From the history of prescientific psychology

Section 1. Introduction to psychology

Lecture 1 (2.09.97)

Claude Levi-Strauss studied ancient myths and legends. We do not fully understand them, we perceive these myths and legends sometimes as riddles, as questions to which answers must be found. We are trying to decipher these myths, to find out what is behind them. So Levi-Strauss once realized: this position “myth-mystery”, “myth-question” must be turned over. He says: “A myth (an ancient legend, an ancient text) is a kind of answer to a question that we have not yet asked. When we ask a question, we will understand the answer.” This is what Levi-Strauss means. You should know the main thing about the summary of general psychology: the summary is a collection of answers to those questions that you have not even asked yourself yet. These questions may arise in future professional life.

First, we will speak in a language that is able to compare everyday and scientific psychology.

Topic 1. General characteristics of psychology as a science

Entry

The term «Psychology» consists of two words: «psyche» and logos». Both of these words go back to the ancient Greeks. The translation of the first word «pshyche» for the Greek is soul. And for us, perhaps more modestly, but also more accurately — the psyche. Whoever knows Greek mythology will remember that Psyche is the legendary heroine of the ancient Greeks, the bride of one of the gods of Eros. She was born as a mortal, and during her life became immortal. This is the attitude of the ancient Greeks to the word soul. Whatever you were born, you can immortalize yourself, you can become eternal. The words are not very familiar to our ears.

The second word is logos. Perhaps no less important, in any case, no less interesting for us. It has multiple meanings at the same time. Usually «logos» is translated into Russian as a «word», but this will not be accurate. More accurate translation options: “reasonable word”, “meaningful word”. That is, “logos” is a word that allows you to comprehend something, understand something. We could once again step through the centuries and say that for us «logos» will be translated as «concept», because any concept is a meaningful reasonable word. Understanding, comprehending, studying — these are all different meanings of the word «logos».

And then, if you translate the word «psychology» together, combine these two words together, it will turn out, the ancient Greek would say: «reasonable meaningful word about the soul». And we would say much more modestly: «science of the mind». And let’s say right away that this science is relatively young and, of course, the ancient Greeks and their followers talked a lot about the soul, but now the word soul, in a sense, has already left science for various reasons. And since the last third of the last century, namely, since 1879, psychology has emerged as an independent scientific discipline. Moreover, we note right away that the first psychology focuses on the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, biology. And this approach, the natural-scientific approach, was the main one for psychology. We will say that today it is not only so. And indeed, psychology cannot be only a natural science, psychology is, of course, a humanitarian science.

As long as the faculty of psychology of Moscow State University has existed, so many deans have been asking the rector to make them natural faculties. This would largely change the status of the faculty. Nevertheless, the rectors always answer that psychology strives to be natural, but at the same time always remains humanitarian.

As soon as we have considered the term «psychology», we will immediately give a definition of the psyche — although this is a little ogu.e.yat the essence of the matter. And yet, a certain understanding of the psyche is universal, it is recognized by everyone. To begin with, we highlight two characteristics of the psyche:

1. Reflection. The psyche is a subjective reflection of reality, a reflection of the world in which the subject, for example, a person, lives and acts. Whatever we talk about, perception, memory, thinking, etc. it’s all a reflection.
2. Regulation. This is a functional feature. The word function is the answer to the question “Why?”. The psyche is needed to regulate one’s own behavior. The role of the psyche is to control oneself.

And if these two words reflection and regulation are combined again, then we will get such a definition. The psyche is a reflection of reality, necessary for the subject to live and work in it (to control his behavior). Mentality is not limited to humans. The subject has a psyche: both a person and an animal.

But if we dared to give at least a better definition of the psyche, then, continuing the series, we will give a definition of consciousness. Consciousness was the first subject of scientific psychology. In school ideas about philosophy, in social science courses, for example, there is a definition: consciousness is the highest form of the psyche. Both characteristics (reflection and regulation) need to be clarified once again, but now these will be the characteristics of consciousness:

1. Reflection. If we are talking about consciousness, then it is associated with the ability to reflect not only the world, but also oneself in this world. Consciousness is the ability to give a (subjective) account of oneself. If our subject can tell something about himself (about experiences, impressions, etc.), then this subject can be studied. It was then in 1879 that the founder of scientific psychology, the German scientist Wilhelm Wundt, did not just build a science of consciousness, he relied on a certain method. If consciousness can be studied, then one must ask: “How to study? By what method? The first method of scientific psychology was called introspection (look inside, observe yourself). In Russian they sometimes translate, and this is partly correct, introspection — self-observation. This is, in the broadest sense, an opportunity to give an account of oneself.
2. Regulation. Consciousness in world psychology is an ambiguous term, but in domestic psychology (for now, let’s rely on it), consciousness is considered a characteristic of only a person. Well, at least because only a person can give an account of himself. But not only for this reason. This is a functional feature. Why is consciousness necessary? Consciousness is necessary to regulate the joint activities of people. “Co” plus “knowledge” is shared knowledge. In order to act together, consciousness is needed.

Consciousness is the representation of the subject about the world (and his place in it), associated with the ability to give an account of his inner mental experience and necessary for the rational organization of the joint activities of people.

Let’s look at the word psychology again. The word «logos» has another meaning. Even in everyday life, starting from the same ancient Greeks, it is translated as “reasonable device” or “reasonable organization”. And then psychology is a reasonable organization of the psyche (a reasonable organization of mental traits). Each of us has a lot of mental traits (properties, qualities), and therefore each of us has his own psychology.

And when we use the word «psychology» in this sense, we mean an individual portrait of the psyche of each. And this second meaning is sometimes replaced by such words as character (temperament, mentality). The mentality is literally «the structure of the psyche.» All these words can be combined into one group and called — individuality.

Individuality is the totality of all mental traits, modes of behavior of the subject, which distinguish him from others. Of course, individuality, like the psyche, is possessed not only by a person, but also by an animal. Those who love or keep animals, such as zookeepers, of course, have a detailed idea of ​​the individuality of their pets. Sometimes all the visitors of the zoo seem to them on the same face, but the animals that you love and care for have individuality. And then we, without noticing it ourselves, can draw a small conclusion.

The science of the psyche and consciousness, of mental processes, where any subject is considered, today is called general psychology. And the second branch, where individuality is considered, is the psychology of individual differences, differential psychology. These two branches have always complemented each other. There is an idea about a person in general and, of course, there should be an idea about the individual characteristics of each.

Since the word psychology has two meanings, then of course, the word psychologist should have at least two meanings. The first meaning is clear — the representative of science. There is, of course, the second. In addition to the scientific, there is also an everyday meaning, in which every person is a psychologist, because in communicating with others, everyone is forced to be an everyday psychologist. Accordingly, psychology will always be not only scientific, but also everyday. There is no need for competition between them. Scientific psychology is relatively young, but worldly psychology has always existed and will always exist. We will devote this whole topic to a comparison of scientific and worldly psychology.

Question 1. From the history of pre-scientific psychology. Psychology and philosophy. Consciousness as the first subject of psychology

In order for the conversation to be structured, let’s try to rely on a quote from one major psychologist who worked in our country, one of the founders of psychology in our country. This is Sergei Leonidovich ueshtein, who is known primarily for the fact that he wrote one fundamental textbook on general psychology — «Fundamentals of General Psychology».

Sergei Leonidovich, opening the way to psychology for us, says the following: “Psychology is a very ancient and very young science. It is based on millennia of everyday experience, centuries of philosophical reflection and decades of precise experimental science. The birthplace of scientific psychology is the city of Leipzig, the University of Leipzig.

From the history of pre-scientific psychology (psychological knowledge within everyday practice)

Everyday psychology is primarily interested in individual differences. Psychology begins with a differential, with an interest in a particular person. Here we just need to name the ancient Greek Theophrastus (Theophrastus), who is known to us as the author of the book «Characters». Here are a few excerpts from this book. Immediately I will say the following, for sure, everyone is familiar with psychological tests in their own way. A test is always a definition of some trait, which the researcher sometimes hides from the person he is testing. To define a trait, it is necessary to describe (in specific provisions with which one must agree or not) the manifestations of this trait in various situations, to describe the ways of behavior. The ancient Greek Theophrastus acts in the same way. In each small passage about human character, he defines a trait, and then describes how a person will behave in this particular situation. Excerpts from Theophrastus’ book «Character»:

We will define fussiness, perhaps, as excessive zeal in speech and action. And what a fussy person. He makes promises that he can’t keep. He alone comes up with objections, the inconsistency of which is obvious. If the doctor forbids giving something to the patient, he still gives it, saying that he wants to test whether he will get better. About to take an oath, he announces to those present: «Not the first time for me, I have already sworn many times.»

Vanity is defined as the base desire for honor. And what a vain person. When visiting for dinner, he tries to take a place next to the owner himself. Returning a borrowed measure of silver, he tries to give it entirely with a new coin. After a solemn procession with riders, he orders the slave to take home all the things and equipment, and he himself, throwing on a civilian cloak, but in spurs, flaunts, walking around the market.

Gu.e.st is the sharpness in getting around, which is manifested in speeches. That’s the kind of person gu.e.yan. When asked where such and such, he replies: «Leave me alone.» He does not respond to greetings. And if he happens to have something to sell, he will not announce how much he is selling, but asks the buyers what they will give. To people who, out of respect, send him gifts for the holiday, he says that he doesn’t need any gifts at all. He does not accept an apology if a passer-by inadvertently touches him, pushes him or steps on his foot. Having stumbled on a stone in the street, he is ready to shower curses on this stone. He can’t stand waiting for someone for a long time.

In the book of Theophrastus we meet various individual portraits. This is the first step in differential psychology: describe the fact before generalizing it.

As another example, let us cite a source from Eastern history. There is a book «Za-zu-an», which is written from century to century, which began in ancient China. Its name can be translated into Russian as «Notes on Miscellaneous». Another translation option: a mixture, something about something, various heterogeneous facts. The word «mixture» is not accidental here. The word «mixture» or «mix» is the Latin word for «temperament». Temperament means — I mix in a different ratio.

The ancient Chinese, unlike Theophrastus, describe emotional states in addition to individual portraits. In addition to answering the question: «How am I different from others», they also answer the question: «How to manage yourself, your emotional states.»

Excerpts from the book «Za-zu-an»:

Smart The one who is firm in his aspirations, who knows how to keep a secret, who is friends with smart people, catches himself in time.

Unreasonable. Without explaining what the matter is to scold, man. Without knowing the essence of the matter, act like others. Try to win on the little things.

Out of a desire to show off. Seeing someone’s book, he immediately grabs it and leafs through it. If two are fighting, he will give one under the side. If they argue, they try to judge who is right and who is wrong.

Note that Theophrastus described the trait “out of a desire to show oneself” as “vanity”. And the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, called the trait “out of a desire to show oneself” or “out of a desire to draw attention to oneself” as “hysteria”. So everyday terms sooner or later have their scientific counterparts.

Everyday psychology often uses a metaphorical comparison. To characterize a person, he is compared with an animal, a plant, sometimes an object. And the psychoanalyst Freud will say that these are elementary projections.

Consider the metaphors from the ancient Chinese book «Za-zu-an»:

It is very reminiscent of a metropolitan official pumpkin: it grows imperceptibly and quickly. The county chief — a tiger: if he moves a little — the victims. Nun — mouse: always hiding.

But were there any attempts to generalize all this material at the same time? The first typology or classification of temperaments (from the word “mixture”, I mix in a certain ratio) no longer belongs to the ancient Greek, but to the ancient Roman, the founder of medicine — Hippocrates. Interestingly, Hippocrates is the founder of medicine, but not of psychology. What we now recall from Hippocrates did not concern the psyche, but the terms have been preserved and today have acquired a psychological content. Hippocrates spoke about the mixing of fluids in the human body, and since there was a doctor, he spoke not only about healthy people, but also about the sick. There are four such liquids and their names are blood (sangva), mucus (phlegm), bile (chole) and black bile (melanchole).

One may recall that a much later student of Hippocrates, Galen, gave a psychological definition to temperaments. The philosopher Kant took these four words to designate simple temperaments, he proved that there should be only four temperaments. Many writers have given us characteristics of temperament types.

In scientific psychology, the grounds for distinguishing types have changed. A modern physiologist will say that temperament is based on the properties of the nervous system. But it is surprising that Pavlov will single out the properties of the nervous system, then he will single out the types of the nervous system, there will be four types, it will be time to name them and again there will be Hippocratic words.

The typology of temperaments was built by Eysenck. There are questionnaires for typology. After World War II, he studied neurotic soldiers with emotional disorders. And then he expanded the field of his research and applied the modern technique of individuality analysis — factor analysis (this is a mathematical technique, but it was invented by a psychologist, and psychophysiologist Eysenck used this technique). The purpose of the technique: at first there are many properties (various ways of behavior), and the mathematical procedure allows them to be generalized, it allows to single out a factor of a more general order, to reduce particular manifestations to general ones. Eysenck patiently studied the temperaments of his subjects for 20 years and came to the conclusion that there are two factors that determine temperament in general. We met with this already in Theophrastus and in «Tsza-zu-an»: one factor contains two poles (plus and minus), a binary or binary factor. Smart, not smart, fun, not fun. In Eysenck, the first factor is emotional stability, and, in contrast, instability (or neuroticism). The second factor is that its name was known long before Eysenck, the name for this difference was proposed by Jung, a student and collaborator of Freud. At the beginning of the century, Jung wrote the book Psychological Types. He turns to the history of philosophy, literature, painting, poetry and notices one important detail — people have always stood out in pairs: Plato and Aristotle, Goethe and Schiller. Jung notes that there is some complementarity in a person’s relationship with the world: one orientation to the world (outward, to the world, to nature, to other people) is extraversion. And there is, on the contrary, a focus on oneself (on oneself, inside) — introversion. This is the second factor, which was also highlighted by Eysenck: extraversion-introversion.

A person worked for 20 years and received 4 types of temperaments as a result:

1. emotionally stable extrovert — sanguine,
2. emotionally stable introvert — phlegmatic,
3. emotionally unstable extrovert — choleric,
4. emotionally unstable introvert — melancholic.

According to Eysenck, one should not at all think that a certain person is only one type. There is always a certain individual-specific case or portrait.

Every person who creates a work of art is necessarily a major worldly psychologist. And what is interesting is that major discoveries in psychology were first made in art, and then they were, as it were, recreated anew in science.

The classic of the world avant-garde in our century is James Joyce with the novel «Ulysses». The novel is surprising in that it is an attempt to record the inner speech of a person (there are even several people, although there are not many of them) within one day. A person does something, meets with his friends, etc. The subjective report is constantly described. Not introspection according to Wundt, but something else. Jung, in the early 30s, at the request of his literary friends, reads Joyce’s 1922 novel. Jung reads this novel and finds the following experiences in himself: “This is such a boring novel, boring and besides, it touches my emotional sphere. The author seemed to set out to piss me off!” At some point, Jung fell asleep, then, as an experienced analyst, waking up, looked at where he fell asleep and drew conclusions. When he woke up and was already close to making a conclusion, he says: “I’m sorry, but if I’m being bullied like that, I’m actually a psychiatrist, I’ll make a diagnosis now. A little more and I will call the author sick with schizophrenia. But something held him back, and he said to himself: “What if this novel, incomprehensible to me, is a work of art? It is not clear to me, but if this is a work of art — I am forbidden to make a psychiatric diagnosis, I should change the question. The question then is not at all who wrote Ulysses, what was his author. The more important question is who will be the reader of Ulysses, who will be interested in this novel. Ulysses described at the beginning of the century the man of his end. Jung says: «A reader of Ulysses will appear at the end of the century.» Thus a psychological discovery was made. Joyce predicted the appearance (character, mentality) of the man of tomorrow. Jung says: «Joyce will be understood by those who can combine in their minds the positions of the protagonist, son, wife (all of them are represented in the novel by their inner speech) their different worlds, the novel will be interesting to him.» He described modern programmers. From a psychological point of view, these are the people who in one mind can combine different positions, different virtual realities. In the language of the beginning of the century, these were patients with schizophrenia. In the language of the end of the century — people with a new consciousness.

Psychology and Philosophy or Psychology within Philosophy

Every philosopher is inevitably a psychologist. A real philosopher is looking for an answer to the question: “Why is the world arranged this way and not otherwise”? The philosopher is always interested in: “Who is the subject? Who owns this and not another picture of the world? Almost all psychological concepts (psyche, consciousness, personality, reflex) came from philosophy. And the Faculty of Psychology was once a branch of the Faculty of Philosophy. We will take only two, but bright philosophers of ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle. By the way, according to Jung, this is a typical couple (Plato is an extrovert, Aristotle is an introvert). And let’s ask everyone three questions: What is the soul? What is the strategy (general direction) of the knowledge of the soul? What are the tactics (concrete methods) of cognition of the soul? See →

Consciousness as the first subject of psychology

The founder of scientific psychology is Wilhelm Wundt. For Wundt, the subject of research was consciousness, and the method of research was introspection. Wundt wanted to build psychology as a natural science discipline. And then he defines psychology from three sides. Psychology is the science of the properties of consciousness (1), the elements of consciousness (2) and the relationships between them (3). See →