1. P HILOSOPHICAL O RIGINS OF P SYCHOLOGY PS210 History of Psychology Kaplan University Karen Shockley MS, LCPC

2. D ESCARTES Mind-body problem – The question of the distinction between mental and physical qualities. Dualistic position Which has greater control? The body as a machine Reflex action theory – the idea that an external object (a stimulus) can bring about an involuntary response. Other discoveries at that time supported this idea, i.e. blood circulation Mind-Body Interaction Mind must interact at a single point - conarium

3. D ESCARTES Doctrine of Ideas Derived and innate ideas Derived ideas are produced by the direct application of an external stimulus Innate ideas arise form the mind or consciousness, independent of sensory experiences or external stimuli

4. P HILOSOPHICAL F OUNDATIONS Positivism – the doctrine that recognizes only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observable Comte – systematic survey of all human knowledge Leading force in 1800’s Materialism – the doctrine that considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained in physical terms by the existence and nature of matter Focus on anatomical and physiological structure of brain

5. P HILOSOPHICAL F OUNDATIONS Empiricism – the pursuit of knowledge through the observation of nature and the attribution of all knowledge to experience. Formal beginning of empiricism (Locke) Tabula rosa Sense and reflection Simple and complex ideas Association Primary and secondary qualities Mentalism (Berkeley) The doctrine that all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving or experiencing person.

6. P HILOSOPHICAL F OUNDATIONS Association (Hume & Hartley) The notion that knowledge results from linking or associating simple ideas to form complex ideas. Resemblance – the notion that the more alike two ideas are the more readily they will be associated Contiguity – the notion that the more closely linked two ideas are in time and place the more readily they will be associated. Repetition – the notion that the more frequently two ideas occur together, the more readily they will be associated.

7. P HILOSOPHICAL F OUNDATIONS Mechanism – mind as machine (James Mill) Subjective or psychic activities as illusion No creative processes, no free will Creative synthesis (John Stuart Mill) The notion that complex ideas formed from simple ideas take on new qualities; the combination of the mental elements creates something greater than or different from the sum of the original elements. Mental chemistry