Concepts and Categories in Psychology

316 Concepts and Categories in Psychology: 

316 Concepts and Categories in Psychology Dr Geoff Bunn bunng@hope.ac.uk

Introduction: the history of “pseudoscience”: 

Introduction: the history of “pseudoscience” Physiognomy Phrenology Mesmerism

Slide3: 

Physiognomy The study of the face (1780s-1830s)

Slide4: 

Johann Lavater Physiognomic Fragments for Furthering the Knowledge and Love of Man (1775)

Phrenology: 

Phrenology Character delineations through feeling the bumps on the head Most popular in 1830s but persisted until the 20th century. 40+ Mental Faculties located on the skull

Slide6: 

The mental organs Phrenology

The Mental Organs: 

The Mental Organs Amativeness: love Philoprogentiveness: care for offspring Inhabitiveness: attachment to place Destructiveness: propensity to violence Self-esteem: respect for self Spirituality: belief in the supernatural Time: succession of events

Slide8: 

Amativeness 6: ‘you are easily enamoured and liable to be lead astray’ Constructiveness 4: ‘you have a fair share of mechanical ingenuity’

Slide9: 

Specially devoted to the “SCIENCE OF MAN”; contains phrenology and physiognomy with all the SIGNS OF CHARACTER, and how to read them;

Phrenology: 

Phrenology “Know Thyself” A place for everyone in the new industrial order A tool for self-improvement

Slide11: 

Reading of character through bumps on the head Begins in the radical materialist medical schools of the 1830s Popular among working classes (‘self-help’) Political overtones

Slide12: 

Phrenology and self transformation

Slide13: 

Phrenology Started to decline from 1860s

Slide14: 

The Study of the Brain Followed from the decline of phrenology

Slide15: 

“ In the coming century, Phrenology will assuredly attain general importance. It will prove itself to be the true science of mind. Its practical uses in education, in self-discipline, in the reformatory treatment of criminals and in the remedial treatment of the insane will give it one of the highest places in the hierarchy of the sciences. ”   - A. R. Wallace, The Wonderful Century (1898)

Francis Galton (1822-1911): 

Francis Galton (1822-1911) Archetypal Victorian ‘Gentleman of Science’ Visited a phrenologist in 1849. Was told he was ‘not suited to burning the midnight lamp’.

Mesmerism: 

Mesmerism Postulated an impalpable fluid penetrating the entire universe Vital to the nervous system Could cure disease Mania of the 1780s

Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815): 

Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) Induced trance state in patients. Attired in mystic robes and wielding an iron wand, Mesmer cured a great many people of numerous illnesses.

Mesmer: 

Mesmer ‘Animal magnetism’ Cure = transmission of invisible fluid Psychological not physical cause

Mesmerism: 

Mesmerism English doctor James Braid renamed Mesmerism ‘neuro-hypnotism’ (nervous sleep) in 1843. By the late 19th century, hypnosis was regarded as an abnormal state by the Salpetriere School of medicine in Paris

Jean Martin Charcot (1825-93): 

Jean Martin Charcot (1825-93) Puzzle of hysteria Used hypnosis to treat hysterical symptoms Teacher of Sigmund Freud

Hysteria: 

Hysteria Clinical disorder, multiple symptoms Very important category for late C19th psychology, Predominantly a ‘female malady’ No longer exists!

How has psychological knowledge made up people?: 

How has psychological knowledge made up people?

Conclusion: the history of “pseudoscience”: 

Conclusion: the history of “pseudoscience” Unhistorical (anachronistic) to dismiss popular science as “pseudoscience” Categories had great meaning for people in the past Categories were “lived through” by people in the past

Three Big Ideas: 

Three Big Ideas Psychological categories are historical “artefacts” (Danziger) Psychological knowledge can change the way people act and think about themselves = “Making up People” (Hacking) Psychological knowledge can govern people in accordance with social and political ambitions = “Governing the Soul” (Rose)

Slide28: 

1 Oct 8 Introduction 2 Oct 15 Naming the Mind, Making up People & Governing the Soul 3 Oct 22 1. Intelligence 4 Oct 29 2. Personality 5 Nov 53 3. Emotion 6 Nov 12 4. Behaviour 7 Nov 19 5. Hysteria 8 Nov 26 6. Shell shock 9 Dec 3 7. Sexuality 10 Dec 10 Conclusion

Slide29: 

Choose one of the psychological categories discussed on this course. How did psychology acquire your chosen category? What meanings became attached to it? Discuss the role the category played in ‘governing the soul’. (2500 words)