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Richard Dawkins “Fundamentally, science just comes down to faith, doesn't it?“ Well, science is not religion and it doesn't just come down to faith. Although it has many of religion's virtues, it has none of its vices. Science is based upon verifiable evidence. Religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its pride and joy, shouted from the rooftops. There is a very, very important difference between feeling strongly, even passionately, about something because we have thought about and examined the evidence for it on the one hand, and feeling strongly about something because it has been internally revealed to us, or internally revealed to somebody else in history and subsequently hallowed by tradition.
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Introduction to Psychology
Class 3: Perspectives on Science &
History of Psychology
June 14, 2006
Carl Sagan
What is CSISCOP? How might we define awe? What is an ad hominem argument? What is the role of counter-intuition in
science? What did you think about the ideas
presented in the reading assignment?
Richard Dawkins
“Fundamentally, science just comes down to faith, doesn't it?“ Well, science is not religion and it doesn't just come down to faith. Although it has many of religion's virtues, it has none of its vices. Science is based upon verifiable evidence. Religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its pride and joy, shouted from the rooftops.
There is a very, very important difference between feeling strongly, even passionately, about something because we have thought about and examined the evidence for it on the one hand, and feeling strongly about something because it has been internally revealed to us, or internally revealed to somebody else in history and subsequently hallowed by tradition.
Thomas Kuhn
Presented the idea that science does not evolve gradually toward truth, but instead undergoes periodic revolutions which he called paradigm shifts
The Red Spade Study Evolution of science is more
progress from than progress toward
History of Western Psychology
STRUCTURALISM- Wilhelm Wundt established the first
psychological laboratory in Leipzig in 1879
- The term was coined by Edward Titchener (student of Wundt)
- The study of components underlying conscious experience via sensation and introspection
- Example: Fechner’s jnd
FUNCTIONALISM
- The structure was not central, instead they studied function
- Not what it is but what is it for- William James established the
first psychological laboratory in the US in 1896
BEHAVIORISM- Emphasized observable behavior- That which is learned by association,
across species- Watson, Pavlov, Skinner
GESTALT- Whole is unequal to the
sum of its parts- Emphasized context and
meaning- Max Wertheimer (phi
phenomenon) and Kohler (insight learning)
PSYCHODYNAMICS- Study of the interrelationship of various
parts of the mind, personality, or psyche as they relate to mental, emotional, or motivational forces especially at the subconscious level
- Freud, Jung, and Adler
HUMANISM- Therapist downplays the pathological aspects in
favor of healthy aspects of a client’s life- Self-actualization and individual fulfillment- Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
