Evaluating Various Psychological Issues - Coursework Example

?Running Head: Psychology Answers to Questions Psychology Question The main influence of science in the enlightenment includes the persistence of substantiation of scientific studies by the use of the scientific technique. Prior to the enlightenment, technical data was regarded to be grounded on what specialist said “If the Bible said it was so, it was so”. Doctors employed the Galen books and additional ones to carry out surgeries in addition to getting information about a person’s body. However, their charts were regularly grounded on animal dissections and extrapolations to people, therefore were very incorrect. Before the enlightenment age it was presumed that the heavenly things operated according to ancient method, until Galileo and Copernicus established the way in which solar system operated by use of mathematics and observations. The spirit of enlightenment was derived from the intellectual and technical revolution which had occurred in the seventeenth century, with people like Descartes and Newton. Enlightenment in addition to the belief in advancement offered influential drives for making science popular, a field where the 18th century built on the achievements of the technical revolution. The approach towards technical knowledge upheld by romantic philosophers, including nonscientists and scientists, was more complex compared to that of their enlightenment ancestors. Some kinds of romanticism distrusted technical enterprise completely and others endorsed non mechanical technology. The philosophy of enlightenment emphasized on natural rule and skepticism for custom. Scientists were confident of the capacity of science and human motive, convinced in the reliability of nature, taken with the idea of the move forward of civilization (Zafirovski, 2011). Enlightenment attitude toward science influenced the psychology of history in that the new feelings steered Wundt’s efforts to search for experimental psychology in the 1880s. Since the start of psychology, efforts have been made to make studies more objective for the purposes of replicating outcomes and for the technical method to be followed. Edwin’s views regarding psychology’s history exerted great impact in the 20th century. He was a key supporter of Zeitgeist construal of advance in science (Zafirovski, 2011). Question 2 The similarities between Wundt and Galton include: Both Galton and Wundt were trained in the medical field and they were engaged in invention of psychological experiment and the testing of personal variations that thrived in Britain and Germany in the 20th century. They left the absolute introspective and subjective methods and started to examine individual capacity in labs. For example, Galton employed many psychophysical processes applied by Wundt and adapted them to a chain of quick and easy sensor motor procedures. Wundt and Galton differed in that Wundt had a degree in medicine and published various medical reports, and in the year 1875 he launched a laboratory. Wundt explained the results of wearing specs that rendered straight lines appear curved. He began measuring psychological procedures after testing his idea meter in 1862. Wundt reflected that the variation amid the experimental pendulum location and the real position would offer a way of establishing the speediness of idea of the viewer, a characteristic he thought differs from an individual to another. The employment of an empirical analysis to describe individual variations was the most important contribution made by Wundt to current psychological experimentation. Galton was initially trained in medicine but later left his medical studies and entered other fields where he made significant contributions for instance eugenics and geography. He was the first person to print weather maps and to explain the area of high pressure as a system of weather. Galton also invented in study of similarity in mental and physical attributes in successive age groups and employed twins to study the comparative effects of nature and nature (Hergenhahn, 2009). Galton has regularly been recognized as the founder of psychological experiments by historians. Although his simplistic efforts to measure intelligence with gauges of sensory prejudice and response period were not successful, Galton offered a tremendous drive to the experiment movement by portraying that objective examination could be formulated and that significant scores could be attained through standardized processes. Question 3 Descartes is considered a rationalist because he emphasized the significance of thought procedures and he enumerated various kinds of ideas for instance those gotten from experience, reason, and those that are natural and therefore generated in the mind via God. The natural thought was a foundation of rationalistic notion. Natural ideas are described as the very attributes of a person’s mind, created by God. They are very important for rationalists who often maintained that natural ideas were requirement for studying extra details. Descartes maintained that, without natural dreams, no additional facts would be recognized. Moreover Descartes are considered rationalist because they had a lot of knowledge and would explain the way a person would gain conviction (Smith, 2012). However, the majority of rationalists finally believed that God was the final guarantee of awareness. Descartes concluded that an individuals mind was not able to understand anything more certainly than the survival of God. A finite creature lacked the capacity of describing the presence of the notion of an infinite God apart from his basic existence. Nativism is the opinion that behavior is natural and that it is powerfully affected by genes. Descartes is considered a nativist because he believed that a number of ideas were inborn. These included the notion of mathematics and God. He is thus regarded as a thinker and a forebear of nativism. Descartes claims that ideas like infinity and God cannot be gotten from experience therefore are natural. Descartes epistemology confirms that he was a nativist because he believed much in natural ideas (Smith, 2012). A good illustration is his actuality of doubt where he only accepted things which he could only make certain. He claimed that his notion of God as endless and autonomous is an obvious and distinct debate for the existence of God. Question 4 The link between Galton’s beliefs about intelligence and eugenics are: he powerfully favored the choosy breeding of individuals, given the victory in breeding animals and given the progressive disintegration of people with unrestricted breeding permitted to the minor. Galton named the eugenics practice and introduced data to biological materials. Eugenics refers to the study of the organizations under social influence that may enhance or impair the racial characteristics of future age groups either psychologically or physically. Through studying Darwin’s hypothesis, Galton came to consider that innate selection does not function in the men’s societies like the way it functions in nature due to interference by man. Consequently, the fittest do not often survive. Therefore, Galton embarked to consciously enhance the race. He invented the term eugenics to explain attempts at improvement of race. The eugenics movement aimed at rectifying the disastrous disintegration of the human race (Goodwin, 2010). The link between Galton’s beliefs about intelligence and mental testing are: Galton invented the association experiment in the year 1883, where by subjects record all the associations that enter the brain in four seconds after an inciting word. Galton analyzed his personal associations, employed recommendations to render himself a paranoid, and launched an anthropometric laboratory to gather information on human bodily and psychological qualities in the year 1884. He believed that psychological authority is directly connected with sensory perception, partially because ladies had failed as tasters of wine and tuners of piano. His whistle was as well explained in 1884 as a way of distinguishing people, partially by age. Galton was pleased that elderly individuals, who imagined that they could perceive all sounds, were unhappy and surprised to know that younger friends listened to pitches to which they were unable to hear. Loss of sound perception may be expected to go along with common loss in psychological power (Goodwin, 2010). Question 5 Phrenology was a science that promised certain and obvious information regarding the mental characteristics and behaviors of people during 1840. The field of phrenology was committed to the recognition of essential brain roles and their expressions in cranial aspects. The basic principles of Gall’s system were: The brain constitutes the mind organ; the mind is made up of several, distinct, natural faculties; due to the fact that they are different, every faculty ought to have a particular organ within the brain; with other factors constant, the extent of an organ determines its influence; the growth of different organs determines the brain shape; and as the skull gets its shape from the brain, the skull’s surface can be read as a correct index of mental tendencies and aptitudes (Rosset, 2007). It was believed that through examining the unevenness and the shape of skull or head, a person could realize the growth of the specific cerebral organ accountable for various intellectual abilities and personality traits. For instance, a famous swelling in the brow at the location credited to the organ of kindness was meant to signify that the person had a well grown organ of kindness and thus be expected to portray kind conduct. Flourens and other physiologists established fresh experimental techniques to mediate straight into the brain, and to view the outcomes of the interventions on animal conduct. These included selective surgical ablation of sections of animal brain, medical studies and galvanic and faradic stimulation of the brain of people and animals. Flourens commenced by employing localized brain wounds in pigeons and rabbits. He portrayed credibly that the major sections of the brain were accountable for largely various roles. Gall and other phrenologists found only confirmations for their concepts and failed to apply similar standard to contradictory proof. The phrenologists failed to accept that the action of a specific faculty may be sovereign of the extent of its organ as this destabilized the most basic hypothesis of the science. This made all of its conclusions meaningless and inconsistent (Rosset, 2007). Question 6 The two varieties of the clinical method for studying the brain are illustrated by Phineas Gage in the following manner: The idea of the lesion technique is grounded on the notion to find a correlation amid a particular brain region and happening behavior. Gage had his left chin and skull damaged by an explosion which led to the damage of his anterior lobes. Gage’s experience and study observation confirms that the loss of a section of the brain results to changes in behavior or interfere in doing a given role. In people brain lesion are frequently caused by strokes or tumors. For purposes of upgrading the possibility of the theoretical link between a brain region and performance of a role double dissociation is conducted. This method aims at proving whether the two dissociations are independence. Gage provides a prominent lesion case- when he suffered a lesion while at work. Gage did not die but went through a dramatic character change due to damage of his anterior lobes. The distinctiveness of this case renders it hard to depict generality from it; however it portrays the underlying idea of the lesion technique (Ward, 2006). The two varieties of the clinical method for studying the brain are illustrated by Tan in the following manner: This can well be explained by the concept of modularity. This theory emerges from phrenology and maintains functional specialization, proposing that the brain has various components that are domain precise in role. The expression tan was well pronounced by Broca’s patient. This research aimed at locating the precise location of lesion in the anterior lobe. This patient was only able to produce the expression tan and following his demise, a lesion was seen on the casing of the left anterior lobe. Broca region in the brain is liable for speech processing, knowledge and language manufacture (Ward, 2006). Question 7 Wundt rather than Fechner is considered to be the founder of modern experimental psychology because he made several contributions in the field of psychology. He is regarded as the founder of psychology because of establishing the world’s initial psychological lab in the year 1879. The launching of this lab is normally marked as the formal launch of psychology as a distinct and separate science. Through launching a lab that applied technical means to study the behavior and mind of human beings, Wundt separated psychology from a blend of biology and philosophy and rendered it a distinctive area of study (Mandler, 2007). Besides this, Wundt as well had several students who became power psychologists. These include Edward Titchener who was accountable for launching the structuralism school of thought; James Cattell was the initial psychology lecturer in America, and Stanley who was the first person to launch experimental lab in a psychology lab in America. His most outstanding contribution in the current psychological experiment was the employment of an empirical analysis to describe individual variations. Fechner could not be considered as the founder of modern experimental psychology because he did not make outstanding contributions in this field as compared to Wundt. Fechner conducted tests in physics during his early twenties and later made several physics publications. He was more interested in physics compared to psychology in his early years and when he was appointed a physics lecturer at the age of thirty two. He later developed an interest in philosophy and became a lecturer of philosophy. In his late forties, he authored a monograph on plant psychology- Nanna and also made a publication summarizing his natural philosophy. This offered a motivation for the establishment of experimental psychology. This was his contribution in the field of modern psychology. Therefore Fechner did not contribute much in this field compared to Wundt, hence his recognition as the founder of modern experimental psychology (Mandler, 2007). Question 8 Darwin had his evolutionary theory worked out in the early 1840’s but he delayed publication because of the following reasons: he was constantly sick. Darwin suffered from vomiting, severe headaches, and palpitations of the heart. He was hypnotized, went through hydrotherapy, and lived a life explained by a long fight against the tiredness and strain of the illness. Darwin’s sickness has never been detected; he might have suffered an illness contracted in his tours or from intense allergies. However, this reason is not accepted because it never stopped Darwin’s work on additional subjects. The delay is believed to be as a result of fear of the outcomes of printing evolution proof. He feared the unreasoning resistance of the church as well as the existence of scientific resistance to such opinions and contempt for the idea of evolution, “which had long been an enthusiastic of ecstatic and occultists committed to seances and tales of fairies flitting across the moors at dawn. To advance so amateurish a theory was to invite learned ridicule”. Another reason why Darwin may have delayed publishing his work may be his desire to conceal his ideas from the editors (Van Wyhe & Rookmaaker, 2012). Darwin published his work in the year 1859 because of fear of competition from Wallace. Darwin decided to print his work after receiving a comprehensive essay which mainly outlined his personal work. This incident highly distressed him. Darwin sought for assistance from his pals Hooker and Lyell who organized his 1844 paper. During this time, Darwin’s precedence was accepted by the Linnaean society. Question 9 Ernst Weber was an anatomist and physiologist and lecturer at Leipzig in his early twenties. Weber invented the investigation of the space perception on the surface of the skin and encouraged the idea that every sensory nerve fiber acts as a particular region on the casing, “sensory circle.” However, Weber is most recognized for a discovery related to the procedure of discrimination that was reported in the year 1834. Weber’s initial concern was in examining the outcome of the muscle logic on the prejudice of weights seized in the hands. Weber’s law states that “in observing the disparity between things that are compared, we perceive not the difference between the things, but the ratio of this difference to the magnitude of the things compared. This means that if one seize two loads, one of twenty nine ounces and the other of thirty ounces, the variation is felt easily like the variation amid the loads of twenty nine and thirty half an ounce or thirty and twenty nine drams. The variations in the pairs of loads are one eighth ounce, half ounce and an ounce. Simultaneously, it’s difficult to differentiate weights of thirty three and thirty four ounces, although the variation involved is big. This is due to the fact that it is not the complete standards of weights that are significant, but the ratio of the difference and the heavier load (Zwislocki & Jordan, 1986). JNDS stands for Just Noticeable Difference. This method was explained by Wundt for determining Weber proportion or the jnds. Wundt discovered the jnd for sensations of illumination to be one hundredth, for sound, pressure, and warmth sensation to be one eighth. These values differ greatly relying on the where pressure is exerted to the skin casing, what type of sound is employed, and the like (Zwislocki & Jordan, 1986). Question 10 The differences between primary and secondary qualities of matter include: Qualities are described as influences of objects to generate ideas in people. Primary qualities refer to those that create ideas in people that look like the involved objects. Motion, form, solidity, size and number describe actual objects that live independent of people. These comprise “the common sensible of Aristotle and Plato”. People are aware of these qualities due to the fact people exist in a mechanical globe of particles as well as invisible particles provided off by things strike us, influencing us through impulse. These particles suit people like archetypes and essences in our bodies that respond to them. The nerves express particles from outside to their spectators in the brain, the presence space for the mind (Wilson, 2002). Secondary qualities generate ideas that do not look like their roots, because they are partially created by particles in peoples’ senses. One feels pain when steel separates his fresh just due to the fact that God organized such a link between a thing and an idea. Color is a thought generated by particle motion influencing the particles in ones senses, and similar to every secondary quality, the motion and texture of primary qualities, combined with the act of particles in ones senses, create the idea. Locke defined primary qualities by using the following quote: “Take a grain of wheat, divide it into two parts: each part still has solidity, figure, extension, and mobility…” Locke assumed that the cherry might lose its smell, color, texture and odor including all additional sensory characteristics, yet the substance of the given cherry remains that is “je ne sais quoi”. Locke believed in the survival of material actuality. On the other hand, Berkeley claims that the only objects that exist are ideas and minds in them; there are no material objects. He was of the idea that all properties of things, and indeed the things themselves, constitute ideas and mental entities. Berkeley, contrasting Locke, classifies all qualities with dreams and places them in the mind (Wilson, 2002). References Goodwin, C. J. (2010). Research in psychology: Methods and design. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Mandler, G. (2007). A history of modern experimental psychology: From James and Wundt to Cognitive science. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Rosset, N. (2007). Popular Philosophy in early nineteenth-century Scotland. Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Vol. 27 Issue 2, p150-169, 20p. Smith, R. (2012). Think: Philosophy for Everyone. Vol. 11 Issue 31, p21-26. 6p. Van Wyhe, J., & Rookmaaker, K. (2012). A new theory to explain the receipt of Wallace's Ternate Essay by Darwin in 1858: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Vol. 105 Issue 1, p249-252. 4p. Ward, J. (2006). The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience .New York: Psychology Press Wilson, R.A. (2002). Locke’s Primary Qualities, Journal of the History of Philosophy Vol. 40: P201-228. 29p. Zafirovski, M. (2011). The enlightenment and its effects on modern society. New York: Springer. Zwislocki, J., & Jordan, H.N. (1986). On the relations of intensity jnd's to loudness and neural Noise. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 79 Issue 3, p772-780, 9p. Read More