical speculation. Mental chemistry J.S. Mill believed the process by which individual sensations can combine to form a new sensation that is different from any of the individual sensations that constitute it. Mill, James (1773–1836) Maintained that all mental events consisted of sensations and ideas (copies of sensations) held together by association. No matter how complex an idea was, Mill felt that it could be reduced to simple ideas. Mill, John Stuart (1806–1873) Disagreed with his father James that all complex ideas could be reduced to simple ideas. J. S. Mill proposed a process of mental chemistry according to which complex ideas could be distinctly different from the simple ideas (elements) that constituted them. J. S. Mill believed strongly that a science of human nature could be and should be developed. Paradox of the basins Locke’s observation that warm water will feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first placed in hot water or cold water. Because water cannot be hot and cold at the same time, temperature must be a secondary, not a primary, quality. Positivism The contention that science should study only that which can be directly experienced. For Comte, that was publicly observed events or overt behavior. For Mach, it was the sensations of the scientist. Primary laws According to J. S. Mill, the general laws that determine the overall behavior of events within a system. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Quality According to Locke, that aspect of a physical object that has the power to produce an idea. Reflection According to Locke, the ability to use the powers of the mind to creatively rearrange ideas derived from sensory experience. Scientism The almost religious belief that science can answer all questions and solve all problems. Secondary laws According to J. S. Mill, the laws that interact with primary laws and determine the nature of individual events under specific circumstances. Sensation The rudimentary mental experience that results from the stimulation of one or more sense receptors. Simple ideas The mental remnants of sensations. Spontaneous activity According to Bain, behavior that is simply emitted by an organism rather than being elicited by external stimulation. Utilitarianism The belief that the best society or government is one that provides the greatest good (happiness) for the greatest number of individuals. Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and John Stuart Mill were all utilitarians. Vibratiuncles According to Hartley, the vibrations that linger in the brain after the initial vibrations caused by external stimulation cease. Voluntary behavior According to Bain, under some circumstances, an organism’s spontaneous activity leads to pleasurable consequences.After several such occurrences, the organism will come to voluntarily engage in the behavior that was originally spontaneous. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected])