The origin of psychology as a science

Natural science background. At the beginning of the XIX century, new approaches to the psyche began to take shape. From now on, not mechanics, but physiology stimulated the growth of psychological knowledge. Having a special natural body as its subject, physiology turned it into an object of experimental study. At first, the guiding principle of physiology was an anatomical beginning. Functions (including mental ones) were investigated from the point of view of their dependence on the structure of the organ, its anatomy. The physiological interpretations of the previous era were translated into the language of experience.

Thus, Descartes's reflexive scheme, fantastic in its empirical texture, turned out to be plausible due to the detection of differences between the sensory (sensory) and motor (motor) nerve paths leading to the spinal cord. The discovery belonged to the doctors and naturalists Czech I. Prochaska, the French F. Magendie and the Englishman C. Bell. It made it possible to explain the mechanism of communication of nerves through the so-called reflex arc, the excitation of one shoulder of which regularly and inevitably activates the other shoulder, generating a muscular response. Along with the scientific (for physiology) and practical (for medicine) this discovery had important methodological significance. It empirically proved the dependence of the functions of the organism concerning its behavior in the external environment on the bodily substrate, and not on the consciousness (or soul) as a special disembodied entity.

The second discovery, which undermined the version of the existence of the soul, was made while studying the sense organs, their nerve endings. It turned out that no matter what stimuli may affect these nerves, the result will be the same specific effect for each of them. (For example, any irritation of the optic nerve causes the subject to feel a flash of light.)

On this basis, the German physiologist Johannes Muller (1801-1858) formulated the “law of the specific energy of the sense organs”: the nervous tissue does not possess any other energy than the well-known physics.

The findings of Muller strengthened the scientific outlook on the psyche, showing the causal dependence of its sensory elements (sensations) on objective material factors — an external stimulus and properties of the nerve substrate.

Finally, another discovery confirmed the dependence of the psyche on the anatomy of the central nervous system and formed the basis for the enormous popularity of phrenology (from the Greek. "Fren" - soul, mind). Austrian anatomist Franz Gall (1758-1829) proposed a "brain map", according to which various abilities are "located" in certain parts of the brain. This, according to Gall, affects the shape of the skull and allows, groping it, to determine by "bumps" how developed the individual's mind, memory and other functions. Phrenology, for all its fantastic nature, prompted an experimental study of the localization of mental functions in the brain.

Gall's views were criticized from different perspectives. Idealists attacked him for undermining the postulate of the unity and immateriality of the soul. The French physiologist and physician P. Flurance (1794-1867), without departing from the theory of the brain as an organ of thought, showed that phrenology does not withstand experimental verification. Using the method of removal of individual sections of the central nervous system, and in some cases acting on drug centers, Flurance came to the conclusion that the basic mental processes - perception, intellect, will - are the product of the brain as an integral organ. The cerebellum coordinates the movements, the “vital node” is located in the medulla oblongata, vision is connected with the four corns, the function of the spinal cord is to conduct excitation along the nerves. Flurans' works played an important role in the destruction of the mythological picture of the brain created by phrenology.

The development of associationism. The study of the sense organs, the neuromuscular system, the cerebral cortex had an anatomical orientation (that is, the mental correlated with the structure of various parts of the body). However, the appeal to these bodies faced with the need to comprehend the effects of their activities.

The effects belonged to the field of mental (consciousness). Therefore, the natural scientist was forced to move to the ground of psychology. Anatomophysiologist could draw only the information that she (psychology) had acquired by that time.

As we know, the theory of associations dominated psychology at that time. It remained the only direction capable of not only describing, but also explaining the facts.

The ideas of associationism received the highest popularity in England, where the leaders of this trend were father and son Millie.

The English historian and economist James Mill (1773–1836) returned to the idea that consciousness is a kind of mental machine, whose work is done strictly according to the laws of the association. Every experience consists, ultimately, of the simplest elements (sensations) that form ideas (first simple, then more and more complex). No innate ideas exist.

John Stuart Mill: Mental Chemistry. The son of James - John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was at that time the ruler of thoughts not only in England, but also in continental Europe, and also in Russia.

His works on logic, ethics, and other sciences were very popular. If for his father the model of exact knowledge was mechanics, then the son was influenced by the chemistry that was successfully developing at that time. He began to talk about "mental (psychic) ​​chemistry", i.e. about the emergence from the simplest elements of consciousness of the new, with the own qualities of the structures of this consciousness - just as from a hydrogen and oxygen a completely new product arises - water. The postulate according to which the main task of psychology is to study the laws of the origin and association of ideas as elements of consciousness, for several decades became its basis as an independent science. When a new experimental psychology soon emerged, which, unlike DS Mill, was not limited to general, speculative considerations that ideas form new syntheses, she, this new psychology, followed in Mill's footsteps.

“Psychical Chemistry” explained why many sensations, such as the sound of a violin or the taste of an orange (which is in fact largely a smell), are perceived as simple and uniform, although they are caused by complex stimuli, just as water seems simple and unified, although it consists of oxygen and hydrogen. This view significantly influenced the work program of the first psychological laboratories. It was assumed that, by experimental analysis, it would be possible to isolate the “atoms” of consciousness and obtain something similar to the Mendeleev table in psychology.

Taking the work of individual consciousness as the initial beginning of all creatures of human culture, D. S. Mill founded the direction that received the name of psychologism. Economics, politics, morality, law, upbringing were considered as effects of the action of psychological laws. The association was interpreted as the key to all human phenomena and problems.

However, it was not Mill's idea of ​​“mental chemistry” that had the greatest influence on psychology, but his “Logic”, the very first edition of which (1843) brought the author European-wide fame. This work is regarded as one of the most significant phenomena of nineteenth-century philosophical thought by virtue of the fact that it highlighted the problems of the methodology of scientific research.

“If the historian of science in the nineteenth century should have called the philosophical work that had influence in the middle of this century and soon after, he would undoubtedly give Mill Logic a palm. This work ... was first recommended by Liebig to the German scientific world, at that time little interested in philosophy, and it was often addressed when it was necessary to discuss philosophical questions. Thus, the works of Helmholtz decisively developed under the sign of Millew logic. "

Mill's argument boiled down to two theses: a) there are laws of the mind that are different from the laws of matter, but similar to them in terms of uniformity, repeatability, the need to follow one phenomenon after another; b) these laws can be discovered with the help of experimental methods - observation and experiment. Asking the question of creating a special empirical “science of the mind,” DS Mill reflected a pressing historical need.

Alexander Ben: Trial and error. In contrast to DS Mill, Alexander Ben, in his two main works, which had enjoyed wide popularity over the years, Sensations and Intellect (1855) and Emotions and Will (1859), consistently pursued a course to bring psychology closer to physiology. . He gave a special place to those levels of mental activity, whose connection with the bodily device is obvious, and the dependence on consciousness is minimal: reflexes, skills, and instincts.

Ben put forward the idea of ​​"trial and error" as a special principle of organizing behavior. Between the “pure” reflex and the “pure” arbitrary there is an extensive range of actions, thanks to which the desired goal is gradually achieved, step by step, sometimes at a high price. The concept of "trial and error" had a great future. This rule, assumed by Ben, obeys not only the out-of-motor, but also the in-thinking activity. Thus, the process of thinking can be considered as the selection of the right (corresponding to the desired goal) combination of words, which is performed according to the same principle as the selection of the necessary movements when learning to swim and other motor skills. "In all difficult operations that are done for the sake of intention or purpose, the rule of" trial and error "is the main and ultimate refuge."

Thus, the activity of consciousness converged with the activity of the body. The patterns inherent in all organic nature also turned out to be the laws of the “inner world”. This is the objective, categorical meaning of Ben's innovations. They were symptoms of imminent changes.

Herbert Spencer: Evolutionary Psychology. The English philosopher and psychologist G. Spencer (1820-1903) was one of the founders of the philosophy of positivism, in the wake of which, in his opinion, psychology should develop. His desire to make psychology an objective science coincided with the general trends in its development. The basis of such a positive psychology, Spencer makes the theory of evolution. Thus, in his theory, the influences of positivism, the evolutionary approach, and associationism, which Spencer processes on the basis of his aspirations to build a new psychology, are intertwined.

Reconsidering the subject of psychology. Spencer wrote that psychology studies the relationship between external and internal forms, and the associations between them. So he expanded the subject of psychology, including in it not only associations between internal factors (associations only in the field of consciousness), but also the study of the connection of consciousness with the outside world.

Exploring the role of the psyche in human evolution, Spencer said that the psyche is a mechanism of adaptation to the environment. That is, the psyche arises naturally at a certain stage of evolution, at that moment when the living conditions of living beings become so complex that it is impossible to adapt to them without reflecting them adequately.

Spencer singled out the stages of the development of the psyche on the basis that the human psyche is the highest stage of mental development, which did not appear immediately, but gradually, in the process of complicating the living conditions and activities of living beings. The original form of mental life - the feeling evolved from irritability, and then from the simplest sensations, diverse forms of the psyche appeared. All of them are survival tools of the organism, private forms of adaptation to the environment. Such particular forms of adaptation are: reflex, instinct, skill, realized in behavior - and sensations, memory, will, mind, existing in consciousness.

Talking about the role of each stage. Spencer emphasized: the main meaning of the mind is that it is devoid of restrictions that are inherent in the lower forms of the psyche, and therefore provides the most adequate adaptation of the individual to the environment. This idea of ​​the connection of the psyche, mainly the intellect, with adaptation will become the leading one for the psychology of the beginning of the 20th century.

Spencer extended the laws of evolution not only to the psyche, but also to social life, developing the organic theory of society. He said that man needs to adapt not only to nature, but also to the social environment: therefore, his psyche develops in the process of development of human society. One of the first in psychology Spencer compared the psychology of the savage and the modern man, concluding that modern man has a more developed mindset, while primitive people had a more developed perception. These conclusions at that time were quite unconventional and principled. They allowed scientists to develop comparative methods of mental research, which are widely used. Analyzing the difference in the mental development of people belonging to different nations and different times. Spencer reconsidered the former views of associationism on the vivid formation of knowledge. He wrote that the most frequently repeated associations do not disappear, but are fixed in the human brain and are inherited. Thus, consciousness is not a clean sheet, it is full of pre-arranged associations. These congenital associations make the difference between the brain of a European and the savage brain.

Spencer's theory was widely adopted, having a huge impact on experimental psychology, behavioral psychology, the formation of genetic (child) psychology.

Johann-Friedrich Herbart: Statics and Dynamics. In the theory of the German psychologist and teacher I. F. Herbart (1776-1841), the basic principles of associationism were combined with the ideas of traditional approaches of German psychology - the idea of ​​apperception, soul activity, the role of the unconscious. Herbart proceeded from the fact that our inner world is rather relatively connected with the outer world, therefore it is impossible to talk about reflection, especially reflection of an adequate one, conveying the basic properties of the surrounding things. In order to avoid discussing the degree of adequacy and accuracy of reflection, a question that served as a kind of watershed between different directions in the theory of knowledge, Herbart replaces the term “sensation” with the term “representation”, thus emphasizing the isolation of the inner world from the outer.

Speaking about the association of ideas, Herbart came to the conclusion that ideas are not passive elements in the human soul, but have their own charge, activity, which determines their position in the mental sphere. For Herbart, the preservation of psychology as a science of the soul was an important postulate of his concept of the psychic, since the soul in its understanding is the center in which knowledge is stored and processed and which is the source of the human person. Developing Leibniz's theory of the structure of the soul, Herbart wrote that it can be divided into three layers - apperception, perception and the unconscious. At the same time, under apperception, he understood the area of ​​clear and distinct consciousness, and under perception, the area of ​​vague consciousness. Thus, for Herbart, the region of the soul was wider than the region of consciousness, and unconscious was of great importance for him, as for Leibniz.

Herbart also introduces the concept of "apperceptive mass", the content of which is the individual human experience. Apperceptive mass is formed in the process of life, and therefore depends on the methods of education and training chosen by adults. However, if at the beginning of life the content of the apperceptive mass is determined by external influences, then later it itself determines the characteristics of the perception of the surrounding world, characteristic of this person. Therefore, different people perceive the same situations differently.

Herbart's idea about the dynamics of ideas was of great importance for the development of objective psychology and for the penetration into it of mathematical methods for processing the data obtained. He proceeded from the assumption that each representation has a certain strength, charge, and thus introduced another parameter into psychology - force, adding it to the parameter that already existed - time. The presence of two parameters of force and time made it possible to apply the mathematical apparatus to the study of mental processes, which gave objectivity to the data obtained in the study. The introduction of this parameter was no less important for the study of thresholds of sensations, which was subsequently undertaken by Fechner.

From the point of view of Herbart, each representation seeks to get into the central region of the soul - the region of consciousness. However, the volume of this area, as well as the area of ​​apperception, is not unlimited, and therefore only an idea with sufficient intensity, that is, such a force that can overcome the threshold separating consciousness from the unconscious, can get there. Еще большей интенсивностью должно обладать представление для того, чтобы преодолеть порог апперцепции и попасть в центр внимания человека, в область отчетливого сознания.

Естественно, что каждое сильное представление, попадая в сознание, вытесняет оттуда уже имеющееся там, но более слабое представление. Отсюда Гербарт делает вывод, что между противоположными представлениями существуют отношения конфликта, вытеснения. Однако, подчеркивал он, есть и сходные представления, которые могут соединяться или даже сливаться в одно. В тем случае, если в области сознания человека уже находится сходное представление, новому знанию не надо обладать очень высокой интенсивностью, так как оно сливается со старым и таким образом попадает в сознание. Более того, если в области смутного сознания или бессознательного расположены некоторые представления, к которым добавляются даже и не очень сильные, но сходные новые представления, сливаясь, они могут получить достаточную интенсивность для перехода из бессознательной части души в сознание.

Эта концепция Гербарта, которую он назвал «теорией статики и динамики представлений», сыграла большую роль и в теории обучения. Гербарт выдвинул идею о четырех принципах обучения, которые должны учитываться при разработке новых методов и обучающих программ. Он говорил о необходимости ясности, ассоциаций, системы и метода. С его точки зрения, методика обучения должна строиться так, чтобы новое знание сразу же попадало в центр внимания человека, для чего оно должно или быть достаточно привлекательным, или соединяться с другими, имеющимися уже у субъекта знаниями. В любом случае новое знание сохранится только в том случае, если оно входит в систему с другими, уже имеющимися знаниями. Механизмом такого соединения понятий являются классические законы ассоциаций.

Теория Гербарта, в которой появились новые и актуальные для психологии идеи о динамике представлений, их связях и конфликтах, их расположении в душе человека, была одной из самых распространенных и значимых психологических теорий в XIX веке. Она сыграла большую роль и в дальнейшем развитии психологии.

Появление принципа биологическога детерминизма. В середине XIX века в науках о жизни произошли революционные изменения. Влияние механики, в течение двух веков бывшей «царицей наук», стремительно падало. В науках о живой природе взамен механической утверждается биологическая причинность. Важной предпосылкой ее утверждения стала победа физико-математической школы над витализмом – представлением о том, что регулятором биологических процессов служат особые витальные (жизненные) силы, неведомые неорганической природе. Открытие закона сохранения и превращения энергии покончило с витализмом и с виталистической психологией. Средствами точной науки было доказано, что одни и те же молекулярные процессы объединяют организм и окружающую среду. Изгнание витализма создало предпосылки для открытия реальных, а не фиктивных (витальных) причин, действующих в живом веществе. Важнейшие из этих причин были открыты англичанином Чарльзом Дарвином и французом Кладом Бернаром.

Оба учения исходили из принципа активности организма. Но в отличие от прежней биологии, искавшей «жизненную силу» за пределами естественных, доступных наблюдению и опыту факторов, они строго руководствовались данными опыта, наблюдения, а там, где это было возможно – и эксперимента. Наряду с активностью, оба указанных учения строго, научно объясняли целесообразность жизненных реакций.

Согласно Дарвину, естественный отбор безжалостно истребляет живые субстраты, которым не удается справиться с трудностями среды. Причем здесь имелась как бы двойная активность. Организм должен был пустить в ход все свои ресурсы (стало быть, и психические), чтобы выжить, а среда изменялась, и организм вынужден был, опять-таки пуская в ход свои ресурсы, приспособляться (адаптироваться). Поэтому среда благодаря своим изменениям оказывалась творческой силой.

Согласно Бернару, организм также вынужден вести себя активно и целесообразно, используя специальные механизмы поддержания в теле стабильности (постоянства содержания кислорода, определенного давления в крови и т. д.), чтобы обеспечить активность своего поведения.

В итоге сложилась новая «картина организма» как устройства, которое подчиняется законам, неведомым неорганическим телам. По-новому понимались причинность, системность, развитие. И эта новая картина стала основой понимания психических функций, которые отныне рассматривались под тем же углом зрения, что и все другие функции живых систем (а не лишенных жизни машин). На этом фундаменте складывалась психология как особая наука. Ее формирование шло посредством возникновения и развития различных отраслей.

Чарльз Роберт Дарвин: революция в биологии. Ч.Дарвин (1809-1882) создал теорию об эволюции живого на Земле, о происхождении видов, их свойств (включая психические) и форм поведения. Идеи об эволюции жизни высказывались на протяжении веков многими мыслителями и натуралистами. Дарвин впервые объединил данные многих наук и выявил механизмы филогенеза (исторического формирования группы организмов), обосновав учение о происхождении видов путем естественного отбора. Наследственность, изменчивость, отбор – таковы факторы эволюции.

В основе естественного отбора лежит вымирание неприспособленных и выживание приспособленных. Этим объясняется относительная целесообразность организмов, их приспособленность к условиям внешней среды, непрерывное совершенствование в процессе отбора.

До Дарвина единственными способами строго научного объяснения явлений считались способы, диктуемые «царицей наук» – механикой. Но механическая причинность не могла объяснить реальную, подтверждаемую повседневным опытом целесообразность жизненных проявлений. Это укрепляло мнение о том, что эти проявления зависят от действия изначально заложенных в организме нематериальных целей, управляющих его реакциями и развитием. Такой взгляд, названный телеологией (от греческого «телес» – цель), был опровергнут учением Дарвина, объяснившим целесообразность функций организма, не прибегая к представлению о бестелесной цели. Средствами точного рационального анализа было доказано, что кроме механической причинности, действующей в мире нерукотворной природы, существует биологическая причинность, которой присущи собственные факторы саморегуляции и развития жизни, в том числе и психической.

The publication of the main work of Darwin "The Origin of Species by Natural Selection" has opened a new era in the development of modern biology. And since the psyche has biological roots and bases, the revolutionary events in biology caused by Darwinism changed the whole face of psychological science.

Психология исходила из определенного понимания как среды, так и организма, который с ней взаимодействует. Среда до Дарвина мыслилась в виде совокупности стимулов, которые производят в организме эффект соответственно изначально заданному устройству. Согласно же учению Дарвина среда оказывалась силой, способной не только вызывать реакции, но и изменять жизнедеятельность (поскольку от организма требовалось приспособиться к ней). Спонтанная активность, которую было принято считать далее необъяснимым свойством живого, уступила место непрерывному воздействию внешних условий, неумолимо уничтожающих все, что не могло к ним адаптироваться (приспособиться). При этом среда выступала не только как источник воздействия на организм, но и как объект активных действий самого организма. Изменилось и понятие об организме: предшествующая биология считала виды неизменными, а живое тело – своего, рода машиной с раз и навсегда фиксированной физической и психической конструкцией. Рассматривая телесные процессы и функции в качестве продукта и орудия приспособления к внешним условиям жизни, Дарвин выдвинул новую модель анализа поведения в целом и его компонентов (включая психические) в частности.

Столь же важное научное и мировоззренческое значение имела книга Дарвина «Происхождение человека». Доказательство животного происхождения человека вызвало ожесточенное противодействие клерикальных кругов. Сравнивая человеческий организм с животным, Дарвин не ограничился анатомическими и физиологическими признаками. Он подверг тщательному сравнению выразительные движения, которыми сопровождаются эмоциональные состояния, установив сходство между этими движениями человека и высокоорганизованных живых существ – обезьян. Свои наблюдения Дарвин изложил в книге «Выражение эмоций, у животных и человека». Основная объяснительная идея Дарвина заключалась в том, что выразительные движения (оскал зубов, сжатие кулаков) – не что иное, как рудименты (остаточные явления) движений наших далеких предков. Некогда, в условиях непосредственной борьбы за жизнь, эти движения имели важный практический смысл.

Учение Дарвина изменило сам сталь психологического мышления. Открылась возможность рассматривать актуально наблюдаемую реакцию организма не только как ответ на действующую в данный момент ситуацию, но и как реакцию, направленную на возможно более успешное поведение в предстоящих обстоятельствах. Присущая организму преднастройка на будущее, готовность действовать в еще не возникших условиях (например, при угрозе существованию) выступали как эффект естественного отбора, как бы предоставляющего данному индивиду ценой жизни предшествующих поколений больше шансов на выживание.

The triumph of Darwinian doctrine finally approved the principle of development in psychology. New branches of psychological research have emerged, such as differential psychology (which gave impetus to Darwin's idea that genetic factors already - heredity - determine the differences between people), child psychology (Darwin owns the “Biographical sketch of one child”), zoopsychology (see work of Darwin "Instinct") and others.