Psychological thinking ,through the ages , has evolved through a dialectical progression - thesis , antithesis and finally synthesis . In this post ,I shall chart the gradual development of modern psychological theories.
The first major debate between Western philosophers was between Aristotle's "Empiricism" and Plato's "Rationalism" . According to Aristotle , reality lies only in the concrete world of objects that our bodies sense and thus research methods must base themselves on concrete objects and actions on those objects. Plato considered reality to reside not in concrete objects but in the abstract forms that these objects represent. According to Plato , the body and the mind are interactive and interdependent but are essentially different , with the mind being superior. We reach truth , not via our senses , but via our thoughts.
This debate endured through the middle ages in Europe and led to Descartes' dualism , which was the dominant idea for a long time. The last 200 years have seen a proliferation of various schools of psychological thought . I list the major ones below :
1. Structuralism : The emphasis was on understanding the mind by analyzing its component or constituent structures. This theory relied on simple classificatory principles. It could not explain complex thought .
2. Functionalism : The focus was now on the analysis of mental operations and the practical use of consciousness. Functionalists and Structuralists differed on the fundamental questions they asked. Structuralists would ask "What are the elementary structures of the human mind ?" whereas Functionalists would question " What do people do , and why ?"
3. Behaviourism : This focussed on the study of observable emitted behaviour in response to stimulus.Behaviourists viewed psychology as an objective natural science and their goal was the prediction and control of behaviour. They considered the mind and consciousness as improper subjects for scientific study.
The behaviourist taboo on the mind was epitomized by a seductive argument by B.F.Skinner which is called the " Theoritican's Dilemma " . It goes like this :
" Suppose that there are mental states that intervene between a stimulus in the external worldand a subsequent response .Then there are two possibilities -- either they intervene in a lawful way or they do not. If they are lawful , theoriticians can ignore themand formulate a law directly relating stimulus to behaviour .If they are not lawful , then theoriticians must obviously not refer to them. Either way , in framing psychological laws there is no need to refer to mental states. They are either unnecessary or unmentionable. "
The argument is flawed on two basic assumptions . The first is that the sole purpose of science is to frame laws. Science aims to explain phenomena and not just codify them into laws . Explainations can take the form of theories. Hence , if mental states exist ,a complete psychological explaination should give an account of them even if they are not included in the laws. The second false assumption is that psychology should concern itself solely from the sequence of stimulus to overt response.There are many mental processes that do not arise from stimuus or do not lead to overt response .( for instance perception )
There is a joke about behaviourism that highlights the limitation of this school of thought -- " After having sex , one Behaviourist asks his female counterpart " That was fine for you , but how was it for me ? " ".
4. Gestaltism : According to this theory , we best understand psychological phenomena when we view them as organized , structured wholes , not when we break them down into pieces because the whole differs from the sum of the parts .Both Behaviourists and
Gestaltists experimented on animals and theorized from the findings.
The contrast between Behaviourism and Gestalt psychology led Bertrand Russell to remark that the animals tended to display the national characteristics of experimenters:
" Animals studied by Americans rush about frantically, with an incredible display of hustle and pep , and at last achieve the desired solution by chance. Animals observed by Germans sit still and think , and at last evolve the solution out of their inner consciousness ."
Current psychological theories focus on Cognitive Science , which will be the topic of future posts .
Till then , adios .
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