Who was Wilhelm Wundt?

Wilhelm Wundt was a German psychologist and is considered the founder of psychology. The laboratory he set up in 1879 at the University of Leipzig is regarded as the beginning of psychology as an academic science. Wundt regarded psychology as an experimental science and believed that psychological experiments were limited to a limited number of phenomena (such as perception). He was also interested in the higher psychological processes (such as language), but believed that these subjects were not suitable for experimental research. Such subjects would be better discussed in philosophy.

Who was Aristotle?

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived around 350 BC. He wrote what can be considered as the first book on psychology, called De Anima. He regarded the psyche as both the power of life and the power of feeling and knowing. In modern terms, it can be said that he considered the psyche to be the basis of both biology and psychology. These two different approaches have often faced each other in the history of psychology, and Aristotle had an exceptional vision of combining them. Only now are we seeing these two approaches converge again in areas such as biological psychology and neuropsychology.

How did European societies change after the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century?

The period between 500 and 1500 is known as the Middle Ages. Societies changed and started consisting of different classes. At the top were the nobility and the church, and at the bottom were servants who lived and worked on the lands of the nobility, and inhabitants of cities. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Greek and Roman knowledge was lost and Europe entered a period of stagnation and degradation. Education was conducted by the church, with an emphasis on the teachings of the church. Over time, the most prominent religious schools developed into the first universities in Europe.

What role did Aristotle´s teaching play in the education of the church?

Gradually, Roman knowledge and Greek philosophy became available within the universities that emerged around the year 1200. The teachings of Plato and Aristotle were, in part, incorporated into the teachings of the church. Two main ideas of Aristotle's philosophy, in particular, fitted well with the Church's vision. First, he distinguished heaven from earth. Second, he believed that there is a "natural place" that all objects aspire to.

What is mechanicism (in philosophy)?

The new vision of the universe that emerged around the year 1600 is also called mechanicism or mechanicism. It refers to the idea that all natural phenomena have an observable, physical explanation.

How did scientists and philosophers change the view of the world and the universe around the year 1600?

Around the year 1600, scientists and philosophers began to focus more on understanding how the universe works, rather than explaining why the universe is the way it is. They also showed a shift in the underlying image of what kind of universe we live in. The following scientists and philosophers can be considered partly responsible for this shift:

• Nicolaus Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer who created a heliocentric model of the universe where the sun, rather than the earth, existed at the center of the universe.

• Galileo Galilei was an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher who supported Copernicus' heliocentric world view (using the telescope he developed).

• Giordano Bruno was a philosopher, priest and cosmologist who also supported Copernicus' ideas. He argued that the stars were actually distant suns, surrounded by their own planets, and that these planets could have their own life.

• Johannes Kepler was an astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and physicist. He showed that the planet Mars moves around the sun.

• Francis Bacon was a philosopher and statesman and is considered the pioneer of the scientific method, among other things by introducing the method of induction.

How has mechanicism influenced science?

The influence of the emergence of the mechanicism can be summarized in a number of points that will be further explained below:

• Materialism.

• The method of analysis and quantification.

• Reductionism.

What is materialism (as viewed by mechanicism)?

Mechanicism views the universe as material, consisting of matter. The universe consists of dead objects that move under the influence of a force. Matter is made up of atoms and can be analyzed in terms of the atoms that it exists of. The diversity of objects around us stems from a small number of different atoms, which can be combined in various ways to create an unlimited number of new materials and objects.

What are the primary and secondary characteristics of matter?

The primary attributes are those that are considered objective as they can be quantified and anyone who would measure those qualities would get the same results. Size, shape, and motion are directly derived from the atoms that make up matter. The secondary characteristics of matter are those that cannot be measured and appear to differ between and within the observers, such as color and taste. These characteristics relate not only to the properties of the atoms of matter, but also to the observer himself and the context in which they are observed.

What is the method of analysis?

Mechanicists wanted to know how things worked, which resulted in the birth of the analysis method. According to this method, an object must first be broken down into the parts (such as the atoms), and then an attempt must be made to understand how the interaction between those parts explains the functioning of the object. Mechanicists used quantification to study phenomena, because quantification was considered objective and the measurements do not depend on the observer.

What is reductionism?

Reductionism is the reduction of a set of phenomena at a particular organizational level to phenomena at a lower organizational level. The idea is that higher-level phenomena can be explained by lower-level phenomena. An example is when trying to explain criminal behavior on the basis of genetic factors. It is a typical aspect of the mechanicism, because mechanicism tries to explain all the behavior of matter in terms of the components found at the atomic level (the most basic level of organization).

How did the emergence of mechanicism affect the structure of society and the economy?

The emergence of mechanicism coincided with an increase in production and trade, the wealth of cities, and a growing importance of the use of money and banks. The quantification of economics, that is, the use of money and the interaction between supply and demand, formed the basis for the market economy. In the market economy, the value of products and services is determined by supply and demand. These forces make the market economy work as a mechanical process. The mechanization of the economy had/has a major effect on the structure of society, as can be seen in phenomena such as labor flexibility and globalization.

How has the quest for true knowledge evolved over time?

The search for useful and true knowledge can already be seen in the time of Plato and Aristotle. Plato was a proponent of rationalism, which holds that knowledge comes from our ability to reason. Aristotle was a proponent of empiricism, which holds that knowledge comes from the experiences we have. During the Middle Ages, not much attention was paid to this quest for true knowledge. It wasn't until about 1600 that the debate started again, and it continues to this day. Even today, the two main views in this debate are rationalism and empiricism.

Who was Francis Bacon?

Francis Bacon is considered the pioneer of the scientific method. He was an empiricist and believed that true knowledge could only be obtained through observations made by the method of induction. The process of induction involves systematically making observations and conducting experiments. The results should then be presented in an organized manner so that a particular pattern can be observed. This pattern would then represent a generalization, or law, of the observations.

What is Weber´s law?

Weber's law is an example of induction in psychology. It indicates the logarithmic character of the strength of sensory perceptions and establishes a relationship between the power of physical impulses on the human senses and the intensity of the accompanying sensations. If physical impulses increase in constant proportions, the sensations increase in constant differences. The just noticeable difference is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. The just noticeable difference is large if the intensity of the stimulus is large, and small if the intensity of the stimulus is small.

What is the nature-nurture debate?

The nature-nurture debate refers to the discussion about the origin of an individual's traits. There are two extreme positions in this debate. According to the nature point of view, all characteristics of an individual are determined by predisposition (e.g. the genetic material). According to the nurture point of view, all characteristics of an individual are determined by upbringing (e.g., the living environment).

In what way is the nature-nurture debate typical for psychology?

It's a typical psychology debate, because unlike other sciences, psychology continues to debate what psychology is and how to study it. Conceptions of the core question of what it means to be human have changed and continue to change throughout the history of psychology.

What is the replication crisis?

Replication means that when other people repeat the same research, they find the same results as originally published. The replication crisis is based on recent findings indicating that only one in three psychological experiments can be replicated. This means that it is unclear which studies are correct and the results of all studies therefore have little meaning.

How does the book The Bell Curve exemplify the mechanization of psychology as a science?

The book The Bell Curve is a controversial book written in 1994 that takes its title from the shape of the normal distribution of human intelligence. The book claims that there are ethnic differences between IQ scores, which are reflected in different normal distributions for different ethnic populations. This suggests that there is a hereditary factor that influences intelligence. The mechanization of psychology has created a drive to quantify phenomena so that they can be measured objectively. An example of this is the use of the IQ score as a measure of intelligence.

What is the mind-body problem?

The mind-body problem is a central theme in philosophy dealing with the inexplicable interplay between the disembodied mind and the physical body, or, between consciousness and the brain. It deals with the question of how the mind can interact with the body, whether the mind and body are of different substances, and how the mind can generate psychological functions if the mind is made up of matter. Important concepts within this theme are monism and dualism. These concepts deal with the question of how many different forms of 'existence' can be distinguished.

What is monism?

Monism is a philosophical position that holds that there is only one of something. There are different types of monistic visions. Many philosophers and scientists are materialists and their view is that matter is the only substance in existence. That is an example of a monistic point of view called realism. Another example is idealism, as followed by Plato, who believed that the world of ideas or the mind is more real than the physical world we think we perceive.

What is dualism?

Dualism is a philosophical view that holds that there are two different forms of substances in the universe. The first is matter, as studied in physics, biology, and chemistry. The second is the basis of the human mind. Examples of dualism can be seen in Descartes' view that defines the substance of mind as thinking, and the causality that Wundt describes that would drive thought and creativity.

According to Wundt, why can´t the mind be studied through experiments?

According to Wundt, there is a unique form of causality that drives thought and creativity. This kind of causality could not be found in biology or physiology because it is not made up of matter. As a result, it cannot be examined by the same methods by which matter can be examined.

How has the importance of cognition and emotion developed in psychology?

From 1600 onwards, psychology mainly looked at cognition, which was regarded as thinking and perceiving. Emotions were not considered important for a long period of time. Emotions were said to be a part of the body, not the human mind. In recent decades, emotions have become more important in psychology. For example, in research into decision-making. Without emotional involvement, people would almost never make a decision and always move from one decision to another. Today, emotions are considered just as important as cognition.