Rene Descartes was one of the first philosophers to document significant psychological queries and has been known to be considered the father of modern day psychology, as well as philosophy, physiology, and mathematics (Goodwin, 2008). Descartes was alive near the end of the Renaissance period and was a true Renaissance man. Descartes was well versed in all forms of art, science, and philosophy. Descartes believed in learning through experience and conducted many experiences to attempt to attain absolute knowledge. Descartes believed that it was possible to learn everything there was to know about the world in the span of his lifetime.
The only truth that would be accepted by Descartes would be the truth that he saw with his own eyes: a method that was highly discouraged by the Catholic Church. “First, he would accept nothing as true unless ‘it presented itself so clearly and distinctly to my mind that there was no reason to doubt it’” (Goodwin, 2008).
Descartes was a pioneer of the theory of “reflex.” Descartes believed that the mind and body did not work together, but rather simultaneously, and perhaps dependent on each other. This was the introduction of true psychology. Descartes began to experiment on the way the body communicates with the brain and found that there was a physiological explanation for a psychological reaction.
Several other philosophers contributed to the foundations of psychology. Many of these philosophers were British and followed the empiricist tradition, meaning that they believed that the knowledge of the world is derived from experiences and not necessarily from books. These philosophers included Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill.
John Locke wrote two books: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690/1963) and Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693/1963) (Goodwin, 2008). These books revolutionized the way people looked at education. Locke studied the way humans absorb information in great detail. Locke strongly believed that the environment a person is placed in helps to determine the level of absorption of education. He wanted to understand what people thought of the world and how they came to those conclusions.
Locke questioned perception. He wondered if people really saw things the same way, or just perceived them to be the same. For instance, if one child is born and sees blue, but is told that it is red; does it then make that color red? If another child sees red and is told that it is red, is their claim that the color they see is red any more true than the other child’s claim? Both children’s perception is that they are seeing red.
Locke studied the theories of nature versus nurture. Locke believed that a person’s environment will determine their morals, preferences, and beliefs. This suggested that nurture actually determines the psychological wellbeing of a person, not nature. Locke did, however, note that there were exceptions to his findings.
David Hume proposed that memories can be tied to current experiences. Hume believed in cause and effect. If a child helps their mother make cookies over and over again, chances are that when that child is an adult and smells cookies, he or she will think of his or her mother. Because the current experience of smelling cookies is tied to the memory of making cookies, which is also associated with the child (now adult)’s mother, the smell of cookies reminds this person of his or her mother. This was the beginning of modern psychology.
John Stuart Mill is attributed with pushing psychology from a philosophical categorization to a scientific one. Mill was a reformist who believed that nurture won out over nature. Mill was a rationalist and a realist. As he put it, “I have long felt that the prevailing tendency to regard all the marked distinctions of human character as innate, and in the mail indelible, and to ignore the irresistible proofs that by far the greater part of those differences, whether between individuals, races, or sexes are… produced by differences in circumstances, is one of the chief hindrances to the rational treatment of great social questions and one of the greatest stumbling blocks to human improvement” (Goodwin, 2008). Mill applied scientific analysis to psychological issues. Even now, Mill’s psychological theories shape the way psychologists do research.
Kant is best known in psychology for several publications that he wrote. Like other psychologists, Kant believed that knowledge is gained by experiences. Kant was concerned with the way people learned. Although he believed that experiences shape knowledge, he believed that some knowledge must come before the experience in order to learn from it. Kant argued that psychology would never become a science because psychology could not be directly observed the way that physiological sciences could. There was no mathematical explanation for psychology. Some time later, psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt pushed psychology into the category of science rather than art.
Hermann von Helmholtz is credited with being the leading German physiologist of the latter half of the nineteenth century (Goodwin, 2008). Helmholtz is known for connecting physiology and psychology, although he preferred physics to either of the before stated sciences. Helmholtz contributed many studies to the concept of perception and vision. Helmholtz discovered that there were several flaws in the biological construction of the human eye, including natural aberrations caused by the fluids in the eyes. Helmholtz argued that perception is directly related to past experiences. If there were not a previous experience, perception would mean nothing. Many times, a person will not notice that he or she is relating past experience with his or her current perception: it is an unconscious effort.
Phrenology is widely known as a “pseudoscience.”After phrenology was disproven, it remained a popular worldwide phenomenon. Phrenology is the study of the bumps on the human skull. Franz Josef Gall believed that certain areas of the skull directly related to areas of the brain. If there were more bumps in a certain area of the skull, certain personality attributes or flaws could be assumed. Although this “science” was quickly disproven, it is credited with being the first theory to suggest the localization of brain function; and Gall is “credited with being among the first to argue that the brain was the organ of both the intellectual and the emotional components of the mind” (Goodwin, 2008). Years later, a man named Phineas Gage sustained a severe injury while at work. In this injury, a tamping iron was forced through his skull and brain. Remarkably, Gage survived the injury but was a changed man (and not for the better). Once known as an upstanding citizen, Gage became an angry man and a town embarrassment. Phrenologists unsuccessfully argued that this supported their theory.
Ablation was introduced by Pierre Flourens in order to disprove the theories of Phrenology. In this procedure, Flourens would remove a portion of the brain in order to note any changes in personality, mental illness, or physical illness. “Florens removed specific sections of the brain and observed the effects” (Goodwin, 2008). This allowed Florens to observe what portions of the brain were responsible for each functionality of the body. This lead to the discovery that the right side of the brain controlled the left side of the body and the left side of the brain controlled the right side of the body.
The history of Psychology is a complicated one. Many advances have been made in the last few hundred years, and the science of Psychology continues to develop today. What we understand to be true today may be disproven in 100, 20, or even 10 years! The understanding of the human mind is just beginning, and the ability to learn more seems never ending.
References:
Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology 3e BM.
