PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 19
------���--� Soo also: • RentlDescartes 2Q-21 • Gordon Allport306-09 • Ha ns J. Eysenck 316-21 Walter Mischel 326-27 THE FOUR Melancholic: sad, fearful, depressed, TEMPERAMENTS poetic, and artistic.
Choleric: fiery, energetic, OF PERSONALITY and passionelS. Galen
Claudius Galenus, better humors determine Sanguine: warm-hearted, known as "Galen of Pergamon" he Roman philosopher and personality cheerful, optimistic, and (now Borgama in Turkey) was IN CONTEXT a physician Claudius Galen type 8Swell as - confident. Roman physician. surgeon, All things are combinations Inclinations toward and philosopher. His fathor, APPROACH four basic elements: T formulateda concept of of cert ain illnesses. Aolius Nicon, was a wealthy personality types based on the Hwnorism earth. air, lire, and water. Greek architect who provided ancient Greek theory of humorism, · him with a good education BEFORE which atl8mpted to explain the If one of the humors develops cases, cures may Include purging and opportunities to travel. c.400ocs Greek physician '>V · workings of the human body. excessively. the corresponding and blood·letting. For example, a Galen settled in Romo and a Hippocr tes says that the The roots of humorism go back personalitytype begins to dominate. person acting selfishly is overly served emperors, including qualiues of the four elemems The qualities of these lO Empedocles(c.495-435 BCE),a A sanguine person has too much sanguine, and has too much blood; MarcusAurelius, as principal are reflected m bodyflu1ds. elementscan be found in four Greek philosopher who suggested blood (sanguisin Latin) and is thisremedied is by cutting down physician. He learned about corresponding humors that different qualities of the four warm·hearted, cheerful. optimistic, on meat, or by making small cuts trauma care while treating c.326BCE Greek philosopher (fluids) that affect the basic elements-earth(cold and and confident, but can be selfish. A into the veins to release blood. professional gladiators, and ArlslOlle names four sources functioning of our bodies. dry), air (warm and wet), fire (warm phlegmatic person, suffering from Galen's doctrines dominated wrote more than 500 books of happiness: sensual (hedone). end dry), and water (cold and excess phlegm (phlegmatik6sin medicine until the Renaissance. on medicine. He believed the malarial (propraieum). ethical best way to learn was through wet)-could explainthe existenceof Greek), isquiet, kind, cool. rational, when they began to decline in the (et.hikos). and logical (dia/ogike). dissecting animals and � all known substances. Hippocrates andconsistent, but can be slow and light of better research. In 1543, studying anatomy. However, AFTER Thesehumors also affect our (460-370 BCE), the "Father of shy. The choleric (from the Greek the physician Andreas Vesalius although Galen discovered emotions and behavior--our Medicine." developed a medical khole, meaning bile) personality is (1514-1564), practicing in Italy, 1643 AnalOmist Andreas tho functions of many intornol "temperaments." model based on these elements, fiery, suffering from excess yellow found more than 200 enors in Vesalius publishes On !.he organs, he made mistakes attributing their qualities to four bile. Lastly, the melancholic (from Galen's descriptions of anatomy, Fabric of !.heHuman Body in because he assumed that fluids within the body. These fluids the Greek me/as khole), who suffers but although Galen's medical ideas il81y. It illustral8s Galen's errors -..v the bodies of animals (such were called "humors" (from the from an excess of black bile, is were discredil8d, he later influenced and he is accused of heresy. as monkeys and pigo) wore Latin umor, meaning body fluid). 20th-century psychologists. In 1947, Temperamental problems are recognized by poetic and artistic exactly like those of humans. 1879 Wilhelm Wundt says Two hundred years later. Galen caused by an imbalance in leanings, which are often also Hans Eysenck concluded that There is debate over tho date that temperaments develop our humors ... expanded the theoryof humorism accompanied by sadness and fear. temperament is biologically based, of his death, but Galen was at in different proportions along inlO one of personality; he saw a and noted that the two personality least 70 when he died. two axes: "changeability" direct connection between the Imbalance in the humors traits he identified-neuroticism and "emotionality." � levels of the humors in the body According toGalen, some people andextraversion-echoed the Key works and emotional and behavioral are born predisposed to certain ancient temperaments. 1947 In Dimensions of ... so by restoring the balance inclinations-or "temperaments". temperaments.However. since Although humorism is no longer c.190 CB The Temperaments Personality. Hans Eysenck of our humors a physician can Galen's four l8mperaments temperamental problems are caused part of psychology, Galen's idea cure our emotional and c.t90 CB The Natural Facu/tios suggests personality IS based sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, by imbalancesof the humors. he that many physical andmental c.t90 CB Three Treatises on tho on two dimensions. behavioral problems. and melancholic-are based on the claimed they can be cured by diet illnesses are connected forms the Nature of Science balance of humors in the body. and exercise. In more extreme basis of some modem therapies. • 20 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 21
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See also: Galen 18-19 • William James 38-45 • Sigmund Freud 92-99
THERE ISA In a letter to the French philosopher Marin Mersenne, Descartes explains that the pineal gland is the "seat of thought." and so must '' REASONING SOUL be the home of the soul, "because the one cannot be separated from There is a great the other." This was important, difference between because otherwise the soul would mind and body. IN THIS MACHINE not be connected to any solid part Rene Descartes of the body, he said, but only to the psychic spirits. Descartes imagined the mind '' Rene Descartes was born in and body interacting through an La Haye en Touraine (now awareness of the animal spirits called Descartes), France. He that were said to flow through the IN CONTEXT contracted tuberculosis from body. The mind. or soul, residing An analogy for the mind his mother, who died o few APPROACH in the pineal gland, located deep Taking his inspiration from the days after he wasb o rn, and Mind/bodydualism within the brain, was thought to French formal gardens of Versailles. remained weak his entire life. sometimes become aware of the with their hydraulic systems that From the age of eight, he was BEFORE moving spirits, which then caused supply water to the gardens and educated at the Jesuit college 4th century DC£ Greek conscious sensation. In this way, their elaborate fountains, Descartes of La Flilcho, Anjou, whore he philosopher Plato claims that the body could affect the mind. describes the spirits of the body began the habit of spending the body is from the material Likewise, the mind could affect operating the nerves and muscles each morning In bod, due world. but the soul. or mind. the body by causing an outflow of like the force of water, and "by this to his poor health, doing is from the immortal world animal spirits to a particular region means to cause motion in all the "systematic meditatlon" of ideas. of the body, initiating action. parts." The fountains were controlled about philosophy, science, and mathematics. From 1612 by a fountaineer, and here Descartes 4th century DC£ Greek to 1628, he contemplated, found an analogy for the mind. He philosopher Aristotle says traveled, and wrote. In 1649, explained: "There is a reasoning that the soul and body are he was invited to teach Queen soul in this machine; it has its inseparable: the soul is the Christina of Sweden, but her principal site in the brain, where it aotual!ty of the body. early-morning demands on his is like the fountaineer who must be time, combined w ith o harsh AFTER at the reservoir, whither all the climate, worsened his health; 1710 lh A Treat.iseConce rning pipes of the machine are extended, he died on February 11, 1650. the Principles of Human when he wishes to start, stop, or in Officially, the cause of death was pneumonia, but some Knowledge, Anglo·Irish some way alter their actions." he idea that the mind and seated in the brain's pineal gland While philosophers still argue as historians believe that he philosopher George Berkeley body are separate and doing the thinking, while the body to whether the mind and brain are was poisoned to stop claims that the body is merely T different dates backto Plato is like a machine that operates by somehow different entities, most the Protestant Christina the perception of the mind. and the ancient Greeks, but it was "animal spirits." or fluids,flowing psychologists equate the mind converting to Catholicism. 1904 In DoesConsciousness the 17th-century philosopher Rene through the nervous system to with the workings of the brain. Keyworka Exist? Will! am James asserts Descartes who first described in cause movement. This idea had However, in practical terms, the that consciousness Is not a detail the mind-body relationship. been popularized in the 2nd century distinction between mental and Descartes wrote De Homine ("Man"), 1637 Discourse on tho Method separate entity but a function by Galen, who attached it to his physical health is a complex one: 1662 Do Hom/no (written 1633) his first philosophical book, in 1633, Descartes 1llustrated the pineal of particular experiences. theory of the humors; but Descartes the two being closely linked when gland. a single organ in the brain 1647 The Description of tho in which he describes the dualism was the first to describe it in detail, mental stress is said to cause ideally placed to unitethe sights and Human Body of mind and body: the nonmaterial and to emphasize the separation soundsof the two eyes an d the two physical illness, or when chemical 1649 Tho Passions of tho Soul mind, or "soul," Descartes says, is of mind and body. ears i nto one impression. imbalances affect the brain. • 22 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 23
See also: Jean-Martin Charcot 30 • Sig mund Freud 92-99 • Carl Jung 102-07 • Mllton Erickson 336
DORMEZ! A few years later, AbbeFaria, a Portugese·Goan monk, studied ABBE FARIA (1756-1819) Mesmer's work and concluded that it was "entirely absurd" to think '' that magnets were a vitalp a r t of the process. The truth was even more Nothing comes from the extraordinary: the power to faU into magnetizer; everything comes trance or "lucid sleep" layentirely from the subject and takes with the individuals concerned. place in his imagination. No special forces were necessary. Abb6Farla because the phenomena relied only upon the power of suggestion. '' Lucid sleep IN CONTEXT he practice of inducing state, but its use as a healing Faria saw his role as a "concentrator." trance states to promote therapy was largely abandoned until helping his subject get into the right Franz Mesmer induced tranc o APPROACH T healing is not new. Several the German doctor Franz Mesmer state of mind. In On Tile Cause through the appli cation or magnets. ancient cultures, Including those of Hypnosis r eintroduced it in the 18th century. of LucidSleep, he describes his often to the stomach. These were said Egypt and Greece. saw nothing Mesmer's treatment involved method: "After selecting subjects tobring thebody's ·animal" magnetism BEFORE strange about taking their sick to manipulating the body's natural. or with the right aptitude. I ask them back into a harmoniousstate. 1027 Persian philosopher and "steep temples" so they could be "animal; magnetism, through the to relax in a chair, shut their ayes. a sl p i physician Avicenna (fbn Sina) cured, while in ee l ke state. by use of magnets and suggestion. concentrate their attention. and surgeon James Braid. from the Jean-Martin Charcot beganto use writes about trances in The suggestions from specially trained After being "mesmerized." or think about sleep. As they quietly Greek hypnos, meaning "sleep" hypnotism systematically in the Book of Healing. priests. In 1027, the Persian "magnetized." some people suffered await further instructions, and osismeaning "condition." Braid treatment of traumatic hysteria.
physician Avicenna documented a convulsion. after which they I gently or commandingly say: concluded that hypnosis isno t a This brought hypnosis to the 1779 German physician Franz the charaCteristics of the trance claimed to feel better. 'Donnezl' (Sleep!) and they fall type of sleep but a concentration attention of JosefBreuer and Mesmer publishes A Memoir into lucid sleep". on a single idea. resulting in Sigmund Freud,who were to on the Discovery ofAnimal It was from Faria's lucid sleep heightened suggestibility. After his question the drive behind the Magnetism. that the term "hypnosis" was death, interest inhypnosis largely hypnotic self, and discover the AFTER coined in 1843 by the Scottish waned until the French neurologist power of the unconscious. • 1843 Scottish surgeon James Bra1d coins the term ··neuro Abbe Faria Born In Portuguese Ooo, Joso could so quickly alter his state hypnotism" m Neurypnology. Cust6dlo de Farlo wos the son of of mind. He moved to France, a wealthy heiress, but his parents where he played a prominent 1880s French psychologist separated when he was 16. part in the French Revolution Emile Coull discovers the Armed with Introductions to the and refined his techniques of placebo effect and publishes Portuguese court, Porto and his self-suggestion whllo Imprisoned. Self·Mascery Through father traveled to Portugal whore Faria become a professor of Conscious Autosuggestion. both trained aspriests. On one philosophy, but his theater occasion, the young Forla was shows demonstrating "lucid 1880s Sigmund Freud oskod by tho queen to preach In sleep'' undercut his reputation; Investigates hypnosis and its her private chapel. During the when he died of a stroke in 1819 apparem power to control sermon, he panicked, but his he was burled in an unmarked unconscious symptoms. father whispered, "They ora aU grove In Montmartre, Parts. men of straw-cut tho straw I" Faria Immediately lost his fear and Key work preached fluently; ho Inter wondered how a simple phrase 1819 On the Cause of Lucid Sleep 24 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 25
------�- See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32-37 • Sigmund Freud 92-99 • Carl Jung 102-()7 • CONCEPTS Anna Fceud 111 • Leon FesUnger 166--67 BECOME Thoughts and feelings contain energy, according 1.0 Hecban. acting on each other likemagnets to atuact �( Two ideas �at FORCES or repelliko oc unlike ideas. \ WHEN THEY cannot coeXISt 1 comfortably repel RESIST ONE ANOTHER each other. .. JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART (1776-1841) � ) Ideas that do not contradict . 1, + each other are 'f' Johann Friedrich drawn together and ... and one of 'f' Herbart can coexist in - them may even be consciousness. pushed out of consciousness. Johann Herbart was born in IN CONll'EXT Oldenburg. Germany. He was tutored at home by his mother APPROACH Experiences and sensations until he was 12. after which Structuralism combine to form Ideas. he attended tho local school before entering tho University BEFORE Gottfried Leibniz was the first However. if two ideas are unalike, of Jena to study philosophy. to explore the existence of ideas they maycontinue to existwithout 1704 German philosopher He spent three years as a beyond awareness. calling them association.This causes them to private tutor before gaining Gottfned Leibniz discusses Dissimilar Ideasresist petite("small") perceptions. As weakenover time.so that they a doctomte at Gottingen petites perceptions(perceptions Similar ideas can one another and become an example. he pointed out that eventuallysink belowthe threshold " University, where he lectured Without consciousness) in his coexist or combine. forces In conflJct. we often recall havingperceived of consciousness.· Should two ideas in philosophy. In 1806, New Essays on Human something-suchas the detailin directly contradictone another. Napoleon defeated Prussia. Understanding. a scene--even though weare not ·resistanceoccurs· and ·concepts and in 1809. Herbert was offered Immanuel Kant's chair 1869 German philosopher aware ofnoticing it at the time. This become forces when they resist one , or philosophy at Konigsberg. Eduard von Hartmann One Idea is forced ) means thatperceive we thingsand another." They repel one another where the Prussian king and publishes his widely to become favored store a memory of them despite the with an energy that propels one of read his court were exiled. While ove er Philosophyof the Unconscious. r anoth . fact that we are unaware of doing so. them beyond consciousness. into J '------moving within these •••••• J a place that Herbert referred to as •• aristoCratic circles. Horban AF'I'ER •a state of tendency;• and we now Dynamicideas met and married Mery Droke, 1896 Sigmund Freud and According to Herbart, ideas form know as "the unconscious." an English woman half his Josef Breuer publish Studies The favored idea stays The unfavored Idea leaves as information from the senses Herbart saw the unconscious age. In 1833. he returned on Hysteria. mooducing in consciousness. consciousness; it becomes combines. The termhe used for as simply a kind of storage place for to Gottingon University. psychoanalysis and its an unconscious Idea. 1deas-Vorsfellung-encompasses weak or opposed ideas. In positing following disputes with the theories of the unconscious. thoughts. mental images. and even a two-part consciousness. split by a Prussian government. and emotional states. These make up distinctthreshold. he was attempting remained thoro as Professor 1912 Carl Jung writes The the entire content of the mind, and to deliver a structural solution for the or Philosophy until his death Psychologyof the Unconscious. ohann Herbart was a German the mind must use some kind of Herbert saw them not as static management of ideas in a healthy from a stroke, aged 66. suggesting that all people philosopher who wanted to have system for differentiating and but dynamic elements. able to move mind. But Sigmund Freud was to a culturally specific collective J investigate how the mind storing ideas. He Key werk• also wanted to and interact with one another. see it as a much more complex and unconscious. works-in particular. howit account for the fact that although Ideas. he said. can atoact and revealing mechanism. He combined managesideas or concepts. Given 1808 General Practical ideas existforever (Herbart thought combine with other ideasor feelings, Herbart's concepts with his own that we each have a huge number of Philosophy them incapable of being destloyed). or repulse them. rather likemagnets. thecries of unconscious drives to ideas over the course of ourlifetime 1816 A Text·book in some seem to existour beyond S1milar ideas. such as a color and formthe basisof the 20th-century's bowdo we not become increasing Psychology conscious.awareness The18th l y' tone. attlact each other andcombine most importanttherapeutic 1824 Psychology as Science confused?It seemed to Herbartthat century German philosopher to form a more complex idea. approach: psychoanalysis. • 26 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 27
See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32-37 • WilliamJames 38-45 • Carl Rogers13()-37 • Rollo May 141 • R.D. Laing 15o-51
BE THATSE LF Napoleon'• overreachingambition his old self. Inboth hisdesire and for power, asd epleted In thispelntlng accomplishment, he wants to"be of blm es a student, led him loseto rid of" hisselt Thisdisavowal of sight of his trueself end all·too-human the self ispainful: despair is limitations, and ultimatelyto despair. WHICH ONE overwhelming when a man wants to shun himself-whenbe "doesnot froman acute consciousness of the possesshimself; he is not himself." self, coupled with a profound dislike However, Kierkegaard did offer a TRULYIS of it. When something goes wrong, solution. He concluded that a man S.REN KIERKEGAARD such as failing an exam to qualify can find peace and inner harmony (1813-1855) as a doctor, a person may seem by finding the courage to be his to be despairing over something true self, rather than wanting to be that has been lost. But on closer someone else. "To will to be that inspection, according to Kierkegaard, self which one truly is, is indeed the he fundamental question, IN CONTEXT understanding oneself, famously considered to stem not from it becomes obvious that the man is opposite of despair," he said. He "Who am I?" has been saying: "The unexamined life is not depression, but rather from the not really despairing of the thing believed that despair evaporates APPROACH T studied since the time worth living." S0ren Kierkegaard's alienation of the self. (failing an exam) but of himself. when we stop denying who we of the ancient Greeks. Socrates ExJatentlalt.m book The Si ckness UntoDeath Kierkegaard described several The self that failed to achieve a really are and attempt to uncover (470-399 BCE) believed the main (1849) offers self-analysis as a levels of despair. The lowest, and goal has become intolerable. The and accept our true nature. BEFORE purpose of philosophy isto increase means to understanding the most common, stemsfrom ignorance: man wanted to become a different Klerkegaard's emphasis on 6th centuryocaSecretes happiness through analyzing and problem of "despair," which he a person has the wrong idea about self (a doctor). but he isnow stuck individual responsibility, and the states the key to happiness is what "self" is, and is unaware of with a failed self and in despair. need to findone's true essence discovering the "true self" the existence or nature of his and purposein life, isfrequently Such regarded as the beginning of AFTER I wish to be other than I am: to have a differentself. potential self. ignorance is Abandoning the realseH 1879 Wilhelm Wundt uses closeto bliss, and soinconsequential Kierkegaard took the example of existentialistphilosophy. Hl5 self-analysis as an approach that Kierkegaard was not even sure a man who wantedto become ideas leddirectly to RD. Laing's use of existential therapy, and topsychological research. it could be counted as despair. Real an emperor, and pointed out that desperation arises, he suggested, ironically, even if this man did have influenced the humanistic 1913 John B. Watson with growing self-awareness, and somehow achieve his aim, he therapies practiced by clinical denounces self-analysis in the deeper levels of despair stem would have effectively abandoned psychologistssuch as Carl Rogers. • psychology, stating that "Introspection forms no Seren Klerkegaard Soren Klerkegoard was born to on on his life. A solitary figure, his essential part of its methods." affluent Danish family, and raised main recreational activities as a strict Lutheran. He studied Included walking tho streets to 1961 Carl Rogers publishes thoology end philosophy at chat with strangers, and taking 01/em-cemeredTherapy, and Copenhagen University. When he long carriage rides alone Into in 1961 On Becoming a Person. come into o sizooblo Inheritance, the countryside. Either way, I despair of my true self. he decided to devote his life to Klerkegaard collapsed In 1960 R.D, Laing's 7'/JeDivided f philosophy, but ultimately this left tho street on October 2, 1866, Self redefines ''madness," him dissatisfied. "What I roaily and died on November 111n offering existential analysis need to do," he sold, "is to get Friedrich's Hospital, Copenhagen. of inner conflict as therapy. Toescape despairI must accept my true self. clear about what I om to do, not I what I must know.· In 1840, he Keyworks 1996 Rollo May I bases -- his - ---r---- become engogod to Roglne Olsen, book, The Meaning ofAnxiety, but broke off the engagement, 1843 Fear and Trembling on Klerkegaard's The Concept soy!ng that he was unsuited to 1843 Either/Or of Anxiety, marriage. His general state of 1844 The Concept of Anxiety melancholy bad o profound effect 1849 Tho Si ckness Unto Death PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 29
5oeaitoo: John B. Watson 66-71 • Zing·Yong Kuo 75 • G. Stanloy Holt 46-47 • PERSONALin Eleanor E. Maccoby284-85 • Raymond Cattell314-15 defective nurture." lnteU!genco. he says, is inherited, but must be IS COMPOSED fostered through education. in 1875, Galtonundertook a '' study of 159 pairs of twins. He OF NATURE Characteristics cling found that they did not follow the to families. "normal" distribution of similarity Francis Galton between siblings, in which they ere AND NURTURE moderately alike, but were always FRANCIS extremely similar or extremely GALTON 1911 dissimilar. What really surprised '' himwas that the degree of similarity Sir Francis Galton was a never changed over time. He had polymath who wroto prolifically anticipated that a shared upbringing on many subjects, Including IN CONTEXT commanders, scientists, literary would lessen dissimilarity between Personality is composed of elements from anthropology, criminology men . .. diviners, oarsmen, and twins as they grew up, but found APPROACH two different sources. (classifying ftngorprlnto), wrestlers," to research inherited that this was not the case. Nurture geography, motooroiOG Blo·psyohology Y· traits for his book Hereditary seemed to play no role at all. biology, and psycholOGY· Born Genius. BEFORE As predicted, he found The "nature-nurture debate" In Birmingham, England, Into o more highly talented individuals in continues to thisday. Some people 1690 British philosopher John wealthy Quakor family, ho wns certain families than among the have favored Galton's theories. a child prodigy, nblo to rood Locke proposes that the mmd general population.However, he including hisnotion-now known from tho ago of two. Ho or every child is a tabula rasa. Nature is that could not safelyte attribu thisto as eugenics-that people could studied medicine in London or blank slate, and hence we which is inborn and nature alone, as there were also be "bred" like horses to promote and BirminGham, than are ell born equal. inherited, and ... conferredbenefits from growing up certaincharacteristics. Others have mathematics at CombridGO, We can improve ow skillsand but his study was out short by 1869 BiologistCharles Darwin In a privileged home environment. preferred to believe that every baby abilitiesthrough training and o mental breakdown, worsonod suggesLSthat all human Galton himself grew up in a wealthy is a tabularasa. or "blank slate." learning, but... by his father's doath In 1844. development Is Lhe result or household with accesst o unusually and we are aUborn equal. Most Galton turnod to travelinG goodeducational resowces. psychologists today recognize that adaptation to the environment. and inventing. His morrlogo natwe and nurtureere bo th crucially In 1853 to Louisa Jano Butler 1890 William James claims A importantin human development, ...nature sets the limits to how far we necessarybalance lasted 43 yoars, but won that people have genetically can develop ow talents. Galton proposed a number of other and interact in complex ways. • childless. Ho dovot.odhln lifo Inherited lndlvlduel studies, including the firstlarge to measuring phynlcnl ond tendencies, or "lnstlncLS." survey by questionnaire,which was psychological charoctorlutlcs, AF1'ER sont out to members of the Royal devising mental tosts, and Nature and nurtwe both play a part, but nature Isthe Society to inquire about their writing. He received many 1926 Behavlon st John B. determining factor. Interests and affiliations.Publishing awards and honors In WaLSon says there is "no hIs results in EnglishM en Science,of recognition of his numorous such thing as Inheritance or ho claimed that where nature and achlovements, Including capacity, talent, temperament, nurture areforced to compete, nature several honorary dogroos rancis Galton counted many and a knighthood. or mental constltunlon". to identify "nature" and "nurture" triumphs. External influences can gifted individuals among as two separate influences whose 1940s Nazi Germany seeks to mnke an impression, he says, but F hisrelatives. Including the K•ywork• effects could be measured and nothing can "effacethe deeper marks create a "master Aryan race" evolutionary biologist Charles compared, maintaining that these or Individual character."However, he through eugenics. Darwin. So it's not surprising that Galton's study of twins looked for 1869 Horodltary Oonlus two elements alone were responsible Insists that both nature andnurture 1874 English Mon of Sclonco: Galton was interestedin the extent resemblancesIn manyways, Including for determining personality. in1869, are essential in formingpersonality, to which ab height,weight, hair and coeye lor. and Their Nature and Nurture ilities are either inborn he used hisown family tree, as weU since even the highest natural disposition. Handwritingtho was only 1875 The History of Twins or learned.He was the first person as those of "judges, statesmen, endowments may be "starvedby aspectIn which differed.IWins always 30 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 31
THE LAWS OF A PECULIAR HYSTERIA ARE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNIVERSAL INTERNALCONNECTIONS JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT (1825-1893) OF THE PSYCHE EMIL KRAEPELIN (1856-1926)
nown as the founder of Charcot suggested that hysteria's erman physician Emil second, paranoia, manifests in modern neurology, French similarity to a physical ctisease IN CONTEXT Kraepelin believed that patients as a state of fear and physician APPROACH K Jean-Martin warranted a search for a biological G the origins of most mental persecution; they report being Charcot was APPROACH Neurological science interested in the cause, but his contemporaries illnesses are biological, and he is "spied upon" or "talked about." The relationship Medical psychiatry between psychology dismissed his ideas. Some even often regarded as the founder of third, hebephrenia, is marked by BEFORE and physiology. During the 1860s believed that Charcot's "hysterics" BEFORE modern medical psychiatry. In his incoherent speech, and often by 1900 DC£ 11he Egyptian Kahun and 1870s, he studied "hysteria," a were merely acting out behavior c.60 DC£ Roman poet and Textbookof Psychiatry, published inappropriate emotional reactions Papyrus recounts behaviorial term then used to describe extreme that Charcot had suggested to philosopher Lucretius uses in 1883, Kraepelin offered a detailed and behavior, such as laughing emotional behavior disturbances in women caused in women them. But one student of Charcot, classificationof mental illnesses, loudly at a sad situation. The fourth thought to the term "dementia" to mean by a "wandering uterus." be caused by pr obl�s Sigmund Freud, was convinced inclucting"dementia praecox," category, catatonia, is marked by with the uterus (hystera in Greek). "being out of one's mind." c.400 DC£ Greek physician of hysteria's status as a physical meaning "early dementia," to extremely limited movement and Symptoms included excessive illness, and was intrigued by it. It is 1874 Wilhelm Wundt. distinguish it from lata-onset expression, often in the form of Hippocrates invents the term laughing or crying, wild bodily the ctisease Freud describes Kraepelin's tutor, publishes either rigidness, such as sitting in "hysteria" for certain women's first dementia, such as Alzheimer's. movements and contortions, On t in his theory of psychoanalysis. • Principles ofPhyslologlcsl the same position for hours, or illnesses in his book, he fainting, paralysis, convulsions, and Psychology. Schizophrenia excessive activity, such as rocking Diseases of Women. temporary blindness and deafness. In 1893, Kraepelin described backward and forward repeatedly. AF'I'ER 1662 English physician From observing thousands of dementia praecox, now called Kraepelin's classification still 1908 Swiss psychiatrist Thomas Willis performs cases of hysteria at the Salpetriere schizophrenia, as consisting forms the basis of schizophrenia Hospital in Paris, Charcot defined Eugen Bleuler coins the term autopsies on 'hysterical" "of a series of clinical states diagnosis. Inadctition, postmortem "The Laws of Hysteria," believ1ng "schizophrenia," from the women, and findsno sign which hold as their common a investigations have shown that that he understood the ctisease Greek words skhizein (to split) of uterine pathology. peculiar destruction of the internal there are biochemical and structural completely. He claimed that hysteria and phren (the mind). connections of the psychic brain abnormalities, as wellas A ITER was a lifelong, inherited condition personality." He observed that the impairments of brain function, in 1948 The World Health 1883 Alfred Binet joins and its aymptoms were triggered illness, characterized by confusion schizophrenia sufferers. Kraepelin's Authority (WHO) includes Charcot at the Sal�triere by shock. In1882, Charcot stated: and antisocial behavior, often starts belief that a great number of mental Kraepelin's classifications Hospital in Paris, and later "In the [hystericall tit... everything in the late teens or early adulthood. illnesses are strictly biological in Charcot gave lectures on hysteria of mental illnesses in its writes about Charcot's use of unfolds according to the rules, which Kraepelin later divided it into four origin exerted a lasting influence at the Sal�triere Hospital in Paris. are always the same; they are valid International Classification hypnotism to treat hysteria. He beUeved hysteria always followed subcategories. The first, "simple" on the field of psychiatry, and many for allcountries, for allepochs, for all of (})iseases (l<:JD). ordered, clearly structured phases, and dementia, is marked by slow mental disorders are still managed 1896 Sigmund Freud, a races, and are, in short, universal." could becured by hypnotism. '1950s Chlorpromazine. the decline and withdrawal. The with mectication today. • former student of Charcot, firstantipsychotic drug, is publishes Studies on Hysteria. See also: AlfredBinet 50-53 • Pierre Janet 54-55 • Sigmund Freud 92-99 used to treat sclrlzophrenia. See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32-37 • RD. Laing 150-51 WILHELM WUNDT (1832-1920) 34 WILHELM WUNDT PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 35
Soo also: Ren6 Descartes 20-21 • William James 38-45 • Edward Thorndike 62-65 • John B. Watson 66-71 • IN C0NTEXT B.fo'.Skinner 78-85 So all psychology Consciousness is must begin with "inner experience." physical bodies-for example, self-observation ... in stimulus and response experiments. If a nerve fiber in 5th century Ancient Greek a dead frog is given a small electric philosophers Aristotle and '' shock, the connecting muscles Plato claim that animals have twitch, causing the legs to move. The beginnings of a a low level. distinctly __.recorded through The fact that this happens even in differentiation of mental nonhuman consciousness. experimentation a dead animal illustrates that such function can be found designed to expose movements can occur without any IJ.630sRene Descartes says ni voluntary reactions. even inthe protozoa. consciousness. In living creatures, that animals are automata Wilhelm Wundt such actions are the basis of the Without feeling. automatic behavior that we call Even single-celled organisms have 1859 British biologist Charles "reflexes; such as immediately some form of consciousness. according Darwin links humans to '' to Wundt. He suggested the amoeba's moving your hand when you touch animal ancestors. ability tode vour food items in dicates something hot. Thisyields a continuity of mental processes. Wundt's second type of AF'I'ER quantitative data observation, termed "introspection" 1949 Konrad Lorenz changes about consciousness. hypothesis that the beginnings of which were modeled on his or "self-observation," is nternai l the way people see animals by of the mental life date from as far original laboratory and were led by observation. This in volves noticing shoWing their similarities to back as the beginnings of life at pupils such as Edward Titchener and recording internal events such humans in KingSolom on'sRing. large. The question of the origin and James Cattell. as thoughts and feelings. It is crucial in research because it 2001 American zoologist of mental development thus into th u t n Observing behavior provides information about how Donald Griffin argues in resolves itself e q es io on Wundt believed that "the exact the mindis working. Wundt was AnimalMinds that animals of the origin of life." Wundt went organisms description of consciousness interested in the relationship have a sense of the future, Psychology is to say that even simple the scientific study such as protozoa have some form of is the sole aim of experimental between the inner and outer complex memory, and perhaps of the mental life. mind. This last claim is surprisni g psychology." Although he worlds, which he did not consciousness itself. today, when few people would understood consciousness as an see as mutually exclusive, but expect a single-celled animal to "inner experience," he was only as interactive, describing it as » demonstrate even simple mental interested in the "immediately abilitei s, but it was even more real" or apparent form of this he idea that nonhuman The similarity of humans toanimals on animals might be revealing. surprising when first steted more experience. This ultimately led animals have minds and was a critical issue for philosophers, This was the position held by the than 100 years ago. him to the study of behavior, which are capable of some form of T but even more so for psychologists. German physician, philosopher, be Wundt was keen to test out his could studied and quantified by thought dates back to theancient In F ch the 15th century, the ren and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, theories, and he is often called "the "direct observation." Greek philosophers. Aristotle philosopher Rene Descartesclaimed who described a continuum of life father of experimental psychology" Wundt said that there are two be li eved that there are three kinds that animals are no more than from even the smallest animals to because he set up the world's first types of observation: external and of mind: plant, animal, and human. reflex-driven, complex machines. ourselves. In his book Principles of formal laboratory of experimental internaL External observation The plant mind is concerned only If correct, Descartes was observing Physiological Psychology, he claimed psychology in Leipzig University, is used to record events that are with nutrition and growth. The animals could tell us nothing about that consciousness is a universal Germany, in 1879. He wanted visible in the external world, and animal mind has these functions, our own behavior. However, when possession of all living organisms, to carry out systematic research on is useful in assessing relationships but can also experience sensations, Charles Darwin asserted some 200 and has been since the evolutionary the mind and behavior of humans, such as cause and effect on such as pain, pleasure, and desire, years later that humans are linked process began. initially through subjecting the as well as initiating motion. The to other animals genetically, and To Wundt, the very definition of basic sensory processes to close human mind can do allthis and Wundt's laboratory set the style th at consciousness operates from feli includes having some kind of examination. His laboratory for psychology departments around reason; Aristotle claims that only the creatures at the very lowest end "From mind. He declared: the mspired other universities in the world. Hisexperiments moved humans have self-awareness and of the evolutionary scale to ourselves, standpoint of observation, then, we the US and Europe to set up psychology out of the domain of are capable of higher-level cognition. t that experiments i became clear must regard it as a highly probable psychology departments, many philosophy and into science. 36 WILHELM WUNDT PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 37 "physical and psychical." He began to concentrate on the study of participants, or through measuring considered by many psychologists human sensations. such as the levels of behavior such as tension to be a keydifference between visual sensation of light, because and relaxation or excitement. human beings and the rest of the these are the agencies that link animal kingdom. There may be the external physical world and Cultural psychology '' a few exceptions, including the internal mental world. nonhuman primates such as For Wundt, the psychological Inthe course of normal Inone experiment, panzees. but language Is Wundt development of a person is speaking ... the willis chim asked individuals generally considered to be a to report on their determined not only by sensations continuously directed to sensations when human ability that is very shown a light but also by complex social and bringing the course of ideas signal-which important in consciousness. wasstandardized cultural influences, which cannot and the articulatory to a specific sensations provide detalls of color and a certain level Our be replicated or controlled in an movements into harmony of brightness, and shone shape. size. color. smell. and texture. for a fixed experimental situation. He included with each other. Consciousness and species length but when these are internalized. Wundt oftime. This ensured that myths, history, The definition of consciousness says, they are compounded into complex religion. language, Wilhelm Wundt each participant experienced continues to be debated, but it has representations, such as a face. art. laws. and customs among exactly the same stimulus. enabling these Influences. discussing them not fundamentally changed since responses of different participants In e ten-volume work, Cultural '' Wundt. The level of consciousness to be compared and the experiment Psychology, which he wrote during within aniinals has not yet been and he used various instruments of actions-representation. to be repeated at a later date. willing, established. and this has led to the if to measure this response exactly. the last 20 years of his life. required. and feeling-which Ininsisti ng upon this together form Wundt saw language as an formation of special Codes of Ethics He was also jUst as in terested to an impression possibility for replication, Wundt of a unitary flow of understand the meaning that the for animalexperiments, intensive hear what his participants reported especially im portant part of culture"s events. Representations are set the standard for all future either contribution to consciousness. Any speaker is trying to convey, but farming, and blood sports such as in common as he was in apparent "perceptions." psychological experiments. ifthey represent an the actual words maynot be as fox hunting and bull fighting. Of individual differences. verbal communication begins with Inhis sensory experiments. image in the mind of an object particular concern is whether Pure sensations, a ·general impression." or unified important as thegeneral impression. Wundt perceived Wundt set out to explore human in the external world especially if strong emotions are animals experience discomfort. suggested. have three Idea of something we wish to say. components: (such as a tree consciousness in a measurable wi thin eyesight), Having "apperceived" thisgeneral involved. Asevidence of the fact that fear, and pain in ways that quality, in tensity, and "feeling-tone." or "intuitions" if they represent way. He refused to see it as an For example, a starting point, we then choose we use this process. Wundt points resemble the form in which we feel a certain perfume may subjective unknowable. subjective experience activity (such as them ourselves. The fundamental have a sweet words and sentences to express it. out that we often remember the odor (quality) that is remembering that is unique to each individual. a tree. or imagining question of which animals have distinct but While speaking, we monitor the general meaning of what a person faint(i ntensity) and is a unicorn). In the ligh t-response experiments. He named the process has said long after we've forgotten self-awareness or consciousness pleasant to smell (feeling-tone). accuracy of the intended meaning. through which a perception he was particularly in terested in the while or We might say, "No, that's not right. I the specific words that were used. remains unanswered, although few a dead rat might gi ve off a intuition becomes clear in amount of timebetween a person nauseating mean ....• and then choose a different The ability to use true language, psychologists today would assume, (quality), strong consciousness receiving some form of stimulus and "apperception.· as Wundt did, that it applies even (intensity) stench word or phrase to express ourselves as opposed to just exchanging (feeling-tone). All So, for example. making a voluntary reaction to it you may perceive better. Whoever is listening has to limited signs and signals, is today to the microscopic protozoa. • consciousness originates in (rather than an involuntary one). a sudden loud noise and then sensations. he said, but these are apper�eive that it is a warning sign, not internalized as "pure" sensory Wilhelm Wundt Born In Baden (now Mannheim) for his work on visual perception. meamng that you are about data; they are perceived as already to be Germany, Wilhelm Wundt was While at Heidelberg, Wundt hit by a car ifyou don't get out of collected or compounded the fourth child in a family with started teaching the world's first into the wayquickly enough. course in experimental representations. such a long history or intellectual as a dead rat. The willing category of achievement. His rather was a psychology, and in 1879 opened '' Wundt called these "images of an consciousness is characterized Lutheran minsti er. The young the first psychology laboratory. object or of a process in the external by The exact description the way it intervenes in the Wundt was allowed little time for Wundt wrote over 490 works world." So. for example. ifwe see a external of consciousness is the world; it expresses our play, as he was pushed through and was probably the world's face with certain features-mouth sole aimof experimental volition, or "will." from raising a rigorous educatonali regime. most prolific scientific writer. shape, eye color, nose size, and so an psychology. ann to choosing to wear red. attending a strict Catholic school on-we may recognize the face as This from the age of 13. He went on to Kayworks Wilhehn Wundt form of consciousness is a person we know. beyond study at the universities or Berlin. experimental control or Tiibingen, and Heidelberg, 1863 Lectures on the Mind measurement. However. Wundt Categories of consciousness found that the graduating in medicine in 1866. of Humans and Animals third category of , Two years later. Wundt became 1896 Outline of Psychology , Basedon his sensory experiments, consciousness. feeling, could be Wundt claimed that consciousness assistant to tho physician Hermann 1873 Principles of Physiological measured through subjective consists of categories von Helmholtz, who was famous Psychology three major reports from experimental THE MEANING OF ''CONSCIOUSNESS'' SO LONG AS NO ONE ASKS US TO DEFINE IT WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910) PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 41
• • Freud 92 99 • John B. Watson66-71 Sigmund 20-21 • Wilhelm Wundt 32 37 808 also: Rene Descartes • Max Wertheimer 335 he term "consciousness" is • KOhler 160-61 Pth.z Perls112-17 Wolfgang generally used to refer to T an individual's awareness APPROACH of his orher own thoughts, including Thrs "most difficult of philosophic Analysis of consciousness sensations, feelings, and memories. '' taSks" has a long history. The We usually take this awareness ancient Greeks discussed the BEFORE Consciousness ... 1641 for granted, except when we are mind, but did not use the term Ren e Descartes dEfllnes does not appear to itself consciousness of self In terms having difficulties-such as trying ·consciousness" or any equivalent. chopped up inbits ... It is However, there was debate as of the ability to think. to do something when we are nothing jointed; it flows. very tired. But if you focus your to whether something separate 1690 English philosopher Willlam James thoughts on your consciousness, from the body exists at all. In the and physician John Locke you soon become aware that your founh century BCE, Plato made a defines consciousness as conscious experiences are constantly dstii nction between the soul and "the perception of what changing. While reading this book, '' body, but Aristotle argued that passes in a man's own mind." for example. you may be reminded even if there 1S a diStinction, the two cannot be separated. 1781 German philosopher of past experiences or present Immanuel Kant states tha� discomforts that interrupt your simultaneous events are concentration; plans for the future naturally described. In talking of it Early definitions Renlt Descartes, in the mid-17th experienced as a "unity may spontaneously spring to mind. hereafter, let us call it the stream of century, was one of the first of consciousness." Thinking about your conscious thought, of consciousness ...." experiences makes you realize James's famous description philosophers to attempt to describe AF'PER just how much your thoughts are of the "stream ... of consciousness" consciousness, proposing that it 1923 Max Wertheimer in changing, and yet they seem to isone that almost everyone can resides in an immaterial domain in Laws of Organization In come together, merging and identify wi th,because we all he called "the realm of thought." Perceptual Forms shows carrying on smoothly as a whole. experience it. Yet, at the same contrast to the physical domain of how the mind actively Arner:ican psychologist William time, James points out that it is material things, which he called interprets images, James compared these everyday very hard to actually define: "When "the realm of extension." However, experiences of consciousness to I say every thought is part of a the first person accredited with the 1925 John B. Watson a stream that continuously flows, personal consciousness, 'personal modern concept of consciousness dism1sses consciousness despite the odd interruption and consciousness' is one of the terms as an ongoing passage of individual as "neither a definite nor a change of direction. He declared: in question... to gi ve an accurate perceptions isthe 17th-century usable concept." "A 'liver' or a 'stream' are the account of it is the most difficult English philosopher John Locke. metaphors by which it is most of philosophic tasks." James was drawn to Locke's idea of passing perceptions and also to the work of the 18th-century German William James was born in 1842 In 1873, James returned to Immanuel Kant. Kant to a wealthy and influential New Harvard, whore he became a philosopher the way our York family, and traveled widely professor of both philosophy was impressed by noting as a child, attending schools in and psychology. He set up the experiences come together, both Europe and the US. James first experimental psychology that 1f we hear a noise and feelpain showed early anistic ability and courses In the US, playing a key at the same time, we typically initially pursued a career as a role in establishing psychology experience these as one event. painter, but his growing interest as a truly scientific discipline. He called this the "unity of in science eventually led to him He retired In 1907, and died consciousness," a concept that to enrol at Harvard University in peacefully at his home in New influenced many later philosophers, 1861. By 1864, he had moved to Hampshire In 1910. including William James. Harvard Medical School, although James felt the most important his studies were interrupted by Keyworka point about consciousness is that bouts of physical Illness and it is not a "thing" but a process-it depression. He finally qualified 1890 The Principles ofPsychology IS what the brain does to "steer a as a physician in 1869, but never 1892 Ps ychology nervous system grown too complex practiced medicine. 1897 The Will to Believe to regulate itoolf." Itallows us to » 42 WILLIAM JAMES PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 43
words, take twelve men, and to thoughts, or sensations, he believed, Dot• of puro color make up this work each give one word. Then stand the are unavoidably connected, like by the French Post·Impressionist men In a row or jam, andJet each Kant's example of hearing a noise painter Georges SeuraL Yet owbrain think of hisword as Intently as he and feeling pain at precisely the combines these separate elements so '' that what we seo Is a human figure. will; nowhere willthere be a same time, because any thoughts No-one ever had a simple consciousness of thewhole that enter our awareness during the sensation by itself: sentence." U consciousness Is a same moment of time combine to final conclusion; consciousness is consciousness ... stream of distinct thoughts, James form a pulse, or current, within the not a thing but a process. which struggled to see how these combine. is of a teeming stream. We may have many of is constantly evolving. Ashe said, "The idea of a plus the multiplicity of these currents flowing through our James also drew attention to the idea of b isnot identical with the objects and relations. consciousness, some fast and some personal nature of consciousness, idea of (a + b). " 1\vothoughts added WiWam James slow. James stated that there are staung that thoughts do not exist together cannot be made Into one even resting points, where we independently of a thinker-they idea. They are more likely to form pause to form pictures in our are your thoughts or mine. Each one an entirely new idea. For example, minds, which can be held and Is "owned" by someone, and never '' ifthought a is "it's nine o'clock." contemplated at length. He called ·comes in to direct sight of a thought and thought b is "the train leaves the resting places "substantive in another personal consciousness at 9:02," thought c-"I'm going to parts," and the moving currents than its own." And it is these miss my tralnl"-might follow. the "transitive parts," claiming that thoughts "connected as we feel reflect upon the past, present, our thinking is constantly being them to be connected" that form and future. to plan and adapt to Combining thoughts dislodged from one substantive the self. As thoughts cannot be circumStances and so fulfillwhat James concluded that the simplest part toward another. propelled by divided from the self. James said he believed was the prime purpose way to understand bow thoughts the transitive parts, or current. We that nvesti igatni g this self should of consciousness-to stay alive. within the stream of consciousness are, therefore, effectively "bumped" be the starting point of psychology. But James found it hard to might combine to make sense is from one conclusion to another by Experimental psychologists
MRI acano of the Curies' scientific knowledge had assessing consciousness as broln have helpedto identify structures such been questioned and modified, but objectively as possible, and 08 the thalamus. seen In tho center Its core truths remained Intact. to understand its underlying or thl$ scan. that appear to have mechansmsi -both physical IInketo consciousness. '' Further studies and psychological. There isbut one The period following James's death Modem neuroscience has saw the rise of the behaviorist demonstrated that there are when it comes todefinitions indefectibly certain But movement, and a decline of interest mechanisms of consciousness. usness,modem attempts truth ... the truth that the of conscio in consciousness. Consequently, By the closing years of the 20th remain vague and difficultto present phenomenon of still little theorizing on the subject century, the British molecular apply. For example, the American consciousness exists. happened from around the start of biologist and biophysicist neu roscient!stAntoni o Damasio WllUam James the 1920s up until the 1950s. One Francis Crick was claiming that calls consciousness "the feeling it important exception was the consciousness is related to a of what happens," and defines German-based Gestalt movement, specific part of the brain-the as ·an organism's awareness of '' which emphasized that the brain prefrontal cortex area, which is Its own sell and its surroundings." operates in a holistic way, taking involved in thought processes An William James suggested, account of whole conscious such as planning, problem-solving, more than 100 years earlier, experiences, rather than separate and the control of behavior. consciousness is hard to define. James defined "true beliefs" as events-just as when we look at a Research carried out by the those that the believer finds useful. picture, we see not just separate Colombian neuroscientist Rodolfo Lalltlng legacy This emphasis on the usefulness of dots, lines, and shapes, but a Linas links consciousness to An odited version of James's 1890 beliefs lies at the heart of the meaningful whole. This concept the activities of the thalamus in book, The Principles ofPsychology, American philosophical tradition of is behind the now famous Gestalt conjunction with the cerebral lu Gllll in print, and his ideas have Before James started teaching the vastly beneficial discipline owes pragmatism. which was central to phrase: "The whole is greater than cortex. The thalamus, a structure boon a major influence on many subject at Harvard in 1875, there much to his work. In 1977, in a James's thinking. the sum of the parts." embedded deep in the center of the psychologists, as well as other were no independent psychology speech celebrating the 75th In the course of our lives. James Since the 1980s, however, brain, is responsible for regulating !ICient!sts and thinkers. The courses avaUable in any American anniversary of the formation of claimed that we are continually psychologists andneuroscientists vibrations inside the brain at up plication of his pragmatic university. But within 20 years. the American Psychological testing "truths" against each have developed a new field of certain frequencies; if these regular philosophy to facts-concentrating around 24 colleges and universities Association, David Krech. then other, and our conscious beliefs research called "consciousness rhythms aredJsrupted-by an not on what is "true" but on what it in the US had recognized Professor Emeritus in psychology keep changing, as "old truths" studJes," focusing on two main infection or genetic causes-then 1!1 ·useful to believe"-has helped psychology as a distinct academic at the University of California at are modified, andsometimes areas of interest: the content of an individual may experience psychology move on from the discipline, and were offering Berkeley, referred toJames as replaced by "new truths." This consciousness, as reported by neurological disorders, such as question of whether the mind and degrees in the subject. Three the "father of psychology." • theory is particularly relevant to people who are considered to be epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, body are separate or not to a more specialist psychology journals the way that allscientific research, normal and healthy; andthe as well as psychological conditions, useful study of mental processes, were also founded in that time, including psychology, progresses. consciousness of people whose such as depression. nuch as attention, memory, and a professional organization James cited the discovery of the state of awareness has been reoooning, imagination, and the American Psychological radioactive element radium by impaired in some way. The latter lntant.lon. James claimed his Association-was formed. '' Pierre and Marie Curie in 1902 group in cludes cases. such as approach helped to move James in troduced experimental as an example. Inthe course of when the subject is in a "persistent ph llosophers and psychologists Allthese consciousnesses psychology to America, despite their investigations, the Curies vegetative state" (PVS)-in which "away from abstraction, fixed melt into each other claiming to "hate experimental found that radium appeared to patients in a coma are awake and principles, closed systems, and like dissolving views. work." He did so because he had give orr unlimited amounts of breathing independently, but have pretended absolutes and origins, Properly they are but one come to realize that it was the best energy, which "seemed for a apparently lost all higher brain towards facts, action, and power." protracted consciousness, way to prove or disprove a theory. moment to contradict our ideas of functions. The goal with both paths folio Insistence on focusing on the one unbroken stream. But he continued to value the use of the whole order of nature." of research is to try to find ways of wholeness of events, including the WllUam James introspection as a tool of discovery, However, after conscious �[footsof different environments especially of mental processes. consideration of thisrevel ation, on our actions-in contrast to the Pierre and Marie Curio's research, The shift in the perception of they concluded that "although it Introspective, structuralistapproach Ukamost scientific mod work. illed,rathar or breaking down our experiences psychology and its concerns from '' extends our old ideas of energy, it aarUer thancontradicted, totally theories. being considered, "a nasty little causes a minimum of alteration in New "trutha,"Je mes claimed.consta nUy Into small details-has also shaped subject" (in James's words) into a their nature." In thisinstance, the modify our basic beliefs In asimllar way. our understanding of behavior. 46 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 47 ------seo also: Francis Galton 28-29 • Wilhelm Wundt 32-37 • SigmundFreud 92-99 • E:nkErikson ?:72-73
he word "adolescence" "curve of despondency" that starts literally means "growing at the age of 11, peaks at 15, then Tup" (from the Latin falls steadily until the age of 23. adolescere). Intheory, it describes Modern research acknowledges a distinct stage between childhood a similar pattern. The causes of and adulthood, but in practice often depression that Hall identified are simply defines the "teenage" years. startlingly familiar: suspicion of In most Western societies, the idea being disliked and havingseemingly of adolescence was not recognized insuperable character faults, and until the 20th century; childhood "the fancy of hopeless love.· He ended and adulthood began at a believed the self-consciousness of G. Stanley Hall certain age-typically at 18. adolescence leads to self-criticism Born into a farming family Pioneering psychologist and and censoriousness of self and in Ashfield, Massachusetts, IN educator. G. Stanley Hall, in his others. Thisview mirrors later CONTEXT Granville Stanley Hall 1904 book Adolescence, was the studies, which argue that teenagers' APPROACH H�an developm graduated from Williams ent isdetermined b first academic toexplore the subject. advanced reasoning skills allow nature: It S a repetition College, Massachusetts in Human development I of our "ancestral � them to "read between the lines.'' re ord." Hall was influenced by Darwin's 1867. His plans to travel were theory of evolution. believing that while also magnifying their BEFORE thwarted through lack of all childhoods, especially with sensitivity to situations. Even Hall's funds. so he followed hls 1905 Sigmund Freud, in regard to behavior and early claim that criminal activity is more mother's wish and studied Three Essayso n the Theory of A child has animallike physical development, reflect the prevalent in the teenage years. theology for a year ni New Sexuality, claims dispositions the teenage and goes through course of evolutionary change, and peaking around 18, still holds true. York, before moving to years are several growth stages. the "genital stage." that we each develop in accordance But Hall was not totally negative Germany. On Hall's return to AFII'ER with our "ancestral record." about adolescence. Ashe wrote in America in 1870, he studied One key influence on Hall Yo uth:Its Education, Regiment. with Wllliam James for four 1928 American anthropologist Sturm ne years at Harvard, gaining the Margaret Mead, was the 18th-century andH ygie , "Adolescence is a in Coming und first psychology PhD in the At adolesce�ce, Drang ("Storm and Stress") new birth, for the higher and more of Age in Sa moa, the evolutionarymomentum US. He then returned to declales subsides; thisIS a time fo movement of German writers completely human traits are now that adolescence is r individual change. Germany for two years to only and musicians, which promoted born." So, for Hall. adolescence recognized as a work with Wilhelm Wundt distinct total freedom of expression. Hall was in fact a necessary beginning stage of human in his Leipzig laboratory. development referred to adolescence as "Sturm of something much better. • m Western society. In 1882, Hall became a � und Orang;" he considered it a Stage professor at Johns Hopkins 19 0Erik Erikson, During of emotional turmoil and rebellion, University, Baltimore. where be in this wild, lawless time and Society, teenagers are increasingly wtth behavior ranging from quiet set up the first US laboratory OhJJd_hood sensitive, ;eckle ss moodiness to wild risk-taking. describesadolescence self-conscious. and prone specifically for psychology. He as to depression. ' the stage of ''fdentity vs. Adolescence, he stated, "craves '' also launched the American strong feelings and new sensations... Journal of Psychology ln 1887, Role Confusion ;· coining monotony, routine, and detail are Adolescence iswhen the and became the first president .the term "identity crisis." intolerable." Awareness of self and very worst and best impulses of the American Psychological 1983 fn Marga Association in 1892. ret Mead The child then ?merges the environment greatly increases; inthe human soul as an adult: a more civilized and Samoa, New . ' everything is more keenly felt, and struggle against each Zealand higher-order" being. a�thropologist Keyworlul Llerek Freeman sensation is sought for its own sake. other for possession. dJspuces M�d's claim that G. Stanley Hall 1904 Adolescence adolescence is merely Modem echoes a 1906 Yo uth: Its Education, socially constructed Many of Hall's findings are echoed concept. Regiment, and Hygiene Adolescence in research today. Hall believed that Is a new birth. '' 1911 Educational Problems adolescents are highly susceptible 1922 Senescence to depression, and described a PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 49
• 'I\1Jving186-91 • Oordon H. Seo also:Donald Hebb 163 • BlurnaZeigamlk 162 • Oeorg o Armitage Miller 168-73 Endel 208-09 • Frederic 24 Bower 194-95 • Daniel Schecter Bartlett 335-36 HOURS recita a series correctly at speed. AFTER n 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus became the first psychologist He tested different list lengths and . ....� . ... LEARNING I to systematically study different learning intervals, noting · .. SOMETHING, 1earmng and memory by carrying the speedof learning andforgetting. ) . . . -, ' .., � ' . ' out a long, exhausting experiment Ebbinghaus found that he could .... WE FORGET on lumsell Philosophers such as remember meaningful material, � �' :::.•! . . John Locke and David Hume had such as a poem, ten times more ' arguod that remembering involves easily than his nonsense lis ts. He TWO-THIRDS association-linking things or also noted that the more times the OF IT ideas by shared characteristics, stimuli (the nonsense syllables) HERMANN EBBINGHAUS (1 were repeated, the less time was such as time, place, cause, or � ·�·' II - · effoct. Ebbinghaus tested the effect needed to reproduce the memorized · •. of association on memory, recording information. Also, the first few . -.. ·------_l the results mathematically to see if repetitions proved the most Learning material and committing effective in memorizing a list. IN CONTEXT memory follows verifiable patterns. it tomemor y within an hour of hearing ==== When looking at his results for lt. Ebbinghaus showed. wlll meanth at APPROACH Memory experiments evidence of forgetting, Ebbinghaus we remember it for longer end can Memory studies .. .forgetting is .. .items forgotten can be Ebbinghaus started by memorizing found, unsurprtsingly, that he recall it more easily. most rapid wi thin the relearnedfaster than new lists of words and testing how tended to forget less quickly the BEFORE first nine hours. ones learned for the first time. many he could recalL To avoid the lists that he had spent the most two-thirds of anything memorized 6th century ocs ll'he use of association, he then created time memorizing, and that recall is is forgotten. Plotted on a graph, this ancient Greeks make use of 2.300 "nonsense syllables." allthree best performed Immediately after shows a distinct "forgetting curve" ·mnemonics"-technfques, letters long and using the standard learning. Ebbinghaus alsouncovered that startswi th a sharp drop, such as key words or rhymes, word format of consonant-vowel an unexpected pattern in memory followed by a shallow slope. that a1d memory consonant: for example, ·zuc· and retention. He found that there is Ebbinghaus's research launcbed 1682 ltahan philosopher "OAX." Grouping these into lists, typically a very rapid lossof recall a new field of enquiry, and helped psychology as a scientific Gfordano Bruno m Th e Art he looked at each syliable for a in the first hour, followed by a establish ...meaningful fraction of a second, pausing for 15 slightly slower loss, so that after discipline. Hismeticulous methods of Memory gives methods for ...material that is studied things are seconds before going through a list nine hours, about 60 percent is remain the basis of all psychological memorizing, using diagrams beyond remembered again. He did thisuntil he could forgotten. After 24 hours, about experimentation to this day. • of knowledge and experience. mastery for about ten AF1'ER (over-learned) is times longer Hormann Ebbinghaus was born in two psychology laboratories remembered than random, 1932 Frederick Bartlett says Barmen, Germany, to a family of and founded on academic longer. meanfng:ess that every memory is a blend Lutheran merchants. At 17, he journal. Ebbinghaus later moved things. of knowledge and inference. began to study philosophy at to Breslau University, where he Bonn University, but his academic also estabishedl o laboratory, 1949 Donald Hebb, in The career wes disrupted In 1870 by and finaliy to Halle, whore he Organization of Behavior, the Franco-Prusslan War. In 1873, taught until his death from describes how learning results he completed his studies and pneumonia at the age of 69. from stimulated brain cells moved to Berlin, later traveling to linking up into ·assemblies." France and Englond, where ho Key woru carried out resoorch on tho power 1960 US .. .items toward the psychologist Leo ...repeated learning sessions 1886 Memory: A Contribution beginning and end of of his own memory, starting in Postrnan finds thatnew over a longer interval of to Experimental Psychology a series are most easily 1879. He published Memory In learning can intarfere with time improves memory 1886, detailing tho "nonsense 1897-1908 Fundamentals remembered. previous learnmg, causing retention on any subject. syllable" research, and in tho of Psychology (2 volumes) ·retroactive interference." sama yoor become a professor et 1908 Psychology: An Berlin University, whore he sot up Elementary Textbook