The Psychology Book

THE

PSYCHOLOGY
BOOK



THE

PSYCHOLOGY
BOOK

LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE,
MUNICH, AND DELHI

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CONTRIBUTORS

CATHERINE COLLIN VOULA GRAND

A clinical psychologist, our consultant Catherine As a business psychologist, Voula Grand consults for
Collin is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer in international corporations on leadership and executive
Psychological Therapies) at the University of Plymouth performance. Her first novel is Honor’s Shadow. She is
in England. Catherine’s interests lie in primary care currently writing the sequel, Honor’s Ghost.
mental health and cognitive behavior therapy.

NIGEL BENSON MERRIN LAZYAN

A lecturer in philosophy and psychology, Nigel Benson A writer, editor, and classical singer, Merrin Lazyan
has written several bestselling books on the subject of studied psychology at Harvard University and has
psychology, including Psychology for Beginners and worked on several fiction and nonfiction books,
Introducing Psychiatry. spanning a broad range of topics.

JOANNAH GINSBURG MARCUS WEEKS

A clinical psychologist and journalist, Joannah A writer and musician, Marcus Weeks studied
Ginsburg works in community treatment centers in philosophy and worked as a teacher before embarking
New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Dallas, and on a career as an author. He has contributed to many
regularly contributes to psychology publications. She books on the arts and popular sciences.
is joint author of This Book has Issues: Adventures in
Popular Psychology.

CONTENTS

10 INTRODUCTION 38 We know the meaning BEHAVIORISM
of “consciousness” so
PHILOSOPHICAL long as no one asks us RESPONDING TO OUR
ROOTS to define it ENVIRONMENT
William James
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE MAKING 60 The sight of tasty food
46 Adolescence is makes a hungry man’s
18 The four temperaments a new birth mouth water Ivan Pavlov
of personality G. Stanley Hall
Galen 62 Profitless acts are
48 24 hours after learning stamped out
20 There is a reasoning something, we forget Edward Thorndike
soul in this machine two-thirds of it
Descartes Hermann Ebbinghaus 66 Anyone, regardless of
their nature, can be
22 Dormez! Abbé Faria 50 The intelligence of trained to be anything
an individual is not John B. Watson
24 Concepts become forces a fixed quantity
when they resist one Alfred Binet 72 That great God-given
another maze which is our human
Johann Friedrich Herbart 54 The unconscious sees the world Edward Tolman
men behind the curtains
26 Be that self which one Pierre Janet 74 Once a rat has visited our
truly is Søren Kierkegaard grain sack we can plan on
its return Edwin Guthrie
28 Personality is composed
of nature and nurture 75 Nothing is more natural
Francis Galton than for the cat to “love”
the rat Zing-Yang Kuo
30 The laws of hysteria
are universal 76 Learning is just not
Jean-Martin Charcot possible Karl Lashley

31 A peculiar destruction of 77 Imprinting cannot be
the internal connections forgotten! Konrad Lorenz
of the psyche
Emil Kraepelin 78 Behavior is shaped by
positive and negative
32 The beginnings of the reinforcement B.F. Skinner
mental life date from
the beginnings of life 86 Stop imagining the scene
Wilhelm Wundt and relax
Joseph Wolpe

PSYCHOTHERAPY 130 The good life is a process COGNITIVE
not a state of being PSYCHOLOGY
THE UNCONSCIOUS Carl Rogers
DETERMIINES BEHAVIOR THE CALCULATING BRAIN
138 What a man can be,
92 The unconscious is the he must be 160 Instinct is a dynamic
true psychical reality Abraham Maslow pattern Wolfgang Köhler
Sigmund Freud
140 Suffering ceases to be 162 Interruption of a task
100 The neurotic carries a suffering at the moment greatly improves its
feeling of inferiority with it finds a meaning chances of being
him constantly Viktor Frankl remembered
Alfred Adler Bluma Zeigarnik
141 One does not become fully
102 The collective unconscious human painlessly 163 When a baby hears
is made up of archetypes Rollo May footsteps, an assembly
Carl Jung is excited
142 Rational beliefs create Donald Hebb
108 The struggle between the healthy emotional
life and death instincts consequences 164 Knowing is a process
persists throughout life Albert Ellis not a product
Melanie Klein Jerome Bruner
146 The family is the
110 The tyranny of the “factory” where people 166 A man with conviction
“shoulds” Karen Horney are made is a hard man to change
Virginia Satir Leon Festinger
111 The superego becomes
clear only when it 148 Turn on, tune in, drop out 168 The magical number 7,
confronts the ego with Timothy Leary plus or minus 2
hostility Anna Freud George Armitage Miller
149 Insight may cause
112 Truth can be tolerated blindness 174 There’s more to the
only if you discover it Paul Watzlawick surface than meets
yourself Fritz Perls the eye
150 Madness need not be all Aaron Beck
118 It is notoriously breakdown. It may also be
inadequate to take an break-through 178 We can listen to only one
adopted child into one’s R.D. Laing voice at once
home and love him Donald Broadbent
Donald Winnicott 152 Our history does not
determine our destiny 186 Time’s arrow is bent
122 The unconscious is the Boris Cyrulnik into a loop
discourse of the Other Endel Tulving
Jacques Lacan 154 Only good people get
depressed Dorothy Rowe

124 Man’s main task is to 155 Fathers are subject to 192 Perception is externally
give birth to himself a rule of silence guided hallucination
Erich Fromm Guy Corneau Roger N. Shepard

SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY

BEING IN A WORLD
OF OTHERS

193 We are constantly on 218 You cannot understand
the lookout for causal a system until you try
connections to change it
Daniel Kahneman Kurt Lewin

194 Events and emotion are 224 How strong is the
stored in memory together urge toward social
Gordon H. Bower conformity?
Solomon Asch

196 Emotions are a runaway 228 Life is a dramatically 238 The goal is not to advance
train Paul Ekman enacted thing knowledge, but to be
Erving Goffman in the know Serge Moscovici
198 Ecstasy is a step into
an alternative reality 230 The more you see it, 240 We are, by nature, social
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi the more you like it beings William Glasser
Robert Zajonc
200 Happy people are 242 We believe people get
extremely social 236 Who likes competent what they deserve
Martin Seligman women? Melvin Lerner
Janet Taylor Spence
202 What we believe with 244 People who do crazy
all our hearts is not 237 Flashbulb memories things are not
necessarily the truth are fired by events necessarily crazy
Elizabeth Loftus of high emotionality Elliot Aronson
Roger Brown
208 The seven sins of memory 246 People do what they
Daniel Schacter are told to do
Stanley Milgram
210 One is not one’s thoughts
Jon Kabat-Zinn 254 What happens when
you put good people
211 The fear is that biology in an evil place?
will debunk all that we Philip Zimbardo
hold sacred
Steven Pinker 256 Trauma must be
understood in terms
212 Compulsive behavior of the relationship
rituals are attempts to between the individual
control intrusive thoughts and society
Paul Salkovskis Ignacio Martín-Baró

DEVELOPMENTAL 286 Most human behavior 324 Emotion is an essentially
PHILOSOPHY is learned through unconscious process
modeling Nico Frijda
FROM INFANT TO ADULT Albert Bandura
326 Behavior without
262 The goal of education is to 292 Morality develops in environmental cues
create men and women six stages would be absurdly chaotic
who are capable of doing Lawrence Kohlberg Walter Mischel
new things Jean Piaget
294 The language organ 328 We cannot distinguish
270 We become ourselves grows like any other the sane from the insane
through others body organ in psychiatric hospitals
Lev Vygotsky Noam Chomsky David Rosenhan

271 A child is not beholden to 298 Autism is an extreme 330 The three faces of Eve
any particular parent form of the male brain Thigpen & Cleckley
Bruno Bettelheim Simon Baron-Cohen
332 DIRECTORY
272 Anything that grows PSYCHOLOGY OF
has a ground plan DIFFERENCE 340 GLOSSARY
Erik Erikson
PERSONALITY AND 344 INDEX
274 Early emotional bonds are INTELLIGENCE
an integral part of human 351 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
nature John Bowlby 304 Name as many uses
as you can think of
278 Contact comfort for a toothpick
is overwhelmingly J.P. Guilford
important Harry Harlow

279 We prepare children for 306 Did Robinson Crusoe lack
a life about whose course personality traits before
we know nothing the advent of Friday?
Françoise Dolto Gordon Allport

280 A sensitive mother 314 General intelligence
creates a secure consists of both fluid and
attachment Mary Ainsworth crystallized intelligence
Raymond Cattell
282 Who teaches a child to
hate and fear a member 316 There is an association
of another race? between insanity and
Kenneth Clark genius Hans J. Eysenck

284 Girls get better 322 Three key motivations
grades than boys drive performance
Eleanor E. Maccoby David C. McClelland

10 INTRODUCTION

A mong all the sciences, subject, but today the word most but the intangible nature of
psychology is perhaps the accurately describes “the science subjects such as consciousness,
most mysterious to the of mind and behavior.” perception, and memory meant that
general public, and the most prone psychology was slow in making
to misconceptions. Even though its The new science the transition from philosophical
language and ideas have infiltrated Psychology can also be seen as a speculation to scientific practice.
everyday culture, most people have bridge between philosophy and In some universities, particularly in
only a hazy idea of what the subject physiology. Where physiology the US, psychology departments
is about, and what psychologists describes and explains the physical started out as branches of the
actually do. For some, psychology make-up of the brain and nervous philosophy department, while in
conjures up images of people in system, psychology examines the others, notably those in Germany,
white coats, either staffing an mental processes that take place they were established in the science
institution for mental disorders or within them and how these are faculties. But it was not until the
conducting laboratory experiments manifested in our thoughts, speech, late 19th century that psychology
on rats. Others may imagine a man and behavior. Where philosophy is became established as a scientific
with a middle-European accent concerned with thoughts and ideas, discipline in its own right.
psychoanalyzing a patient on a psychology studies how we come
couch or, if film scripts are to be to have them and what they tell us The founding of the world’s
believed, plotting to exercise some about the workings of our minds. first laboratory of experimental
form of mind control. psychology by Wilhelm Wundt
All the sciences evolved from at the University of Leipzig in
Although these stereotypes philosophy, by applying scientific 1879 marked the recognition of
are an exaggeration, some truth methods to philosophical questions, psychology as a truly scientific
lies beneath them. It is perhaps subject, and as one that was
the huge range of subjects that fall Psychology has a long past, breaking new ground in previously
under the umbrella of psychology but only a short history. unexplored areas of research.
(and the bewildering array of terms In the course of the 20th century,
beginning with the prefix “psych-”) Hermann Ebbinghaus psychology blossomed; all of its
that creates confusion over what major branches and movements
psychology entails; psychologists evolved. As with all sciences, its
themselves are unlikely to agree history is built upon the theories
on a single definition of the word. and discoveries of successive
“Psychology” comes from the generations, with many of the older
ancient Greek psyche, meaning theories remaining relevant to
“soul” or “mind,” and logia, a contemporary psychologists. Some
“study” or “account,” which seems areas of research have been the
to sum up the broad scope of the subject of study from psychology’s

INTRODUCTION 11

earliest days, undergoing different oriented psychologists was limited The behaviorists’ studies
interpretations by the various by the introspective nature of their concentrated almost exclusively
schools of thought, while others methods: pioneers such as Hermann on how behavior is shaped by
have fallen in and out of favor, Ebbinghaus became the subject of interaction with the environment;
but each time they have exerted their own investigations, effectively this “stimulus–response” theory
a significant influence on restricting the range of topics to became well known through the
subsequent thinking, and have those that could be observed in work of John Watson. New learning
occasionally spawned completely themselves. Although they used theories began to spring up in
new fields for exploration. scientific methods and their Europe and the US, and attracted
theories laid the foundations for the interest of the general public.
The simplest way to approach the new science, many in the next
the vast subject of psychology for generation of psychologists found However, at much the same time
the first time is to take a look at their processes too subjective, and as behaviorism began to emerge in
some of its main movements, as began to look for a more objective the US, a young neurologist
we do in this book. These occurred methodology. in Vienna started to develop a
in roughly chronological order, from theory of mind that was to overturn
its roots in philosophy, through In the 1890s, the Russian contemporary thinking and inspire
behaviorism, psychotherapy, and physiologist Ivan Pavlov conducted a very different approach. Based
the study of cognitive, social, and experiments that were to prove on observation of patients and case
developmental psychology, to the critical to the development of histories rather than laboratory
psychology of difference. psychology in both Europe and experiments, Sigmund Freud’s
the US. He proved that animals psychoanalytic theory marked ❯❯
Two approaches could be conditioned to produce
Even in its earliest days, psychology a response, an idea that developed The first fact for us then, as
meant different things to different into a new movement known as psychologists, is that thinking
people. In the US, its roots lay in behaviorism. The behaviorists felt
philosophy, so the approach taken that it was impossible to study of some sort goes on.
was speculative and theoretical, mental processes objectively, but William James
dealing with concepts such as found it relatively easy to observe
consciousness and the self. In and measure behavior: a
Europe, the study was rooted in the manifestation of those processes.
sciences, so the emphasis was on They began to design experiments
examining mental processes such that could be conducted under
as sensory perception and memory controlled conditions, at first on
under controlled laboratory animals, to gain an insight into
conditions. However, even the human psychology, and later on
research of these more scientifically humans.

12 INTRODUCTION

a return to the study of subjective forgetting, language and language conformity, and our reasons for
experience. He was interested in acquisition, problem-solving and aggression or altruism, all of which
memories, childhood development, decision-making, and motivation. were increasingly relevant in the
and interpersonal relationships, modern world of urban life and
and emphasized the importance Even psychotherapy, which ever-improving communications.
of the unconscious in determining mushroomed in myriad forms
behavior. Although his ideas were from the original “talking cure,” Freud’s continuing influence
revolutionary at the time, they was influenced by the cognitive was felt mainly through the new
were quickly and widely adopted, approach. Cognitive therapy and field of developmental psychology.
and the notion of a “talking cure” cognitive-behavioral therapy Initially concerned only with
continues within the various forms emerged as alternatives to childhood development, study in
of psychotherapy today. psychoanalysis, leading to this area expanded to include
movements such as humanist change throughout life, from
New fields of study psychology, which focused on the infancy to old age. Researchers
In the mid-20th century, both qualities unique to human life. charted methods of social, cultural,
behaviorism and psychoanalysis These therapists turned their and moral learning, and the ways in
fell out of favor, with a return to the attention from healing the sick to which we form attachments. The
scientific study of mental guiding healthy people toward contribution of developmental
processes. This marked the living more meaningful lives. psychology to education and
beginning of cognitive psychology, training has been significant but,
a movement with its roots in the While psychology in its early less obviously, it has influenced
holistic approach of the Gestalt stages had concentrated largely
psychologists, who were interested on the mind and behavior of If the 19th century was
in studying perception. Their work individuals, there was now an the age of the editorial chair,
began to emerge in the US in the increasing interest in the way we
years following World War II; by the interact with our environment and ours is the century of the
late 1950s, cognitive psychology other people; this became the field psychiatrist’s couch.
had become the predominant of social psychology. Like cognitive Marshall McLuhan
approach. The rapidly growing psychology, it owed much to the
fields of communications and Gestalt psychologists, especially
computer science provided Kurt Lewin, who had fled from Nazi
psychologists with a useful Germany to the US in the 1930s.
analogy; they used the model of Social psychology gathered pace
information processing to develop during the latter half of the 20th
theories to explain our methods of century, when research revealed
attention, perception, memory and intriguing new facts about our
attitudes and prejudices, our
tendencies toward obedience and

INTRODUCTION 13

thinking about the relationship such as neuroscience and genetics. societies are or might be structured
between childhood development In particular, the nature versus as it does to diagnosing and
and attitudes to race and gender. nurture argument that dates back treating mental disorders.
to Francis Galton’s ideas of the
Almost every psychological 1920s continues to this day; The ideas and theories of
school has touched upon the subject recently, evolutionary psychology psychologists have become part of
of human uniqueness, but in the has contributed to the debate by our everyday culture, to the extent
late 20th century this area was exploring psychological traits as that many of their findings about
recognized as a field in its own innate and biological phenomena, behavior and mental processes are
right in the psychology of difference. which are subject to the laws of now viewed simply as “common
As well as attempting to identify genetics and natural selection. sense.” However, while some of the
and measure personality traits and ideas explored in psychology
the various factors that make up Psychology is a huge subject, confirm our instinctive feelings,
intelligence, psychologists in this and its findings concern every one just as many make us think again;
growing field examine definitions of us. In one form or another it psychologists have often shocked
and measures of normality and informs many decisions made in and outraged the public when their
abnormality, and look at how much government, business and industry, findings have shaken conventional,
our individual differences are a advertising, and the mass media. long-standing beliefs.
product of our environment or the It affects us as groups and as
result of genetic inheritance. individuals, contributing as much In its short history, psychology
to public debate about the ways our has given us many ideas that have
An influential science changed our ways of thinking,
The many branches of psychology The purpose of psychology and that have also helped us to
that exist today cover the whole is to give us a completely understand ourselves, other people,
spectrum of mental life and human and the world we live in. It has
and animal behavior. The overall different idea of the questioned deeply held beliefs,
scope has extended to overlap with things we know best. unearthed unsettling truths, and
many other disciplines, including provided startling insights and
medicine, physiology, neuroscience, Paul Valéry solutions to complex questions.
computer science, education, Its increasing popularity as a
sociology, anthropology, and even university course is a sign not
politics, economics, and the law. only of psychology’s relevance in
Psychology has become perhaps the modern world, but also of the
the most diverse of sciences. enjoyment and stimulation that can
be had from exploring the richness
Psychology continues to and diversity of a subject that
influence and be influenced by the continues to examine the mysterious
other sciences, especially in areas world of the human mind.

PHILOSO
ROOTS

PSYCHOLOGY
IN THE MAKING

PHICAL

16 INTRODUCTION

René Descartes Abbé Faria Charles Darwin Francis Galton’s
publishes The investigates hypnosis publishes On the research suggests
Passions of the Soul, Origin of the Species, that nurture is
claiming that the in his book On the proposing that all our more important
body and soul are Cause of Lucid Sleep. traits are inherited. than nature, in
Hereditary Genius.
separate.

1649 1819 1859 1869
1816 1849 1861 1874

Johann Friedrich Herbart Søren Kierkegaard’s book Neurosurgeon Pierre Carl Wernicke
describes a dynamic mind The Sickness Unto Death Paul Broca discovers provides evidence
with a conscious and an marks the beginning of that the left and right that damage to a
unconscious in A Text-book hemispheres of the brain specific area of the
existentialism. have separate functions. brain causes the loss
in Psychology. of specific skills.

M any of the issues that many of the questions about the among them Johann Friedrich
are examined in modern world we live in, they were still Herbart, were to extend the
psychology had been not capable of explaining the machine analogy to include
the subject of philosophical debate workings of our minds. Science and the brain as well, describing
long before the development of technology did, however, provide the processes of the mind as the
science as we know it today. The models from which we could start working of the brain-machine.
very earliest philosophers of ancient asking the right questions, and
Greece sought answers to questions begin to test theories through the The degree to which mind and
about the world around us, and the collection of relevant data. body are separate became a topic
way we think and behave. Since for debate. Scientists wondered
then we have wrestled with ideas Separating mind and body how much the mind is formed by
of consciousness and self, mind and One of the key figures in the physical factors, and how much is
body, knowledge and perception, scientific revolution of the 17th shaped by our environment. The
how to structure society, and how century, the philosopher and “nature versus nurture” debate,
to live a “good life.” mathematician René Descartes, fueled by British naturalist
outlined a distinction between mind Charles Darwin’s evolutionary
The various branches of science and body that was to prove critical theory and taken up by Francis
evolved from philosophy, gaining to the development of psychology. Galton, brought subjects such
momentum from the 16th century He claimed that all human beings as free will, personality,
onward, until finally exploding have a dualistic existence—with development, and learning to the
into a “scientific revolution,” which a separate machinelike body and fore. These areas had not yet been
ushered in the Age of Reason in the a nonmaterial, thinking mind, or fully described by philosophical
18th century. While these advances soul. Later psychological thinkers, inquiry, and were now ripe
in scientific knowledge answered for scientific study.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 17

Wilhelm Wundt Hermann Ebbinghaus G. Stanley Hall William James, the
founds the first details his experiments publishes the first “father of psychology”
laboratory of edition of the American publishes Principles
learning nonsense Journal of Psychology.
experimental syllables in his book of Psychology.
psychology in
Leipzig, Germany. Memory.

1879 1885 1887 1890
1883 1877 1889 1895

Emil Kraepelin Jean-Martin Charcot Pierre Janet Alfred Binet opens the
publishes the Textbook produces Lectures on the suggests that first laboratory of
Diseases of the Nervous hysteria involves
of Psychiatry. dissociation and psychodiagnosis.
System. splitting of the
personality.

Meanwhile, the mysterious nature developed in distinct ways in establishment of a scientific
of the mind was popularized by the the different centers: in Germany, methodology for studying the
discovery of hypnosis, prompting psychologists such as Wundt, mind, in much the same way that
more serious scientists to consider Hermann Ebbinghaus, and Emil physiology and related disciplines
that there was more to the mental Kraepelin took a strictly scientific studied the body. For the first time,
life than immediately apparent and experimental approach to the the scientific method was applied
conscious thought. These scientists subject; while in the US, William to questions concerning perception,
set out to examine the nature of the James and his followers at Harvard consciousness, memory, learning,
“unconscious,” and its influence on adopted a more theoretical and and intelligence, and its practices
our thinking and behavior. philosophical approach. Alongside of observation and experimentation
these areas of study, an influential produced a wealth of new theories.
The birth of psychology school of thought was growing in
Against this background, the Paris around the work of neurologist Although these ideas often
modern science of psychology Jean-Martin Charcot, who had used came from the introspective study
emerged. In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt hypnosis on sufferers of hysteria. of the mind by the researcher, or
founded the very first laboratory The school attracted psychologists from highly subjective accounts by
of experimental psychology at such as Pierre Janet, whose ideas the subjects of their studies, the
Leipzig University in Germany, of the unconscious anticipated foundations were laid for the next
and departments of psychology Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. generation of psychologists at the
also began to appear in universities turn of the century to develop a
across Europe and the US. Just as The final two decades of the truly objective study of mind and
philosophy had taken on certain 19th century saw a rapid rise in behavior, and to apply their own
regional characteristics, psychology the importance of the new science new theories to the treatment of
of psychology, as well as the mental disorders. ■

18

THE FOUR
TEMPERAMENTS
OF PERSONALITY

GALEN (C.129–C.201 CE)

IN CONTEXT All things are combinations T he Roman philosopher and
of four basic elements: physician Claudius Galen
APPROACH earth, air, fire, and water. formulated a concept of
Humorism personality types based on the
The qualities of these ancient Greek theory of humorism,
BEFORE elements can be found in four which attempted to explain the
c.400 BCE Greek physician workings of the human body.
Hippocrates says that the corresponding humors
qualities of the four elements (fluids) that affect the The roots of humorism go back
are reflected in body fluids. to Empedocles (c.495–435 BCE), a
functioning of our bodies. Greek philosopher who suggested
c.325 BCE Greek philosopher that different qualities of the four
Aristotle names four sources These humors also affect our basic elements—earth (cold and
of happiness: sensual (hedone), emotions and behavior—our dry), air (warm and wet), fire (warm
material (propraietari), ethical and dry), and water (cold and
(ethikos), and logical (dialogike). “temperaments.” wet)—could explain the existence of
all known substances. Hippocrates
AFTER Temperamental problems are (460–370 BCE), the “Father of
1543 Anatomist Andreas caused by an imbalance in Medicine,” developed a medical
Vesalius publishes On the model based on these elements,
Fabric of the Human Body in our humors… attributing their qualities to four
Italy. It illustrates Galen’s errors fluids within the body. These fluids
and he is accused of heresy. …so by restoring the balance were called “humors” (from the
of our humors a physician can Latin umor, meaning body fluid).
1879 Wilhelm Wundt says cure our emotional and
that temperaments develop behavioral problems. Two hundred years later, Galen
in different proportions along expanded the theory of humorism
two axes: “changeability” into one of personality; he saw a
and “emotionality.” direct connection between the
levels of the humors in the body
1947 In Dimensions of and emotional and behavioral
Personality, Hans Eysenck inclinations—or “temperaments”.
suggests personality is based
on two dimensions. Galen’s four temperaments—
sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric,
and melancholic—are based on the
balance of humors in the body.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 19

See also: ■ René Descartes 20–21 ■ Gordon Allport 306–09 ■ Hans J. Eysenck
316–21 Walter Mischel 326–27

Melancholic: sad, Phlegmatic: slow, quiet,
fearful, depressed, shy, rational, and consistent.
poetic, and artistic.

Imbalances Choleric: fiery, Galen
in the energetic,
humors Claudius Galenus, better
determine and passionate. known as “Galen of Pergamon”
personality (now Bergama in Turkey) was
type as well as Sanguine: warm-hearted, a Roman physician, surgeon,
inclinations toward cheerful, optimistic, and and philosopher. His father,
certain illnesses. confident. Aelius Nicon, was a wealthy
Greek architect who provided
If one of the humors develops cases, cures may include purging him with a good education
excessively, the corresponding and blood-letting. For example, a and opportunities to travel.
personality type begins to dominate. person acting selfishly is overly Galen settled in Rome and
A sanguine person has too much sanguine, and has too much blood; served emperors, including
blood (sanguis in Latin) and is this is remedied by cutting down Marcus Aurelius, as principal
warm-hearted, cheerful, optimistic, on meat, or by making small cuts physician. He learned about
and confident, but can be selfish. A into the veins to release blood. trauma care while treating
phlegmatic person, suffering from professional gladiators, and
excess phlegm (phlegmatikós in Galen’s doctrines dominated wrote more than 500 books
Greek), is quiet, kind, cool, rational, medicine until the Renaissance, on medicine. He believed the
and consistent, but can be slow and when they began to decline in the best way to learn was through
shy. The choleric (from the Greek light of better research. In 1543, dissecting animals and
kholé, meaning bile) personality is the physician Andreas Vesalius studying anatomy. However,
fiery, suffering from excess yellow (1514–1564), practicing in Italy, although Galen discovered
bile. Lastly, the melancholic (from found more than 200 errors in the functions of many internal
the Greek melas kholé), who suffers Galen’s descriptions of anatomy, organs, he made mistakes
from an excess of black bile, is but although Galen’s medical ideas because he assumed that
recognized by poetic and artistic were discredited, he later influenced the bodies of animals (such
leanings, which are often also 20th-century psychologists. In 1947, as monkeys and pigs) were
accompanied by sadness and fear. Hans Eysenck concluded that exactly like those of humans.
temperament is biologically based, There is debate over the date
Imbalance in the humors and noted that the two personality of his death, but Galen was at
According to Galen, some people traits he identified—neuroticism least 70 when he died.
are born predisposed to certain and extraversion—echoed the
temperaments. However, since ancient temperaments. Key works
temperamental problems are caused
by imbalances of the humors, he Although humorism is no longer c.190 CE The Temperaments
claimed they can be cured by diet part of psychology, Galen’s idea c.190 CE The Natural Faculties
and exercise. In more extreme that many physical and mental c.190 CE Three Treatises on the
illnesses are connected forms the Nature of Science
basis of some modern therapies. ■

20

THERE IS A
REASONING SOUL
IN THIS MACHINE

RENE DESCARTES (1596–1650)

IN CONTEXT The mind and the body
are separate.
APPROACH
Mind/body dualism The mind (or “soul”) is The body is a material,
immaterial, but seated in the mechanical machine.
BEFORE
4th century BCE Greek pineal gland of the brain.
philosopher Plato claims that
the body is from the material The mind can control
world, but the soul, or mind, the physical body by
is from the immortal world
of ideas. causing “animal
spirits” to flow through
4th century BCE Greek
philosopher Aristotle says the nervous system.
that the soul and body are
inseparable: the soul is the T he idea that the mind and seated in the brain’s pineal gland
actuality of the body. body are separate and doing the thinking, while the body
different dates back to Plato is like a machine that operates by
AFTER and the ancient Greeks, but it was “animal spirits,” or fluids, flowing
1710 In A Treatise Concerning the 17th-century philosopher René through the nervous system to
the Principles of Human Descartes who first described in cause movement. This idea had
Knowledge, Anglo-Irish detail the mind-body relationship. been popularized in the 2nd century
philosopher George Berkeley Descartes wrote De Homine (“Man”), by Galen, who attached it to his
claims that the body is merely his first philosophical book, in 1633, theory of the humors; but Descartes
the perception of the mind. in which he describes the dualism was the first to describe it in detail,
of mind and body: the nonmaterial and to emphasize the separation
1904 In Does Consciousness mind, or “soul,” Descartes says, is of mind and body.
Exist? William James asserts
that consciousness is not a
separate entity but a function
of particular experiences.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 21

See also: Galen 18–19 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99

In a letter to the French philosopher There is a great René Descartes
Marin Mersenne, Descartes difference between
explains that the pineal gland is René Descartes was born in
the “seat of thought,” and so must mind and body. La Haye en Touraine (now
be the home of the soul, “because René Descartes called Descartes), France. He
the one cannot be separated from contracted tuberculosis from
the other.” This was important, An analogy for the mind his mother, who died a few
because otherwise the soul would Taking his inspiration from the days after he was born, and
not be connected to any solid part French formal gardens of Versailles, remained weak his entire life.
of the body, he said, but only to the with their hydraulic systems that From the age of eight, he was
psychic spirits. supply water to the gardens and educated at the Jesuit college
their elaborate fountains, Descartes of La Flèche, Anjou, where he
Descartes imagined the mind describes the spirits of the body began the habit of spending
and body interacting through an operating the nerves and muscles each morning in bed, due
awareness of the animal spirits like the force of water, and “by this to his poor health, doing
that were said to flow through the means to cause motion in all the “systematic meditation”—
body. The mind, or soul, residing parts.” The fountains were controlled about philosophy, science,
in the pineal gland, located deep by a fountaineer, and here Descartes and mathematics. From 1612
within the brain, was thought to found an analogy for the mind. He to 1628, he contemplated,
sometimes become aware of the explained: “There is a reasoning traveled, and wrote. In 1649,
moving spirits, which then caused soul in this machine; it has its he was invited to teach Queen
conscious sensation. In this way, principal site in the brain, where it Christina of Sweden, but her
the body could affect the mind. is like the fountaineer who must be early-morning demands on his
Likewise, the mind could affect at the reservoir, whither all the time, combined with a harsh
the body by causing an outflow of pipes of the machine are extended, climate, worsened his health;
animal spirits to a particular region when he wishes to start, stop, or in he died on February 11, 1650.
of the body, initiating action. some way alter their actions.” Officially, the cause of death
was pneumonia, but some
Descartes illustrated the pineal While philosophers still argue as historians believe that he
gland, a single organ in the brain to whether the mind and brain are was poisoned to stop
ideally placed to unite the sights and somehow different entities, most the Protestant Christina
sounds of the two eyes and the two psychologists equate the mind converting to Catholicism.
ears into one impression. with the workings of the brain.
However, in practical terms, the Key works
distinction between mental and
physical health is a complex one: 1637 Discourse on the Method
the two being closely linked when 1662 De Homine (written 1633)
mental stress is said to cause 1647 The Description of the
physical illness, or when chemical Human Body
imbalances affect the brain. ■ 1649 The Passions of the Soul

22

DORMEZ!

ABBE FARIA (1756–1819)

IN CONTEXT T he practice of inducing state, but its use as a healing
trance states to promote therapy was largely abandoned until
APPROACH healing is not new. Several the German doctor Franz Mesmer
Hypnosis ancient cultures, including those of reintroduced it in the 18th century.
Egypt and Greece, saw nothing Mesmer’s treatment involved
BEFORE strange about taking their sick to manipulating the body’s natural, or
1027 Persian philosopher and “sleep temples” so they could be “animal,” magnetism, through the
physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina) cured, while in a sleeplike state, by use of magnets and suggestion.
writes about trances in The suggestions from specially trained After being “mesmerized,” or
Book of Healing. priests. In 1027, the Persian “magnetized,” some people suffered
physician Avicenna documented a convulsion, after which they
1779 German physician Franz the characteristics of the trance claimed to feel better.
Mesmer publishes A Memoir
on the Discovery of Animal A gentle request or …combines with the
Magnetism. commanding order… highly concentrated

AFTER mind of a subject…
1843 Scottish surgeon James
Braid coins the term “neuro- In this state …to induce a state of
hypnotism” in Neurypnology. the subject becomes “lucid sleep”

1880S French psychologist more susceptible (hypnotic trance).
Emile Coué discovers the to the power of
placebo effect and publishes
Self-Mastery Through suggestion.
Conscious Autosuggestion.

1880S Sigmund Freud
investigates hypnosis and its
apparent power to control
unconscious symptoms.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 23

See also: Jean-Martin Charcot 30 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Carl Jung 102–07 ■ Milton Erickson 336

A few years later, Abbé Faria, a Nothing comes from the
Portugese-Goan monk, studied magnetizer; everything comes
Mesmer’s work and concluded that
it was “entirely absurd” to think from the subject and takes
that magnets were a vital part of the place in his imagination.
process. The truth was even more
extraordinary: the power to fall into Abbé Faria
trance or “lucid sleep” lay entirely
with the individuals concerned.
No special forces were necessary,
because the phenomena relied only
upon the power of suggestion.

Lucid sleep surgeon James Braid, from the Franz Mesmer induced trance
Faria saw his role as a “concentrator,” Greek hypnos, meaning “sleep” through the application of magnets,
helping his subject get into the right and osis meaning “condition.” Braid often to the stomach. These were said
state of mind. In On The Cause concluded that hypnosis is not a to bring the body’s “animal” magnetism
of Lucid Sleep, he describes his type of sleep but a concentration back into a harmonious state.
method: “After selecting subjects on a single idea, resulting in
with the right aptitude, I ask them heightened suggestibility. After his Jean-Martin Charcot began to use
to relax in a chair, shut their eyes, death, interest in hypnosis largely hypnotism systematically in the
concentrate their attention, and waned until the French neurologist treatment of traumatic hysteria.
think about sleep. As they quietly This brought hypnosis to the
await further instructions, attention of Josef Breuer and
I gently or commandingly say: Sigmund Freud, who were to
‘Dormez!’ (Sleep!) and they fall question the drive behind the
into lucid sleep”. hypnotic self, and discover the
power of the unconscious. ■
It was from Faria’s lucid sleep
that the term “hypnosis” was
coined in 1843 by the Scottish

Abbé Faria Born in Portuguese Goa, José could so quickly alter his state
Custódio de Faria was the son of of mind. He moved to France,
a wealthy heiress, but his parents where he played a prominent
separated when he was 15. part in the French Revolution
Armed with introductions to the and refined his techniques of
Portuguese court, Faria and his self-suggestion while imprisoned.
father traveled to Portugal where Faria became a professor of
both trained as priests. On one philosophy, but his theater
occasion, the young Faria was shows demonstrating “lucid
asked by the queen to preach in sleep” undercut his reputation;
her private chapel. During the when he died of a stroke in 1819
sermon, he panicked, but his he was buried in an unmarked
father whispered, “They are all grave in Montmartre, Paris.
men of straw—cut the straw!”
Faria immediately lost his fear and Key work
preached fluently; he later
wondered how a simple phrase 1819 On the Cause of Lucid Sleep

24

CONCEPTS BECOME
FORCES WHEN THEY
RESIST ONE ANOTHER

JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART (1776–1841)

IN CONTEXT Experiences and sensations
combine to form ideas.
APPROACH
Structuralism Similar ideas can Dissimilar ideas resist
coexist or combine. one another and become
BEFORE
1704 German philosopher forces in conflict.
Gottfried Leibniz discusses
petites perceptions (perceptions One idea is forced
without consciousness) in his to become favored
New Essays on Human
Understanding. over another.

1869 German philosopher The favored idea stays The unfavored idea leaves
Eduard von Hartmann in consciousness. consciousness; it becomes
publishes his widely read
Philosophy of the Unconscious. an unconscious idea.

AFTER J ohann Herbart was a German the mind must use some kind of
1895 Sigmund Freud and philosopher who wanted to system for differentiating and
Josef Breuer publish Studies investigate how the mind storing ideas. He also wanted to
on Hysteria, introducing works—in particular, how it account for the fact that although
psychoanalysis and its manages ideas or concepts. Given ideas exist forever (Herbart thought
theories of the unconscious. that we each have a huge number of them incapable of being destroyed),
ideas over the course of our lifetime, some seem to exist beyond our
1912 Carl Jung writes The how do we not become increasingly conscious awareness. The 18th-
Psychology of the Unconscious, confused? It seemed to Herbart that century German philosopher
suggesting that all people have
a culturally specific collective
unconscious.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 25

See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Carl Jung 102–07 ■
Anna Freud 111 ■ Leon Festinger 166–67

Thoughts and feelings contain Two ideas that
energy, according to Herbart, acting cannot coexist
on each other like magnets to attract comfortably repel
or repel like or unlike ideas. each other...

+–

Ideas that do +– +– ...and one of Johann Friedrich
not contradict –+ them may even be Herbart
each other are
drawn together and pushed out of Johann Herbart was born in
can coexist in consciousness. Oldenburg, Germany. He was
consciousness. tutored at home by his mother
until he was 12, after which
Gottfried Leibniz was the first However, if two ideas are unalike, he attended the local school
to explore the existence of ideas they may continue to exist without before entering the University
beyond awareness, calling them association. This causes them to of Jena to study philosophy.
petite (“small”) perceptions. As weaken over time, so that they He spent three years as a
an example, he pointed out that eventually sink below the “threshold private tutor before gaining
we often recall having perceived of consciousness.” Should two ideas a doctorate at Göttingen
something—such as the detail in directly contradict one another, University, where he lectured
a scene—even though we are not “resistance occurs” and “concepts in philosophy. In 1806,
aware of noticing it at the time. This become forces when they resist one Napoleon defeated Prussia,
means that we perceive things and another.” They repel one another and in 1809, Herbart was
store a memory of them despite the with an energy that propels one of offered Immanuel Kant’s chair
fact that we are unaware of doing so. them beyond consciousness, into of philosophy at Königsberg,
a place that Herbart referred to as where the Prussian king and
Dynamic ideas “a state of tendency;” and we now his court were exiled. While
According to Herbart, ideas form know as “the unconscious.” moving within these
as information from the senses aristocratic circles, Herbart
combines. The term he used for Herbart saw the unconscious met and married Mary Drake,
ideas—Vorsfellung—encompasses as simply a kind of storage place for an English woman half his
thoughts, mental images, and even weak or opposed ideas. In positing age. In 1833, he returned
emotional states. These make up a two-part consciousness, split by a to Göttingen University,
the entire content of the mind, and distinct threshold, he was attempting following disputes with the
Herbart saw them not as static to deliver a structural solution for the Prussian government, and
but dynamic elements, able to move management of ideas in a healthy remained there as Professor
and interact with one another. mind. But Sigmund Freud was to of Philosophy until his death
Ideas, he said, can attract and see it as a much more complex and from a stroke, aged 65.
combine with other ideas or feelings, revealing mechanism. He combined
or repulse them, rather like magnets. Herbart’s concepts with his own Key works
Similar ideas, such as a color and theories of unconscious drives to
tone, attract each other and combine form the basis of the 20th-century’s 1808 General Practical
to form a more complex idea. most important therapeutic Philosophy
approach: psychoanalysis. ■ 1816 A Text-book in
Psychology
1824 Psychology as Science

26

BE THAT SELF
WHICH ONE
TRULY IS

SØREN KIERKEGAARD (1813–1855)

IN CONTEXT T he fundamental question, understanding oneself, famously
“Who am I?” has been saying: “The unexamined life is not
APPROACH studied since the time worth living.” Søren Kierkegaard’s
Existentialism of the ancient Greeks. Socrates book The Sickness Unto Death
(470–399 BCE) believed the main (1849) offers self-analysis as a
BEFORE purpose of philosophy is to increase means to understanding the
5th century BCE Socrates happiness through analyzing and problem of “despair,” which he
states the key to happiness is
discovering the “true self.” I wish to be other than I am: to have a different self.

AFTER So I try to make myself into someone different.
1879 Wilhelm Wundt uses
self-analysis as an approach I fail and despise myself I succeed and abandon
to psychological research. for failing. my true self.

1913 John B. Watson Either way, I despair of my true self.
denounces self-analysis in
psychology, stating that To escape despair I must accept my true self.
“introspection forms no
essential part of its methods.” To be that self which one truly is, is indeed the
opposite of despair.
1951 Carl Rogers publishes
Client-centered Therapy, and
in 1961 On Becoming a Person.

1960 R.D. Laing’s The Divided
Self redefines “madness,”
offering existential analysis
of inner conflict as therapy.

1996 Rollo May bases his
book, The Meaning of Anxiety,
on Kierkegaard’s The Concept
of Anxiety.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 27

See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Rollo May 141 ■ R.D. Laing 150–51

considered to stem not from Napoleon’s overreaching ambition his old self. In both his desire and
depression, but rather from the for power, as depicted in this painting accomplishment, he wants to “be
alienation of the self. of him as a student, led him to lose rid of” his self. This disavowal of
sight of his true self and all-too-human the self is painful: despair is
Kierkegaard described several limitations, and ultimately to despair. overwhelming when a man wants
levels of despair. The lowest, and to shun himself—when he “does not
most common, stems from ignorance: from an acute consciousness of the possess himself; he is not himself.”
a person has the wrong idea about self, coupled with a profound dislike
what “self” is, and is unaware of of it. When something goes wrong, However, Kierkegaard did offer a
the existence or nature of his such as failing an exam to qualify solution. He concluded that a man
potential self. Such ignorance is as a doctor, a person may seem can find peace and inner harmony
close to bliss, and so inconsequential to be despairing over something by finding the courage to be his
that Kierkegaard was not even sure that has been lost. But on closer true self, rather than wanting to be
it could be counted as despair. Real inspection, according to Kierkegaard, someone else. “To will to be that
desperation arises, he suggested, it becomes obvious that the man is self which one truly is, is indeed the
with growing self-awareness, and not really despairing of the thing opposite of despair,” he said. He
the deeper levels of despair stem (failing an exam) but of himself. believed that despair evaporates
The self that failed to achieve a when we stop denying who we
goal has become intolerable. The really are and attempt to uncover
man wanted to become a different and accept our true nature.
self (a doctor), but he is now stuck
with a failed self and in despair. Kierkegaard’s emphasis on
individual responsibility, and the
Abandoning the real self need to find one’s true essence
Kierkegaard took the example of and purpose in life, is frequently
a man who wanted to become regarded as the beginning of
an emperor, and pointed out that existentialist philosophy. His
ironically, even if this man did ideas led directly to R.D. Laing’s
somehow achieve his aim, he use of existential therapy, and
would have effectively abandoned have influenced the humanistic
therapies practiced by clinical
psychologists such as Carl Rogers. ■

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard was born to an on his life. A solitary figure, his
affluent Danish family, and raised main recreational activities
as a strict Lutheran. He studied included walking the streets to
theology and philosophy at chat with strangers, and taking
Copenhagen University. When he long carriage rides alone into
came into a sizeable inheritance, the countryside.
he decided to devote his life to
philosophy, but ultimately this left Kierkegaard collapsed in
him dissatisfied. “What I really the street on October 2, 1855,
need to do,” he said, “is to get and died on November 11 in
clear about what I am to do, not Friedrich’s Hospital, Copenhagen.
what I must know.” In 1840, he
became engaged to Regine Olsen, Key works
but broke off the engagement,
saying that he was unsuited to 1843 Fear and Trembling
marriage. His general state of 1843 Either/Or
melancholy had a profound effect 1844 The Concept of Anxiety
1849 The Sickness Unto Death

28

PERSONALITY
IS COMPOSED
OF NATURE
AND NURTURE

FRANCIS GALTON (1822–1911)

IN CONTEXT Personality is composed of elements from
two different sources.
APPROACH
Bio-psychology Nature is that Nurture is that which is experienced
which is inborn and from birth onward.
BEFORE
1690 British philosopher John inherited, and… We can improve our skills and
Locke proposes that the mind abilities through training and
of every child is a tabula rasa,
or blank slate, and hence we learning, but…
are all born equal.
…nature sets the limits to how far we
1859 Biologist Charles Darwin can develop our talents.
suggests that all human
development is the result of Nature and nurture both play a part, but nature is the
adaptation to the environment. determining factor.

1890 William James claims F rancis Galton counted many to identify “nature” and “nurture”
that people have genetically gifted individuals among as two separate influences whose
inherited individual his relatives, including the effects could be measured and
tendencies, or “instincts.” evolutionary biologist Charles compared, maintaining that these
Darwin. So it’s not surprising that two elements alone were responsible
AFTER Galton was interested in the extent for determining personality. In 1869,
1925 Behaviorist John B. to which abilities are either inborn he used his own family tree, as well
Watson says there is “no or learned. He was the first person as those of “judges, statesmen,
such thing as inheritance of
capacity, talent, temperament,
or mental constitution”.

1940s Nazi Germany seeks to
create a “master Aryan race”
through eugenics.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 29

See also: John B. Watson 66–71 ■ Zing-Yang Kuo 75 ■ G. Stanley Hall 46–47 ■
Eleanor E. Maccoby 284–85 ■ Raymond Cattell 314–15

Characteristics cling defective nurture.” Intelligence, he Francis Galton
to families. says, is inherited, but must be
fostered through education. Sir Francis Galton was a
Francis Galton polymath who wrote prolifically
In 1875, Galton undertook a on many subjects, including
commanders, scientists, literary study of 159 pairs of twins. He anthropology, criminology
men… diviners, oarsmen, and found that they did not follow the (classifying fingerprints),
wrestlers,” to research inherited “normal” distribution of similarity geography, meteorology,
traits for his book Hereditary between siblings, in which they are biology, and psychology. Born
Genius. As predicted, he found moderately alike, but were always in Birmingham, England, into a
more highly talented individuals in extremely similar or extremely wealthy Quaker family, he was
certain families than among the dissimilar. What really surprised a child prodigy, able to read
general population. However, he him was that the degree of similarity from the age of two. He
could not safely attribute this to never changed over time. He had studied medicine in London
nature alone, as there were also anticipated that a shared upbringing and Birmingham, then
conferred benefits from growing up would lessen dissimilarity between mathematics at Cambridge,
in a privileged home environment. twins as they grew up, but found but his study was cut short by
Galton himself grew up in a wealthy that this was not the case. Nurture a mental breakdown, worsened
household with access to unusually seemed to play no role at all. by his father’s death in 1844.
good educational resources.
The “nature–nurture debate” Galton turned to traveling
A necessary balance continues to this day. Some people and inventing. His marriage
Galton proposed a number of other have favored Galton’s theories, in 1853 to Louisa Jane Butler
studies, including the first large including his notion—now known lasted 43 years, but was
survey by questionnaire, which was as eugenics—that people could childless. He devoted his life
sent out to members of the Royal be “bred” like horses to promote to measuring physical and
Society to inquire about their certain characteristics. Others have psychological characteristics,
interests and affiliations. Publishing preferred to believe that every baby devising mental tests, and
his results in English Men of Science, is a tabula rasa, or “blank slate,” writing. He received many
he claimed that where nature and and we are all born equal. Most awards and honors in
nurture are forced to compete, nature psychologists today recognize that recognition of his numerous
triumphs. External influences can nature and nurture are both crucially achievements, including
make an impression, he says, but important in human development, several honorary degrees
nothing can “efface the deeper marks and interact in complex ways. ■ and a knighthood.
of individual character.” However, he
insists that both nature and nurture Galton’s study of twins looked for Key works
are essential in forming personality, resemblances in many ways, including
since even the highest natural height, weight, hair and eye color, and 1869 Hereditary Genius
endowments may be “starved by disposition. Handwriting was the only 1874 English Men of Science:
aspect in which twins always differed. Their Nature and Nurture
1875 The History of Twins

30

THE LAWS OF
HYSTERIA ARE
UNIVERSAL

JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT (1825–1893)

IN CONTEXT K nown as the founder of Charcot suggested that hysteria’s
modern neurology, French similarity to a physical disease
APPROACH physician Jean-Martin warranted a search for a biological
Neurological science Charcot was interested in the cause, but his contemporaries
relationship between psychology dismissed his ideas. Some even
BEFORE and physiology. During the 1860s believed that Charcot’s “hysterics”
1900 BCE The Egyptian Kahun and 1870s, he studied “hysteria,” a were merely acting out behavior
Papyrus recounts behaviorial term then used to describe extreme that Charcot had suggested to
disturbances in women caused emotional behavior in women, them. But one student of Charcot,
by a “wandering uterus.” thought to be caused by problems Sigmund Freud, was convinced
with the uterus (hystera in Greek). of hysteria’s status as a physical
c.400 BCE Greek physician Symptoms included excessive illness, and was intrigued by it. It is
Hippocrates invents the term laughing or crying, wild bodily the first disease Freud describes
“hysteria” for certain women’s movements and contortions, in his theory of psychoanalysis. ■
illnesses in his book, On the fainting, paralysis, convulsions, and
Diseases of Women. temporary blindness and deafness. Charcot gave lectures on hysteria
at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.
1662 English physician From observing thousands of He believed hysteria always followed
Thomas Willis performs cases of hysteria at the Salpêtrière ordered, clearly structured phases, and
autopsies on “hysterical” Hospital in Paris, Charcot defined could be cured by hypnotism.
women, and finds no sign “The Laws of Hysteria,” believing
of uterine pathology. that he understood the disease
completely. He claimed that hysteria
AFTER was a lifelong, inherited condition
1883 Alfred Binet joins and its symptoms were triggered
Charcot at the Salpêtrière by shock. In 1882, Charcot stated:
Hospital in Paris, and later “In the [hysterical] fit… everything
writes about Charcot’s use of unfolds according to the rules, which
hypnotism to treat hysteria. are always the same; they are valid
for all countries, for all epochs, for all
1895 Sigmund Freud, a races, and are, in short, universal.”
former student of Charcot,
publishes Studies on Hysteria. See also: Alfred Binet 50–53 ■ Pierre Janet 54–55 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 31

A PECULIAR
DESTRUCTION OF THE
INTERNAL CONNECTIONS
OF THE PSYCHE

EMIL KRAEPELIN (1856–1926)

IN CONTEXT G erman physician Emil second, paranoia, manifests in
Kraepelin believed that patients as a state of fear and
APPROACH the origins of most mental persecution; they report being
Medical psychiatry illnesses are biological, and he is “spied upon” or “talked about.” The
often regarded as the founder of third, hebephrenia, is marked by
BEFORE modern medical psychiatry. In his incoherent speech, and often by
C.50 BCE Roman poet and Textbook of Psychiatry, published inappropriate emotional reactions
philosopher Lucretius uses in 1883, Kraepelin offered a detailed and behavior, such as laughing
the term “dementia” to mean classification of mental illnesses, loudly at a sad situation. The fourth
“being out of one’s mind.” including “dementia praecox,” category, catatonia, is marked by
meaning “early dementia,” to extremely limited movement and
1874 Wilhelm Wundt, distinguish it from late-onset expression, often in the form of
Kraepelin’s tutor, publishes dementia, such as Alzheimer’s. either rigidness, such as sitting in
Principles of Physiological the same position for hours, or
Psychology. Schizophrenia excessive activity, such as rocking
In 1893, Kraepelin described backward and forward repeatedly.
AFTER dementia praecox, now called
1908 Swiss psychiatrist schizophrenia, as consisting Kraepelin’s classification still
Eugen Bleuler coins the term “of a series of clinical states forms the basis of schizophrenia
“schizophrenia,” from the which hold as their common a diagnosis. In addition, postmortem
Greek words skhizein (to split) peculiar destruction of the internal investigations have shown that
and phren (the mind). connections of the psychic there are biochemical and structural
personality.” He observed that the brain abnormalities, as well as
1948 The World Health illness, characterized by confusion impairments of brain function, in
Authority (WHO) includes and antisocial behavior, often starts schizophrenia sufferers. Kraepelin’s
Kraepelin’s classifications in the late teens or early adulthood. belief that a great number of mental
of mental illnesses in its Kraepelin later divided it into four illnesses are strictly biological in
International Classification subcategories. The first, “simple” origin exerted a lasting influence
of Diseases (ICD). dementia, is marked by slow on the field of psychiatry, and many
decline and withdrawal. The mental disorders are still managed
1950s Chlorpromazine, the with medication today. ■
first antipsychotic drug, is
used to treat schizophrenia. See also: Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ R.D. Laing 150–51

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE

MENTAL LIFE DATE FROM THE

BEGINNINGS

OF LIFE

WILHELM WUNDT (1832–1920)



34 WILHELM WUNDT Consciousness is So all psychology
“inner experience.” must begin with
IN CONTEXT self-observation…
Every living being has
APPROACH this inner experience. …recorded through
Experimental psychology experimentation
Every living being must designed to expose
BEFORE always have had
5th century Ancient Greek involuntary reactions.
philosophers Aristotle and this inner experience.
Plato claim that animals have This yields
a low level, distinctly The beginnings quantitative data
nonhuman consciousness. of the mental life about consciousness.

1630s René Descartes says date from the Psychology is
that animals are automata beginnings of life. the scientific study
without feeling.
of the mental life.
1859 British biologist Charles
Darwin links humans to
animal ancestors.

AFTER
1949 Konrad Lorenz changes
the way people see animals by
showing their similarities to
humans in King Solomon’s Ring.

2001 American zoologist
Donald Griffin argues in
Animal Minds that animals
have a sense of the future,
complex memory, and perhaps
consciousness itself.

T he idea that nonhuman The similarity of humans to animals on animals might be revealing.
animals have minds and was a critical issue for philosophers, This was the position held by the
are capable of some form of but even more so for psychologists. German physician, philosopher,
thought dates back to the ancient In the 15th century, the French and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt,
Greek philosophers. Aristotle philosopher René Descartes claimed who described a continuum of life
believed that there are three kinds that animals are no more than from even the smallest animals to
of mind: plant, animal, and human. reflex-driven, complex machines. ourselves. In his book Principles of
The plant mind is concerned only If Descartes was correct, observing Physiological Psychology, he claimed
with nutrition and growth. The animals could tell us nothing about that consciousness is a universal
animal mind has these functions, our own behavior. However, when possession of all living organisms,
but can also experience sensations, Charles Darwin asserted some 200 and has been since the evolutionary
such as pain, pleasure, and desire, years later that humans are linked process began.
as well as initiating motion. The to other animals genetically, and
human mind can do all this and that consciousness operates from To Wundt, the very definition of
reason; Aristotle claims that only the creatures at the very lowest end life includes having some kind of
humans have self-awareness and of the evolutionary scale to ourselves, mind. He declared: “From the
are capable of higher-level cognition. it became clear that experiments standpoint of observation, then, we
must regard it as a highly probable

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 35

See also: René Descartes 20–21 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Edward Thorndike 62–65 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■
B.F. Skinner 78–85

The beginnings of a Even single-celled organisms have physical bodies—for example,
differentiation of mental some form of consciousness, according in stimulus and response
function can be found to Wundt. He suggested the amoeba’s experiments. If a nerve fiber in
ability to devour food items indicates a dead frog is given a small electric
even in the protozoa. a continuity of mental processes. shock, the connecting muscles
Wilhelm Wundt twitch, causing the legs to move.
of which were modeled on his The fact that this happens even in
hypothesis that the beginnings original laboratory and were led by a dead animal illustrates that such
of the mental life date from as far pupils such as Edward Titchener movements can occur without any
back as the beginnings of life at and James Cattell. consciousness. In living creatures,
large. The question of the origin such actions are the basis of the
of mental development thus Observing behavior automatic behavior that we call
resolves itself into the question Wundt believed that “the exact “reflexes,” such as immediately
of the origin of life.” Wundt went on description of consciousness moving your hand when you touch
to say that even simple organisms is the sole aim of experimental something hot.
such as protozoa have some form of psychology.” Although he
mind. This last claim is surprising understood consciousness as an Wundt’s second type of
today, when few people would “inner experience,” he was only observation, termed “introspection”
expect a single-celled animal to interested in the “immediately or “self-observation,” is internal
demonstrate even simple mental real” or apparent form of this observation. This involves noticing
abilities, but it was even more experience. This ultimately led and recording internal events such
surprising when first stated more him to the study of behavior, which as thoughts and feelings. It is
than 100 years ago. could be studied and quantified by crucial in research because it
“direct observation.” provides information about how
Wundt was keen to test out his the mind is working. Wundt was
theories, and he is often called “the Wundt said that there are two interested in the relationship
father of experimental psychology” types of observation: external and between the inner and outer
because he set up the world’s first internal. External observation worlds, which he did not
formal laboratory of experimental is used to record events that are see as mutually exclusive, but
psychology in Leipzig University, visible in the external world, and as interactive, describing it as ❯❯
Germany, in 1879. He wanted is useful in assessing relationships
to carry out systematic research on such as cause and effect on
the mind and behavior of humans,
initially through subjecting the Wundt’s laboratory set the style
basic sensory processes to close for psychology departments around
examination. His laboratory the world. His experiments moved
inspired other universities in psychology out of the domain of
the US and Europe to set up philosophy and into science.
psychology departments, many

36 WILHELM WUNDT

“physical and psychical.” He began Our sensations provide details of of actions—representation, willing,
to concentrate on the study of shape, size, color, smell, and texture, and feeling—which together form
human sensations, such as the but when these are internalized, Wundt an impression of a unitary flow of
visual sensation of light, because says, they are compounded into complex events. Representations are either
these are the agencies that link representations, such as a face. “perceptions,” if they represent an
the external physical world and image in the mind of an object
the internal mental world. and he used various instruments perceived in the external world
to measure this response exactly. (such as a tree within eyesight),
In one experiment, Wundt He was also just as interested to or “intuitions” if they represent a
asked individuals to report on their hear what his participants reported subjective activity (such as
sensations when shown a light in common as he was in apparent remembering a tree, or imagining
signal—which was standardized individual differences. a unicorn). He named the process
to a specific color and a certain level through which a perception or
of brightness, and shone for a fixed Pure sensations, Wundt intuition becomes clear in
length of time. This ensured that suggested, have three components: consciousness “apperception.”
each participant experienced quality, intensity, and “feeling-tone.” So, for example, you may perceive
exactly the same stimulus, enabling For example, a certain perfume may a sudden loud noise and then
responses of different participants have a sweet odor (quality) that is apperceive that it is a warning sign,
to be compared and the experiment distinct but faint (intensity) and is meaning that you are about to be
to be repeated at a later date, if pleasant to smell (feeling-tone), hit by a car if you don’t get out of
required. In insisting upon this while a dead rat might give off a the way quickly enough.
possibility for replication, Wundt nauseating (quality), strong
set the standard for all future (intensity) stench (feeling-tone). All The willing category of
psychological experiments. consciousness originates in consciousness is characterized
sensations, he said, but these are by the way it intervenes in the
In his sensory experiments, not internalized as “pure” sensory external world; it expresses our
Wundt set out to explore human data; they are perceived as already volition, or “will,” from raising
consciousness in a measurable collected or compounded into an arm to choosing to wear red.
way. He refused to see it as an representations, such as a dead rat. This form of consciousness is
unknowable, subjective experience Wundt called these “images of an beyond experimental control or
that is unique to each individual. object or of a process in the external measurement. However, Wundt
In the light-response experiments, world.” So, for example, if we see a found that the third category of
he was particularly interested in the face with certain features—mouth consciousness, feeling, could be
amount of time between a person shape, eye color, nose size, and so measured through subjective
receiving some form of stimulus and on—we may recognize the face as reports from experimental
making a voluntary reaction to it a person we know.
(rather than an involuntary one),
Categories of consciousness
The exact description Based on his sensory experiments,
of consciousness is the Wundt claimed that consciousness
sole aim of experimental consists of three major categories

psychology.
Wilhelm Wundt

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 37

participants, or through measuring In the course of normal considered by many psychologists
levels of behavior such as tension speaking… the will is to be a key difference between
and relaxation or excitement. continuously directed to human beings and the rest of the
bringing the course of ideas animal kingdom. There may be
Cultural psychology and the articulatory a few exceptions, including
For Wundt, the psychological movements into harmony nonhuman primates such as
development of a person is chimpanzees, but language is
determined not only by sensations with each other. generally considered to be a
but also by complex social and Wilhelm Wundt human ability that is very
cultural influences, which cannot important in consciousness.
be replicated or controlled in an understand the meaning that the
experimental situation. He included speaker is trying to convey, but Consciousness and species
religion, language, myths, history, the actual words may not be as The definition of consciousness
art, laws, and customs among important as the general impression, continues to be debated, but it has
these influences, discussing them especially if strong emotions are not fundamentally changed since
in a ten-volume work, Cultural involved. As evidence of the fact that Wundt. The level of consciousness
Psychology, which he wrote during we use this process, Wundt points within animals has not yet been
the last 20 years of his life. out that we often remember the established, and this has led to the
general meaning of what a person formation of special Codes of Ethics
Wundt saw language as an has said long after we’ve forgotten for animal experiments, intensive
especially important part of culture’s the specific words that were used. farming, and blood sports such as
contribution to consciousness. Any fox hunting and bull fighting. Of
verbal communication begins with The ability to use true language, particular concern is whether
a “general impression,” or unified as opposed to just exchanging animals experience discomfort,
idea of something we wish to say. limited signs and signals, is today fear, and pain in ways that
Having “apperceived” this general resemble the form in which we feel
starting point, we then choose them ourselves. The fundamental
words and sentences to express it. question of which animals have
While speaking, we monitor the self-awareness or consciousness
accuracy of the intended meaning. remains unanswered, although few
We might say, “No, that’s not right, I psychologists today would assume,
mean…,” and then choose a different as Wundt did, that it applies even
word or phrase to express ourselves to the microscopic protozoa. ■
better. Whoever is listening has to

Wilhelm Wundt Born in Baden (now Mannheim) for his work on visual perception.
Germany, Wilhelm Wundt was While at Heidelberg, Wundt
the fourth child in a family with started teaching the world’s first
a long history of intellectual course in experimental
achievement. His father was a psychology, and in 1879 opened
Lutheran minister. The young the first psychology laboratory.
Wundt was allowed little time for Wundt wrote over 490 works
play, as he was pushed through and was probably the world’s
a rigorous educational regime, most prolific scientific writer.
attending a strict Catholic school
from the age of 13. He went on to Key works
study at the universities of Berlin,
Tübingen, and Heidelberg, 1863 Lectures on the Mind
graduating in medicine in 1856. of Humans and Animals
1896 Outline of Psychology
Two years later, Wundt became 1873 Principles of Physiological
assistant to the physician Hermann Psychology
von Helmholtz, who was famous

WE KNOW

THE MEANING OF

“CONSCIOUSNESS”

SO LONG AS NO ONE ASKS US

TO DEFINE IT

WILLIAM JAMES (1842–1910)



40 WILLIAM JAMES T he term “consciousness” is Consciousness…
generally used to refer to does not appear to itself
IN CONTEXT an individual’s awareness chopped up in bits… It is
of his or her own thoughts, including nothing jointed; it flows.
APPROACH sensations, feelings, and memories.
Analysis of consciousness We usually take this awareness William James
for granted, except when we are
BEFORE having difficulties—such as trying naturally described. In talking of it
1641 René Descartes defines to do something when we are hereafter, let us call it the stream of
consciousness of self in terms very tired. But if you focus your thought, of consciousness….”
of the ability to think. thoughts on your consciousness,
you soon become aware that your James’s famous description
1690 English philosopher conscious experiences are constantly of the “stream... of consciousness”
and physician John Locke changing. While reading this book, is one that almost everyone can
defines consciousness as for example, you may be reminded identify with, because we all
“the perception of what of past experiences or present experience it. Yet, at the same
passes in a man’s own mind.” discomforts that interrupt your time, James points out that it is
concentration; plans for the future very hard to actually define: “When
1781 German philosopher may spontaneously spring to mind. I say every thought is part of a
Immanuel Kant states that Thinking about your conscious personal consciousness, ‘personal
simultaneous events are experiences makes you realize consciousness’ is one of the terms
experienced as a “unity just how much your thoughts are in question… to give an accurate
of consciousness.” changing, and yet they seem to account of it is the most difficult
come together, merging and of philosophic tasks.”
AFTER carrying on smoothly as a whole.
1923 Max Wertheimer in
Laws of Organization in American psychologist William
Perceptual Forms shows James compared these everyday
how the mind actively experiences of consciousness to
interprets images. a stream that continuously flows,
despite the odd interruption and
1925 John B. Watson change of direction. He declared:
dismisses consciousness “A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the
as “neither a definite nor a metaphors by which it is most
usable concept.”
William James was born in 1842 In 1873, James returned to
William James to a wealthy and influential New Harvard, where he became a
York family, and traveled widely professor of both philosophy
as a child, attending schools in and psychology. He set up the
both Europe and the US. James first experimental psychology
showed early artistic ability and courses in the US, playing a key
initially pursued a career as a role in establishing psychology
painter, but his growing interest as a truly scientific discipline.
in science eventually led to him He retired in 1907, and died
to enrol at Harvard University in peacefully at his home in New
1861. By 1864, he had moved to Hampshire in 1910.
Harvard Medical School, although
his studies were interrupted by Key works
bouts of physical illness and
depression. He finally qualified 1890 The Principles of Psychology
as a physician in 1869, but never 1892 Psychology
practiced medicine. 1897 The Will to Believe

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 41

See also: René Descartes 20–21 ■ Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■
Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Wolfgang Köhler 160–61 ■ Max Wertheimer 335

This “most difficult of philosophic Consciousness seems to be a
tasks” has a long history. The stream of thoughts.
ancient Greeks discussed the
mind, but did not use the term These thoughts are Each thought follows
“consciousness” or any equivalent. entirely separate one after another…
However, there was debate as from each other…
to whether something separate
from the body exists at all. In the …and yet somehow they
fourth century BCE, Plato made a combine to give us a sense of
distinction between the soul and
body, but Aristotle argued that unified consciousness.
even if there is a distinction, the
two cannot be separated. This is because thoughts that enter our
awareness at the same time form a “pulse”
Early definitions
René Descartes, in the mid-17th within the stream of consciousness.
century, was one of the first
philosophers to attempt to describe These pulses jolt us from ...but continue to
consciousness, proposing that it one conclusion (or “resting stream onward.
resides in an immaterial domain
he called “the realm of thought,” in place”) to another...
contrast to the physical domain of
material things, which he called We know the Our consciousness is
“the realm of extension.” However, meaning of constantly evolving.
the first person accredited with the “consciousness” so
modern concept of consciousness long as no one asks
as an ongoing passage of individual us to define it.
perceptions is the 17th-century
English philosopher John Locke.
James was drawn to Locke’s idea of
passing perceptions and also to the
work of the 18th-century German
philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant
was impressed by the way our
experiences come together, noting
that if we hear a noise and feel pain
at the same time, we typically
experience these as one event.
He called this the “unity of
consciousness,” a concept that
influenced many later philosophers,
including William James.

James felt the most important
point about consciousness is that
it is not a “thing” but a process—it
is what the brain does to “steer a
nervous system grown too complex
to regulate itself.” It allows us to ❯❯

42 WILLIAM JAMES

No-one ever had a simple words, take twelve men, and to thoughts, or sensations, he believed,
sensation by itself: each give one word. Then stand the are unavoidably connected, like
consciousness… men in a row or jam, and let each Kant’s example of hearing a noise
is of a teeming think of his word as intently as he and feeling pain at precisely the
multiplicity of will; nowhere will there be a same time, because any thoughts
consciousness of the whole that enter our awareness during the
objects and relations. sentence.” If consciousness is a same moment of time combine to
William James stream of distinct thoughts, James form a pulse, or current, within the
struggled to see how these combine. stream. We may have many of
reflect upon the past, present, As he said, “The idea of a plus the these currents flowing through our
and future, to plan and adapt to idea of b is not identical with the consciousness, some fast and some
circumstances and so fulfill what idea of (a + b).” Two thoughts added slow. James stated that there are
he believed was the prime purpose together cannot be made into one even resting points, where we
of consciousness—to stay alive. idea. They are more likely to form pause to form pictures in our
an entirely new idea. For example, minds, which can be held and
But James found it hard to if thought a is “it’s nine o’clock,” contemplated at length. He called
imagine the structure of a unified and thought b is “the train leaves the resting places “substantive
consciousness. He likened it to a at 9:02,” thought c—“I’m going to parts,” and the moving currents
group of 12 men: “Take a dozen miss my train!”—might follow. the “transitive parts,” claiming that
our thinking is constantly being
Combining thoughts dislodged from one substantive
James concluded that the simplest part toward another, propelled by
way to understand how thoughts the transitive parts, or current. We
within the stream of consciousness are, therefore, effectively “bumped”
might combine to make sense is from one conclusion to another by
to suppose “that things that are the constant stream of thoughts,
known together are known in whose purpose is to pull us ever
single pulses of that stream.” Some forward in this way. There is no

can think one but the sentence

I only of word not whole

The 12-word sentence problem was used by James to
illustrate his difficulty in grasping how a unified consciousness
stems from separate thoughts. If each man is aware of just one
word, how can there be a consciousness of the whole sentence?

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 43

Dots of pure color make up this work
by the French Post-Impressionist
painter Georges Seurat. Yet our brain
combines these separate elements so
that what we see is a human figure.

final conclusion; consciousness is physiological condition. To illustrate Another example, according to his
not a thing but a process, which this theory, James used the example theory, would be that you feel happy
is constantly evolving. of seeing a bear, then running away. because you are conscious that you
It is not the case that you see the are smiling; it is not that you feel
James also drew attention to the bear, feel afraid, and then run away happy first, and then smile.
personal nature of consciousness, because of the fear. What is really
stating that thoughts do not exist happening is that you see the bear Pragmatism
independently of a thinker—they and run away, and the conscious Related to James’s theories about
are your thoughts or mine. Each one feeling of fear is caused by the consciousness is his approach to the
is “owned” by someone, and never action of running. This contradicts way we believe things to be true or
“comes into direct sight of a thought what most people might think, but not. He stated that “truths emerge
in another personal consciousness James’s view was that the mind’s from facts... but... the ‘facts’
than its own.” And it is these perception of the physical effects of themselves are not true; they simply
thoughts “connected as we feel running—rapid breathing, increased are. Truth is the function of the
them to be connected” that form heartbeat, and perspiring heavily— beliefs that start and terminate
the self. As thoughts cannot be is translated into the emotion of fear. among them.” ❯❯
divided from the self, James said
that investigating this self should
be the starting point of psychology.
Experimental psychologists did not
agree, because “the self” cannot be
offered up for experimentation, but
James thought it was enough to
work with our understanding of a
self that does certain things and
feels in certain ways. He called this
the “empirical self,” which
manifests itself through its
behavior, and suggested that it
consists of several parts—the
material self, spiritual self, and
social self—each of which can be
studied through introspection.

Theory of emotion
In the early stages of his research
into consciousness, James realized
that the emotions play an important
role in our daily lives, and went on to
develop, with his colleague Carl
Lange, a theory about how they
relate to our actions and behavior.
What was to become known as the
James–Lange Theory of Emotion
states that emotions arise from your
conscious mind’s perception of your

44 WILLIAM JAMES

There is but one Curies’ scientific knowledge had assessing consciousness as
indefectibly certain been questioned and modified, but objectively as possible, and
truth… the truth that the its core truths remained intact. to understand its underlying
present phenomenon of mechanisms—both physical
consciousness exists. Further studies and psychological.
William James The period following James’s death
saw the rise of the behaviorist Modern neuroscience has
James defined “true beliefs” as movement, and a decline of interest demonstrated that there are
those that the believer finds useful. in consciousness. Consequently, mechanisms of consciousness.
This emphasis on the usefulness of little theorizing on the subject By the closing years of the 20th
beliefs lies at the heart of the happened from around the start of century, the British molecular
American philosophical tradition of the 1920s up until the 1950s. One biologist and biophysicist
pragmatism, which was central to important exception was the Francis Crick was claiming that
James’s thinking. German-based Gestalt movement, consciousness is related to a
which emphasized that the brain specific part of the brain—the
In the course of our lives, James operates in a holistic way, taking prefrontal cortex area, which is
claimed that we are continually account of whole conscious involved in thought processes
testing “truths” against each experiences, rather than separate such as planning, problem-solving,
other, and our conscious beliefs events—just as when we look at a and the control of behavior.
keep changing, as “old truths” picture, we see not just separate
are modified, and sometimes dots, lines, and shapes, but a Research carried out by the
replaced by “new truths.” This meaningful whole. This concept Colombian neuroscientist Rodolfo
theory is particularly relevant to is behind the now famous Gestalt Linas links consciousness to
the way that all scientific research, phrase: “The whole is greater than the activities of the thalamus in
including psychology, progresses. the sum of the parts.” conjunction with the cerebral
James cited the discovery of the cortex. The thalamus, a structure
radioactive element radium by Since the 1980s, however, embedded deep in the center of the
Pierre and Marie Curie in 1902 psychologists and neuroscientists brain, is responsible for regulating
as an example. In the course of have developed a new field of vibrations inside the brain at
their investigations, the Curies research called “consciousness certain frequencies; if these regular
found that radium appeared to studies,” focusing on two main rhythms are disrupted—by an
give off unlimited amounts of areas of interest: the content of infection or genetic causes—then
energy, which “seemed for a consciousness, as reported by an individual may experience
moment to contradict our ideas of people who are considered to be neurological disorders, such as
the whole order of nature.” normal and healthy; and the epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease,
However, after conscious consciousness of people whose as well as psychological conditions,
consideration of this revelation, state of awareness has been such as depression.
they concluded that “although it impaired in some way. The latter
extends our old ideas of energy, it group includes cases, such as
causes a minimum of alteration in when the subject is in a “persistent
their nature.” In this instance, the vegetative state” (PVS)—in which
patients in a coma are awake and
breathing independently, but have
apparently lost all higher brain
functions. The goal with both paths
of research is to try to find ways of

Pierre and Marie Curie’s research,
like most scientific work, modified, rather
than totally contradicted, earlier theories.
New “truths,” James claimed, constantly
modify our basic beliefs in a similar way.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 45

MRI scans of the brain have
helped to identify structures such
as the thalamus, seen in the center
of this scan, that appear to have
links to consciousness.

But when it comes to definitions
of consciousness, modern attempts
still remain vague and difficult to
apply. For example, the American
neuroscientist Antonio Damasio
calls consciousness “the feeling
of what happens,” and defines it
as “an organism’s awareness of
its own self and its surroundings.”
As William James suggested,
more than 100 years earlier,
consciousness is hard to define.

Lasting legacy Before James started teaching the vastly beneficial discipline owes
An edited version of James’s 1890 subject at Harvard in 1875, there much to his work. In 1977, in a
book, The Principles of Psychology, were no independent psychology speech celebrating the 75th
is still in print, and his ideas have courses available in any American anniversary of the formation of
been a major influence on many university. But within 20 years, the American Psychological
psychologists, as well as other around 24 colleges and universities Association, David Krech, then
scientists and thinkers. The in the US had recognized Professor Emeritus in psychology
application of his pragmatic psychology as a distinct academic at the University of California at
philosophy to facts—concentrating discipline, and were offering Berkeley, referred to James as
not on what is “true” but on what it degrees in the subject. Three the “father of psychology.” ■
is “useful to believe”—has helped specialist psychology journals
psychology move on from the were also founded in that time, All these consciousnesses
question of whether the mind and and a professional organization— melt into each other
body are separate or not to a more the American Psychological like dissolving views.
useful study of mental processes, Association—was formed.
such as attention, memory, Properly they are but one
reasoning, imagination, and James introduced experimental protracted consciousness,
intention. James claimed his psychology to America, despite
approach helped to move claiming to “hate experimental one unbroken stream.
philosophers and psychologists work.” He did so because he had William James
“away from abstraction, fixed come to realize that it was the best
principles, closed systems, and way to prove or disprove a theory.
pretended absolutes and origins, But he continued to value the use of
towards facts, action, and power.” introspection as a tool of discovery,
His insistence on focusing on the especially of mental processes.
wholeness of events, including the
effects of different environments The shift in the perception of
on our actions—in contrast to the psychology and its concerns from
introspective, structuralist approach being considered, “a nasty little
of breaking down our experiences subject” (in James’s words) into a
into small details—has also shaped
our understanding of behavior.

46

ADOLESCENCE
IS A NEW BIRTH

G. STANLEY HALL (1844–1924)

IN CONTEXT Human development is determined by
nature: it is a repetition of our “ancestral record.”
APPROACH
Human development A child has animallike dispositions
and goes through several growth stages.
BEFORE
1905 Sigmund Freud, in At adolescence, the evolutionary momentum
Three Essays on the Theory of subsides; this is a time for individual change.
Sexuality, claims the teenage
years are the “genital stage.” During this wild, lawless time,
teenagers are increasingly sensitive, reckless,
AFTER
1928 American anthropologist self-conscious, and prone to depression.
Margaret Mead, in Coming
of Age in Samoa, declares The child then emerges as an adult: a more civilized,
that adolescence is only “higher-order” being.
recognized as a distinct
stage of human development Adolescence is a new birth.
in Western society.

1950 Erik Erikson, in
Childhood and Society,
describes adolescence as
the stage of “Identity vs.
Role Confusion,” coining
the term “identity crisis.”

1983 In Margaret Mead
and Samoa, New Zealand
anthropologist Derek Freeman
disputes Mead’s claim that
adolescence is merely a
socially constructed concept.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 47

See also: Francis Galton 28–29 ■ Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■
Erik Erikson 272–73

The word “adolescence” “curve of despondency” that starts G. Stanley Hall
literally means “growing at the age of 11, peaks at 15, then
up” (from the Latin falls steadily until the age of 23. Born into a farming family
adolescere). In theory, it describes Modern research acknowledges in Ashfield, Massachusetts,
a distinct stage between childhood a similar pattern. The causes of Granville Stanley Hall
and adulthood, but in practice often depression that Hall identified are graduated from Williams
simply defines the “teenage” years. startlingly familiar: suspicion of College, Massachusetts in
In most Western societies, the idea being disliked and having seemingly 1867. His plans to travel were
of adolescence was not recognized insuperable character faults, and thwarted through lack of
until the 20th century; childhood “the fancy of hopeless love.” He funds, so he followed his
ended and adulthood began at a believed the self-consciousness of mother’s wish and studied
certain age—typically at 18. adolescence leads to self-criticism theology for a year in New
and censoriousness of self and York, before moving to
Pioneering psychologist and others. This view mirrors later Germany. On Hall’s return to
educator, G. Stanley Hall, in his studies, which argue that teenagers’ America in 1870, he studied
1904 book Adolescence, was the advanced reasoning skills allow with William James for four
first academic to explore the subject. them to “read between the lines,” years at Harvard, gaining the
Hall was influenced by Darwin’s while also magnifying their first psychology PhD in the
theory of evolution, believing that sensitivity to situations. Even Hall’s US. He then returned to
all childhoods, especially with claim that criminal activity is more Germany for two years to
regard to behavior and early prevalent in the teenage years, work with Wilhelm Wundt
physical development, reflect the peaking around 18, still holds true. in his Leipzig laboratory.
course of evolutionary change, and
that we each develop in accordance But Hall was not totally negative In 1882, Hall became a
with our “ancestral record.” about adolescence. As he wrote in professor at Johns Hopkins
Youth: Its Education, Regiment, University, Baltimore, where he
One key influence on Hall and Hygiene, “Adolescence is a set up the first US laboratory
was the 18th-century Sturm new birth, for the higher and more specifically for psychology. He
und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) completely human traits are now also launched the American
movement of German writers born.” So, for Hall, adolescence Journal of Psychology in 1887,
and musicians, which promoted was in fact a necessary beginning and became the first president
total freedom of expression. Hall of something much better. ■ of the American Psychological
referred to adolescence as “Sturm Association in 1892.
und Drang;” he considered it a stage Adolescence is when the
of emotional turmoil and rebellion, very worst and best impulses Key works
with behavior ranging from quiet
moodiness to wild risk-taking. in the human soul 1904 Adolescence
Adolescence, he stated, “craves struggle against each 1906 Youth: Its Education,
strong feelings and new sensations… other for possession. Regiment, and Hygiene
monotony, routine, and detail are 1911 Educational Problems
intolerable.” Awareness of self and G. Stanley Hall 1922 Senescence
the environment greatly increases;
everything is more keenly felt, and
sensation is sought for its own sake.

Modern echoes
Many of Hall’s findings are echoed
in research today. Hall believed that
adolescents are highly susceptible
to depression, and described a

48

24 HOURS AFTER
LEARNING SOMETHING,
WE FORGET
TWO-THIRDS OF IT

HERMANN EBBINGHAUS (1850–1909)

IN CONTEXT …forgetting is …items forgotten can be
most rapid within the relearned faster than new
APPROACH ones learned for the first time.
Memory studies first nine hours.

BEFORE …material that Ebbinghaus’s …meaningful
5th century BCE The is studied memory things are
ancient Greeks make use of beyond remembered
“mnemonics”—techniques, mastery experiments for about ten
such as key words or rhymes, showed that…
that aid memory. (over-learned) is times longer
remembered than random,
1582 Italian philosopher longer. meaningless
Giordano Bruno in The Art
of Memory gives methods for things.
memorizing, using diagrams
of knowledge and experience. …items toward the …repeated learning sessions
beginning and end of over a longer interval of
AFTER a series are most easily time improves memory
1932 Frederick Bartlett says retention on any subject.
that every memory is a blend remembered.
of knowledge and inference.

1949 Donald Hebb, in The
Organization of Behavior,
describes how learning results
from stimulated brain cells
linking up into “assemblies.”

1960 US psychologist Leo
Postman finds that new
learning can interfere with
previous learning, causing
“retroactive interference.”