Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Chapter 9 - Naturalism and Humanitarian Reform A History of Psychology: Ideas and Context (4 th edition) D. Brett King, Wayne Viney, and William Douglas Woody This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Naturalism Naturalism is the doctrine that scientific procedures and laws are applicable to all phenomena. Evolutionary theory influenced science as a whole, including biology and psychology. –Evolutionary Theory has roots in ancient Greece and Eastern sources. –Evolution is part of the larger question of cosmogony, the study of the origin of the cosmos.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory Evolutionary theory affected many scientific domains. The evolution of the solar system has been a topic of speculation since the transition away from geocentrism. Kant and Laplace advocated an early version of the nebular hypothesis.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory George-Louis Leclerc, known as Comte de Buffon was one of the first to argue for geological evolution. –Theological authorities forced him to recant. Sir Charles Lyell, often regarded as the founder of modern geology, published Principles of Geology. –Lyell advocated uniformitarianism instead of catastrophe theory. Evolutionary ideas emerged in other areas of intellectual discourse, including language and the history of ideas.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory The emergence of theories of organic evolution has been a slow process. –The process continues today. Significant impetus for theories of organic evolution came from difficulties within Christian creation theory. Comte de Buffon suggested that humans and apes may have common ancestors. Erasmus Darwin argued that plant life developed before animal life and that all animals evolved from the same organic material. –He accepted the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Jean-Baptiste Lamark promoted progressionism. –He also proposed the inheritance of acquired characteristics as the mechanism of evolution.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory Charles Darwin was asked to join the voyage of the Beagle to examine life in and around South America. After his return, Darwin read the work of Thomas Malthus. Darwin presented evolution by natural selection in a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace. –Darwin was the first to publish the ideas in 1859 in his classic Origin of Species.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory Evolution by natural selection implied the following. –Species tend to overpopulate. –There is variation in all populations. –There is a struggle for survival. Some variations will be better adapted to the environment than others. –The survivors will pass benefits to the offspring. Darwin also argued the following ideas. –All changes that become fixed happen in this way. –All changes occur by imperceptible gradations –All changes arise originally by chance.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory and Psychology Evolutionary theory was significant for psychology in a number of ways. –Evolutionary psychology provided the grounds for comparative psychology. Conway Lloyd Morgan advocated his principle of parsimony to limit anthropomorphic explanations. Decisions regarding Morgan’s Canon must balance the precision orientation and the richness orientation. –Following Darwin, researchers delved into the study of development across the lifespan. Ernst Heinrich Haeckel was one of the first to argue that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Evolutionary Theory and Psychology Evolutionary theory was significant for psychology in a number of ways. –The evolutionary emphasis on survival, adaptation, and the environment factored into the rising interest in human adaptation to built environments. –Evolutionary theory attributed importance to individual differences in adaptation and survival. Herbert Spencer sought to build philosophical, psychological, and scientific explanations around evolutionary theory.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Naturalistic Approaches to Emotional Disorders Naturalistic approaches to emotional disorders emerged slowly. –Naturalistic approaches to mental disorders met resistance. –Resistance continues today.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Demonology In the Renaissance, views of mental illness were based in demonology. The Witches’ Hammer, the Malleus Maleficarum, was commissioned to curb the spread of witchcraft. –The Malleus was divided into three parts: the classification of devils and witches and the reconciliation of witchcraft and God’s omnipotence, the methods by which devils and witches influence the world and the means of combating their influence, and judicial procedures for trying witches.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Demonology Mental disorders were viewed as the result of voluntary collaboration with a devil or the curse of a witch. –Treatments paralleled these diagnoses. Witch hunts and witch trials were widespread throughout Europe. –Tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft. –Approximately 85% of victims were women. The trial procedures were written to maximize the likelihood of a conviction. –Torture was often used to elicit a confession.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Demonology The demise of witchcraft as an explanation for mental illness was slow. –This remains a work in progress. Johann Weyer argued that witches were actually suffering from mental illness. Baruch Spinoza believed that devils did not exist because there was nothing other than God. Descartes’s mind-brain relationship left no room for demons to work on human minds.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform Humanitarian reform grew as a movement across society and psychology. The movement to reform the treatment of the mentally ill took place in the context of a larger reform movement that included the following. –Universal education –Improved sanitation –Abolition of slavery –Equality for women.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform and Mental Illness The reform encouraged the treatment of people with mental illnesses as humans. Franz Anton Mesmer believed that the magnetism affected a magnetic fluid in the body that controlled health and disease. –Although barred from practicing medicine in Vienna, Mesmer’s flamboyant style was well received in Paris. –King Louis XVI convened a panel of experts who concluded that magnetism was not an effective treatment. –Hypnotherapists would return to methods of suggestion as a form of therapy, but Mesmer’s career was destroyed.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform and Mental Illness In France, Philippe Pinel led reform of the treatment of the mentally ill. –He experimented with new methods of humanitarian treatment and rewards based on appropriate behavior. –Pinel classified mental disorders into five major categories: Melancholia, mania without delirium, mania with delirium, dementia, and idiotisme. –Pinel argued that mental disorders were caused by the individual’s environment and lifestyle. –Pinel was one of the founders of moral therapy, a precursor to psychotherapy. This included talk treatment.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform and Mental Illness Benjamin Rush is recognized as the first American psychiatrist and author of the first psychopathology textbook in America. –Rush argued that all psychopathology was the product of physiological processes, primarily in the circulation of blood through the brain. His therapies reflected his perspective. –Rush coined the word “phrenology.” –His belief in the connections between mind and body paved the way for future physiological psychologies.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform and Mental Illness Reform in other places continued to accelerate. –William Tuke and his great grandson Daniel Hack Tuke ran the York Retreat in England. –Vincenzo Chiarugi instituted humanitarian reform in Italy. He was one of the first to employ psychodrama in treatment. –In Germany, the reformer Johann Christian Reil interpreted mental illness as a failure in psychological unity.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Humanitarian Reform and Mental Illness Reform became a social movement in America with the work of Dorthea Lynde Dix. –Dix started her work by changing conditions for the mentally ill at the East Cambridge jail. –She then expanded her efforts to the entire state of Massachusetts and then to the country as a whole. –Dix recognized physiological, psychological, and sociological contributions to mental illness. –She argued that psychological disorders are the offspring of civilization. –For Dix, treatment should include good diet, exercise, amusement, and meaningful occupation.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Reform of Treatment of People with Mental Deficiencies Reform of treatment of people with mental deficiencies paralleled the reform of the treatment of the mentally ill. –Prior to the modern era, demonology was believed to be the cause of disabilities. –Children with disabilities were referred to as changelings. Jean Itard’s pioneering work with a wild boy near Aveyron led to improvements in the boy’s behavior. Edouard Seguin developed a systematic approach to teaching individuals with mental deficiencies

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Women’s Reform Movements Women’s reform movements fought against sexism in religion, education, employment, property rights, and voting rights. Margaret Sanger devoted herself to women’s health issues and to publishing information on safe and effective means of birth control. –Sanger argued that birth control was necessary for women for their health. –She argued for equal standing in society. –She contributed to the intellectual context for health psychology and the study of human sexuality.