Chapter 1 - Introduction

Historical development approach

shows how various individuals or events contributed to changes in an idea or concept through the years. For example: one could focus on how the idea of mental illness has changed throughout history.

Environmental determinism

stresses the importance of environmental stimuli as determinants of behavior.

The traditional view is:

that science involves empirical observation, theory formulation, theory testing, theory revision, prediction, control, the search for lawful relationships and the assumption of determinism. some philosophers, however, take issue with at least some aspects of the traditional view of science.

Rationalist believes

that the validity or invalidity of certain propositions can best be determine by carefully applying the rules of logic.

Free will

the belief that the most important causes of behavior are self-generated. behavior is freely chosen and independent of physical or psychical causes.

Historicism

the study of the past for its own sake without attempting to relate the past and present

Eclectic Approach

using whatever method seems best able to illuminate an aspect of the history of psychology.

Rationalism and Empiricism

Rationalism - mental operations or principles (rules of logic) must be employed to attain true knowledge. Empiricism - the source of all knowledge is sensory observation

Popper Vs. Kuhn

- Kuhn says that accepted paradigms cause scientists to bury themselves with research projects dictated by the paradigm-that is doing normal science. - Popper states that scientific problem solving is a highly imaginative, creative activity, nothing like the puzzle solving described by Kuhn. - Kuhn states that science cannot be understood without considering psychological and sociological factors. **Kuhn's analysis of science stresses convention and subjective factors, and Popper's analysis stresses logic and creativity. **Popper accepted the Correspondence theory of truth, Kuhn, on the other hand, believed that the paradigm accepted by a group of scientists creates the reality they explore.

What is science?

- Some, such as Galileo and Kant, have argued that psychology could never be a science because of its concern with subjective experience.

Pros and cons of Paradigm

- although normal science allows for the thorough analysis of the phenomena on which a paradigm focuses, it blinds scientists to other phenomena and perhaps better explanations for what they are studying.

How Science Changes..

- anomalies: are persistent observations that explain a particular phenomenon, that an accepted paradigm could not explain.

Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994)

- claimed that scientists did not follow a set of rules. - he said that whatever rules do exist must be broken in order for scientific progress to occur.

Persistent questions in psychology

- is human behavior freely chosen or is it determined?

Psychology

- means the study of the psyche , or mind, and this study is as old as the human species.

The search for laws

- science seeks to discover lawful relationships.

Uncertainty principle (Heisenberg)

- some psychologists believe that human behavior is determined, but that the causes of behaviors cannot be actually measured.

Empiricist believes

- that the source of all knowledge is sensory observation

Popper continued.. on

- the principle of falsifiability is used to distinguish scientific theory from non-scientific theory. - for a theory to be scientific, it must make risky predictions- predictions that run a real risk of being incorrect. - the validity of a scientific theory is to be found in incorrect predictions, rather than its correct ones. - all scientific theories will eventually be found to be false and will be replaced by more adequate theories. - our body of knowledge is made up of a string of myths, and current theories reflect current myths.

The assumption of determinism

- what is being studied can be understood in terms of casual laws.

Karl Popper (1902-1994)

> disagreed with the traditional description of science in two fundamental ways. 1. He disagreed that scientific activity starts with empirical observation 2. Observation is always selective. It needs a chosen object, a definite task, an interest, a point of view, a problem. - scientific activity starts with a problem, and the problem determines what observation scientists will make.

Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)

-changed the conception of science to be a highly subjective enterprise. - one viewpoint is commonly shared by most members of science. - believed that scientific activity was guided by "correspondence theory of truth" --> the notion that the goal, when evaluating scientific laws or theories, is to determine whether or not they correspond to an external mind-independent world. - Paradigm : the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by the members of a given scientific community. (any field of science is based on a paradigm which the researchers use to interact and communicate with each other) - once a paradigm is accepted, the activities of those accepting it become a matter of their science. (normal science) - although a paradigm restricts the range of phenomena scientists examine, it does guarantee that certain phenomena are studied thoroughly. - paradigms guides all of the researcher's activities, both theoretical and methodological.

2 general classes of scientific laws

1. Correlational laws describe how classes of events vary together in some systematic way. 2. Casual laws specify how events are causally related. *Thus, correlational laws allow prediction, but casual laws allow prediction and control. For this reason, casual laws are more powerful than correlational laws.

Why study the history of psychology?

1. Deeper understanding ( a student w/ historical awareness knows where psychology's subject matter came from and why its important. 2. Recognition of Fads and Fashions (a viewpoint does not always fade away because it is incorrect; rather, some viewpoints disappear because they become unpopular. 3. Avoiding Repetition of Mistakes (those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it) 4. A Source of Valuable Ideas (discover ideas that were developed at an earlier time, but for whatever reason, remained dormant.

Science has two major components:

1. Empirical observation 2. Theory

Kuhn saw sciences as passing through 3 distinct stages

1. Preparadigmatic : during which rival camps or schools compete for dominance of the field 2. paradigmatic : during which the puzzle solving activity called normal science occurs 3. Revolutionary stage: during which an existing paradigm is displaced by another paradigm.

2 major approaches to understanding where our knowledge comes from

1. Rationalism 2. Empiricism

William James distinguished

1. Soft determinism - cognitive processes, such as intentions, motives, beliefs, and values intervene between experience and behavior. 2. Hard determinism - the causes of human behavior are thought to function in an automatic, mechanistic manner and thus render the notion of personal responsibility meaningless.

Scientific theory has 2 main functions

1. it organizes empirical observations 2. it acts as a guide for future observations

Popper divided scientific method in 3 stages

1. problems 2. theories 3. criticism

Zeitgeist

a spirit of the times, which many historians consider vital to the full understanding of any historical development.

Confirmable propositions

a theory suggests propositions that are tested experimentally, and if they are confirmed then the theory gains strength, otherwise the theory will be revised or abandoned.

Psychical determinism

are those who stress the importance of mental events of which we are conscious and those, who stress the importance of mental events of which we are not conscious.

Science came into existence

as a way of answering questions about nature by examining nature directly rather than by depending on church, dogma, past authorities, superstition, or abstract thought processes alone.

scientific law

consistently observed relationship between two or more classes of empirical events, which is amenable to public observation and verification.

Biological Determinism

emphasizes the importance of physiological conditions or genetic predispositions in the explanation of behavior.

Great-person approach

emphasizes the works of individuals such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Darwin, or Freud.

Sociocultural determinism

is a form of environmental determinism, but rather than emphasizing the physical stimuli that cause behavior, it emphasizes the cultural or societal rules, regulations, customs and beliefs that govern human behavior.

Historiography

is the study of the proper way to write history.

Major goal of science

is to discover the causes of natural phenomena

Presentism

looking at the way psychology is today and then attempting to show how it became that way.

Indeterminism

refers to the idea that there are specific causes of behavior but that they cannot be accurately known.