Classical Psychology: The Roots of Western Thought and Eastern Traditions, Study notes of Psychology

Download Classical Psychology: The Roots of Western Thought and Eastern Traditions and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Psych 08/31/09 Classical Psychology 500 BC to 300 BC -Europe: Plato, Aristotle -China: Taoism, Confucianism -India: Vedanta, Sankhya, Buddhism Science started in the west, not in China. A classical puzzle. In the 1600, science really got going, until 1914, in World War I. After that, science has been faltering blah blah. Aristotle- A biological way of looking at the world Spent huge sums of his own money for research in biology. Very well connected. Focus on human psychology was to see man as a simple biological thing/animal. He influenced very much Thomas Aquinas. He was a great biologist. If the world contradicted logic, so much worse for the world. Proof would make things not true, rather than proof making things true. HE HAS THE BIOLOGICAL WAY OF LOOKING AT HUMAN BEINGS. We are basically animals but we have something higher that allows us to think. Plato- A metaphysical way Sankhya dealt with consciousness in a very modern way. Notion of material processes goes up much higher. ENLIGHTENMENT TO THE GREAT WAR 1600 to 1914 Some general features: - Science is “Natural Philosophy” -Consciousness central -Pluralistic methods & values Galileo brought in skepticism. Bring in lots of sources of information. Logic, observation, skepticism, introspection, direct experience what does it feel like etc… 1600- Many people were getting put to the stake for differences in philosophy and theological distinctions. Europe got exhausted with this. Erasmus: “Live and let live” Renee Descartes *Nature/nurture: Nativism/Empiricism Mental activity for EMPIRICISM is -learned -learning is passive (movie screen analogy) “sense impressions” The universe has a structure. Our cognition is the result of that structure impressed on us. Ultimately derives from the passive capacity of the mind to receive impressions. -organized bottom-up Representative transformation LOOK AT FIGURE 1.2’ photosynthesis Around 1914 Einstein said that you were prevented from understanding WHY. Prediction and control, instead of understanding. Psych 08/31/09 Section Correlation is NOT causation!!! (Ice cream sales to drowning) A cor B B cor A A->B B->A C->>AB The fact that they are related has an underlying cause. Two birds flying in the same pattern-> correlation=1 Two birds flying in opposite pattern-> correlation=-1 Two flies flying in random pattern-> correlation=0 Active vs Passive sentences = Causation Active sentences are more vivid and more easily processed, active sentences show the cause and inherently set up to fit our coherency. Something happens and something else happens as a result. The first thing is usually considered the cause and the second is the result. Experiments have very different status than correlational study. Experiments in theory don’t necessarily solve everything, BUT show cause and effect. Correlation does not. This is better because experiments are controlled unlike correlational studies. And things are dealt with one at a time. Compare dependent variable to the independent variable. Any causal relationship can be explained in a correlational relationship but not always the other way around. HUGE number of correlational relationships compared to a tiny number of causal relationship. We change our environment to be able to survive in order to reproduce. Given that correlational studies are so much less powerful than experimental…then why have correlational studies? Correlations are easier to set up. Experiments take a lot more time, money, blah blah. Much cheaper to do correlations. Correlations are good for persuasion. Correlational studies do not cause damage to subjects unlike experiments that are set up on purpose to leave subjects vulnerable to damage. “Can’t have more child molesters or less child molesters. Etc..” 9/2/09 Enlightenment to the Great War 1600 to 1914 Some general features: -Science is “natural philosophy” -Consciousness central -Pluralistic methods and values -Ultimate aim: understanding 20th century was all about making people and animals do what you want. (continued from EMPIRICISM) Mental activity for NATIVISM is -largely innate (computer analogy) -more active