Philosophical Influences

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Philosophical Influences

• On the Development of Psychology as a Discipline
• Briefly, Greek-ly! Big leap The 17th to mid-19th
  centuries

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So.whats the point?

• Two old philosophical issues belabor us
  again.what are they?

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Also to think about how do the following fit
with our discussion today?

• Mechanism
• Determinism
• Reductionism
• Empiricism

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The Cartesian RevolutionRene Descartes

• Mind-body issue

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Mind-body issue Theory of reflex action

• Supports dualist position and theory of animal
  spirit movements
• Presages S-R doctrine of Behaviorists

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The Cartesian RevolutionRene Descartes

• Mind-body issue
• Objective methods
• Doctrine of ideas
• derived ideas
• innate ideas
• Rationalist
• Cogito ergo sum

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John Locke

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
• Tabula Rasa
• Sensation and reflection
• Primary and secondary qualities
• Simple and complex ideas
• What to do about the unreliability of the senses?

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Examples

• Primary Qualities
• Those qualities that reside or inhere in an
  object whether we perceive them or not
• extension, figure, mobility, solidity
• shape
• size

• Secondary qualities
• Hidden powers of an object that result in
  specific sensations exist in a persons
  perception
• color
• sound
• warmth
• taste

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Warning! The distinction raises all kinds of
problems!

• Lockes experiment three bowls of water
• Conclusion TEMPERATURE is a PRIMARY quality of
  the water--it is constant and unchanging
  however, the perception produced is different for
  each hand, so WARMTH is a SECONDARY quality.
• Another experiment a red triangle

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What happens when we turn down the lights!

• The red disappears due to an interaction of color
  with light.
• Thus, Galileos subtraction test (Viney King,
  1998) If a quality can be subtracted from an
  object without destroying the identity of the
  object, then that quality is secondary
• Subtract red, object still triangle
• Subtract the figure (primary), not a triangle

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However! Look at the door!What shape is a door?
Rectangle
Trapezoid

• On whom and what does its shape depend?
• Thus, how do we know objects?

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John Locke as child psychologist

• How do these reflect Lockes beliefs about the
  relationship between mind and body? Gender
  differences in child rearing? Knowledge?
• Mens sana incorpore sano.
• Most childrens constitutions are either
  weakened or spoiled by cockering and tenderness.
• I think it would also be of great advantage to
  have his feet washed every night in cold water.
• I think the father oughtto strike very
  seldom,if at all to chide his daughters. Their
  governing and correctionproperly belongs to the
  mother
• Curiosity in children is but an appetite after
  knowledgeand ought to be encouraged

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What about the unreliability of the senses?
Bishop Berkeley . . .

• If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a
  sound when there is no one there to perceive it?

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Bishop Berkeley . . .

• If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a
  sound when there is no one there to perceive it?

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George Berkeley (1695-1753)

• An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision (1709)
• Major interest sensory systems
• Secondary qualities, alone
• Esse ist percipi

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The later empiricists (18th 19th) centuries

• David Hume (1711-1776)
• A Treatise of Human Nature (1739)
• Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
• David Hartley (1705-1757)
• Observations on Man (1749)
• James Mills (1773-1836)
• Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind
  (1829)
• John Stuart Mills (1806-1873)
• A System of Logic (1843)

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Knowledge Acquisition

• Experience
• Sensations--gtimpressions--gtideas (Hume Senso
  ergo sum)
• Proliferation of senses with James Mills!

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Principles of Association

• How they become strong and durable
• Continuing contiguity
• Certainty
• Facility
• Similarity

• How they become associated (principles)
• Resemblance
• Contiguity (time and/or space)
• Cause-effect
• Repetition (Hartley)
• Simultaneity
• Successiveness

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Principles of Association ---- The Process ...

• Mechanical model (James Mill)

• Simple, complex, duplex ideas

• Mental chemistry model (John Stuart Mills)

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Mind-body Issue

• Psychophysical parallelism (Hartley)

VIBRATIONS

• Brain localizations