PSY 451 CHAPTER 8 & 9

Noble Savage (Rosseau)

a human not contaminated by society. Such a person would live in accordance with his or her true feelings, would not be selfish, and would live harmoniously with other humans. "Tarzan" character.

Locke's Idea

a mental image that can be employed by thinking, Ideas come from either sensation or reflection, but the source is the sensation.So all knowledge is ultimately from experience

Social Contract

an agreement between the governed and the government to provide security, welfare, and laws agreeable to both - he was a scientist, mathematician, and philosopher

Hume ( Doctrine Cont)

- actual behavior is controlled by passion - denied the existence of impression of the "self"

Rene Descartes ( 1596-1650)

- analytic geometry/mathematics important to development later on of Calculus by Newton / Leibniz - I think therefore I am - Mind-Body Problem -> solution was interactionism - mechanistic analysis of reflexes - the start of stimulus-response and behavioristic psychology - some consider him father of modern philosophy and psychology

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

- danish - sick and unhappy who thought religon had become ration / mechanical - relationship with God should be like an affair -Taking the existence of God on faith makes God a living truth for the person. -Truth is always what a person believes privately and emotionally. Truth cannot be taught by logical argument; it must be experienced. So the more logical we are in our attempt to understand God, the less we comprehend him. -Believing in God is a leap of faith. God gives us the gift of faith because we cannot comprehend absolute truths.

Baruch Spinoza ( 1632-1677)

- mixed cultural background - born in Amsterdam to avoid religous persecution - Only reality = God - nothing as Free Will panpsychism- the mind is everywhere, including inanimate objects -Believed that all human behavior is motivated by self-preservation. Was a hedonist, but pleasure for Spinoza is thinking clearly.

David Hume (1711-1776)

- not a university professor - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - data of minds comes from experience - laws of an association called resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect - casual relationship is observed and nothing more 1. impression = strong / vivid perceptions 2. ideas= relatively weak perceptions 3. imagination rearranges ideas - supreme skeptic - nothing is certain

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

- sensory information - describing a system that aids scientist in avoiding making observational errors, classifying the sciences, and proposing ways fro scientist to collaborate with each other - planted seeds of empiricism -championed inductive method

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

- son of lutheran minister - wrote many books including Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The Will to Power. -proclaiemd humans killed God - we must now find meaning for ourselves - no longer rely on religious superstitions - give instincts full expression ( even aggression) -Did not believe that negative experiences and impulses should be avoided. Learn from them

Relativism

- the belief that no universal values exist and instead values vary by individuals, groups, or historical era

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

- will to survive ( most powerful motive) - life is the cycle of needs and satisfaction - all we can do is minimize irrational forces ( freud influence "Humans are basically irrational and that "in the heart of every man is a wild beast." - intelligent beings suffer most as awareness leads to suffer - intelligent people seek solitude- less are gregarious

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

- wrote Faust -"Sturm und Drang" movement that stressed subjectivity and unease in man in society. Theme of youthful genius in rebellion against societal standards and an enthusiasm for nature. -that life is characterized by choices between opposing forces- much-beyoned understanding -behavior motivated by stresses of life ( fave adversaries directly) - not any sci as most romantics - appreciation of aesthetics in writings

John Locke (1632-1704)

-. Best known works are An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Some Thoughts Concerning Education. -Supposedly coined the term "tabula rasa" for the mind at birth. Very opposed to the idea of innate ideas which were suggested by the rationalists. -All knowledge ultimately derived from experience (empiricism), but the operations of the mind are not. No innate ideas, but innate operations of the mind. - accepted a mind- body dualism, but did not specift how sensory information caused ideas- left that for other

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

-A social reformer who believed that an understanding of human nature facilitates social, political and educational change. - Best known for his work in economics, but he was a major influence in the field of psychology. - "Mental chemistry" - ideas can combine in such a way as to produce an idea different from the simple sum of the 2 basic ones. -Postulated "primary laws" which can be measured with great accuracy. "Secondary laws" are not known accurately and can interact with primary laws, making for probabilistic prediction rather than certain. -Psychology, like meteorology, has many secondary laws. Sought to form a science of psychology - discover laws common to all people. -Also interested in what he called ethology - science of individual formation of character. -Major social reformer who spoke out against sexism. -Major influence on Alexander Bain who wrote one of the first psychology textbooks that was widely used.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

-Considered the father of modern romanticism. Wrote the semi-fictitious Emile. -Little formal education. Believed in the goodness of human nature and that the best society was one in which people subjugated their individual wills to the general will. -The general will is the innate tendency to live harmoniously with one's fellow humans. -Questioned a basic assumption that humans have a need to be governed. -The best education occurs when it is individualized and when a student's natural abilities and curiosity are recognized.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)

-Genius who independently discovered calculus. -He developed one of the earliest mechanical calculators

Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679)

-Grand Tour: traditional fishing point of an English gentleman"s education consisting of lengthy guided tour of European cities conducted by a knowledge tutor - Materialism: belief that everything in the universe must consist of matter, including minds and mental states

Hermann Lotze (1817-1881)

-His book, Medical Psychology, was published in 1852 and was the first book ever published to link physiology and psychology. -Lotze was one of the first academics to adopt the modern view of scientists as disinterested observers who carefully weigh all sides of a question.

George Berkeley

-Irish clergyman whose most important work was A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) -Responded to the materialism of his day as undermining God's role. Decided to question the fundamental assumption of the existence of primary qualities as suggested by Locke. -All reality is tied to perception. Esse est percipi. To be is to be perceived. -Real things exist, but only as long as there is a mind to perceive it -Real things exist, but only as long as there is a mind to perceive it

Kantian Doctrine

-Kant proposed 12 categories: unity, plurality, and totality for the concept of quantity; reality, negation, and limitation for the concept of quality; inherence and subsistence, cause and effect, and community for the concept of relation; and possibility-impossibility, existence-nonexistence, and necessity and contingency for the concept of modality - In addition to the categories, Kant proposed two innate intuitions: space and time. -

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

-Kant's critical philosophy integrated rationalist and empiricist approaches to knowledge and provided an alternative to hedonistic interpretations of human behavior. -Kant believed that the human mind came provided with a priori innate organizing principles that enabled it to make sense of experience. -"If we can never know that one thing causes another, how do we understand the principle of causation at all?"

Alexander Bain (1818-1903)

-Psychophysical parallelism the mind-body problem solution that allows for two separate systems—one for physical events and the other for mental events—but prohibits them from affecting each other. -Bain argued that spontaneous behaviors arose and were then associated with the positive or negative consequences that followed those behaviors. -His psychology textbooks were used from the mid 1800s to around 1900

James Mill (1773-1836)

-Scot who wrote Analysis of the Phenomenon of the Human Mind (1829). -Extremely mechanistic view of the mind. "-Mental physics" A house is a house because of association of various components (bricks, windows, etc.) Strength of association caused by vividness and frequency. -The mind is therefore passive with no creative abilities!

Existentialism

-The philosophy that examines the meanings of life and stresses the freedom that humans have to choose their own destinies. -Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience and the uniqueness of each individual.

Spinoza Doctrine

-Unclear thoughts should be made clear and passions controlled by the rational mind - Clearly not appreciated in his own time, and is probably underappreciated today as well for his contributions

Utilitarianism

-Utilitarianism distinguished between things that caused pleasure to an individual and things that maximized pleasure for an entire group. A philosophy emphasizing the idea that the moral basis of action should be the greatest good for the greatest number.

Paradox of the basins ( Locke)

-mistakenly believed that this showed that the senses are unreliable. -Associations often lead to faulty beliefs due to accident. -Modern views on education except for the concept of "hardening." -Challenged the divine right of kings. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Primary and Secondary Qualities (Locke)

-primary reside in the object ( shape, motion, quantity,ect) - Secondary are hidden and produce specifc sensations ( temp, color, etc)

Empiricism

-view all knowledge comes from experience, especially from sensory experience -importance of observation and experience. Reason is less important - the mind has to be developed by experience - no preexisting a priori of knowledge

Kierkegaard's Stages of Personal Freeedom

1.Aesthetic stage: person delights in experiences but does not exercise his or her freedom. 2.Ethical stage: person makes ethical decisions but uses principles developed by others as a guide in making them. 3.Religious stage: accepting true freedom and developing a personal relationship with God.

Supermen (Übermensch): ( Nietzsche)

: individuals who have the courage to rise above conventional morality and herd conformity and to follow their own inclinations. Was misunderstood - did not embrace racial or ethnic superiority. "Inauthentic lives."

Nietzsche Cont

Apollonian aspect of human nature: that part of us that seeks order, tranquility and predictability. Dionysian aspect of human nature: that part of us that seeks chaos, adventure, and passionate experiences. Called basic influences "das es" or the id. Unlike Schopenhauer, did not suggest repression. Influenced many writers and politicians, including Freud and Hitler.

Jeremy Bentham

Argued against the use of intuition in jurisprudence as it led to subjectivity and inequality. Came up with the principal basis for utilitarianism - the hedonic calculus. Maximize pleasure and minimize pain for as many as possible. Bentham also believed in psychological hedonism, foreshadowing the pleasure principle of Freud

Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841)

Followed Kant at Königsberg Ideas are gained from experience, but once brought in, ideas take on a life of their own. Compatible ideas gather in consciousness and form an apperceptive mass. New ideas are either incorporated into the apperceptive mass or rejected and relegated to the unconscious. Repression is the force used to hold incompatible ideas in the unconscious. -If enough new ideas collect in the unconscious, they may gather and form a new apperceptive mass and replace the old one. -Was perhaps the first educational psychologist as he outlined pedagogical techniques for teachers to use to facilitate learning and retention. Very compatible with modern views of review and application of material.

Romantics

Those philosophers emphasizing the irrational components of human nature. -Stressed the uniqueness of each person and valued irrationality more than rationality. -According to the romantic, people can and should trust their own natural impulses.

Will Power ( Nietzsche)

Will to power - the basic human need to become stronger, more complete, more superior.

Enlightenment

period spanning the midpoints of the 17th and t8th centuries characterized by radical changes in thinking about science, politics, and arts

Double Aspectism (Spinoza)

the belief that mind and body are inseparable, but they do not interact, nor can they be separated

interactionism

the belief that there exists a separation between the physical world and the mental world and that each can mutually affect the other.

Vacillation of the soul ( Spinoza)

the remembrance of an experience may elicit both pleasurable and painful memories. First example of conflict theory -A main goal is to control passion by suppressing it so that reason can function. (similar to Freud)

Rationalism

the universe, including physical events, can only be explained through the action of human thought - a priori knowledge -postulates a more active mind -deductive methods versus inductive

Apperception

― being conscious of one's own perceptions. -Leibniz's main contribution to rationalism was that he inspired Immanuel Kant.

Pre-established harmony

― the mind-body solution in which mental events affect other mental events and physical events affect other physical events but each cannot affect the other. God willed the apparent coordination between mind and body at the time of creation. Monads - mind and body are united.