history of psych

very broad history of psych

• How people approach ”How do we study the mind” in history

• traced back thousands of years

• ancient greek thought and philosophers

• over 200o years bc

• actually psych less than 200 years old - world viewed as minds and spirits

psychology meaning

• psych = mind/soul

• logia = to study

modern psych traces back..

• its origin all the way back to ancient Greek thoughts, greek philosophers 

• trace back to before BC times (over 2000 years back)

• before any scientific method as we know it now (objective, systematic and grounded in observation), no way to be scientific 

• suggest that humans are always fascinated about the human mind.

philosophers in past

• Before the development of science, the world was viewed as full of minds (souls, spirits) and all kinds of magical, supernatural properties.

the greeks

• first in western history as we can tell

• began to question what we know about reality

• more naturalistic view

• systematic questioning

• laid groundowrk for later scientific progress

ancient greeks - appearnace and reality

• inconsistency between what we perceive and with our senses and what we know to be true

• should we use senses which can be deceptive

• or logical reasoning

what branch of philosophy did plato belive

rationalism

428-348bc

what do rationalists argue

• The best way to obtain knowledge is through logic and reasons NOT through sensory experience because: our senses can be deceptive hence senses should not be trusted. 

allegory of the cave

• in cave in darkness, only see shadows so only reality

• cave is parable of human nature

• if its just what we know, how can we tell if this is reality or not

• explains why some people find it hard to change their beliefs

• when he came back the other people in the cave scorned him

empiricism

• contrasts with rationalism

• tangible and observable world

• emphasised experience and observations

• gain info through sensory perception and observation

aristotle - what did he follow

• (384-322 BC)

• Plato’s student, but an empiricist,

• did no experimentation

what happened after this in history

• Plato and Aristotle’s ideas spread to the Roman Empire and all of Europe.

• Romans invaded Greece (~146 BC)

• Western and Eastern Roman Empire fell (476 & 1453 AD)

• Greek ideas preserved by Islamic scholars 

• Christian scholars rediscovered the Greek ideas

scientific revolution

• (16th to 17th centuries)

  • Newton (discovered gravity), Copernicus (Sun at the centre) … 

  • Intellectual movement: questions about how to approach the mind scientifically and challenged traditions and monarchy.

enlightnement

• (17th to 18th centuries)

  • Questions about morality, knowledge, human nature…

  • Applying scientific principles to find out what is true-- is the way to search for the truth.

  • Several philosophers’ thoughts have a huge influence on the foundation of psychology

  • Have implications on foundations of psych

rene descartes - followed?

• 1596

• rationalist

• defintive rationalist - more extreme, dont trust senses but logic

• mind-body dualism

• i think therefore i am

what does i think therefore i am mean

• thinking proves our existence

• Philosophical question about appearance and reality

• “What can I know for certain, purely through logic?”, he “can’t really prove much of anything with absolute certainty: not that the world around him was real”

• He could prove one thing: that he existed

• Simple reasoning: the very act of thinking proved he existed, even if everything else was an illusion

•  So the fact that we have thoughts confirms our existence

Mind-body dualism

• fundamental, ontological distinction between the mind and the body:

• While the mind resides in the body, it works at a completely different level from the body.

• There is “consciousness”, separated from the material world -> mind / body are distinct e.g. after death, some believe that the soul/mind continues to exist but the body doesn’t. 

• Link to the idea of free will – we will explore this later. 

• Hundreds of years ago, to have this thought is very advanced 

mind

• (res cogitans) Mind thinks, but doesn’t occupy space. The human mind is uniquely reflexive, linguistic and rational.

Body or Matter

• (res extensa) physical, tangible occupies space, but doesn’t think.

john locke

• 1632

• we’re born as a blank slate, experience and learning shape us throughout our lives 

• don’t have innate ideas

how reality might be changed by perception

rainbow

• impose qualities on something dif

• secondary qualitites - describe colour and shape

• primary qualitites - physical properties eg matter, energy

• Mind is imposing perceptual experience and assigning links and meaning to things around us 

  • Interaction between them - the world and also our perception 

  • So perception and reality may not be the same - in fact lots of times they aren’t the same

example with sound

• Physical property of amplitude is actually the same but due to our perception, someone who has a higher pitch is louder

• Perception shaped through our senses

david hume

• 1711

• skepticism

• Argued that reason is the slave of passions. 

• Morality: Emotion, not logic. 

• E.g. “Is it right to kill?” morality is grounded in fundamental logical principles: We could logically determine what’s right and wrong and act accordingly. 

• Logic does not guide our moral decisions. Our sense of morality: from our emotions, our emotions have already decided if something is right or wrong. We feel that something is wrong and only afterwards we create logical argu

what is skepticism

• Eg are you sure you saw a chair, a chair is just an object

• How do we truly know what we claim to know? One of his aims was to answer the question:  “What do we really know from experience?” how can we trust anything 

white swan

• "No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.” cant prove something to be 100% correct

• Problem of falsifiability: Repeated instances do not justify ontological induction.

influence of skepticism nowadays

• correlation not causation

• eg flames associated with heat so think they are the cause

modern psych

• 19th century

• empirical science started investigating the senses 

• Surgeons: dissecting cops (grave robbers), studying organs and the brain

• Move to apply physiology to study of the mind: stroke, accidents and impaired function or behaviour

• also case studies - phineas gage

• materialism

what is materialism

the mind is fundamentally tied to the brain. All mental phenomena have physical roots.

when did modern psych emerge

• between 1850 - 1900

anti-vitalism oath

• Around 1840, Helmholtz, Brücke and other German scientists signed an “anti-vitalism” oath:

• “No other forces other than the common physical-chemical ones are active with the organism”

Early experimental psychology (1800-1950s), psychometrics, psychophysics

• How to measure brain activity and function 

• Psychometrics: Intelligence testing

• Psychophysics: perception and sensation

• Structuralism and consciousness

Psychometrics

• Science of measuring mental faculties quantitatively.

• Psychometrics measures things like: Intelligence, Personality, Aptitudes for specific skills or occupations, Nature or degree of mental illness, Educational problems

sir francis galton

• 1822-1911

• Great statistical contribution to Psychology

• Nature side of debate 

• Developed the "standard deviation”

• Interested in studying intelligence. Suggested Intelligence could also form a normal distribution (bell curve)

• Plotted intelligence scores from top 100 candidates at Cambridge, found a bell curve 

• devised correlation coefficient

galton board

• with sufficient sample size the binomial distribution approximates a normal distribution

• As the balls go through the board, get normal distribution of bell shaped curve

regression to the mean

human traits such as intelligence score cluster around a central average, with few extreme values on either side.

Extreme performance followed by more typical results.

hereditary genius

• Individual differences in intelligence must be innate!

• Intelligence runs in families, no way you can change it

• Applied statistical knowledge to study intelligence

• had strong impacts on society - intelligence dictated what job you did

Eugenics

• “produce a highly gifted race of men during several consecutive generations” ‘low quality’ families should not be reproducing 

• Eugenics - Improving the human race by selective breeding (pseudoscience)

• Eugenics was generally abandoned after the early  20th century

Binet intelligence scales

• Measure intelligence objectively

• (1857-1911)

• identify school children with “mental handicap”

• Binet and Simon constructed the first usable test of intelligence (1905): quite simple and quite different from today’s versions

• Comprised of 30 separate items with increasing difficulty

intelligence testing today

• Lots of changes 

• Mental testing and IQ is still in common use, but much developed

• Tests often updated every few years

is the iq test a good measure of intelligence

• no - impacted by lots of other factors

Franz Joseph Gall

• (1758-1828)

• Materialistic perspective (physical aspect of the mind)

• Found nerve fibres passing from one side to the other of the brain (commissures)

• Comparative anatomist – compared brains - In general, the larger the brain (relative to body size) the more advanced the mental functions. 

phrenology

• ertain ‘faculties’ were based in specific parts of the brain…

• Shapes of the skull, bumps and indentations on surface: reflect the size of "phrenological organs" in the brain

• Larger the bump more of that trait you are - not testifiable 

• More focused on personalities, to the mental faculties

•  Likened the brain to a muscle

• Ultimately discredited but the initial ideas were based on empirical observations

Psychophysics:

• understanding sensation and perception 

E. H. Weber

• 1795-1878

• Pioneered methods for measuring the sensitivity of the senses

• Especially looked at thresholds: bare minimal duration or stimulation for perception conscious sensations of a stimuli may not reflect reality

• One way of constraining the problem of subjectivity is to measure sensory thresholds.

absolute threshold

are the smallest quantities that give any sensation at all. 

relative thresholds

• just noticeable differences

• smallest quantitative change that is noticeable. What needs to be added in the physical environment to show this change. 

  • minimum difference (e.g. brightness) between two items to be able to tell them apart

  • Highlights difference between physical property and perceptual ability

Weber’s law

• Just noticeable difference – constant proportion of the absolute intensity. 

• Only notice a change when the magnitude of the change is bigger than a critical fraction

• E.g. 10 candles – add one candle and you notice a difference (10% change is relative threshold)

Hermann Von Helmholtz

• 1821-1894

• German physiologist, major contributions to psychophysics

• rate of neural conduction

• trichromatic theory

• unconscious interference

Rate of neural conduction

• Farther away from the stimulus is, longer time for the reflex to happen

• Calculated the neural conduction = 25 meters per second!

 Trichromatic theory

• Groundbreaking work on understanding the basis of colour perception: 

• Noted only 3 colour receptors (cones – RGB)

• We can also see many different hues between RGB: arise from a mix of cones excited to different degrees

• Depending on excitation see a spectrum of different colours across cones 

• Differences across different species

Unconscious inference

• Realised that image on the retina may not accurately reflect the external world

• Blind spot in our eyes (the nerve enters the brain) 

• But we don’t experience a black spot in our vision

• The brain ‘fills’ in this area

• Sometimes the brain’s perceptions contradict the raw sensations

first psychologists

james and wundt

Wilhelm Wundt

• 1832-1920

• real focus should be consciousness. Supposed to be something that can’t be materialised so how do we measure it.

• Considered the founder of experimental psychology

• Set up first recognized experimental psychology lab at Leipzig, Germany (1879): marking the beginning of psychology

• First attempt to study the the mind scientifically through experiments (so far no systematic experiments)

• described psychology as the “science of conscious experience”

wundt and structuralism

• Wondered whether complex mental experience (eg loneliness) could be broken down into simple processes: building blocks - Simplest fundamental parts

• systematic introspection

Introspection 

• combine self-observation and experimentation

• down the experience into elements

• Report this experience linguistically

criteria of introspection

•  Observer must pay close attention to the stimulus (

• so not randomly talking about feelings

• Carefully work on experimental control: Experiment creates external conditions that are stable across time and participants

• Must be possible to systematically manipulate the experimental conditions

• Wundt had explicit rules for how to use introspection: e.g. Must be able to repeat the observation many times & Observer must report the elements of consciousness (e.g. duration of a stimulus, size etc.)

problems of introspection

• subjective

• unverifiable

• retrospection

• imageless/unverbalised thoughts

Subjective and unverifiable

• Participants may not agree on their introspections 

• Problem of validity: Who was right?

• As it’s subjective, repeating the study will not help 

• Wundt acknowledged this problem but thought that further training could help

Retrospection

• epending on the time between the stimulus and report

• Examining an experience in an introspective manner may alter it 

• (e.g. introspecting on anger may cause the anger to subside)

• Feelings will probably fade 

• Time you report vs experience can have a major difference, problem when relying only on introspection 

Imageless or unverbalised thoughts

• E.g. Emotion, feelings might not be easily articulated with words. 

• In problem solving often cannot report on their introspections. 

• Implies that many psychological processes are not available for introspective access

• Can’t express it very extensively using the words 

William James

• Father of psychology, Student of Wundt, First to teach psychology courses: Harvard 1875

• challenged introspection

• “the stream of consciousness”  Consciousness is not static is thoughts -  constantly changing and moving, fluid process. Used idea of steam of water through brain, like a river 

• Consciousness is not a thing, but a process.

functionalism

James did not believe in breaking down experiences

function of an action

consciousness is a function

past patient therapy

• For most of history, people with mental/ psychological disorders (the “insane”) treated as possessed, treated inhumanely. 

• Misunderstood and no medication in the common sense, confined to asylums, abused and treated as objects, eg schizophrenia/bipolar, beaten to drive demons away

Phillipe Pinel

• pioneer in humane treatment of patients, classification of disorders. French physician 

• Revolutionary humane approach: treat the patient with dignity and respect, allow them to talk through it. Pioneer figure in the development of psychiatry and clinical psychology today

Freud 

• Trained as a physician, interested in mental health and disorders, popularised ideas

“Talking Cure” approach

• Lying on the couch, and talking about their problems using dif methods 

• Lay groundwork for “psychoanalysis”.

• Freud’s early clinical work suggested that many neurotic symptoms could be traced to early traumas, unconscious in adult life, that affected the development of personality.

• E.g. fear of darkness (being left alone in the dark)

• Linked back problem to childhood issues

Psychodynamic perspective

• The interplay of forces within the mind, tension between the conscious and unconscious 

• Mental processes: dynamic, constantly flowing and interacting with each other: influences motivation, desires, beh and neurosis 

• Sought to identify these fundamental forces within individuals - development of the talking cure 

psychoanalysis treatment process

• Through discussing memories, patients revealed painful, embarrassing thoughts in the unconscious (through talking, free association)

• Once these memories were retrieved and released... the patients then would feel better (releasing repressed memories) like a boiling pot 

parts of the mind

• Analogy - the mind is like an iceberg, what you can see at the top is just a small proportion of what you're being conscious about

• Conscious - 

• Preconscious 

• Unconscious -

• Three elements form model of personality

conscious

what you are currently aware of,

Preconscious

• info not in conscious but is able to be retrieved when needed, but not always in the conscious eg what did i have for dinner, have knowledge of but not in conscious mind. Bigger portion in mind

Unconscious

• Massive amount hidden from view - thoughts, memories, desires not easily accessed, not easily verbalized 

Personality structure 

• id

• ego

• superego

  Wont have the same, can differ across people and cultures eg superego dif moral values,

• Said everyone had the 3 components of personality

id

• Primitive, unconscious portion of the personality

  • Houses the most basic drives, primal instincts (such as desire to eat/drink) and stores repressed memories

  • “Pleasure Principle” seeks immediate gratification driven by what feels good, without regard for consequences, dif stages of development dif pleasures stored in id

ego

• mediator of id and superego 

  • charged with keeping peace between superego and id.

  • Conscious, rational part of personality. 

  • Balance your urges and satisfy the expectation from society. Negotiation process

superego

• evelops later in life

  • Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes, social rules learned from parents and society, same as common notion of conscience, in preconscious 

  • What should you do? What is appropriate or not? A counterbalance to the impulse of id.

eros and thanatos

• Instinctive interest towards love and death 

• Eros drives us toward life and procreation - urge to create 

• Thanatos drives us to risk-seeking 

death instinct

• According to freud, humans have dark enjoyment talking about death

Unconscious elements can be glimpsed - within id

manifest content

surface level

latent content

• deeper symbollic meaning

• symbolic meaning of dream images, what your unconscious mind is thinking

• Early therapy - talk about their dreams (unconscious repressed memories appear in dreams)

freudian slip

• Slip of the tongue 

• Said accidentally, interpreted as unconscious thought in mind

• not something you meant to say, but was brought out through your unconscious thought

psychoanalysis

• Uncover and address unconscious conflict that caused psychological distress

• Alleviate the stress

the talking cure

• With James Breuer, developed the “talking cure”, freud popularised it and later incorporated it in other methods such as free association

• First used on “Anna O.” Patient with “hysteria”.  Talking about disturbing memories from childhood alleviated the symptoms (relieved emotional distress). 

• Talking releases repressed memories in unconscious.

hypnotherapy

• Other technique he tried to implement

• Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) “mesmerism”, started as a party trick, entertainment, freud: a potential to access repressed memories

• Jean-Martin Charcot - Neurologist who used hypnosis on patients 

• Joseph Breuer - Could reduce severity of symptoms 

• Freud - hypnosis and talking cure in therapy sessions

free association

• Developed by Carl Jung 

• Freud popularised it

•  eg therapist sayst: cat, patient: lion 

• Why lion? Not meow? Not dog? Explanation: something deeper… angry father…

• So because of repressed memories 

• Used this chain of association to uncover unconscious issues that influenced beh

defence mechanisms

• By sigmund freud and anna freud (his daughter)

• Psychological mechanism to protect ourselves from the conflict between the id and superego

• These clashes are called intrapsychic or psychodynamic conflicts. Psychic energy cannot be destroyed, only redistributed. 

• Evolve over time during childhood and lead to the development of psychosexual development 

psychosexual development

• Freud believed that personality formed during life’s first few years divided into: Psychosexual Stages

• Every person goes through these stages

• Each stage represents a critical time in a child’s life when certain aspects of personality becomes prominent 

• Encounter conflicts, if unresolved then psychiatric conditions later on

Human development unfolds in distinct stages 

• At birth: driven almost entirely by the id, immediate pursuit of pleasure (what do babies do when they are hungry)? Consequences? Dont care about consequences as dont understand 

• During growth: development of the ego and superego becomes central. Conflicts must be resolved for healthy development 

• If failed at one stage, over, or under gratified during any stage -> fixation (fixated on one particular stage) -> can’t move on to the next one -> personality or mental health issues in adulthood. 

oral stage

• birth – 18 mths

  • focus on the mouth

  • Pleasure is gained through sucking

  • e.g. Breast feeding

  • Key to successfully navigate and complete this stage: satisfaction from being breastfed adequately

fixation in this stage

• Smoker, Bite fingernails, Sexually attracted to large breasts

• dependency

• aggression

anal fixation

• Anally retentive – fussy, overly tidy, OCD (if punished during potty training)

• Anally expulsive - messy & disorganized (failure, not being encouraged enough)

phallic fixation

• vanity

• self-obsession

• sexual anxiety

• inadequacy

• inferioirty

• envy

• problems in relationships

anal stage

• 18 mth – 3 years

  • Focus on the anus

  • Pleasure gained from going to the toilet e.g. Potty training, learning how to control bathroom habit 

  • Key to successfully navigate and complete stage: proper potty training (shame/excessive praise will cause problems)

phallic stage

• 3 – 6 years

  • Focus on the genitals, curious of their bodies 

  • Exploration and interest in genitals

  • Not only about physical pleasure; but identification of gender role

  Go through either (opposite sex and their parents)

  • The Oedipus Complex (for boys)

  • The Electra Complex (for girls)

Oedipus complex 

• Young boy (starts at around 4yo) desires his mother, intense emotional and psychological attachment 

• Strong feeling of love and admiration, sometimes romantic and sexual desires 

• Jealous of father for his mother’s attention and larger penis. Perceive father as rivals for mother’s affection - jealousy and competition 

• Anxiety of the boy’s own body (particularly genitals) physically dif from father, desires his mother - Fear father will castrate him 

• STATE OF CONFLICT! This gives rise to development of superego

Key to successfully navigate and complete this stage: boys

1) Overcome attachment to mother (repress desire)
2) Identifying with their father: development of own masculine identity, internalising father’s values and behaviour

Electra complex

• She starts to sexually desire her father who has a penis.

• The girl begins to develop penis envy. She blames her mother for removing her penis. Creates a desire for a male genitalia 

• The girl sees her mother as a sexual rival for her father.

• To resolve this, the girl represses her feelings for her father and begins to identify with her mother

• The superego develops, she replaces penis envy with desire for a baby.

The key to successfully navigate and complete this stage, girl

• Overcome attachment to father

• 2) Identifying with their mother: development of own identity, internalising mother’s values and behaviour

Identification 

• Children cope with the threatening feelings by repressing them and by identifying with the rival parent.

• Through this process of identification their superego gains strength incorporating parents’ values.

• Accept traditional gender roles (parents play a key influence in this process), engage in stereotypical beh, eg girls cook with mum

The Latency Stage

• 6 years - Puberty

  • he sexual drive repressed, remains dormant

  • Main task: identifying with own gender group 

  • Focus on school - play mostly with same sex peers.