1 Rene Descartes French philosopher of the mid -1600’s – end of the Renaissance Period Greatly influenced by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, and Copernicus Also influenced by development of mechanical toys and clocks Major contribution for psychology was his focus on behavior and the mind – in the mind-body issue

2 Philosophy Influenced by Authorities of the time 1 st book written in 1638 very mechanistic – like the toys and clocks he saw –Human behavior the result of reflexes –Eliminated the idea of free will –No evidence of a soul This book was not published until after his death –Shortly after the reformation –The trial and imprisonment of Galileo

3 New Philosophy of Descartes Nonhumans are mechanical and fully automated Humans are somewhat mechanized, but we have a soul, are unique in our ability to think and reason Led to Dualism – humans have a mechanical body but also a mind that was different from the body

4 Dualism Mind and body coordinated their activities in the brain – pineal gland The mind has structure, it is a thing The content of the mind was ideas –Innate ideas – such as ideas about God and self “I think, therefore I am.” Concepts of space, time, and motion –Derived ideas – come from experience and they alter the nervous system

5 Descartes – Deductive Rationalism Method of Scientific inquiry was deductive reasoning Sensory information unreliable and can not be totally trusted

6 Example of Descartes' Reasoning My body and objects in the environment are real. I can see, touch, hear, and taste them. I get thirsty, feel pain, etc. However, I dream and people report pain long after a limb has been amputated – these feelings and sensations are not real Therefore how do I know things really exist, maybe I shouldn’t trust my experiences as evidence of the existence of self and objects God gave us these senses, God is not deceitful, therefore we can use trust the senses God gave us

7 Descartes as a Foundation for Psychology First attempt to develop a model of the Mind-Body position – Dualism Methodology – breaking a large complicated problem down into simpler individual parts Learning and experience alter the Brain

8 British Empiricism John Locke, John Stuart Mills among others Not interested in the content of the mind; most interested in how the mind worked Wanted to understand how the mind acquires knowledge, not what it knows The importance of learning through experience

9 John Locke Many of his philosophical ideas were the basis for our American form of democracy But he was also an important foundation of psychology We develop ideas – sensations, perceptions, and abstractions through experience Concept of Tabula Rosa – used by Descartes, but Locke denied the idea of innate ideas Yes, sensory experiences maybe inaccurate at times, but we have no choice; there is no other source of information

10 Qualities and Ideas Addressed accuracy of sensory systems using 2 terms: Qualities – the ability of the physical properties of an object to produce an idea – wavelength is a quality of light Ideas – a mental image that could be employed while thinking – results from sensations or reflections –The source of all ideas is sensation –But these ideas can be acted upon and rearranged by operations of the mind

11 Qualities of an Object or Event 2 types of qualities –Primary qualities- the actual attributes of the object or event –Secondary qualities – the type of psychological experience they cause –Paradox of the basins – 3 basins - hot water, cold water, and lukewarm water

12 Ideas 2 kinds of ideas: –Simple ideas - the basic elements of experience because they cannot divided or analyzed further into other ideas –Complex ideas – combinations of simple ideas Mental processes operate on simple ideas to form complex ideas –Complex ideas have attractive forces that bring simple ideas together –Mutual attraction of ideas became the basis for many learning theories

13 John Stuart Mills -Associationism Interested in how sensations and ideas became associated or combined People who study his work and compare it to others estimate his IQ was about 200, the highest in history Strong advocate for women’s rights and was anti-slavery – all people created equal

14 Mills: A Foundation of Psychology Human thinking involved actively restructuring and rearranging the ideas provided by experience Mental chemistry – ideas, like chemicals, could be combined to produce a combination with properties not found in the individual ideas Argued against the ideas of Auguste Compte that it was impossible to scientifically study the mind Many of the questions that concerned him are relevant to psychology today

15 Alexander Baine British associationist who was more similar to a psychologist than the others Wrote what was later to become the 1 st British Psychology textbook An important foundation for Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect Supported the study of psychology using naturalistic observation and experimentation Created the first “psychological” journal, Mind

16 Opposition to Associationism Emmual Kant – a strong nativist We learn through experience, but what we learn is innately determined –We learn a language through experience, but the ability to learn a language is an innate quality of the mind A foundation for a number of current developmental theories attempting to explain the interaction between innate processes and experiences

17 Importance of Early Philosophers Raised some of the basic questions psychologists strive to answer today Developed the methods of deductive and inductive reasoning Stressed the importance of understanding the mind

18 Differences in Ideas About the Nature of Humans Christian Church – humans bad, need religion to control instincts Hobbs agreed – humans are basically aggressive animals. Society has to teach them to control aggression Locke – humans are naturally good and people are born with equal potential Rousseau – French Romanticist – children have an innate knowledge of right and wrong. They will be good unless society interferes Freud – humans born with need for instant gratification, selfish, etc. Maslow and Rogers – humans born to strive to be good