2/1/20161P S Y 4 0 1 / T O P I C 6M E C H A N I Z A T I O N & Q U A N T I F I C A T I O NHISTORY & SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY2MECHANIZATION AND QUANTIFICATION“ T H E R E I S N O B O D I L Y O R M E N T A L AT T R I B U T E . ..WH I C H C A N N O T B E G R I P P E D A N D C O N S O L I D A T E D I NT O A N O G I V E W I T H A S M O O T H O U T L I N E . ( G A L T O N , 1883- 1907)32/1/201624MEASUREMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIORT H E “ WHO ” A N D “H O W” O F E AR L Y M EASUREM E N TThomas Hobbes “Fearless intellectual adventurer”5Life• Very fragile • Mother troubled by predictions that 1,588 years after the virgin birth earth shattering catastrophes were going to occur• Oxford• Well paid Tutor• Argued with Descartes• Considered a corruptor of morals• Spoke against biblical literalism & Authority of Pope6HOBBES (1588-1679)2/1/20163• Rationalist; Against Bacons Empiricism• Sought truth from facts….but must be done through deduction• Knowledge has its origins in sensory impressions from physical movement activating the sense organs• “Phantasms” - Motions in the brain• Experience = Knowledge• Knowledge = Science7HOBBES – IDEAS “Leviathan” (1651)Important Psychological and Political work8• Powerful drives governed behavior• Self interest & Self preservation• Without the civil state we have• “continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man (is) solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”9HOBBES – IDEAS2/1/2016410BACK TO DESCARTES...ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY11Francini Brothers water automata at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye• The Automata inspired his theory of movement in nerves (NB nerve bundles known but not cells)• Nerve fibers filled with fluid like the water pipes• Fluids came from refined distilled blood• In turn came from digestive juices• Nerves = spirits• Nerve fed the muscle which then billowed out• This made the limb move12DESCARTES INSPRIATION2/1/20165How body responds to a stimulus13• A lot of movements “Non Reflective”• Have their origins in senses which activate spirits• Animals as Gods creations better than man made machines• No qualitative difference though• Animals do not have pineal glands• Passions occur when the soul struggles to override the body14MORE MECHANICAL DESCARTESJan Swammerdam Spirits…I don’t think so!152/1/20166• Tested Descartes theory of movement• Proved that spirits did not inflate the muscles• Cut muscle and its still contracts• Distinction between sensory and muscle nerves16JAN SWAMMERDAM (1637-1680)Think of this time in our history –what is interesting the public and great thinkers…..??• Reflexes• Identical in decapitated and intact people and animals• Afferent & Efferent• Studied the relationship between consciousness and nervous activity• Was all nervous activity contributing to consciousness?• Was it just high level activity generated by the brain?18UNZER (1727-1799)2/1/20167Julien Offray De La Mettrie“thinking machine”19• Determinist • L’Homme Machine (1748)• “Man a Machine”• Origins in Descartes ideas - Deterministic evolutionary mechanistic point of view• Mental events depend on bodily events• Clarity of thought related to body temperature• Good physical health = good mental health• Brain injuries = mental debilitation20JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE (1709-1751)• “ the model of a ‘thinking machine’ into which sense perceptions feed ideas in the form of coded symbols that are in turn, stored, classed, compared, and combined by the cerebral apparatus in order to engender all the known varieties of thought”Hold this thought for 1950’s Psychology...• No qualitative difference between man and animal• Yes we have language but not enough to make us unique• Teaching apes to speak?....Why not?Hold this thought for 1960-70’s psychology!21JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE2/1/2016822MAPPING THE CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEMA C HANG E I N F O CUS!• Francois Magendie• Franz Joesph Gall• Pierre Flourens• Paul Brocca• Carl Wernicke23LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION24FRANCOIS MAGENDIE• Father of experimental physiology • Proved Charles Bell’s theory…“the Bell-Magendielaw”• Founder of experimental pharmacology • 1817, Précis élémentaire de physiologie (A Summary of Physiology), the first modern physiology textbook2/1/20169“you ought to have your head examined”25FRANZ JOSEPH GALL• “…gave psychology its most extreme theory of localization of function”• Personality and intelligence traits localized in particular areas of the brain• Ideas about phrenology offensive to religious and political authority• Folk psychology at its worst….Pseudoscience• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSPcfc7um7426A SECOND LOOK AT PHRENOLOGY27PIERRE FLOURENS• Against Phrenology!• Supporting localization of function?....Respiratory function in the Medulla Oblongata…..Cerebellum mediates muscle coordination….Cerebrum higher level cognitive function and perceptions• Not really – brain functions as a whole…Highly interconnected networks• Plasticity2/1/20161028PAUL BROCA• We do actually have at least some localization!• Mental institute patient “Tan”• Fluid filled cavity in left frontal lobe29• Superior portion of the left temporal lobe interferes with speech comprehension• They could speak but not understand languageCARL WERNICKEP S Y 4 0 1 / T O P I C 6M E C H A N I Z A T I O N & Q U A N T I F I C A T I O NHISTORY & SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY2/1/20161131NEW METHODS ADV A N C E M E N T TH R O UG H BE TTE R ME T H O D O LO G I E S• Fritsch & Hitzig• Jaques Quételet• Sir Francis Galton32OBSERVING AND MEASURING33FRITSCH & HITZIG• Pioneers in electrophysiology• Using dogs stimulated one side of the cortex• Measured response in the opposite side of the body• Methods developed influenced evolution of psychology as a discipline!FritschHitzig2/1/20161234• One of the most underestimated figures in psychology• Relationship between age and criminal activity….• Statistics!• “Average Man”• Influenced Florence NightingaleJAQUES QUÉTELE“there is no bodily or mental attribute…which cannot be gripped and consolidated into an ogive with a smooth outline.”FRANCIS GALTON (1822-1911)• Obsession with counting• “Statistical Inquires into the Effectiveness