Psychology

Hi again well sorry for long delay,i was busy in my exams any ways we were discussing the history right so we will continue from it .....

III. GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD (100BC-500AD)

Wisdom for the conduct of life.

Knowledge derived from the Greeks.

Increased separation of science and philosophy.


IV. HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN PERIODS (300-100 BC & 100BC-500AD)

Progress made by men who stood in the shadow of Aristotle, e.g., Theophrastus (372 BC-) and Galen. Psychology was most advanced by Theophrastus.

The Hellenistic period is often referred to as the twilight of Greek thinking.

It is also the period in which a decline in intellectualism began in the Mediterranean and Alexandria.

Psychology is still a branch of philosophy.

Greek science extended over a period of 800 years. It began with the earliest philosopher/scientists of the sixth century BC and continued to the 2nd or 3rd century of the Christian era.

Some of Aristotle's students begin to make significant contributions to psychology (e.g., Theophrastus).

Greek scientific thought transmitted to the Arabs.


V. THE PATRISTIC PERIOD (200AD-500AD)

Known as the period of the church fathers--and devoted to the formation of Christian Orthodoxy.

Influentials included Origen, Plotinus, and St. Augustine.

The church and Christianity influenced psychology - especially the teachings of Jesus as taught to theologians by Origen. [Origen was one of the intellectual theologians and leaders of the church. He believed that philosophy and science are compatible with the church.]

Period focused on dualism of mind and body and supernaturalism -- or that which was beyond nature. Supernaturalism led a preoccupation with the world to come rather than the world as it exists.

Important contributors include:

-Plotinus - an Egyptian, who moved to Rome. He talked about a mystical reunion with the world soul and development of the individual toward perfection.

-Augustine - Addressed unity and conflict. He was consulted on all psychological matters. He believed that a major source of knowledge of self was by means of reflection, a form of meditation by which we can come to know our soul. Augustine believed that miracles are simply unusual occurrences and require no more and no less explanation than any other event. If they were not rare, they would not cause surprise.

VI. THE MIDDLE AGES (500AD-900AD)

The early part of the period was referred to as the Dark Ages due to the halt of scientific advancement, misgovernment, civil wars, barbarian people, discord, and the dismantling of the monetary system. There was top heavy bureaucracies, civil wars, and barbarian peoples in some areas. The uniformity of Roman law gave way to a maze of discordant local customs. The universal monetary system of the Romans also disappeared.

There were chaotic systems of government and low standards of living. Also, there was widespread illiteracy. Science and culture suffered during this period. In some areas religious scholarship survived.

There were no psychological advance made during this period; and very little interest in Psychology. The works of Aristotle and Plato were even lost.

Islam was developed during this period. Islam means "surrender to God." The followers were known as Muslims. Sicily and Spain came under the domination of Islam. Hellenic civilization also merged into Muslim culture.

The birth of Islam and the Muslim faith occurred in the middle part of the Middle Ages. Muslims assumed positions of leadership in government, the military and religious affairs.

Universities did not come into real prominence until the 13th century. They came into being with the expansion of knowledge. For example, youth in the 11th century entered monasteries; youth in the 13th century attended universities.

Universities began to emerge toward the latter part of the Middle Ages -- the University of Bologna, University of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The curricula included art, natural ethics, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, law and medicine.

During this period, Arabic scholars also had added valuable observations in medicine and had added a variety of new perspectives to philosophy.

Translations included religious, philosophical, medical, science -- such as optics, geology and math.

Introduction of these texts and translations divided the middle ages into what can be known as 2 distinct periods: a) the early middle ages, without the benefits and knowledge; and, b) the later middle ages, with ancient knowledge and science restored.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the "Summa Contra Theologica", an introduction to Christian theology. (Click on the hyper link or go to lessons above to find an overview of the life and works of Aquinas). He was also author of commentaries on Aristotle and various books of the Bible.

A reawakening of knowledge occurred in the late middle ages.

VII. THE RENAISSANCE (1450-1800 AD)

A period of general and literary enrichment. Also called the Age of Reason. This period was a scientific and philosophical movement which started in France and took hold in Britain and Germany. Its new ideas about human progress through science and reason strongly influenced the revolutionary leaders in America and France.

Called the "Enlightenment," or Age of Reason. Was a scientific and philosophical movement which started in France and took hold in Britain and Germany. Its new ideas about human progress through science and reason strongly influenced the revolutionary leaders in America and France.

Scientists of the Enlightenment were very keen to find out about the world, nature, chemistry, and physics.

Renaissance men were discovering ancient geography through translations of ancient manuscripts.

There was development of a new education with a new curriculum.

The field of psychology was broadened.

Voyages and discoveries of the world took place (Columbus, Diaz, daGama, and, the captains of Prince Henry the Navigator). The world was enlarged.

This period included such scholars as: Leonardo da Vinci -- an artist, engineer and geologist, painted the famous Madonna & Child; Linnaeus -founded modern botany and zoology and classified plants and animals into groups; Lavoisier - proved that air consists of oxygen and nitrogen and also made the first table of chemical elements; Benjamin Franklin was both a statesman and a man of science. He studied electricity and used a key on a kite string to act as a lightning conductor; he also invented a stove and bifocal glasses; Mozart was a child genius and the most brilliant composer of his day. Scheele discovered oxygen; Cavendish discovered hydrogen; Rutherford discovered nitrogen; Fahrenheit invented a mercury thermometer, Celsius invented a centigrade thermometer; Luigi Galvani discovered contact electricity. Also the French Montgolfier brothers made the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.

The Romantic movement followed the Enlightenment, and it affected revolutionary politics in Europe as well as its arts. Two leading figures in the movement were the composer Beethoven and Goethe, the poet.

Descartes made significant contributions bordering the Renaissance period and the modern period. He decided that the point of interchange between the mind and body is the pineal gland, located at the base of the cerebrum. He also described in detail, the nervous system and was considered the father of modern philosophy by existentialists. Descartes also was considered a leader in the development of mathematics, and laid the foundation for analytic geometry and contributed to modern algebra. Was author of: The Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason; Searching Truth in the Sciences; and the Meditations on First Philosophy.

VIII. MODERN PERIOD (16TH-17TH Century)

The emphasis was on methodology, science and mathematics. Also know as the "Scientific Revolution."

Influential scientists included Francis Bacon, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, William Harvey, Napier.

Francis Bacon was one of the first men to study nature by using scientific observation. Developed an empirical methodology and inductive reasoning. It is reported that he translated the first King James version of the Bible and was the true writer of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan literature. Was considered the first English essayist. It is also reported that he secretly laid the groundwork for the establishment of the United States of America.

-In his works Novum Organum, Advancement of Learning, and New Atlantis, Bacon outlined his views of what
science should become. He proposed drastic changes in scientific procedure.

-He died from a chill after stuffing a fowl with snow. He was studying refrigeration.

Galileo was the first to turn a telescope to the skies to map the galaxy. He provided evidence that the earth was not the fixed center of the universe, but that it and all the other planets revolved around the sun.
Galileo also observed the moon's "seas" and mountains, the planets and the stars of the Milky Way. His studies included the laws of "falling bodies" using experiments and mathematics. He studied the pendulum and designed a clock.

William Harvey conducted experiments and microscopic observations that proved that the blood circulates around the body.

Isaac Newton, laid the foundations of modern science. He worked on mathematical calculus, light and gravity and invented his own reflecting telescope. He worked out laws on gravity and how things move, using observation and mathematics. He found out that white light was made up of a rainbow, or "spectrum," of colored light.

Napier, a Scottish mathematician invented logarithms. He invented a calculating system using rods of bone.



IX. BRITISH EMPIRICISM (17th & 18th Century)

Empiricism became a viable alternative to rationalism. Focused primarily on associationism - the ways in which mental events are connected.

They accepted the Baconian proposition that science must start from observations that are collected carefully and from which cautious generalizations are made.

Empiricism places the origin of mind in sensation and explains the higher mental processes such as memory, thinking and imagination as complexes of persistent impressions held together by associations. Associations exist due to certain conditions that were present at the time of the impression such as repetition and contiguity.

They believed that mind is built from sensory experiences (sense); these experiences provide elemental ideas or memories which come together to form complex ideas by virtue of association.

Thus, the field of psychology was becoming more empirical and moving away from rationalism during the British empirical system.

Some noted scientists included:
-- Thomas Hobbes- 1588-1679- first British empiricist. He explained memory and imagination as decaying
sense impressions held together by association;

-- John Locke- 1632-1704 - extended Hobbes principles, developed the first completely worked out empirical theory
of knowledge and Tabula Rasa - the mind is blank at birth;

-- George Berkeley-1685-1753- talked about mentalism--that mental aspects of life are paramount and that only reality is
mind. He developed a theory of vision and depth and space perception;

-- David Hume (1711-1776) - the mind is only a name given to the flow of ideas, memories, imagination and
feelings. Published Treatise on Human Nature and An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding;
-- David Hartley- 1705-1757 - Considered physiology and psychology to be associational. Published Observations of
Man in 1749 and believed in tabula rasa-the mind is blank at birth;

--James and John Stuart Mills - sensation and ideas are primary material of the mind.

--James Mills (1773-1836)- considered the greatest associationist; believed that sensations and ideas are primary material
of the mind. He wrote Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind.

--John Stuart Mills (1806-1873) - wrote Logic; believed that the "whole is more than the sum of its parts." "Elements
may generate complex ideas, but the ideas generated are not merely the sum of the individual parts."

X. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (1800s TO 1870s)

Advanced initially by German psychologists (Wundt and others).

They believed that an experiment was a way of testing a theory. Instead of passively observing nature, experimenters actively interfere in natural phenomena. The goal of an experiment is to put nature to question.

During this period great strides were being made in the understanding of the nervous system.

Physiologists were moving closer to psychology. This was the beginning of the development of physiological psychology.

Physiology became an experimental discipline in the 1830s. Physiology emerging in the 19th century influenced psychologists to turn their attention to searching for neural mechanisms underlying behavior.

This was the beginning of the development of neurology and brain functioning.

This was the beginning of the development of psychophysics.

Many of the Americans interested in psychology studied in Germany with the German psychologists; among them William James and Edward Titchener.

XI. FRENCH PSYCHOLOGY (Late 18th to Early 19th Century)

Advanced the study of Psychopathology and Intelligence. Just before the beginning of the 19th century, France became the first country to begin to develop adequate care for the insane and the feeble-minded. French psychologists focused on psychopathological behavior. Contributed to the development of pathological psychology.

Included scientists such as:

--Jean Itard - 1775-1838- began work with the feebleminded. Was the pioneer in the systematic study of mental deficiency;

--Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) - began work on "mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"-now known as hypnosis);

--Jean Charcot (1825-1893) - often referred to as the father of neurology; Sigmund Freud was a pupil of Charcot and lived and studied with him in France for a while;

--Alfred Binet - studied intelligence and constructed the first intelligence test.

XII. FUNCTIONALISM IN AMERICA (19th Century)

Considered the first truly American system of psychology.

William James called the founder of modern psychology. Developed a functional psychology which included the study of consciousness. Was considered the leading American forerunner of functionalism, with his 2-volume work, The Principles of Psychology, (1890). His functional psychology included the study of consciousness as an ongoing process or stream.

The focus was on the study of mind and the function of thought. Functionalism's primary interest was the study of mind as it functions in adapting the organism to its environment.

Today's psychology is said to be functionalistic because of its emphasis on learning, intelligence, testing, perception and other functional processes.


References

Bernal, Martin (1987). Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece-1785-1985, Volume 1). New Jersey:
Rutgers University Press.

James, George G. M. (1954). Stolen Legacy. San Francisco: Julian Richardson Associates.

Olela, Henry (1981). From Ancient Africa to Ancient Greece: An Introduction to the History of Philosophy. Atlanta, GA: The Select Publishing Corporation.
Watson, Robert I. and Rand B. Evans. (1991). The Great Psychologists: A History of Psychological Thought. Harper Collins Publishers.