ASSIGNMENT/ TUGASAN

_________________________________________________________________________
ABPG1203
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY
MAY SEMESTER 2021

MAY 2021

ABPG1203
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY

MATRICULATION NO : 990502145839001
IDENTITY CARD NO. : 990502-14-5839
TELEPHONE NO. : 011-23058361
NAME : LUQMAN HAKIM BIN BAHARUDDIN
E-MEL : lqhkm99@oum.edu.my
QUESTION 1(a)

Introduction

Psychology plays an important role in human life today. The science of psychology helps
in understanding human beings better. Psychology not only teaches us to study behavior by
thinking of various factors that may be involved in behaving, Even psychology through scientific
studies involves the application of scientific procedures and approaches in understanding human
behavior and at the same time it is applied to various different fields in human life. First, there is
the definition of psychology, which is defined by society as ’‘the scientific study of human
beings, mind and behavior’’. It is therefore a discipline that is at the heart of the human welfare
agenda and the problems of the world. Psychology can make an almost limitless contribution as a
major scientific force in society. It has done so in many respects, and often plays an important
role at the highest levels of international negotiations.

With an understanding in the field of psychology we can understand and determine how a
person's mind and body systems function and help individuals in making better decisions.
Several psychological figures such as Wilhelm Wundt, Edward B. Tichener, Sigmund Freud,
Carl Gustav Jung and several other figures have contributed in some psychological theories
derived from their studies which are very useful to students of psychology, medicine, life and
various industries in the world.

Psychology comes from the Greek word meaning soul, spiritual or mental which is
Psyche (psycho), while logos is taken from the word logos which means study. The word has
generated various definitions from psychologists around the world. Psychology is divided into
several parts, namely psychology as a scientific study, psychology studies human behavior and
the study of human mental by psychologists. According to the Medilexicon medical dictionary,
psychology is a ``Profession (clinical psychology), a scientific discipline (academic psychology),
and science (research psychology) related to human and animal behavior, and related mental and
physiological processes.”

The year 1879 was the date psychology was introduced to the world - In the year 1879
Wilhelm Wundt of Germany founded psychology as a completely independent field of
experimental study. He set up the first laboratory to conduct psychological research exclusively
at the University of Leipzig. Wundt is known today as the father of psychology. Professional
practitioners in this field or researchers are called psychologists and can be classified as social,
behavioral, or cognitive scientists. Psychologists try to understand the role of mental function in
individual and social behavior, while exploring the physiological and biological processes
underlying cognitive function and behavior.

In prehistoric times, guidance and knowledge was passed from generation to generation
in an oral tradition. For intance, the domestication of maize for agriculture has been dated to
about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico, before the development of writting systems.
Philosophical concern in the mind and behaviour dates back to the prehistoric civilisationsof
Egypt, Greece, China and India. Predating Sigmund Frued and Carl Jung by nearly 1000 years,
psychotherapy was performed by Islamic individuals on those with mental illness in psychiatric
hospitals built as early as the 8th century in Fez, Morroco.

a) Ancient Roots

The initial explanations started with attributing causes in terms of supernatural things and
magical powers to natural events and thus, emerged the concepts of good and evil and various
mythologies. The concept of the soul as distinct from the body was a product of this line of
thinking, Through the ages, the mind-body-soul has been the major intellectual dilemma for
thinkers and has led to the birth of psychology as a separate discipline.

b) The Greek Roots

Ancient Greeks started to use reason, speculation and logic in understanding natural events. This
was the foundation of Western philosophical thinking. Aristotle propounded the empiricist view
which stated that everything complex must be understood by reducing it to its elemets. In
psychology, this idea of elementalism took the form of analysing the mind by reducing it to
sensations and associations.
 c) Philosophical Roots- The Early Greek Philosophers

i) Socrates (470 to 399 BC)

Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher from Athens. His philosophy is stated as, ’’One thing
only I know, and that is I know nothing’’. According to Socrates, philosophy begins when one
learns to doubt
(especially one’s cherished beliefs). He took the injunction, ’’Know Thyself’’ which described
that there is no real philosophy until the mind begins to examine itself. The Socratic Method is a
series of questions and answers which are meant to analyse, test or define particular concepts.
Socrates asked what it is that makes something beautiful, just, or truthful. What Socrates sought
was the essence of something as its basic nature. He died at the age of 71 from hemlock
poisoning. Because his life is widely considered paradigmatic not only for the philosophic life
but, more generally, for how anyone ought to live, Socrates has been encumbered with the
adulation and emulation normally reserved for religious figures – strange for someone who tried
so hard to make others do their own thinking and for someone convicted and executed on the
charge of irreverence toward the gods. Certainly he was impressive, so impressive that many
others were moved to write about him, all of whom found him strange by the conventions of
fifth-century Athens: in his appearance, personality, and behavior, as well as in his views and
methods.

ii) Plato (427 to 347 BC)

He was a Greek philosopher and scholar who formed the first university ”academy”. Plato’s best
known concept is the Theory of Forms. According to this theory, everything in the empirical
world is a manifestation of a pure form (idea) that exists abstractly. Plato replaced the essence
that Socrates sought with the concept of form as the aspects of reality that was permanent and
therefore knowable. He believed knowledge existed in two worlds, which are,”World of
Phenomena” and ”World of Forms”. He also established a form of thought that is now referred to
as ”Moral Psychology”. He died in 347 BC.
 iii) Aristotle (384 to 322 BC)

He was a Greek philosopher who was the Founder of formal logic. He disasgreed that
knowloedge relied on reasdoning not sensory experience. According to him, knowledge should
be based on observation of the external world.

According to Aristotle, there are three types of souls, and a living thing’s potential (purpose) is
determined by what type of a soul it possesses. The three categories of living things are as
follows:

 A nutritive soul is possessed by plants. It allows only growth, the assimilation of food
and reprodcution
 A sensitive soul is possessed by animals but not plants
 A rational soul is possessed only by humans. It provides all the functions of the other two
souls but also allows thinking or rational thought.
b) Structuralism in history of psychology

This school orginated when Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychological laboratory in 1879 at
the University of Leipzig being dissatisfied with the philosophical approach to the study of the
mind. He felt that psychology should acquire an indenpendent status and mental processes
should be studied objectively. Its goal was to create a periodic table of the elements of
sensations, similar to the periodic table of elements that had recently been created in chemistry.
Structuralists used the method of introspection to attempt to create a map of the elements of
consciousness. Introspection involves asking research participants to describe exactly what they
experience as they work on mental tasks, such as viewing colours, reading a page in a book, or
performing a math problem. A participant who is reading a book might report, for instance, that
he saw some black and coloured straight and curved marks on a white background. In other
studies the structuralists used newly invented reaction time instruments to systematically assess
not only what the participants were thinking but how long it took them to do so. Wundt
discovered that it took people longer to report what sound they had just heard than to simply
respond that they had heard the sound. These studies marked the first time researchers realized
that there is a difference between the sensation of a stimulus and the perception of that stimulus,
and the idea of using reaction times to study mental events has now become a mainstay of
cognitive psychology.

Structuralists were concerned with discovering the ”structure” or ”anatomy” of conscious

processes. The subject matter of structuralists was ”consciousness” and in some respects, they
paralleled those of the many British philosophers in interest; but they differed greatly in the
method they employed to investigate their interests. The structuralists employed the experimental
method while the philosophers employed the traditional methods of philosophy - logic and
deduction. The major method employed by the structuralists was introspection. A subject was
instructed to report as objectively as possible his conscious experiences during the process of
perceiving and judging stimuli in their laboratory. Introspection means literally to ”look within”.
The structuralists concluded after their numerous experiments that all conscious processes
consisted of basically three elements - sensations, images and feelings.

Perhaps the best known of the structuralists was Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927).
Titchener was a student of Wundt’s who came to the United States in the late 1800s and founded
a laboratory at Cornell University. In his research using introspection, Titchener and his students
claimed to have identified more than 40,000 sensations, including those relating to vision,
hearing, and taste. An important aspect of the structuralist approach was that it was rigorous and
scientific. The research marked the beginning of psychology as a science, because it
demonstrated that mental events could be quantified. But the structuralists also discovered the
limitations of introspection. Even highly trained research participants were often unable to report
on their subjective experiences. When the participants were asked to do simple math problems,
they could easily do them, but they could not easily answer how they did them. Thus the
structuralists were the first to realize the importance of unconscious processes—that many
important aspects of human psychology occur outside our conscious awareness, and that
psychologists cannot expect research participants to be able to accurately report on all of their
experiences.
c) Functionalism in the history of psychology.

Functionalism can be defined as ”a philosophy of the mind according to which mental states are
defined by their causes and effects”. As interest in psychology grew, many were not satisfied
with structuralism and felt compelled to initiate new systems and explanations. This was founded
by a group of psychologists in Chicago University – John Dewey, James Angel, Harvey Carr,
Cattell and others.

The subject matter of functionalism was thought of as the ”fundamental utilities of

consciousness”. They were interested in the functional processes of the mind and not just in its
structures. They did not restrict their method to just introspection but added observation and
experimentation to their methods of data collection. They emphasised both subjective and
objective methods.

Functionalism was rooted in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Evolution is based on

individual differences and the survival of adaptive features. Adaptation becomes a popular
approach to measuring intelligence and Individual Differences become a valued part of mental
research. Unlike most other psychologists who were interested in the structure of mental activity,
functionalists were interested in functions, the mental aspects of adapting to an environment.
Functionalist were equally interested in individual differences of all mental activity.
Functionalism started with John Locke’s political theory influenced the American and French
Constitutions (Hergenhahn, 2005). His views on education have contributed to the thoughts of
every subsequent theorizer in the field.The mind at birth possesses no innate ideas. The mind of
man is a tabula rasa or blank slate at birth, upon which is impressed many sense impressions. All
knowledge proceeds through sense experience. As the mind stores up a variety of sense
impressions, associations occur which provide new knowledge. The mind is consequently
passive. The senses provide the mind with the materials which represent reality. These materials
are not identical with the extra mental object. The material is the idea within the mind which
represents the object outside the mind being received by the senses. By combining, comparing
and analyzing these materials or ideas arising through sensations, we derive thoughts.
Knowledge is not sense perception but intellectual perception.

Functionalists like American philosopher, John Dewey who criticized reductionistic approaches
to psychology and argued that experience must be understood in a naturalistic context. He
applied the assumptions of functionalism in developing the field of school psychology and
educational practices. As the functionalists studied the functions of consciousness, gradually
their attention shifted to the learning process itself. They paid less attention to the study of
consciousness and more to the environmental conditions that facilitate mental functions.

William James was the most influential functionalist.He presented much of the foundation
functional psychology, but he did not develop his ideas to the point of an independent “school”
of study. He endorsed some aspects of functionalism, and considered the father of American
psychology. Consistent with materialism and evolution, James believed that science opposed the
existence of free will. In turn, he proposed free will to be beyond the realm of science. The
nature of free will is reflected in voluntary behaviour. To control our voluntary behaviour, we
must control the ideas of behaviour. “Ideas of action” can lead to action, or can be held back
consciously.According to James, both habits and instinct are within the brain (not in the mind)
and outside of free will(Hergenhahn, 2005). Habits are learned and continuous repetition could
stabilize mental functions in the brain. Instincts are unlearned and they are learned patterns of
reacting. Instincts are not “blind and invariable” and can be moulded by habit.
QUESTION 2

a) Introduction

Consciousness means awareness. It has become a new approach in psychology. The

structural psychology of Wundt and Titchener had a threefold aim which are to describe the
components of consciousness in terms of basic elements to describe the combinations of basic
elements; and to explain the connections of the elements of consciousness to the nervous system.
Consciousness was defined as immediate experience, that is, experience as it is being
experienced. Mediate experience, in contrast, is flavoured by contents already in the mind such
as previous associations and the emotional and motivational states of a person. The immediate
experience was presumed to be unprejudiced by mediate experience. The experimental method
proposed to secure appropriate analysis of the mental contents via introspection. It is said that
psychology began in Greek times and some say it existed during the Egyptian, Persian, Greek,
Chinese and Indian civilizations. Most of the research done at that time was done in mystical and
theological beliefs. Plato insisted that human beings are rational animals and can think for
themselves by logic and it has been in man since he was born. Man does not have to learn all the
intricacies of life before he experiences it himself because man has been destined to be able and
capable of dealing with any problem or task received. Aristotle gave a different view from Plato
where he stated that man is a biological organism in which the systems in the human body will
interact with each other. The system that Aristotle meant was the soul, the mind, the mind and
the feelings. According to Aristotle this man is born without any knowledge and fills the empty
system as age increases and through knowledge gained from his environment. The philosophy
between Aristotle and Plato has been a clear difference and shows the difference between their
thoughts, but it has influenced the philosophy of psychology and influenced the development of
modern psychology. Today, it is found that Aristotle's philosophy is more scientific and applied
by modern psychology and produced various theories from psychologists such as Wilhelm
Wundt, Edward B. Titchener, Simund Freud, Ivan Pavlov and many more to complete the
science of psychology to understand more about human behavior and thinking.
 Wilhelm Wundt is a psychological figure from Germany. He is known as the father of
psychology. Born August 16, 1832 and died August 31, 1920. He had opened the Institute of
Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. And was the first
laboratory devoted to psychology and considered the beginning of modern psychology. He is
known for the establishment of the first psychological laboratory and Its influence on the school
of thought is known as structuralism. Holding a degree in medicine, he then went on to study
with Johannes Muller and afterwards with physicist Hermann von Helmholtz. Wundt’s work
experience with these two individuals is said to have greatly influenced his later work in
experimental psychology. Wundt later wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874),
which helped produce experimental procedures in psychological research. Wundt is often
associated with a theoretical perspective known as structuralism, which involves describing the
structures that make up the mind. Through introspectional experiments, Wundt began to catalog
a large number of elements of basic consciousness, which can be combined to describe all human
experience. (Hall, 1998). Structuralism is considered the first school of thought in psychology.
He believes that psychology is the science of conscious experience that trains the observer to be
able to accurately describe thoughts, feelings and emotions through a process known as
introspection. Introspection is the accurate reporting of subjective experiences. Wundt realizes
that there is a limit to what you can observe. Subjects are trained extensively to make consistent
and accurate reports. You may be shown an object and asked to describe how you feel about it.
Wundt believes that this deep experience is the building block of cognition. He uses chemistry as
a model. These building blocks are like the elements in chemistry for Wundt. (Hoff, 2017).
However, Wundt makes a clear distinction between introspection, which he believes is
inaccurate, and internal perception. According to Wundt, internal perception involves well -
trained and conscious observers, when stimuli of interest are introduced. The Wundt process
requires observers to be aware of and observe their thoughts and responses to stimuli and
involves a variety of stimulus presentations. This process of course relies on personal
interpretation as it is highly subjective. Wundt believes that gradually changing the situation, the
experiment will increase the breadth of observation.
 In theoretical orientation, The best way to understand Wundt’s work is by reading what
he himself wrote in his classic book The outlines of psychology. It is a systematic survey of the
fundamentally important results and doctrines of modern psychology. It makes clear the rationale
behind his views on psychology.The impetus for Wundt's work on the Outlines came from the
1893 publication of Oswald Külpe's Grundriss der Psychologie. Wundt's objective was not only
to offer students an introduction to psychology but to offer a counter text to that of Külpe that
would provide students with the correct idea of the nature and scope of psychology. He made a
clear distinction between psychology and natural science, defining psychology in such a way as
to preclude its reduction to biology, divulging the full range of complex psychological
phenomena beyond sensation, arguing for a severe restriction of the role of experimentation in
psychology and recognising the theoretical importance of purely psychological constructs. In
introducing the Outlines, Wundt turned first to the distinction between psychology and natural
science. There are „two directions for the treatment of experience,” he wrote. One is that of the
natural sciences, which concern themselves with the objects of experience, thought of as
independent of the subject. The other is that of psychology, which investigates the whole content
of experience or consciousness in its relations to the subject and in its attributes derived directly
from the subject. Wundt defined psychology as the study of experience or consciousness „in its
relations to the subject”. The point of reference, in other words, was not the individual as a
nervous system, but the individual as an active apprehender (voluntarism) of the contents of
experience. Wundt stressed the independence of psychology from biology. Wundt gave
approximately equal treatment to sensations or ideas and to feelings or emotions. Less than a
third of Wundt's text was focused on elementary processes; the remainder was taken up with
more complex psychological phenomena ranging from psychical compounds and their
interconnections to the psychological development of animals (for example, the rise of instincts),
children (for example, the development of ideas, self-consciousness, will and play) and cultures
(for example, the emergence of language, myth and custom).
 b) Wilhelm Wundt's contribution.

Wilhelm Wundt is known for the establishment of the first psychology laboratory in
Liepzig, Germany, It is considered the beginning of the official psychology of a field of science
separate from philosophy and physiology. Wundt has also established a psychology journal, the
journal Philosophical Studies. He was the most influential psychologist of the twentieth century.

The establishment of psychology laboratories has made psychology a separate field of

study with its own methods and questions. Wilhelm Wundt’s support for experimental
psychology also set the standard for behaviorism and many of his experimental methods are still
in use today. Many of the famous psychologists started as his students. Among the well -known
psychologists were Edward Titchener, James McKeen Cattell, Charles Spearman, G. Stanley
Hall, Charles Judd and Hugo Munsterberg. During his academic career, Wundt coached 186
graduate students (116 in psychology). This is important because it helps spread his work. Indeed
parts of Wundt’s theory were developed and promoted by his one-time student, Edward
Titchener, who described the system as Structuralism, or the analysis of the basic elements that
make up the mind.

He developed the technique of introspection to study behaviour objectively. Introspection

is the examination of one’s own thoughts, feelings or mental states. Wundt argued that conscious
mental states could be scientifically studied using introspection. He believes consiciousness
could be broken down to its basic elements without sacrificing any of the properties of the
whole. Wundt concentrated on three areas of mental functioning thoughts; images and feelings.

He also conducted a number of memory experiments. He investigated phenomena

through experiments that would fall under the modern headings of iconic memory, short-term
memory and the enactment and generation effects.

The first experimental studies on memory are his contributions. The oft-forgotten Folk
Psychology is one of them. Of the 10 volumes of that work, only one ”condensed” volome has
apperared in English.
Conclusion

Psychology is not something foreign in human life. It has been practiced for a long time since the
world became civilized, but the method may be quite different from the time of Plato and
Aristotle until it was used as an extension of psychology and further developed by psychologists,
such as Edward B. Titchener and his mentors. Wilhelm Wundt who has opened up his mind by
setting up a laboratory that supports experiments conducted to study human behavior.
Psychology is understood out there as a science where practitioners can read human self while it
is a field that studies human behavior and thinking and is not occasionally with mystical or
magical knowledge. is to describe, understand, predict and control human behavior and
thinking .Scientific methods are used to record and support research for this purpose.