Phrenology: A Sociological Analysis

Plato and Socrates thought that the mind and body were separate and that mind keeps going after the body dies, later Rene Descartes agreed and did experiments to prove it

In this approach we see the theories of psychology that see the human mind function based upon the interaction of forces and drives within the mind, normally this means unconscious thoughts, but it also includes looking at the different structures of the personality.

The concept of Psychology originated from philosophy and biology which are two factors used in psychology today (Eysenck 2009). Psychology represents ‘study of the mind’ (Gross 2005). Psychology is a type of science which studies the behaviour of humans and animals, psychology tries to understand why people behave in certain ways taking into consideration their thoughts and feelings (Eysenck 2009). The term psychology was founded from the Greek word, psyche which means mind, soul or spirit combined with the Latin word logos which means’ the study of’ (Gross 2005). Psychology dates back to ancient civilizations who were interested in workings of the the mind and behaviours (Payne and Walker 2003). Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychological laboratory in 1879 (Glassman 2008). Wundt and his co workers studied the structures that make up the mind, he was the first theorist to use psychology as a self conscious experiment studying perceptions and conscious awareness (Gross 2005).

At the end of the nineteenth century, Titchener brought Wundt’s basic ideas of psychology to America. He was responsible for translating many of Wundt’s works into English as they were all in German. Many did not now that Titchener only translated what he agreed with and choose not to translate anything he disagreed with. Titchener called Wundt's ideas structuralism, and tried to study the structure of mental life or consciousness. His structural psychology had three aims:

John Harlow’s conclusion about Gage’s behavior (Damasio, 1994, p. 16). Phrenology, which was established by Franz Joseph Gall, describes the science in which particular functions/behaviors are attributed to brain “centers” (Damasio, 1994, pp. 14-15). In Gage’s case, Dr. Harlow concluded that Gage’s change in behavior was caused by damage to a particular area of the brain, but did not use phrenology as evidence (Damasio, 1994, p. 16). However, Damasio does not go into detail about the assignment of functions/behaviors to brain “centers.”

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.

William James was a philosopher and psychologist but was most well known in the field of Psychology for developing the philosophy of pragmatism, or the Functionalist theory: "Theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment." He was also the first Psychologist to be born in America.

Franz Joseph Gall created the main principles of phrenology, which was the first scientific theory of brain localization. His theories were based entirely on observation and natural philosophy. Phrenology was the study of associating an individual’s personality characteristics and mental abilities based on the shape of their skull. It was incomparably influential throughout the first half of the 19th century thanks to Gall and his many successors. Some of the main tenants of phrenology were later confirmed by scientific experiments and technology.

This weeks reading was over the life and research of Edward Bradford Titchener, the founder of structuralism. Titchener was a student and friend of Wilhelm Wundt. Even though he supposedly was a self-proclaimed follower of Wundt, his form of psychology was quite different than that of his teacher. As we learned in chapter four, Wundt’s theory about the human mind was based on the view that people could not focus on more than one thing at a time with precision, that the mind had a self organizing capability, and also that only sensation and perception could be studied experimentally via apperception. Wundt was interested in the whole experience, Titchener was interested in the components of the experience. Also, Titchener, believed the opposite of Wundt, that mental processes could be studied through introspection by trained “reagents.”

Structuralism, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, was the beginning of psychology branching away from philosophy featuring human behavior by dividing mental processes into basic components (Ettinger, 2014). Edward Titchener brought this practice to the United States in 1892 and even though structuralism was short-lived, it was a stepping stone making psychology a better science (Ettinger, 2014). During the same period as Titchener’s vision of structuralism, Sigmund Freud came up with a theory called psychoanalysis. (Ettinger, 2014) His idea included catharsis, also known as the talking cure, with his patient Anna O. helping with her symptoms of previous childhood trauma to go away. He believed that your unconscious mind had urges and even when you’re not thinking about them you are in that part of your mind (Ettinger, 2014). Lots of people did criticize Freuds for his work, but he did help those with issues using his “talking cure” and nowadays clinical psychologist still treats emotionally distressed people even though psychoanalysis is no longer used. In 1913 a psychologist by the name John Watson begin the ideology of behaviorism in psychology. Overall behaviorism is seeing how people learn (Ettinger, 2014). His approach to psychology was heavily shaped by Ivan Pavlov by trying new things to figure out behavior. B. F. Skinner is another behaviorist that contributed his work exploring the effects on behavior. He believed that behavior has no ideology of the mind or free will

Psychologists can be classified as social, behavioral, and cognitive scientists. People who study psychology can go into mental testing, mental health care, education, military intelligence, and so much more. Psychology started in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia. Historians note that Thales, Plato, and Aristotle, Greek philosophers, all address workings of the mind. Also, by 4th century BC, a Greek physician known as Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical, rather than supernatural, origins.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to distinguish between a criminal and a normal person. The common phase you hear is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Criminals are all different, they do not have a specific tattoo or a specific hair style. Criminals can look like a friend, a neighbor, or a stranger on the street. Fortunately, there are some theories you can study on criminals, that may give a clue.

The History of Psychology In order to discuss Psychology's history, it is important to understand that psychology still does not have one unifying approach unlike the natural sciences; even the definition of Psychology and what it truly means is still undecided. However I shall attempt to review chronologically its philosophical origins, include how the science of Physics and Biology were placed in history and how they influenced research and determined the development of Psychology as its recognised today. Beginning with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle (between 428- 347) in ancient Greece, they began to ask

When psychology was first established as a science it separated from biology and philosophy, the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The first school of thought, structuralism, was advocated by the founder of the first psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt. Almost immediately, other theories began to emerge and vie for dominance in psychology. The following are some of the major thought that have influenced our knowledge and understanding of psychology: Structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism:

Before then, psychologists like Wundt and Skinner had concentrated in the introspective analysis of the ‘normal’ human mind. There were aiming to ‘unmask’ the conscience, showing it like a puppet at the mercy of primitive impulses. They studied human actions and reactions to these impulses, but not the mental processes surrounding them. Mental illnesses were considered ‘organic’; it was thought that they were produced by some kind of deterioration or disease of the brain (LLC, 2016) . The research done around mental illness tried to discover what changes of the brain would lead to insanity. Many diseases did not show any physical mental damage but it was assumed that the techniques were not yet sufficient. The psychological causes were ignored. Freud changed this perspective forever (Silverman, 1985).