History of Psychology

January 8th + 10th

Chapter 1: Psychology in Search of a Paradigm
Approaches to Historical Investigation
 E.G. Boring: Great person + Zeitgesit models
o Great Person View: historical progress occurs through the actions of great
persons who are able to synthesize events and by their own efforts change the
path of those events toward some innovation
 Martin Luther King Junior
o Zeitgeist (spirit of the times): events by themselves have a momentum that
permits the right person at the right time to express an innovation

Psychology’s Search for a Unifying Paradigm

 Kuhn: social and cultural forces develop paradigms (models) of science at various stages
and that scientific work is conducted within a given paradigm for a limited period until
the paradigm is replaced
o Change in paradigm is a by-product of both the cultural needs of the age and the
inability of the old paradigm to accommodate new scientific findings
o Scientific progress is a cyclic process
 For a given scientific model that is accepted by a consensus of scientists,
an anomaly arises that cannot be explained or accommodated by the
model thus creating a new theory to compete to replace the original
model. When an anomaly again arises, the cycle is repeated
o The desire and expectation that psychology must be a scientific study push the
discipline toward an explanatory order so that valid and reliable laws or
relationships can evolve
Prevalent Paradigms
 Biological: inner workings of the body to understand the psychological processes
 Empirical: reliance on experience as a significant source of individual psychology
 Functional: practical explanations of psychological processes, without a need for
elaborate overarching theoretical structures
 Humanistic: higher ordered integrative and values centered frameworks
 Idealistic: self-generating, creative thought or experience related to subjective reflection
Stages in the History of Psychology
 Auguste Comte (French Philosopher): developmental stages of the human mind
correspond to the intellectual ages of the human race
o 3 stages of intellectual progress
 Theological: is a primitive but necessary starting point with causal
explanations
 Metaphysical (philosophical): transitional level which the abstract ideas
are understood through rational and logical explanations
 Positive (scientific): identify specific laws of nature through methods of
empirical observation and inductive reasoning
 Miller + Buckhout: 3 stages of intellectual progress in psychology
o 3 stages of intellectual progress (did not begin with theological stage as comte)
  Man as Knower (Philosophical thought  philosophical psychology)
 Man as Animal (Physiology and Adaptive Behaviour  physiology)
 Man as Machine (Computer Technology  behaviorism)
 Man as Social Animal (Cultural and Social Adaptation  evolutionary)
 Man as Knower (information processing and linguistics  cognitive)
 Daniel N. Robinson: distinguished b/t philological psychology and scientific psychology
o Each ear emphasized an appeal
 During the time of predominatly philosophical explanations patristic
psychology appealed to the authority of faith and scholastic psychology
appealed to the authority of Aristotle
 During the enlightenment transition from philosophical to scientific
explanations empiricism appealed to the authority of experience due to
the tension b/t materialism and rationalism
 With emergence of scientific psychology came great reliance upon the
authority of science from which developed the various systems and
specialties within the field of psychology

Enduring Questions
Nature of Reality (Metaphysics)
 Metaphysics: nature and structure of reality
 Naturalism-Supernaturalism: what is the nature of ultimate reality? Is reality explained
entirely by principles found within nature (naturalism) or must we seek other answers
(supernaturalism)?
  Fatalism-Finalism: what is the origin and end of existence? Is the universe and human
life empty, random and meaningless (fatalism, skepticism) or full, purposive, and
meaningful ( finalism, teleologism)?
Nature of Goodness (Ethics)
 Ethics: the nature of truth, goodness, and beauty
 Relativism-Universalism: what is the nature of moral truth? Is moral truth transient,
relative, and knowable (relativism) or is it eternal, universal, and knowable
(universalism)?
 Utilitarianism-Personalism: What is the criterion of moral goodness? Is human action
merely impersonal and functional (utilitarianism) or truly personal and relational
(personalism)? What is good and evil?
Nature of Knowledge (Epistemology)
 Epistemology: studies the nature, sources, and methods of obtaining human knowledge
 Empiricism-Rationalism: Does human knowledge come primarily through experience
(empiricism) or through reason (rationalism)? Is the human mind passive as a recipient
of knowledge (passivity) or is the human mind active as a creator of knowledge (activity)
o Associationism: mind is empty and reliant upon knowledge derived from sensory
association
o Nativism: mind predisposed and ready to interpret reality by way of innate
categories
 Reductionism-Holism: does inquiry consider analysis of the parts (reductionism) or
synthesis of the whole (holism)?
o Data presented in relatively small units (moleculatrism) or relatively large units
(molarism)
o Data is measurable in numbers (quantitativism) or structure (qualitstivism)
o Operational definitions (operationalism) or phenomenological description
(phenomenalism)
Human Nature: seeks to understand the structure, motivation, development, and personality of
human beings
 Body-Mind:
o Is human nature made up of one component (monism) or two components (dualism)?
o Is human nature composed of a physical body only (materialism), an immaterial mind
only (idealism), both body and mind as separate and distinct (dualism, parallelism), or
both body and mind as integrated (interactionism, hylomorphism)?
o To what extent is the human being regarded as an object (objective) or as a subject
(subjective)? Is a human being best explained by mechanistic laws (mechanism) or a vital
force (vitalism)?

 Determinism–Voluntarism.
o Is human nature determined or free?
o To what extent is human behavior completely determined (hard determinism; e.g.,
biological, environmental, psychical), chosen within finite limits (soft determinism), or
absolutely freely chosen (nondeterminism)?
 Irrational–Rational.
 o To what extent is human behavior influenced by irrational aspects (emotions, intuitions,
unconscious instincts) or rational aspects (intellect, reason, conscious thoughts)?
o Is any distinction between animals and humans merely quantitative (evolutionism) or
truly qualitative (humanism)?
o Is human behavior motivated primarily by pleasure (hedonism) or well-being
(happiness)?
 Amoral–Moral.
o Is human nature basically evil (amoral), neutral, or basically good (moral)?
o Are we noble or ignoble?
o Are human beings oriented primarily toward the self (egoism) or others (altruism)?
o Are we individual or relational, solitary or social?
 Nature–Nurture.
o To what extent is human behavior caused by heredity (nature) or environment (nurture)?
o Does human personality develop primarily from within (endogenous) or from without
(exogenous)?
o Is human growth mostly innate or experiential?
 Retrospective–Prospective.
o Is human development oriented more toward the past (retrospective) or toward the future
(prospective)?
o Are human beings fixated or stagnated by early life events (staticism), absorbed by
present “here and now” experiences (e.g., seeking homeostasis, satisfaction), or
motivated toward growth and development (dynamicism)?
 Nonentity–Identity.
o Are human experiences and behavior best understood as a fragmented, fluctuating
discontinuity (nonentity, non-self), as either behavioral stimulus-and-response sequences,
idealist stream of consciousness, or postmodern social construction? Or, is human
experience best understood as a substantial, persistent continuity (identity, self)?
 Suffering–Flourishing.
o Are human beings ultimately and most accurately characterized by meaninglessness
(suffering) or meaning (flourishing)?
o Are we fated for suffering (pessimism) or created for happiness (optimism)?
o Do we tend more toward vice or virtue?

Western + Eastern Traditions in Psychology

 psychology emerged as a discipline in 19th-century Europe

o was the product of an intellectual tradition that viewed human experience through a
particular set of assumptions
o The very conceptualization of psychology was formed, nurtured, structured, and argued
over during the 2,500 years of turbulent intellectual progress in classical Greek thought.
 non-Western philosophies have given considerable attention to the nature of the person and the
internal world of individual reflection (religion and Eastern philosophies)