The Beginnings of Psychology: Philosophy and Physiology

While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late 1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks. During the 17th-century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body were two separate entities that interact to form the human experience. Many other issues still debated by psychologists today, such as the relative contributions of nature vs. nurture, are rooted in these early philosophical traditions. So what makes psychology different from philosophy? While early philosophers relied on methods such as observation and logic, todays psychologists utilize scientific methodologies to study and draw conclusions about human thought and behavior. Physiology also contributed to psychologys eventual emergence as a scientific discipline. Early physiology research on the brain and behavior had a dramatic impact on psychology, ultimately contributing to the application of scientific methodologies to the study of human thought and behavior.

Psychology Emerges as a Separate Discipline

During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt was using scientific research methods to investigate reaction times. His book published in 1874, Principles of Physiological Psychology, outlined many of the major connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior. He later opened the worlds first psychology lab in 1879 at the University of Leipzig. This event is generally considered the official start of psychology as a separate and distinct scientific discipline. How did Wundt view psychology? He perceived the subject as the study of human consciousness and sought to apply experimental methods to studying internal mental processes. While his use of a process known as introspection is seen as unreliable and unscientific today, his early work in psychology helped set the stage for future experimental methods. An estimated 17,000 students attended Wundts psychology lectures, and hundreds more pursued degrees in psychology and studied in his psychology lab. While his influence dwindled in the years to come, his impact on psychology is unquestionable.

Structuralism Becomes Psychologys First School of Thought

Edward B. Titchener, one of Wundts most famous students, would go on to found psychologys first major school of thought. According to the structuralists, human consciousness could be broken down into much smaller parts. Using a process known as introspection, trained subjects would attempt to break down their responses and reactions to the most basic sensation and perceptions. While structuralism is notable for its emphasis on scientific research, its methods were unreliable, limiting, and subjective. When Titchener died in 1927, structuralism essentially died with him.

The Functionalism of William James

Psychology flourished in American during the mid- to late-1800s. William James emerged as one of the major American psychologists during this period and the publication of his classic textbook, The Principles of Psychology, established him as the father of American psychology. His book soon became the standard text in psychology and his ideas eventually served as the basis for a new school of thought known as functionalism. The focus of functionalism was on how behavior actually works to help people live in their environment. Functionalists utilized methods such as direct observation. While both of these early schools of thought emphasized human consciousness, their conceptions of it were significantly different. While the structuralists sought to break down mental processes into their smallest parts, the functionalists believed that consciousness existed as a more continuous and changing process. While functionalism is no longer a separate school of thought, it would go on to influence later psychologists and theories of human thought and behavior.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Associationism is the theory that the mind is composed of elements -- usually referred to as sensations and ideas -- which are organized by means of various associations. Although the original idea can be found in Plato, it is Aristotle who gets the credit for elaborating on it. Aristotle counted four laws of association when he examined the processes of remembrance and recall: 1. The law of contiguity. Things or events that occur close to each other in space or time tend to get linked together in the mind. If you think of a cup, you may think of a saucer; if you think of making coffee, you may then think of drinking that coffee. 2. The law of frequency. The more often two things or events are linked, the more powerful will be that association. If you have an eclair with your coffee every day, and have done so for the last twenty years, the association will be strong indeed -- and you will be fat. 3. The law of similarity. If two things are similar, the thought of one will tend to trigger the thought of the other. If you think of one twin, it is hard not to think of the other. If you recollect one birthday, you may find yourself thinking about others as well. 4. The law of contrast. On the other hand, seeing or recalling something may also trigger the recollection of something completely opposite. If you think of the tallest person you know, you may suddenly recall the shortest one as well. If you are thinking about birthdays, the one that was totally different from all the rest is quite likely to come up. Association, according to Aristotle, took place in the "common sense." It was in the common sense that the look, the feel, the smell, the taste of an apple, for example, came together to become the idea of an apple. For 2000 years, these four laws were assumed to hold true. St. Thomas pretty much accepted it lock, stock, and barrel. No one, however, cared that much about association. It was seen as just a simple description of a commonplace occurrence. It was seen as the activity of passive reason,

whereas the abstraction of principles or essences -- far more significant to philosophers -- was the domain of active reason. During the enlightenment, philosophers began to become interested in the idea again, as a part of their studies of vision as well as their interest in epistemology. Hobbes understood complex experiences as being associations of simple experiences, which in turn were associations of sensations. The basic means of association, according to Hobbes, was coherence (continguity), and the basic strength factor was repetition (frequency). John Locke, rejecting the possibility of innate ideas, made his entire system dependent on association of sensations into simple ideas. He did, however, distinguish between ideas of sensations and ideas of reflection, meaning active reason. Only by adding simple ideas of reflection to simple ideas of sensation could we derive complex ideas. He also suggested that complex emotions derived from pain and pleasure (simple ideas) associated with other ideas. It was David Hume who really got into the issue. Recall that he saw all experiences as having no substantial reality behind them. So whatever coherence the world (or the self) seems to have is a matter of the simple application of these natural laws of association. He lists three: 1. The law of resemblance -- i.e. similarity. 2. The law of contiguity. 3. The law of cause and effect -- basically contiguity in time. David Hartley (1705-1757) was an English physician who was responsible for making the idea of associationism popular, especially in a book called Observations of Man. His emphasis was on the law of contiguity (in time and space) and the law of frequency. But he added an idea he got from the famous Isaac Newton: This association was a matter of tuned "vibrations" within the nerves! His basic ideas are very similar to those of D. O. Hebb in the twentieth century. James Mill (1773-1836) also elaborated on Hume's associationism. The elder Mill saw the mind as passively functioning by the law of contiguity, with the law of frequency and a law of vividness "stamping in" the association. His emphasis on the law of frequency as the key to learning makes his approach very similar to the behaviorists in the twentieth century. But he is most famous for being the father of...
-------------------------------------------------------