How Did Francis Galton Know In Psychology

Throughout the span of history, psychology has always existed. Humans have always pondered why we think, act, and see the world as we do. Most information we have on the very foundations of psychology come from philosophers and physicists such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Gustav Fechner. Today I’ll be comparing two very different psychologists: John B. Watson and Carl Rogers. Although these two display different feelings and approaches to their field, they share the same roots. Keeping this in mind, I believe it’s important to understand that evaluating the likeness of contrasting branches

Sir Francis Galton (1869, 1883) quantified traits that were assumed to be correlated, and developed the first comprehensive test of intelligence. By the end of the 19th century, the foundation was laid for modern day intelligence testing (Wicket, 1998). In 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum (Neiser, et al. 1996). Shortly thereafter in 1908 and 1911, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published revisions of the Binet intelligence test (Wicket). The mental age concept was adopted to express the results in adequate units. The concept is based on an individual’s performance in comparison to the average performance of individuals in a specific chronological age group (Kaplin, & Saccuzzo).

Psychology is a branch of philosophy until the late 1870’s when it was developed in Germany and the United States as an independent scientific punishment. In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory and dedicated it to psychological research in Leipzig, Germany. Wilhelm Wundt was also the first person to be referred as a psychologists. Early sponsors to the psychology field are Hermann Ebbinghaus, who is the pioneer in the study of the memory. William James, who is the father of pragmatism. Ivan Pavlolv, who had develop the procedures that is associated with classical conditioning, which is the learning process which an innate responses to a stimulus that comes to be elicited in response to a neutral stimulus. In 1890, Hugo Munsterberg began writing the application of psychology to production, law and other fields. Also in 1890 Lightner Witmer had established the first psychology clinic.

Although Charles Darwin is usually just looked at in the light of purely biology, his work that impacted other fields such as psychology or his work that lead to the rapid expansion of certain fields such as ethology, is often looked over. Darwin’s work impacted these fields both directly and indirectly at such a level of influence that some people believe that psychology should be looked at as pre- and post-Darwin. On the Origin of Species, while being primarily about biological phenomena and theories, was one of these works that impacted psychology indirectly. Other than giving a new perspective for psychologists to possess when contemplating different ideas, Darwin’s work on natural selection lead to the creation of evolutionary psychology.

This was due to his belief that psychology should be studied as internal processes that were mediated socially and then culturally communicated. He conducted experiments ‘on-site’ in schools and playgrounds and showed that field testing had immense benefits and could be used in place of laboratory testing or as a follow-up method.

Instead of actually coming into contact with their subjects, Zajonc and Markus applied their theory to a set of data that had been gathered and published by other researchers, Belmont and Marolla. Belmont and Marolla gave 350,000 Dutch males a "Raven" test, which is similar to an I.Q. test. They found a strong relationship between the birth order of the men and their scores on the Raven test. The scores decreased as family size increased and also declined with birth order.

Elana Kopelman Research Paper Topic: Sir Francis Galton Eugenics, meaning “well-born”, is the study of improving a human population through controlled mating and preventing the inheritance of undesirable traits. Sir Francis Galton, 1822-1911, was the father of eugenics, who believed in the possibility of a “utopia” in which humans only possessed the most advantageous traits, such as intelligence and beauty. In fact, Galton approved of his cousin, Charles Darwin’s, theory of survival of the fittest and applied it to the human race, concluding that “unfit’” humans — such as those with mental illnesses, physical ailments, or learning disabilities — would be outbred and not survive. Though they were faulty, Galton’s ideas had major influence

Sharing the same principle, Nazi eugenicists also focus in investigating heritable traits. Galton argued that mental abilities are heritable, and people have the responsibility to maintain these “natural gifts.” He claimed that the failure of Athenian women to reproduce resulted for the Greek civilization, which he considered as the “ablest” race, to disappeared. This then suggests that maintaining desirable heritable traits is necessary for the improvement of human races population. With hereditary traits as center of eugenics, eugenicists started to investigate the role of hereditary in different diseases and characteristics. For instance, Karl Pearson investigated the influence of hereditary in intelligence, mental illness, alcoholism

In the early 1900s, IQ test was originally developed by the French psychologist, Alfred Binet.

History and Systems of Psychology is a course requirement offered to Psychology majors and minors. This course is used to provide majors and minors with the foundation and the evolution of the field of psychology. Within this class, many scholars of discussed. Two scholars that stood out to me in this course would be John Watson and Max Wertheimer. These two particular scholars are responsible for two of the most influential and famous schools of thought, behaviorism and Gestalt psychology. These two schools of thought are responsible for changing the field of psychology and introducing the field to new theories and ways of thinking. Although the two schools of thought are similar in being influential but they are different in many ways. The two schools of thought are even said to be contradictory of one another and one is even said to be the cause of the fading out of the other.

Alfred Binet was one of the most influential psychologists in history. He developed the first Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test, which was to become used throughout the world. Whilst he pioneered intelligence testing, he also influenced other psychologists to explore and expand on the testing, such as Theodore Simone, Lewis Madison Terman, Henry Herbert Goddard and Jean Piaget.

Binet argued forcefully against the idea that intelligence is fixed or innate: "We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism (Lewontin, Rose, & Kamen, 1984)." However, those who translated his test into English tended to disagree, arguing that the test measured an innate and immutable, genetically inherited characteristic. After Binet's death in 1911, the Galtonian eugenicists assumed control, shifting the focus firmly toward genetic explanations by insisting that differences in intelligence between social classes and races were due to inherent genetic differences.

Picture England in the Victorian era, living as a wealthy member of the upper class of society. This is how and when Francis Galton lived when he formulated his theories and coined the term nature vs. nurture. The Victorian era was a time of peace and prosperity for England and one of the highest points of England’s power not only domestically but across the entire British Empire. This was a time of industrialization for the country and its widespread influence resulted in great economic growth. This was also one of the largest booms in the population with the country more than doubling its population in 70 years and growing the middle class within the social hierarchy (Hoppen, 1998). The overall mood of the era was one of straight-laced, proper behavior. Literature and the fine arts suffered but scientific research and industrial achievements were praised and encouraged (Hoppen, 1998). This context of the time period is important to consider while looking into Galton’s research. Although some of his theories and work may be inaccurate by what we know today, for his time, his efforts are groundbreaking.

It was the understanding of Paul Broca, that through the measurement of brain size one could determine the level of intellect an individual may possess, subsequently confirming his theories that men are more intelligent than women (Cryer, 2016). Furthermore, many scientists and medical professionals of the nineteenth century, believed in biological determinism and the male variability theory, and subscribed to the concepts of both Darwin and Broca (Shields, 1975).

Two primary contributors to psychology were john Locke, who was known to reject the possibility of innate ideas. Locke’s entire system was dependent on association of sensations and ideas of reflection. Locke also suggested that complex emotions which were derived from pain and pleasure were indeed associated with other ideas. Alexander Bain is also another