Chapter 2: Everyday Life and Psychological Practices

psychological practices

the use of psychological knowledge in making sense of oneself and the world, and the practical strategies of self adn social management that arise of out of such

conduct books

devotional aids

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

challenged many common practices of the Roman Catholic Church by nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany

Protestant Reformation (Luther)

asserts that salvation would come by faith alone; and that believers were responsible for their relationship with god, unmediated by priests or the institutional church, and should pay careful attention to their inner life and devote themselves to spiritual practices

commercial society

an understanding that people and their relationships were defined by what they bought, sold, or produced, including their labor, capital, and land—even what they owned or rented

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) and The Theory of Moral Sentiment (1759), in which he articulated the moral implications of commercial society, with its emphasis on the individual and one’s own labor.

invisible hand (Smith)

when every person seeks personal interests, the net result is that the interests of all are served **melds interests by using self-command/regulation

moral sentiment

we act for our own interests, but in doing so we’re mindful of the regard of others **makes society possible

nuclear family

consisting primarily of parent and children, with close ties to grandparents, and sometimes to aunts, uncles, and first cousins

Johann Casper Vavater (1741-1801)

popularized physiognomy, and insisted that it was a science because it was empirical, and that it held the promise of facilitating self and social management

physiognomy (Vavater)

claimed a direct link between the physical, outward appearance of a person and one’s inward nature or character

Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828)

invented phrenology (organology), arguing that it provided a sounder basis for understanding the relationship between human character or abilities and the human body

phrenology (organology) (Gall)

suggests that the brain was composed of many parts that had a distinctive function, and that the strength of these parts was reflected in the size of the part of the brain where they were located

natural law camp 9(Gall)

the idea that a man’s mental functions operated according to lawful processes and that these processes could be discovered through empirical investigation

Johann Gasper Spurzheim (1776-1832)

Gall’s colleage and assistant who published The Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, and developed organology into a more elaborate and practical system that he called phrenology after they parted in 1813.

George Combe (1788-1858)

advocated for the new science and wrote several treatises on phrenology, especially in relation to his commitment to education reform, and published The Constitution of Man (1828); he also helped make phrenology a social force of significance in the first half of the 19th century in Britain with his brother Andrew Combe

division of labor

the necessary arrangement to maximize human productivity and so increase wealth