Please read chapter 5. After reading the chapter, please respond to the following questions:
What were three (3) things from the chapter that you found interesting? Why were they interesting to you? What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting? Why?
What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding the history of psychology?
How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?
What topic would you like to learn more about? Why ?
What ideas did you have while reading the chapter?
The first thing that I found interesting about this chapter was that it talked about how even before Darwin came along people were struggling to answer the "species problem". This was something that (by the sounds of the book) took place in the church and it was a widely discussed thing in religion because it was another series of unanswered question of the Bible. I didn't know before now that people were even allowed to discuss those sorts of questions or recognize them in the face of religion and the church.
The second thing that I found interesting was how the "chain of being" idea is, if you think about it, very close by the idea of natural selection. If it had just gone a little further into saying how these animals got to be on a different level of the chain and why they needed to be there they may have come up with, maybe not the theory but the general idea of evolution sooner.
The final thing that I found interesting was how Darwin intially came up with the possiblity of natural selection. Through the pidgeon example that they were bred for certain types of traits and the more desired traits were bred more then the undesirable ones. This led straight into his thinking that it could be used unintentionally on a natural level. Within nature could be analogous to what people were doing in labs.
One thing that I found least interesting about the chapter was not so much not interesting as it was kind of a buzzkill to Darwin in a sense learning that someone (Wallace) came up with the idea of evolution a while after Darwin and the only reason that Darwin eventually published his work was that he needed that extra confidence that he wasn't the only one that thought this. This urked me a little just because although he was under great pressure there could have been great strides made based on his theory in the time that he was waiting for more answers.
I think the most useful thing to my understanding of the history of psychology would be how the chapter adapts the theory of evolution and explains how it relates to psychology as a science. Mainly talking about how it is in some part being applied to personal characteristics as well as psychological ones (the idea of evolutionary psychology).
This chapter didn't so much build on other chapters as other chapters have done. It kind of went off on it's own idea and built within the chapter about evolution and how it relates to psychology. I think that it related to the rest of the book in that it took a piece of psychology (evolutionary psychology) and explained where it got it's origin and the back story behind it so that we may better understand the concept.
I was really interested in the idea of serviceable associated habits. Although a complicated concept it basically states that our reactions to certain stimulus and the way that we emit our emotions has evolved over time to adapt to the current needs of the organism. I knew this would happen about physical traits but it is interesting to me that evolution can also apply to emotional expression.
Some of the ideas I had during this chapter was first of all didn't Wallace get angry at Darwin at all because he kind of just stole all of his thunder before a major breakthrough of his and was there any consequences for this?
Another idea was that a lot of the evolved emotional expression talk could be researched across cultures to explore the differences the environment makes to how we adapt emotionally and what factors serve to change that adaptation?
I had found many aspects to the story of Charles Darwin to be very interesting. I knew of Darwin and the main premise of his theory of evolution, but never really knew much of his life before his famous theory as well as his influences. Darwin and aspects of his life are interesting to me, because this is a concept that was relatively easy to catch onto, and it was explained in a very thorough, informative way.
The first interesting aspect of Darwin’s life, was the years before he reached his fame. I found it hard to believe that he wasn’t much of a scholar, especially since he did have wealthy parents that could afford to send him to the prestigious schools that the. I hadn’t really given much thought to what kind of child he was, but just kind of assumed that he was a prodigy, like Mozart or Beethoven, since his father was successful and his name is now famous. It’s an influential eye-opener that someone of average to lower intelligence, whether it’s because of how much effort is put forth; or lack of interest; or legitimately troubled in academia, can evolve, no pun intended, into a household name 200 years later.
Another thing I had found interesting about Darwin’s life is his 5 year long adventure on the Beagle. I hadn’t previously known about his multiple year journey that eventually led him to his infamous study of the finches on the Galapogos islands. This trip was essential to his founding of the evolutionary theory, because it was clear evidence that didn’t require some complicated equation or outstanding knowledge to explain or process like many of the other contributers’ in this book. It was more common sense and logical, and when it was laid out on the table it was hard to refute. That factor is what was really interesting to me as well as enjoyable to read about. I didn’t require me to reread the material because of confusion, and I believe that his history of average scholastics enabled him to create this theory in regards to the knowledge that everyday people had.
Thomas Malthus’ influential contribution to Darwin’s theory was also interesting to me. It was interesting how Darwin had taken a theory that regarded people and societal matters, and put it into terms with animals, geology, and his theory of evolution. Malthus’ belief that as people we struggle to exist, and that only the people who are best fit to survive in this world will was taken into context by Darwin and executed into what he was researching and studying. I really enjoyed reading about this aspect as well because, like I had stated before, this was sheer exercising of a person’s logical reasoning skills. There is nothing too complex about either Malthus’ or Darwin’s belief’s, and made it much easier for the common people to relate to. Especially when explained through a job amongst the common people,farming. Pigeon breeders were able to produce breeds of pigeons by observing and selectively breeding pigeons, so if we as humans could artificially produce such a breed why couldn’t the powerful force of nature do the same thing?
One topic that I would like to learn more about are the specific arguments against Darwin’s evolutionary theory, besides the fact that it was contradictory to the bible and the divine creator, and what consequences were implemented to opposers of the divine creator. The movie that we had watched about the Monkey Trials gave insight as to what punishments or consequences were held to supporters of the evolutionary theory, but the theory originated in a much different time, where more inhuman forms of punishment were more common.
I really didn’t think that this chapter built on others as much, but broadened the perspective of psychology to more than the complex mental activities of Weber’s two-point threshold or other mental activities that are fundamental to human functioning. It showed that there is much more to psychology that determining how the brain contributed to our reflexes or eyesight.
After reading chapter 5, “Darwin’s Century: Evolutionary Thinking,” I really found the discussion of evolution to be very interesting. Darwin never dismissed the belief of God as a creator, he just believed that God didn’t create every last insect and animal on the planet, but created the environment and the way it works and that took over in the creation of species. I think evolution is very misunderstood to the public. Many people don’t truly know all the details of what Darwin thought and just think it is a dismissal of religion thought completely. Even in the video of the monkey Scopes trial, many of the people against the teaching of evolution didn’t even know what it is. The second topic I found interesting was Morgan’s canon of parsimony. He didn’t intend for it to disprove the thought that animals have higher mental processes than what humans originally thought, but it gave simpler explanations for the behavior of animals. For example, Morgan studied his own fox terrier and his ability to open the latch of a gate by lifting upward; he came to the conclusion that it was just a matter of trial and error. It took the dog three weeks of trying different strategies of how to slip out of the fence in order to go explore the outside world. The third topic I found interesting was Galton and his study of individual differences and eugenics. Eugenics is in summary, the study of control in the ability to improve or impair future generations either physically or mentally. It derived from the Greek, meaning “good in birth.” Galton made eugenics his religion. He believed that society should promote people of high intellect and status to reproduce while demoting the reproduction in people of lower intellect and status. I find this interesting because it’s almost the same thinking of Adolf Hitler. He believed in a supreme race and wanted to eliminate any person that was different from what he thought was the best. One thing that I found to be the least interesting was Galton’s survey methods. I didn’t really care too much about the making of a good survey.
I think the most useful topic in chapter 5 to better understand the history of psychology, is Darwin’s theory of evolution. I say this because it paved way to other psychologists and scientists to further experiments in humans and animals to make a connection between both species and what mental and physical attributes we have in common.
I would like to learn more about functionalism because with an ever-changing environment, humans always need to adapt. So studying human behavior and mental processes seems like such an important topic.
Ideas I had during the chapter, was that it never really talked about human evolving from monkeys.
Chapter 5 is centered around the life and works of Chars Darwin. I though his upbringing and road to his true calling in life is comical, and mirrors so many people in modern day America. Darwin was raised with fairly affluent parents, but was indifferent to his education, and didn’t necessarily thrive. He followed a career path his father had laid down for him, medicine, but couldn’t handle the rigor associated with the profession. He then began studies at Christ’s College at Cambridge University, where he studied to be a clergyman. While this dream eventually fizzled out, he did find his true love at Cambridge, science. He began taking interest in a botany class, and was invited to weekly meetings with others who were also interested in the sciences and debated current issues. One of those like-minded people was a geologist named Reverend Adam Sedgwick, who taught him basic knowledge of geology as well as observational methods. Later on, he was recommended to be a captains companion on a ship called the Beagle. The voyages throughout South America, and more importantly the Galápagos Islands, led to his most noted work, Origin of Species.
Darwin’s work highlighted concepts like adaptation and differences. These ideas can be easily seen in modern day psychology. One subfield in particular, comparative psychology, studied similarities and differences among a species in a systematic fashion. In addition, Darwin’s work also led to the study of individual differences, not only are each species different in some way but there’s differentiation within the species as well.
One man in particular made a name for himself by studying individual differences, Francis Galton. He created a methodological and more scientific approach to studying twins. He used questionnaires to study 94 pairs of twins, by having them describe their physical and psychological attributes. While his research was reported anecdotally, he did find that many twins still had similar attributes regardless of length of time spent apart.
I think the part that portion that interested me least in this chapter was Galton’s use of a word association test, I’m still not entirely sure how it relates to this chapter, but it bored me nonetheless.
This chapter’s basis was Darwin’s theories, which obviously hold a lot of weight in psychology because we do have a fair amount of focus on individual differences, and why we adapt to our current environment. While we may focus more on the mental environment instead of the physical, Darwin’s work gave us a reason to research how our species came to be.
The first thing I found interesting was the fact that Darwin wasn’t the first one who had doubts about evolution. Since the church was such a big part of peoples’ lives I just figured people automatically accepted the story of Creation and didn’t question it. Especially if people had these discussions in the church, I never would have thought that to be. The second thing I found interesting was how Darwin did not discuss humans in his book Origin. I can only think he did this because he already knew he was going to get backlash from his findings on animals and he didn’t want to upset even more people by talking about humans. The third thing I found interesting in this chapter was the Anthropemetric Laboratory. I found it interesting the questions Galton asked the participants to determine intelligence. Instead of asking them questions about math, language, reading, science, his tests were physical ones and ones that tested reaction time, auditory and visual acuity, etc. I’m assuming this is why his experiments didn’t get much support. The one part of the chapter I found least interesting was reading about Conwy Lloyd Morgan. After reading about Darwin and all he did, it was just hard to find Morgan interesting to read about, to me.
I think the most useful information in this chapter was Darwin’s theory of evolution. Its not only a very controversial topic but it demonstrates how not all of psychology’s findings are popular. This is important in the history of psychology because it is important to remember that not all theorists or theories may have been popular but we can’t just rule them out and what they found.
This chapter relates to the previous chapters simply by building on other psychologists and their findings. It doesn’t really build on the previous chapters but it does incorporate previous knowledge and terms that we learned in the past chapters.
I would like to learn more about Darwin’s evolution of emotional expressions. It seems like an interesting topic but I wasn’t quite able to follow along with the book.
One idea I had came after reading about Francis Galton and how be believed intelligence and inferiority were hereditary. Did this kind of thinking aid in the belief that slavery was okay because they were born into it so their not any better? What if people didn’t think this way, would that have changed anything?
After reading chapter 5, the topic I found to be most interesting was under the heading Charles Darwin’s’ theory of evolution. I find evolution to be interesting, but reading about Darwin’s’ background was something I would never have guessed. He lived a normal life, spoiled by his wealthy parents. Unlike his father, Charles didn’t have a lot of ambition and had a poor attitude toward school which led to bad performance. Charles was sent to study medicine at Edinburg, one of Europe’s best medical schools. Due to anesthesia not being invented yet and having to sooth a patient until the procedure was complete, Darwin decided medicine was not for him. The next stop for Darwin was Christ’s College, where he studied clergy. Even though it was not something he did for long, he did however find his calling there. He had a close relationship with geologist Reverend Adam Sedgwick. He taught Darwin basic tools of the geologic trade and sharpened his ability to make precise observations by taking him on geological trips with him. This eventually brought on the Voyage of the Beagle, which is something Darwin is still known for. This goes into something else I found interesting in this chapter, Darwin the geologist. Darwin’s prime interest was geology. He wrote a book called the Principles of Geology, which was destined to have the same effect on geology that this book would have on biology. There was some argument on the theory of geological change, called catastrophism, which is the attempt to maintain the supremacy of God and the Bible while accounting for what scientists were discovering about nature. I find this interesting because I have understood the theory of evolution (basic level) for a couple years due to many classes covering this topic. I have never really gone into depth though of his early years, never really learned about what kind of person he was. It surprised me to learn about his background, where he came from, and the different subjects he studied. Another topic I found interesting was After the Origin of Species, what the reaction was to Darwin’s theory. Because he didn’t mention humans in the Origin, it was thought to be a threat to the Church of England. Darwin decided to let other people argue over this and stayed out of the debates. This theory caused and still causes several concerns with the religious community, and the reaction to the scientific community was general acceptance. Which is how it is today, the religious community stills looks at this theory as wrong and harmful while the scientific community looks at this the opposite. There wasn’t a topic I found to be not interesting, one topic that was a little confusing was George Romanes and the anecdotal method. Romanes combined Darwin’s data with information he had collected, and shortly after Darwin’s death he published Animal Intelligence. A book with great discussion on animal behavior. Romanes was later credited for the founder of comparative psychology. This was something that was interesting just slower, and the wording didn’t make it very clear. I feel as if understanding the people who helped with a study or combined data with someone is important to know who all was involved. Making sure you are aware of all the aspects of something will help better understand what you are learning. Something I would like to learn more about would be the nature of intelligence, more basic information from the early years. Not just what is being said or what was said then but what they said before.
One thing I did realize while reading the chapter was over evolution, how it never really talked about how Darwin’s theory is that us humans evolved from monkeys. I wonder why? It did discuss the difference of the theories and why the scientific side and the side church had a problem, if they did, but never went into much discussion about the actual evolution of humans from monkeys. I would say I was disappointed to not learn about this as well, I have an idea of what Darwin was saying but for it not to be in the book still surprises me.
The first thing that popped out at me was the material on the species problem. This basically questioned the Bible’s view of how the Earth’s plants and animals originated. There were a lot of questions brought up, but the main one was questioning how two of every species fit on the Ark. This created a lot of stress in Great Britain, because the intellectual elite were also leaders of the Anglican Church, which is the Church of England. An argument, called the argument from design, occurred and it stated that the existence of complexity and precision in the nature had to be created and managed by a supreme being. Many credit this argument to be from Reverend William Paley. This argument helped a lot, because it gave scientists and ministers the opportunity to study the nature while still maintaining the belief there was a supreme creator. Despite this argument, there were still many different evolutionary theories created during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In fact, Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was one of the individuals to create a theory. He rejected the Bible and believed that all organic life evolved from a single living filament. He believed that over time, new species developed from old ones, and the new ones were more advanced than the old ones. This idea can be called the chain of being. I thought all of this was very interesting, because this had to be what sprung Charles Darwin into coming up with his evolutionary theory. I had no idea that there were so many other theories and ideas about evolution before Darwin created his own. I think a lot of those ideas really helped him create his theory as he took in a lot of their information and mixed it with his own to make it original.
Another thing I found interesting was how Charles Darwin slowly began to doubt the Biblical belief of everything was created by a supreme being. The main reason for this slow transition to evolution was his time on the H.M.S. Beagle. The trip lasted about five years, and they traveled all over the world. They went to places like: the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. He spotted a lot of new species, which made him slowly begin to believe in the evolution theory. When he returned to England, he decided that becoming an Anglican priest definitely wasn’t the career path he was going to go down. Although he was very ill, Darwin still produced professionally. In 1839, he published a journal of the voyage. In 1842, he wrote a brief abstract of his take on the theory of evolution. Two years later, he created a two-hundred-page document on his theory, and told his wife to have it published if he were to pass away. It’s crazy to think he was about to become a priest before he went on the voyage across the world. I didn’t know about all of the places he traveled to while on the Beagle. It’s obvious that the findings of all of these different species was the main factor in Darwin fully believing the evolution theory and coming up with a theory of his own that has received so much attention and fame.
The next thing that interested me was the material on George Romanes. Darwin considered Romanes his protégé. Romanes was very interested in Darwin’s evolution theory, but he wanted to take it a step further. He investigated the levels of mental ability found in other species. In 1882, he published Animal Intelligence. This was a detailed catalog of animal behavior, from insects to primates. This book earned Romanes the title of founder of comparative psychology. Some of his work is discredited because of anecdotal evidence, which is basically exaggerating the abilities of animals. Some of the things he wrote that people questioned were: “spiders have a fondness for music, scorpions commit suicide when surrounded by fire, birds show sympathy and conjugal fidelity, beavers show sagacity and forethought when picking a sight for their lodges, and dogs were capable of planning, bartering, and recognizing information in pictures.” Although Romanes may have exaggerated some of the abilities of animals, I find a lot of his findings very interesting. It seems like he was one of the first people to actually look at an animal for more than an animal. He studied their tendencies to see if some animals were more intelligent than others. Some of his work could have helped in some of the findings today that show animals like monkeys and apes to be very intelligent animals.
The material I found the least interesting was the information provided about Charles Darwin’s college education. There’s a lot of information that can be brought up regarding Darwin, so I was looking forward to learning more about his evolution theory, and this kind of delayed that from happening. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that his stops at Edinburgh, Scotland and Cambridge University were very crucial for him, because it was during these years that his ideas about evolution began. However, it just didn’t intrigue me all that much, because I knew there was so much more interesting material to come. He’s an interesting individual with very good work, but this was just the least interesting information provided about him.
The material in this chapter that will be most useful to me in understanding the history of psychology would just be all of the information provided about Darwin’s evolution theory. This is such an interesting topic, and I really enjoyed learning about it more in-depth. His ideas were well thought out, and he worked very hard on his five year voyage in order to make his work as good as it possibly could be. It’s a very controversial topic that will continue to be argued about forever. This chapter builds on the last chapters by continuing in the timeline and introducing new things. The time is slowly moving forward. While doing so, new individuals, ideas, and things are introduced to help us better understand the history of psychology.
I would like to learn more about Darwin’s journey on the Beagle. The information provided in the book was somewhat brief, and I’d like to take a deeper look into that to learn about the many different things he found on the voyage. It’s very interesting, and it’s a big contributing factor to Darwin’s theory of evolution. While reading this, I wondered if Darwin would have ever come up with his theory if his father hadn’t pushed him to go to college. The book states that he was kind of unmotivated as a child, so maybe his father pushing him though school gave him the spark he needed to become motivated and begin studying science and evolution. Also, I found myself wondering if Darwin would have come up with his theory if it wasn’t for the voyage on the Beagle. The time he spent on the Beagle was said to be the biggest contribution in creating his theory. So, if he never would have gone on that voyage, would we have Darwin’s evolution theory, or would someone else have created a different version of the evolution theory that would become the most popular?
Darwin the Zoologist- I thought this topic was very interesting because I did not know Darwin studied zoology and which gradually led him to wonder about the species question. I only thought Darwin specialized in monkeys and challenged creation. This short passage was interesting because I learned that Darwin collected data and many notes that led him to ask questions. Moreover, if Darwin did not have zoological observations, he may not have created the question of evolution. This part of the chapter is important because Darwin used his work to analyze and critically challenge a subject that many people did not want to question. As a zoologist, Darwin asked a very unique question that I loved, “Why were some species similar to others, yet different in ways that suited them for survival in their own environments?”
Studying individual differences- this part of the chapter was ultimately my favorite to learn about. I have always been interested in twin studies, and research on individuals. Individual differences can be used to measure intelligence, eugenics, twin studies, and surveys. Galton was the first to use the survey method and believed that intelligence was an inherited ability, and nurture played no significant role. Also the eugenics based society would mean that those who are most fit should be encouraged to reproduce. The studies of individual differences were very interesting in twin studies, and continue to find differences of nature vs. nurture.
Evolutionary psychology- I think it would be interesting to take a few classes related to evolutionary psychology. The study focuses on an evolutionary explanation on behaviors of sexuality and sex differences. I think this kind of psychology is very controversial, but would be very interesting to make testable predictions on certain behaviors. I do not fully agree with evolution but I do believe there are many positive outcomes of the research!
There was not any information I did not enjoy in Chapter 5. I thought all of the information on Darwin and other evolutionary researchers were important to understand, because of the many controversial arguments that we have read in other chapters.
This chapter is built on previous chapters by giving the total background on the evolutionary theory. This chapter shows why this topic is so argumentative in psychology and how it has aided scientists and psychologists. Also, chapter 5 relates and helps the reader concluded if they believe in evolution or not. I think this chapter helped me personally learn more about evolution, instead of just thinking about monkeys.
One topic I would like to learn more about is original twin studies in individual differences. I think it would be very intriguing to see how twin studies have evolved over decades.
One idea I had while reading this chapter is wondering if religion is the main reason why people object evolution. If there were enough facts and studies, could an evolutionist convince a strict catholic in believing in evolution?
One thing that really interested me in this chapter was the field of evolutionary psychology. I have never really thought about this as being a field, and although it is very controversial, I think that a lot could be learned by looking at sex differences and behaviors of sexuality. I feel lik e there would be so much to study and research in the field of evolutionary psychology and any topic related to it really grabs my attention. Another thing I found interesting in this chapter was that a lot of people do not actually understand what Darwin’s work was. His ideas of natural selection and evolution do not dismiss the idea of religion at all, and I think that is where people get confused and disagree with his ideas. People had ideas of “evolution” before Darwin’s work, but he was the first to actually put his work out there and make it public. Another thing I found interesting in this chapter was Galton’s studies about individual differences. I find the topic of eugenics to be very interesting, and Galton’s beliefs about keeping the “good genes” to reproduce, and banishing the “bad genes” from reproducing just shocks me. I guess it makes sense, in a way, but how would we ever allow that in our society? Especially when this is essentially what Hitler attempted to do! One thing I did not find interesting was Galton’s word association test. I did not understand how or where it fit into this chapter.
I think the part of this chapter that will better help me understand the history of psych is all of the information about Darwin and his theories. His work opened the eyes of so many people as to how we came to be, and it is definitely a topic that will be debated on forever. It was very interesting to learn about and helped me better understand how these researchers go about doing their work and studies.
Although this chapter does not really build on the previous chapters, it does incorporate and use many terms and concepts that have already been discussed. This is important because it helps us better understand the current chapter.
I would like to learn more about Darwin’s trip on the Beagle. I wasn’t aware that he took this voyage, but it certainly contributed to his findings, and helped him build on his theory of evolution. Sticking to this topic, I wonder what if he had not gone on this trip? I know the text mentioned that another man published work about evolution shortly after Darwin’s findings, but would Darwin have even come up with his theory if he hadn’t gone on his voyage? I also thought about the fact that so many people do just not understand the concept of Darwin’s theory of evolution. I find it interesting that people put down such ideas without completely understanding them, or even taking the time to try to understand them.
I felt like this chapters did a very good job at describing Charles Darwins role in the field of psychology through his devlopment of the Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection. One of the first topics I found to be very interesting was on that of "The Species Problem". The topic was not very well ellaborated on in the book, but by the sounds of it at the time of Charles Darwin the question of the ability of God being able to create such diversity was being questioned by members of the church. However, as with many things with religion in the past people were not allowed to question the role of the church and what it dictated to be the one and only way, so it was illegal to believe that God did not create all of the species. This argument was summarized by Reverened William Paley in the "Argument from Design", which basically said that a Supreme Being (GOD) created each species and designed it and designed the way that it would fit into the ecosystem of the world.
The next topic that I found to be interesting was the story of Darwin himself. There are many things that I did not know about Darwin before reading this section in the book. I knew the basics about him, evolution, natural selection, finches, and the Galopegos. Charles Darwin started out his life without much purpose and not really knowing what he wanted to do. He did not focus on acedemics and his accomplishments were few and far between. His father who was very disapointed in him, made Darwin attend medical school in Scotland to follow in his footsteps, but not long into it was clear that medicane was not for him so he entered Cambridge Univerity to study Clergy. The book mentions something very interesting about this aspect and that was that at the time of Charles Darwin many children of affluent people went to clergy school because they had no drive to do anything. I find the to be mildly amusing considering at the time the Church and these Clergyman whom soon would run the church ran society and they only did so, because they had no desire to do anything better with their life. Anyway, while at Cambridge Darwin began to study with Reverened John Henslow and became interested in science, which would then lead him to being asked to join the team on The Beagle, were he would make the discovery that would change his life.
The final thing that I found to be interesting was how functionalism rose out of Darwin's studies. Functionalism is a form of psychology which attempts to expalin hhuman behaviors and mental processes in terms of how they adapt to survive. This can go hand in hand with the theory of natural selection in that animals and plants survive based on their ability to adapt to their surroundings.
One topic that I found to be boring was on that of Darwin's Evolution of Emotional Expressions. When I think of Darwin this is not the knid of research that I think of an dit kind of through me for a loop. I felt he spent his whole life studying biology, etc. and then all of the sudden there was this stage on the study of emotion. To me it was just a little weird. In addition to that the theories just seemed to be common sense to me and were of very little intrest of mine.
As I read the chapter, I think the most important part was on the section about Functionalsim and how it arose out of the findings of Darwin. The correleation is imperative in order to understand how people adapt to their environments and change to survive. I feel like this can be spread to all aspects of psychology and is important to understand.
This chapter referenced many other part of the book, but the instance that I found to be the most important to the development and understanding of this chapter brought up the personalistic vs. naturalistic issue. This brings up the idea of whether people are the moverz of history or are moved by things that happen in history. As the book states it is cleat that Darwin was can be seen as driving the personalistic standpoint, because even though the question of evolution was being asked there was no answer to the question. Darwin was able to answer the question and formulate a plausable theory to the question of evolution.
One thing that I would like to learn more about is Francis Galton and his role in Eugenics and the devlopment of what we now call Social Darwinism. While, I was reading I was introduced to the fact that one man introduced the ideas of many of what I would consider to be the worst ideas to humanity in the history of the world. Quite frankly, the section that descibes Frances Galton pissed me off to the point that I had to take a break from reading and come back to it. I am going to discuss him later, so I will spare you the details until Thursday.
The first thing I found interesting in chapter 5 was the history of Charles Darwin. At the beginning of the chapter it discussed Darwin’s childhood of growing up. In psychology most people that have had any experience know of Charles Darwin and his research. I never realized that when he was a kid he basically was a kid that under achieved. This came as a huge surprise to me because he is one of the biggest names in science and psychology even today. He came from a wealthy family that also had the means to support a good education for Charles which most people at that time didn’t have the luxury of having. He really never applied himself at a young age. I was always under the impression that he was very intelligent, driven and was a force in the field since he was a young man. This really gave me the insight to see that you can always correct the ship and become something great once you apply yourself and work hard. It was a huge surprise that he took years to develop into one of the biggest influences in history. Reading this part of his life just enhanced my respect for what he proposed, discovered, and researched. Another thing I found very interesting in chapter 5 was the beagle voyage. I was surprised to learn that during this research project he was away from home for 5 years near the coasts of south Africa. I got some insight on the living conditions, cramped style of living and some more harsh conditions. It really made me appreciate the future parts in the chapter when they went on to discuss some of his theories he proposed from this voyage. I also learned more about how he came to find some of these thoughts and what he saw while he was recording all this data. I always assumed he just proposed these theories out of a hunch or past scientific discoveries. I believe the book mentioned that after this voyage he had 770 pages of journal entries, 1383 pages of notes in the geology field and 368 pages in the field of zoology. This is an astounding amount of data to collect. Plus Africa has always been an interest for me. I’ve always found the wildlife fascinating. Now South Africa’s south coasts are known for great white sharks which are always featured on shark week. I feel that this voyage was the best place to collect data at that time just for the vast array of animal and plant types that he found and collected. Also considering he was very vulnerable to sea sickness it was another great surprise to learn that he put himself through that to collect his data which in turn advanced science in several ways.
The third thing I found interesting was how Darwin theory ultimately developed. Of course the Beagle voyage played a huge part in this but there were other factors that surprised me. First he rejected the biblical account of divine creation but while doing that he also maintained his belief in god by allowing laws rather than just god creating all this. The two clues that were mentioned that helped guide him was an article he read about the economy and population written by a man named Thomas Malthus. He mentioned in this article that society must recognize the constant struggle for existence. This allowed Darwin to propose a model that represented these same ideas but in a more evolution related way. This helped him form his thoughts on species from generation to generation. Another thing I found about this section to be interesting was how his knowledge of breeding of pigeons. He knew that they were able to breed pigeons that hardly resembled each other. This reflected possible generations of selected breeding. This was very interesting because I figured his theory was based on the research only but in fact it was an article about population and the economy and pigeon breeding.
The one part I found to be the most boring like most chapters is the introduction section. As always this section sets up the rest of the chapter by giving vague information which is later expanded upon in the chapter. In this instance it was the terms argument from design and species problem. Although it was the basis for the chapter it was still very mind numbing and lost my attention at first. I don’t find the parts that solely base beliefs on religion to be credible sources due to own person beliefs. Once I got towards the end of this section and started reading on I realized that this chapter wasn’t going to be as boring as the intro section was. This section started to also pick up my interest when they discussed Darwin’s grandfather being the first person to reject biblical beliefs. I understand that these introductions are a must to build up to the main points in the chapter but I usually find them to be the least interesting part of the section.
I had many ideas and thoughts as I read through the chapter. I never realized that Darwin went from being an under achiever to being one of the premier scientists up to this day. I wonder about how these guys came to even think about these issues when most people at that time just went along with what they were told. Its always a huge surprise to then learn how and why they are where they are. It makes me think about their childhood and what kind of kids they were compared to the kids in my day and even generations before me. These men changed the world with their ideas and theories and that still blows my mind when reading about them. Another thought I had was if Charles had any knowledge about his grandfather’s previous ideas to reject biblical beliefs. Out of all the possible choices and things in the world WHY did they involve themselves in these hot button issues such as evolution? Because of personal interest? Religious rebellion?
The one thing that I would like to learn more about is Charles Darwin. He was really all over the board when it came to his research. He went from zoology to geology and many things in between. He had so many different interests and questions that he really shaped what’s still a question today. I found it fascinating to learn how in depth his research was. He collected so many pages or notes, journals samples. Even though the book described a lot of what I just mentioned I’m sure that there was a lot left out just that other sources could provide. I’ve always found him fascinating and this chapter helped me to learn a lot more that what I previously knew but I still want to learn more. Things such as how people viewed him when he proposed these theories since they did reject biblical beliefs. This has just increased my interest of Charles Darwin the scientist, Charles Darwin the explorer and Charles Darwin the man. The information was great but there is still more to know about him.
I felt that this chapter related to others in the way of religion. As mentioned in previous chapters these scientists had to deal with the church rejecting them, opposing their findings and theories and banning them from the church itself. This chapter to me related back to chapter 3 because of these reasons. The very thing that the churches believed and preached at that time were called into question because of research and a few men that were willing to go against the grain.
I think the theory of evolution will play a big role in understanding the history of psychology. A lot of people proposed theories after these finding from Darwin and expanded on what he found. This set the stage to the search for the understanding of psychology. It is beneficial because of how psychologists approached things after this theory. Things like nature vs nurture I feel originated from these findings. How people grow and learn based on environment rather than just being here from something like the big bang or the grand design.
The first topic I found interesting was where it talked about the theory of evolution in the beginning of the chapter. It told that pre-Darwinian theory was actually Jean Baptiste de Lamarck. He believed that species were constantly evolving into more complex species, and that new life “at the bottom of the scale is continually being created from inorganic life” (pg.134). He also believed that changes an organism went through in their lifetime could be passed to their offspring. This was interesting to me, because whenever I thought about the evolution theory, I thought about Darwin.
Another thing I found interesting in this chapter was that Darwin spent five years living on a ship. They were on a voyage. They were surveying the southern coasts of South America to keep their completion for trade in the developing countries there. Darwin sent months on land exploring the continent. I found it interesting; because Darwin was sure he would become an Anglican priest. He was making notes and had a “770 page diary, 1383 pages of notes on geology, and 368 more pages on zoology.” Also wrote a “specimen catalog that included 1529 species of animals that had been preserved in spirits and another 3907 labeled items that were either bones, fossils, skins, or dried specimens” (pg.138). His theory developed from his voyage.
I also found interesting that Darwin did not put humans in his Origin of species. This would have caused much problem with many different people, because so many people did not believe in evolution, they believed in Creation.
The part that I thought was least interesting where it kept talking about Darwin’s education. I have heard so much about Darwin but I really just like learning about his theories.
I’m not quite sure how to explain how it went on from other chapters, I guess it just continued on with theories of Darwin and talked much about the evolution theory.
I would like to learn more about Jean Baptiste de Lamarck and his theory. I want to learn more about him because when I hear about the theory of evolution I always hear about Darwin, and I did not know he was the pre-Darwinism theory.
One idea I had during this chapter was that I thought many people did not agree with the evolution theory, because of their religion. People sort of just discriminated against it right away without getting to learn more about his perspective I think.
The first subject that caught my eye in Chapter 5 was the section about the species problem. In Chapter 3 we learned of the era of Enlightenment when “science became religion and scientists seemed heroic”. One thing that happened during the Enlightenment period was the questioning of the literal truth of the Bible’s version of the origin of Earth’s plants and animals. This question then led to global exploration where new plants and animals were being discovered. The questions that were being asked about how the Earth became so populated with different species of plants and animals among other probing questions that wanted to be answered at that time, was soon to be called the species problem or what the book calls “the mystery of mysteries”. This issue started to create problems within the academic community, especially in Great Britain, where the intellects were also part of the Church of England. A solution arose to this problem. The idea was to turn this issue into an argument for the supreme powers to find a solution to. The argument held that “the very existence of precision and complexity in nature required a supreme being to create and to manage it”. With this argument it was seen that God was the ultimate creator with a mind and intellect more powerful than any humans, therefore all credit was to be given to him. A few more theories were developed by evolutionists, one was proposed that said that “all organic life evolved from a single living filament…over time, new species developed from old ones, with later species being more “advanced” than earlier ones”. Secondly, and the best known theory and precursor to Darwin’s theory was developed by Jean Baptiste de Lamarck. This theory was called the chain of being, which said that each species is constantly evolving into a species that is more complex, and new life at the bottom of the scale is continually being created from inorganic life.
The second section that I found interesting was the section about Darwin’s thoughts on the evolution of emotional expressions. He described the problems that he encountered when trying to study the emotions of normal adults. Firstly, he found that most expressions are muted. This meant that with the exception of extreme emotions from reactions to extreme events, most emotions are subtle. He also noted that it was hard for a person to study their own emotions, providing the example of being terrified. Saying that it was difficult to be terrified and make notes of the expressions and feelings that one is experiencing. Darwin suggested studying children and the insane as a way of to classify the precise patterns of emotional expression. Another tactic he wanted to use was called galvanization. This is when electrodes are touched to the surface of the skin and stimulation is produced, therefore muscle reactions and spasms are noted. Darwin also noted that if emotional expressions were the result of evolution, then he should be able to recognize most of the basic emotions globally. Meaning that if evolution was the main factor in exhibiting emotions, then these emotions should be universal. Darwin’s final method to study emotions was to study the emotions of animals. His theory involved three basic principles: the principle of serviceable associated habits, the principle of antithesis, and the direct action of the nervous system.
The third section that I found interesting was the section about the nature of intelligence. Francis Galton developed the idea that if inherited individual variation on intelligence, acted on by natural selection, influenced the evolution of animal and plant species, it must have influenced humans as well. If human intelligence was a key trait enabling the physically weak humans to survive the struggle of existence, then more intelligent humans would naturally rise to the top of society. To examine this question, Galton relied on his quantification and statistical analysis skills. He estimated that the “rate of eminence” in Great Britain was about 1 person in 4000 people. He then studied family trees to find patterns of talent that ran through years of generations. Furthermore, he found that talent within families tended to be similar in families. Galton then developed two techniques that are even being used today. These techniques are twin studies and surveys. His study of intelligence helped him coin the term eugenics. This referred to a variety of methods for enhancing the quality of species, especially in humans.
The section that I did not find interesting was the whole huge section on Darwin. Obviously I knew that this whole chapter was going to be about Darwin and how he helped the discipline of psychology. I just didn’t find the whole history of Darwin very interesting in the beginning because it only talked about how he went on his journey in the Beagle and how he found all these different species of birds. These were all things that I learned in basic science classes as well in the “Life the Natural World” class that I took freshman year. It seemed more of a section I would see in a Biology textbook rather than a psychology book. The section I found most useful to the history of psychology was Darwin’s thoughts on the evolution of emotional expressions because it got the psychology community interested in the idea of observing the studying emotions physically and in the emotional sense. I also felt as though the section on intelligence was important to psychology as well because Galton helped create the twin study and surveys, which are two studies that we still use today. This chapter built on other chapters because Chapter 4 documented the rise of scientific psychology in Germany in the nineteenth century and preceding chapters examined explosive growth of knowledge about the brain and nervous system in the same century. Therefore, Darwin’s ideas about biology shaped this discipline but also helped developed psychology as well. I would like to learn more about Darwin’s evolution of emotional expressions. The ideas I had during this chapter was that I thought the chapter was really long. I also found it strange that the section was started off with the topics on Darwin about his journey on the Beagle. These things, I felt, would be found in a Biology textbook but not a Psychology one. After I got past the common Darwin things, I found this chapter to be interesting. It showed how Darwin influenced psychology as well as other people like Morgan and comparative psychology and Galton and how he developed his ideas on intelligence.
The first topic I found interesting was about the Galapagos Islands. From the description of this island having giant tortoise and dinosaur like lizards, I think I would like to visit these islands. My main interest in these islands is that this is where Darwin got a lot of his more well-known research from like the finches and ultimately allowed him to reach the status he finally achieved where we all still know his name today.
The second topic I found interesting was on Darwin’s Evolution of emotional expression. I remember covering parts of this briefly in “Introduction to Psychology.” Our focus in that class was mainly the fact that even across cultures emotional expression stays the same. It was interesting to see the galvanized expression compared to the normal expression, I suppose this kind of research is how we know now how many muscles it takes to smile or frown.
The final topic I found Interesting was on Francis Galton. What intrigued me most about him was that he was a child genius and is known as the “Jack of All Sciences.” It would be very nice to have all the money in the world from birth so that you can spend your time with what you are truly interested in and not with what others are in order to make a living.
The topic I found least interesting was the section on George Romanes. I know Darwin believed him to be his protégé, but I feel in this chapter enough research on animals has been done by Darwin to fill my interest in the matter and I would really like to learn more about humans. Also the fact that most of his research was based on stories from others makes it much less scientific.
To understand psychologies history we need to look at Darwin's major contributions. Darwin did a great deal for psychologies history, not only discovering evolution but also sparking a way of thinking called functionalism. He paved the way for many psychologists and opened up many opportunities in science. The history of psychology owes Darwin for opening many doors for research and study.
In the previous chapter we looked deeply into the questions of how do we thing and move. This chapter builds on that by looking back even further and studying why we developed the way we did. Ultimately in this chapter we are looking at why we are built and why we think and move like we do. More than just our nerves ability to function, but we look at how our nerves have been shaped over time.
The topic I would like to research more on is the Galapagos Islands. Many of Darwin’s findings and fame came from this island so it has a high place in sciences history. Also the giant tortoise and dinosaur like lizards are intriguing. I wonder if the idea of giant turtles carrying islands on their backs originated from people visiting these islands.
During this Chapter I thought about how Darwin is still very well known today and how we still argue over many of his theories. For one the Scopes Monkey Trial has its origins set in Darwin’s finings and every year at school we have Darwin week which always ends up in two sides getting increasingly more pissed off at the other. I guess when it comes to evolution; Darwin made a big step forward in science and also started one of the most heated never ending debates between those who believe in evolution and those who believe in creationism.
This chapter was probably the most interesting to me so far. Probably because I actually read most of it. Right away the discussion focused on the species problem and the argument from design. The species problem was related to the fact that there were thousands of different species on the planet, many of which were similar but had different characteristics. The debate was centered on how all of these species could be created by a supreme being. The argument from design was theorized to combat this problem stating that because these species are in fact so complex there must be a supreme being present in order to create them. The book explains that it was easier to assume that god created these species instead of coming up with a more complex reason for why they exist. But is it easier to assume this or is there no good reason to assume otherwise? Just because species are complicated doesn't mean a supreme being didn't create them and vice versa. There is no clear argument either way.
The next topic that was intriguing was the debate between catastrophism and uniformitarianism. Catastrophists believe that geological change occurs very abruptly because of the sheer will of god. God says "THERE WILL BE CHANGE" and the earth changes immediately to the will of god. Uniformitarianists believe that the earth changes more slowly because of defined laws of nature like earthquakes and erosion. These natural occurrences produce slow, gradual, geological change. But again, just because these things happen slowly does that deny the existence of a god? The book comes off as coming from an atheist perspective but none of the arguments can confirm or deny the existence of a god. The arguments don't even bring any evidence to support either side. So god has to act instantaneously? If an earthquake causes a geological change slowly that means that a god cannot exist? The book even goes on to say that Darwin grew to deny the existence of a god because he couldn't find an answer to why species survived while others didn't and why fossils existed. How does the misunderstanding of either of those prove that a god does not exist?
Darwins courage through all of his ailments after returning from the voyage was very admirable. If I had chronic headaches, digestive problems and cardiac symptoms I don't know if I would still be publishing material.
So nature helps in the mutation of species. Is it possible that god created nature to do just that? Just saying.
The part about Huxley and Wilberforce was pretty sweet. "If I would rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means and influence, and yet who employs those faculties for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion--I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape." BOOM GOT HIM! What a way to conclude a debate like what do you even say to that??
The part about Romanes attributing human faculties to nonhuman entities was also pretty cool. He explains his argument with an anecdote about a dog. The dogs owner runs down a path and the dog has to decide which one to follow. He sniffs the first and second not smelling his owner. So without smelling the third he decides to run down it apparently using logic to make his decision. If not A or B, it has to be C! Morgan then trumps this dude by explaining that just because this dog appears to have used logic, it is still possible that he used a lower faculty such as scent to track his owner and choose the third path. If a behavior appears to have been caused by a higher faculty we cannot be certain until there is no possibility that a lower faculty could have been used. It's as simple as that.
There was really nothing too uninteresting in this chapter. The chapter is so unforgivably long though! I get through twenty pages and I just can't stay interested in reading anymore. Even if the final parts of the chapter are just awe inspiring I just can't stay focused.
Understanding how emotions are connected to survival will be pretty key to my understanding of psychology. Every reaction and emotion we express has been honed over hundreds of years in order to preserve our existence and continue our genes.
This chapter brings the personalistic versus naturalistic issue to light. Darwin was the link in the chain that brought the evolutionary movement into full gear. Some would argue if he had not existed the theory would not exist. But because others came to the same conclusions, there is an argument that nature itself would have brought this issue into existence. The clues were out there for scientists to find they just needed to find them.
Anthropomorphism and the study of animal behavior is interesting to me. It is definitely still possible for creatures such as dogs to possess higher faculties such as logic to make decisions. Just because it is possible for them to use lower faculties to make decisions doesn't mean the capability to make decisions using higher faculties isn't present. Until we can literally think like a dog we can't assume they don't possess higher faculties such as logic.
What an ideal time period for these thinkers to be born into. Undiscovered territory and islands! Forbidden ideas and concepts! It seems like everything has been discovered already in this day and age. It seems that we would have to work twice as hard to come up with new ideas. The thought that an idea would cause you to be ostracized from society and banished from the church is crazy! I need to find my Beagle Voyage in life that is for SURE.
After reading chapter 5 about Darwin’s evolutionary history I found may things to be interesting. Three that stood out to me the most were how Darwin’s grandfather had thought of evolution too, inheritance of acquired characteristics, and how Darwin’s father thought he was going to be a failure. I found it pretty interesting that Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin’s grandfather, had proposed that all organic life evolved from a single living thing a century before Darwin proposed evolution. He believed that new species developed from older ones, and that everything would continue to evolve and improve. In 1794, he wrote a book called Zoonomia that shed light on his speculations about the evolution of life. Another thing I found interesting was Lamarck’s concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics. This said that the skills animals developed during their lifetime would be passed down to their offspring. If this were true, I would to have never been taught how to use silverware or to be potty-trained since my parents had acquired those skills. This concept was believed in the early nineteenth century, but was then discarded. I also found Darwin’s childhood history to be especially interesting. Darwin didn’t do well in school, and his father thought he cared only for shooting, dogs, and catching rats. Darwin’s father thought that he would be a failure, because he had no purpose in life. This is interesting, because Darwin came to be such an influential person and is in every biology textbook today.
One thing that I found the least interesting in this chapter was how the author was explaining what the Beagle looked like. I just found it to be pretty boring, and didn’t really think it was relevant to know that Darwin slept on a hammock.
Chapter 5 built off of chapters 3 and 4, because people began questioning the truth of the bible after the strides psychologists made in the previous chapters. This influenced Darwin in chapter 5 to start his global exploration of geology and animals.
One topic that I would like to learn more about is Darwin’s studies on emotions. I thought it was really cool how he used galvanization to produce an emotional expression. He was able to produce recognizable facial emotions by touching electrodes to the surface of skin. I would like to learn more about this process; because it is so unique, and makes me wonder what other psychologists had used this.
One thing I found interesting is the species problem. This was brought up by questioning the literal truth of the Bible’s version of the origin of earth and the plants and animals living here. The argument from design came from those who were of faith and who also wanted to study nature. This argument was that the precision and complexity in nature required a supreme being to create and manage it. The orderliness of nature derived from explicit design that came from the mind of God.
The second thing I found interesting is how Darwin’s theory came about. He reflected on the Beagle Voyage and wasn’t sure about how he felt about creation anymore. His first clue came from an essay that suggested that life is a constant struggle for existence and only the best suited for survival will do so. The second clue came from his reflections about what he knew of breeding by farmers and hobbyists. His third and final clue came from Gould a researcher of birds who noticed that all the birds from the Galapagos Islands were finches. This led Darwin down a path that eventually gave birth to his theory.
The third thing I found interesting is Francis Galton. He was Darwin’s half-cousin and was extremely rich. Galton basically initiated the study of individual differences which plays a big key in psychology today. He believed that if human intelligence was a key trait enabling physically weak humans to survive the struggle for existence, then the more intelligent humans would naturally rise to the top of society. This gave Galton the idea to prove this theory true and he eventually produced the Hereditary Genius with the studies he found. He also believed that intelligence was part of human nature, the product of evolutionary forces.
The topic I found least interesting is the whole Darwin thing in general. I understand how it’s important to learn about and that everyone should have open minds. I also agree that all theories should be given the same chance to be valid and deserved to at least be heard and brought to the table.
The most useful thing that came from this chapter, I believe, isn’t really any of the content but more to do with keeping an open mind. It has to go with what I said before, how can one form an opinion without hearing all sides of the story. That being said once someone does form an opinion, having heard all sides, it is okay to present them with new information and challenge them but it is certainly not okay to judge them on their beliefs and make them feel poorly.
That being said the ideas I had while reading this class had a lot to do with the fact that I was taking in what I generally oppose. As a Christian it’s interesting to listen to ideas and beliefs of others. I personally believe we were made by God to evolve in some ways, but not to the extent that Darwin’s theory states. I understand where Darwin and others are coming from, but in the end I believe that a higher power had to have created at least something to get this whole thing started. If you don’t think God created men, fine but who created the earth? If you believe it was an explosion in space fine, who created space? Who created the galaxies? It all comes from SOMEWHERE or someone. One can argue all day that this made this happen and this made this happen and this made this happen and so on, but what or who made the ORIGINAL thing happen. My personal opinion is that it was God otherwise you have an endless chain of events and nowhere to end, others may think it was someone else (and by admitting that you do believe in a higher power even if you don’t believe in God).
While reading chapter 5, one of the things I found interesting was Darwin’s theory of evolution and its influence on psychology. It promoted a way of thinking from psychologists known as functionalism. Functionalists were interested in studying human behavior and metal processes in how they help us adapt to an ever changing environment. Unlike Wundt who studied the content of consciousness, the functionalist wanted to know what consciousness does for the individual. How does it help him or her to adapt to their environment? This changed the subject matter for psychology.
A second thing from the chapter that I found interesting was Francis Galton. Galton, who was Darwin’s cousin, studied individual differences. For example, he studied intelligence. He wanted to know how to measure it and whether it was largely due to heredity or environment. He invented the twin study method to help answer this question. He later coined the term eugenics. By this he meant how the human species can be improved through selective breeding.
The third thing from chapter 5 that I found interesting was Darwin’s theory of natural selection. This was really Darwin’s main contribution. There were thinkers before Darwin who studied evolution or how species change, but Darwin came up with the idea of what caused the change. He identified the mechanism of change. The environment acts on small differences - some of which provide advantages in surviving. This he called natural selection.
I found nearly everything in this chapter interesting because it seemed to be tied together by Darwin’s influence. If I had to name one thing that to me that wasn’t as interesting it would be Morgan and his principle of parsimony.
The concept from this chapter most useful in understanding the history of psychology is how Darwin’s idea of natural selection influenced so many areas of psychology and other sciences as well. There may be no more important concept in the entire history of psychology. Because of this animals also became important to psychology because that’s where we humans came from and that where our mental abilities and behavior came from.
This chapter relates to previous chapters because it shows what was going on in England, while we had earlier read about what was happening in Europe. There were very different kinds of things happening. In Germany we got a general experimental psychology and in England the psychology of individual differences.
The topic I would like to learn more about is evolutionary psychology and how the environment shapes behavior (which I learned about in behaviorism class).
The main ideas I had while reading this chapter were about how Darwin’s theory effected so many people: the church, science, psychology and even people’s basic beliefs. This was a huge thing for someone to propose such a powerful theory which seemed to go against the church and the widely accepted concept of the divine creation of man; but it needed to be said to help progress our society’s pursuit of knowledge.
In college we are asked to come up with new ideas, new questions, and this can be a difficult task. Often we learn about those who came before us and made great discoveries, just as we have in this chapter. However, this chapter helps us to realize that great ideas don’t always come to us in college, or even because we are attempting to create them—they come naturally and are built upon through our experiences. That is why I found the most interesting thing in the chapter to be Darwin’s early life, his failed college attempts, and his five-year voyage that began to fuel his mind. Had it not been for his interest in Charles Lyell’s work at this time Darwin may still not have managed to conceive a theory of evolution—Lyell’s work on geographic evolution caused Darwin to consider that species might adapt much in the same way the Earth does.
Also interesting is the fact that Darwin didn’t consider the differences in finches beaks to be of importance because he hadn’t realized they were all finches—he had classified them into different bird species until it was brought to his attention by John Gould, an ornithologist, that they were indeed all finches. Had Gould, or even another ornithologist, not been involved in the classification of Darwin’s specimens would the idea of evolutionary theory have sparked in Darwin’s mind? This is a good reminder that all of our ideas don’t necessarily come from within, but are pieced together through information received from different sources.
Finally, I found the information about Francis Galton to be extremely interesting. My interest in his biographical information has most to do with his coining the term “eugenics.” For a while now I have had an interest in the eugenics movement and learning about the thoughts of the man who began the movement was interesting. However, although Galton created an oppressive and unfair movement to eliminate certain types of people from the human race—through a theory that would later be disproved—he also paved the way for intelligence testing by studying differences between individuals. Aside from starting the path to better things, Galton was also responsible for noting that fingerprints are an identifying mark as no two persons’ are the same.
Least interesting was the section dedicated to George Romanes. It isn’t so much that it wasn’t an interesting read, but his thoughts were so far off that it seems like he didn’t show much intelligence. Even considering the time in which he lived I can come to the same conclusion because his work was not considered good at that time, either. Understandably, he had less information than we do now, but he also didn’t present his information in a scientific way, but rather in an “anecdotal” form. There was definitely much more to learn from C. Lloyd Morgan who disproved Romanes’s theories.
The entire chapter is useful in studying psychology because it focuses on how many of the theories mentioned were at least partially built on the platform of a previous theory. It continuously shows us that science and psychology are constantly growing and changing and that there is a need to pose questions and think critically about the world around us, including what we learn.
I would like to continue learning about the eugenics movement just because I find the concept fascinating. Obviously it was a flawed theory, which we now understand, but at the time it was such a believable one. I hope to find out more about the sterilization of the “undesirables” in accordance with the eugenics movement in the United States and abroad.
My thoughts while reading this chapter have already been mentioned, but in review I will say that I feel the need to think critically about everything I learn and to immerse myself in the subject so that I am able to develop new ideas in the future. Instead of simply learning something we should consider ways in which we can build on it, if possible.
What topic would you like to learn more about? Why ?
I found it interesting that there is a chapter here about Darwin and evolution. I would not have guessed this topic if asked about topics I would have thought to be included in this book. In this chapter I notice idealistic ideas of scientific advancement and ideas of how science should change the world in the time period being covered.
I thought it is interesting that Cambridge was not always that great of a university because it is so respected today. It used to be a place to send sons to study clergy and distract them. It was in Darwin’s time very lacking in the instruction of science and technology. Darwin went to Cambridge to become a clergyman after hating medical school. Even though the book makes it seem like the university was not so great Darwin found his calling there. He realized his love for the natural world could be a career.
I found it interesting that Darwin was initially a believer of the argument for design. I would have thought he always believed in evolution. It was on his 5-year trip on the Beagle that he changed his mind. His zoological observations got him to thinking. His most famous work came out of these thoughts and not out of geology, which was his original subject. Not only did the earth slowly evolve but so did different species. I did not know he became a sort of celebrity while he was away.
I was not too interested to read about the Galapagos Islands. I have already learned about these a lot and want to go already! I like reading about new things so this was not too fun.
I think what will help me understand psychology better from this chapter about Darwin is related to functionalism and comparative psychology. There are strong relations between Darwin and comparative psychology. Darwin saw behavior of humans related to past species. Perhaps without Darwin or others who thought like him comparative psychology would not have existed. Darwin did some psychological research with emotional expressions by doing the first cross-cultural study of emotional expressions. He found that a smile means the same thing everywhere.
This chapter builds on other chapters because it is also related to the process of breaking away from religion and moving toward science. This is a reoccurring theme. Another theme I noticed was that first the chapter will talk about another science and then talk about how this science evolved into psychology or how psychology could not exist with out this other science first existing. Everything is very related to science. In this chapter I learned that George Romanes created comparative psychology sort of after comparative anatomy.
While I was reading this I was thinking, “OK, and how are they going to relate this to psychology?” I was at first unsure of what Darwin had to do with psychology. I knew we learned a lot about him in my Animal Behavior class but was not sure how Darwin was related to other areas of psychology and not just comparative psychology. I also wondered what exactly caused Darwin’s sickness. Was it a parasite caught abroad, something chronic we can cure now, nutrition, etc.?
I might like to learn more about anthropomorphism. I have had pets all of my life and I think I might do this. In my animal behavior class we were always warned against giving human traits to animals. Morgan’s law of parsimony is more correct. I also think Galton’s beliefs on intelligence or improvement of the English race would be fun to look into more. Or maybe I want to look into evolutionary psychology since it was barely mentioned.
The first subject in chapter five that I found interesting was what is known as the species problem. Scientists during the enlightenment period were discovering more and more species on the planet and fossils of animals that no longer existed, but still resemble animals that were walking on the earth. Questions were begging to arise and people began to wonder how this could all still fit in with the bible. Certain stories from the bible, such as the story of the ark, no longer seemed plausible. I think it would be alarming for a lot of people during that period because everything was based around the church and the bible was what you believed one hundred percent. To think for a second that what you have always known might not be real would be very scary. Another part of this chapter that I found interesting was learning about how much Darwin researched his theories before he decided to publish his book after seeing that Alfred Russel Wallace was on to the same idea as him. He was so concerned about how his work would be seen by other scientists. I had already heard the story about Darwin studying finches in the Galapagos Islands, but the theory of natural selection is interesting in itself. The idea that nature selects variations from species that are more favorable to pass on to the next generation makes complete sense but is still so crazy to think about. The third part of chapter five that appealed to me was learning about Francis Galton. He had the idea that his intelligence was an inherent ability and since he was white, rich, and living in a powerful country, he easily believed that he was superior to everyone else and so he was very excited to believe his own theory. I did give him a little credit when I found that he was the first to use the survey method and understood the difficulty of coming up with good questions. I thought that Lloyd Morgan was a little boring to read about. It was kind of hard to follow what he believed about animals and their actions. It seems to me that he isn’t the first scientist to think that animals have no psychological similarities as humans.
I think that the most important part of this chapter in helping me understand the history of psychology are Darwin’s theories of natural selection and the struggle for existence. This clearly made a huge impact on how we believe we came to be. This changed the way people viewed the church and their lives completely. This also helped Darwin make his way to a very important study involving the evolution of emotional expression of humans. He was able to detect the different muscles used in the face when portraying different facial expressions. This also builds on the previous chapters because Darwin has been mentioned several times but we are finally getting to learn specifically about his contributions.
I think I would like to learn more about Galton because he seems like a pretty interesting person. He clearly had a lot of time on his hands so I’m curious to see what other theories and experiments he came up with for other things he was studying.
Some of the ideas I had while reading this chapter were mostly about how I would feel if I was a normal person living in the enlightenment era. I think I would be skeptical of everything I would hear from these psychologists. It would go against everything I had been taught to believe and I would have a hard time letting go of those beliefs and just trusting science, after all, some of these guys did have theories that didn’t prove to be completely accurate.
Although I knew that Darwin had considered becoming a theologian and that he had traveled on the Beagle for several years I had not heard much about the earlier events in his life. I found it interesting that his father was fearful he would be a dismal failure when he was growing up as he was not an astute academic. (I did get off on a bunny trail with this bit of information, as it occurred to me that not a lot has changed in that regard. Today we do the exact same things with kids who don’t fit the mold in our education system. ) I did not realize that he had gone to and quit medical school, and then went on to Cambridge.
I also really liked the detail that the book gave in regards to the five year voyage on the beagle. I have always heard about the voyage but never most of the details that were given in the chapter. I thought it was interesting that the voyage went around the world and visited multiple locations. In the same thought I didn’t realize that Darwin had sent specimens back during his voyage.
I also found the work of Conwy Lloyd Morgan to be interesting. It was as though in many ways he took the work of people like Romanes who used anecdotal evidence and told “the rest of the story…” The example of the scorpion stinging itself to death when surrounded by fire, under Morgan became more of an accident than a carefully plotted suicide. He explained animal behaviors as instinct.
I didn’t find a whole lot that was uninteresting. I did however find Francis Galton’s ideas on eugenics disturbing. The idea that one person would decide what is superior and worthy is frightening to me. We now know that it did become a living nightmare for many people later on in our history.
I would like to learn more about Conwy Lloyd Morgan and the Principle of Parsimony. He really went deeper to give plausible simplistic explanations for animal behaviors.
I did wonder as I read about Darwin’s family what his children went on to become. The book said his wife was deeply religious and Darwin had separated from those beliefs. Did his kids follow their mom or dad? Did they fall somewhere in the middle? I wondered if any of them went on to be scientists. If not, did Galton consider that idea in his eugenics ideals?
I felt that this really didn’t build on the other chapters so much as it gave another part in the works of Psychology as it shifted from a primary philosophical study to more of what many consider “real” science.
Chapter 5
The first thing I found interesting was Darwin’s influence of Thomas Malthus and how populations tend to grow faster than the food supplies. This creates a struggle for existence among members of those populations. We are in a time where the fear of running out of resources is apparent and many areas are overpopulated. To think about how much resources humans have already used up in the past hundreds of years is incredible. It is something that is interesting to think about, the more the population grows the more space we need for those people to live and the more space we use the less we have to farm with and grow food for those people. It’s an issue that hasn’t needed our full attention quite yet, but it will be a problem we face in the near future. The second thing I found interesting while reading chapter five was comparative psychology. I am a believer of the theory of evolution, so I think it is interesting to find out any similar traits we have with other species. The book mentions the trait of intelligence and that sparked my interest even more because I always think about the intelligence of other species. I think that just because animals don’t communicate like humans do doesn’t mean they aren’t as intelligent, if not more. There is so much about human behavior and personality to learn in psychology, so I can only imagine how much information there is about the behavior and personality of all the other species. The third thing that I found interesting was Douglas Spalding and how certain behaviors are a result of instinct and not experience. I believe that, but instinct is a tricky subject because it isn’t really something you can pinpoint. It is something that can’t be explained and just happens, so it would be interesting to find out where instinct comes from or why is occurs. What I found the least interesting was probably just the introduction stuff about Darwin because his theory of evolution is something that I have been learning about for awhile and is common knowledge to most people.
What I think will be the most useful to me when studying the history of psychology is Douglas Spalding and instincts related to behavior. Psychology in general basically means studying how humans behave, so learning about experience determining behavior versus instinct is useful information. This chapter builds on the previous chapters by progressing into human behaviors and where we came from. All the chapters tie together the beginning stages of when psychology became a topic of study. I would like to learn more about comparative psychology. The idea I had when reading about this was how it can be so easy for humans to assume that we are the smartest and most-advanced species. I would like to research more and find out what studies have been done on other animals that showed any similar traits to us. It is crazy to know that they are living creatures too with some of the same organs, but are developed to behave so differently.
One thing I found to be interesting was reading about Charles Darwin’s life before his discoveries about evolution. I have learned about Darwin in numerous courses, but I have never really learned much about his life outside evolution and natural selection. Charles came from wealthy and successful parents, his father was a doctor and his mother was an heir to a fortune. However, Darwin himself was just an average student and had no clear path to becoming successful, which made his father frustrated with his lack of purpose. Determined to get Charles to follow in his footsteps his father sent him to study medicine at one of the best medical schools Europe had to offer. However, Darwin’s lack of interest and mediocre academic performance didn’t improve and he was removed from the program. The next step for Charles was attending Cambridge University, which wasn’t as prestigious as the Cambridge we know now days. There he studied for the clergy. Although he was not destined for the clergy, the experience at Cambridge proved to be crucial for Darwin. Regardless of only being a mediocre student and somewhat of a failure in his father’s eyes, Darwin was able to make the most out of his time at Cambridge.
Another interesting topic covered in this chapter was the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle. The Beagle served as Darwin’s home away from home for five years and was considered the most important event in his life. The primary purpose of the Beagle’s voyage was to survey the southern coast of South America. This enabled Darwin to spend months at a time onshore, exploring the continent, observing nature, and collecting specimens. Darwin also suffered from severe seasickness and was sick every time he was aboard the vessel, which was another benefit of spending so much time onshore. Darwin was recommended for the trip by John Henslow, who Darwin’s professor of botany at Cambridge. He saw this as a good opportunity for Charles to really explore himself and really study his beliefs about evolution. After convincing his father, Darwin embarked on the life changing five year voyage.
The contributions Darwin made to psychology were also interesting to read about. Darwin’s primary contribution was his theory of evolution, which promoted a way of thinking by American Psychologists, which eventually became known as functionalism. His theory also lead to an increased interest in what came to be called comparative psychology, which is the systematic study of similarities and differences among all animal species. Darwin’s theory also led to the systematic study of individual differences, which eventually led to the measurement of differences via intelligence and personality tests. However, Darwin’s book Expressions of the Emotions in Men and Animals is one of his most direct contributions to psychology’s history. Which leads me to believe leads me to believe that in order to truly understand the history of psychology you must first be familiar with Darwin and evolution as well as the impact Darwin had within the field of psychology.
In my opinion the least interesting topic covered in this chapter was natural selection. Not because I find the topic itself boring, but because I have learned and relearned it over and over again in previous courses. I fully understand the importance of it and why it needs to be included, but it’s just gotten to be repetitive for me.
I felt like I wasn’t able to make much of a connection with this chapter to previous chapters as much I have been able to in the past, but that’s not to say it doesn’t relate. The timeline of psychology continues to grow in this chapter. Although this chapter was devoted to evolutionary theory, it still managed to show the impact it had in the field of psychology – which is a common theme in all the chapters.
I would like to learn more about Darwin’s evolutionary approach to the study of emotional expressions in humans. The textbook goes into a bit of detail about this topic but I feel like there is more to learn about it. I’m interested in learning what caused Darwin to study expressions and why he thought they were related to evolution and animals. All in all, I would like to look deeper into the three principles.
The first part I thought was very interesting was learning about Charles Darwin in a very different aspect then just his evolutionary theory. The book explains many details about his life and theories. The book did a very good job of explaining his life and keeping me very interested. It was very interesting to find out that Darwin came from a low to average income family and did not get the same opportunity as other great philosophers to go to great schools or even be a child prodigy. It was very cool to see that an average guy came up with such an out spoken idea and backed it every step of the way.
I also was unaware of the amount of work that Darwin did previous to his findings of evolution. He did the work with finches on the Galapagos Islands which I did know about which he studied how different finches adapted to different environments even though they were the same species. He also did work with beagles which were the framework that led him to his theory of evolution which was explained in much detail. Darwin also took his theory from Thomas Malthus’s work on societal matters with people. Malthus believed that people adapt to their environment and work together or they seize to exist. Darwin took this idea to heart and adapted it to geology and biology. They also bring the context to everyday lives with selective breeding with farmers which reminds me when farmers make sure they use the best bulls to reproduce offspring and the weaker ones are turned into hamburgers.
I would like to know the other side of the argument with who argued Darwin and how the public reacted to Evolution. Did the church have a say in his theory right away and did they punish him or scrutinize him for his theory. I think this chapter dug much deeper into the functioning of humans and how they behave instead of the brain and how we work which is more of a physiology approach.
The first thing that I found interesting in this chapter was Lamarck’s belief of the chain of being. It’s similar to Darwin’s evolutionary theory, but I thought Lamarck’s idea was a little far-fetched with thinking mechanisms developed by one organism could be passed on to their offspring. It would be really cool if that were the case in homo sapiens. We wouldn’t have to teach our kids to how to walk or talk because those were mechanisms we already possessed.
The next thing I thought was interesting in this chapter was how Darwin was somewhat of an aimless child. He didn’t have great performance in school and he was pressured to do well in medical school. I always think of evolutionists or scientists or well known characters who had an impact on science were brainy and driven, but Darwin wasn’t…at least not in the beginning. It’s funny to think he was on the path of a career involving religion when he eventually comes up with the idea of evolution and that theory shows how life started and that God did not create life.
The last thing I liked about this chapter is Darwin’s work on emotional expressions. It really makes you think about how we show our emotions whether it’s our mouths being open and eyes wide to show being surprised or ‘nodding our head in affirmation and shaken laterally in negation’. I liked this section because I always try to hide negative emotion by smiling or possibly clenching my teeth so people don’t see and don’t read my emotional expression as being angry or irritated.
I didn’t really like Galton’s study on intelligence being inherited. Yes, he studied twins with the advantage of being the same age, and found their intelligence to be similar, but I don’t think we get our intelligence from our parents. He believed those who were the most fit should reproduce to only keep the best fit around which I think it ridiculous. I think people are skilled in different areas and can obtain knowledge through their own experience and learning abilities.
The most useful information I got from this chapter about the history of psychology was that even though you read so much about Darwin’s research and results, you can still be skeptical about the origin of life. I still think the church will always be a big part in arguing about where/how life began. Even though I can see Darwin’s theory, I can’t help but not agree with it sometimes.
This chapter showed me, like in previous chapters, that some researchers work doesn’t get appreciated as much because someone else did the same research, just more in depth. For instance with Lamarck and Darwin-I hadn’t heard of Lamarck at all and all we think about when we hear evolution is Darwin, when Lamarck might have come up with the idea first.
I’d like to learn more about Galton’s study of intelligence because it just baffles me to think all of us inherit our intelligence from our parents/ancestors. I’m not saying I’m smarter than my parents or they are smarter than I am, but we are all skilled in different areas and we can be completely opposite on how much we know about certain subjects.
One idea I had was wondering about during this chapter was about what if Darwin had become a priest at an Anglican church? Would someone else like Lamarck gone ahead and done the research on evolution, the origin of life, and natural selection? It’s crazy to see how one person can change peoples’ perspectives on life and how it began. I wonder if Darwin believed in God or if he was religious at all while researching how we all originated through the process of evolution rather than God creating us.
This chapter was all about Charles Darwin. Darwin has contributed so much to the world of science; it’s almost hard to put it all together. I found it interesting, again (like previous scientists discussed in the text), that Charles was of wealthy background and didn’t care much for education in his early years. I think it’s amazing that someone with no early signs of genius or promise turns out to be one of the most influential figures in the world of science (evolution) to this day. Darwin didn’t get interested in science until he was a student at Cambridge University. This is when he decided against the religious views of creation and turned to evolution to explain advanced species.
The story of the Galapagos Islands was very interesting to me. It’s amazing that nature provided an environment untainted by humans for Darwin to make phenomenal evidence claims for the theory of evolution. I mean what are the odds? The most amazing fact about these islands is that supposedly one species of finches first migrated there and spread out to various islands with different environments. The birds in different areas of the islands subsequently evolved to better survive in their habitat. Awesome!
Francis Galtons idea of “good” and “bad” eugenics was also interesting. I know that Natural Selection and Selective breeding were popular ideas back during the eugenics period, but I don’t think that eugenics was a morally acceptable answer to living a better life or advancing a given nation. Sure, it may be obvious through horse-breeding and specific-breeding of dogs, but it doesn’t warrant the selective breeding of humans. What would life be if we had to decide our marriages by intellectual and social statuses? Or worse yet, have our spouses chosen for us?
The “Argument from Design” is talked about right away. It’s also what I found the least interesting. I must mention though, that this was interesting to a certain degree. I found this whole chapter incredibly interesting, just this concept, not as much. So, I can’t say that I didn’t find it interesting, because I certainly did. I found it interesting because, I find it fascinating that scientist are willing to find “loopholes” in things so they can do another. In this case, it would be studying science (evolution) while maintaining a religious view of a greater being (God).
I read about how evolution was a popular idea by many, not just Charles Darwin. One of the most notable is his grandfather. I find it useful in understanding the history of psychology by seeing how evolution can explain behavior. Different environments and genes meant for greater survival is going to make an organism act differently than it did in the past.
I think this chapter builds on the previous chapters by showing that many people tend to think of “ideas” around the same time. This leads to some pursuing those ideas in order to prove them to be true, and others setting out to prove them false, which advances the scientific community either way. It appears that ideas are easily formulated and exchanged around scientists, but only the plausible ones are sought after for refutability or to be proved correct.
I would like to learn more about Charles Darwins voyage on the Beagle. I think it’s crazy how one persons journey around the world can create such a spark scientifically. I would also like to learn more about the species and fossils he discovered on his trip.
One idea I had was about Darwins statement describing how species reproduce faster than food sources can accommodate. Saying that a species will become too large and won’t have enough food in its environment to feed its entire species. Darwin says, at this point the weaker species will die out and the ones with certain genes will survive the tough times. Essentially, evolve. The idea I had was, will this happen to humans? The worlds population has been increasing for a long time and hasn’t seemed to stop. Is it possible that food won’t be able to be produced fast enough to feed every human on the planet?
I liked reading about the Galapagos island and how darwin went there to get inspiration about the evolutionary theory he was starting by observing the large turtles. he noticed that the birds were similar in all the areas as well as having their own unique characteristics. The finches for example were changing by their beaks. he thought this was interesting and something worth taking note of. his theory of evolution eventually blended into the idea of functionalism which is about studying human behaviors and mental processes and how they change and adapt to changing enviornments.
The first part of the chapter that was quite intriguing was the section entitled “The Galapogos Islands”. Darwin, along with the Beagle Voyage, traveled to the Galapogos Islands on September 7, 1835 from South America. Basically, Darwin started to form his Evoluntionary theory while on the Galapagos Islands. Shortly after landing just five days after the Beagle Voyage left mainland South America, Darwin and his crew encountered many new species. I’ve heard that the Galapagos Islands are home to many animals that you will not find anywhere else in the world. That right there makes me want to travel to these islands someday. One of the first species he encountered was dinosaur-like creatures, including tortoises, which had enormous shells. He also encountered many different birds throughout the islands, including ones which beaks that he had never seen before. Not only did he encounter new animals, but also discovered that there were many different plants on this island as well. (These animals could have adapted to these islands through evolution.) We now know that many changes could have occurred between these animals due to severe climatic changes. After leaving the Galapagos Islands, Darwin sailed to Australia and back to London shortly thereafter. Once he returned, he had no doubt in his mind that science was the truth, and so he began his evolutionary theory.
Darwin’s contributions to psychology are quite interesting as well. His theory of evolution later showed to create a thinking in many psychologist in America which is now known as functionalism. Simply put, functionalism is a part of psychology in which researchers study the changing in behavior as their environment changes. This is an interesting thought: We all change our behaviors in different situations. For example, many of us (hopefully) do not at in the same manner while in class or at work, as we do while we are out at the bar with friends. Furthermore, we change our behaviors around different people in order conform to norms. Many of us probably don’t use the same language when speaking with our grandparents as we do with our classmates. Darwin’s evolutionary theory also led to a branch of psychology known as “comparative psychology” which is the study of similarities and differences among all animal species. Later, this led to an growing interest in the INDIVIDUAL and individual differences. These individual differences led to the creation of Intelligence and personality tests.
The third part that was pretty interesting was Darwin’s work on the evolution of emotional expressions. His work focused on expressions such as anger, joy and fear. Darwin was one of the first to note that he learned during his Beagle Voyage that these expressions could be found all around the world. There has been many studies, which most psychology majors have probably learned about in social psychology, that show that there are certain emotional expressions that are the same in almost every culture. The studies conducted used facial expressions to show that people in different cultures made the same facial expressions when experiencing an particular emotion. An easy example is that a smile almost always means happiness anywhere you go. Darwin also worked with the emotional expressions of animals, which isn’t surprising because after all, he was a zoologist!
I found this chapter to be very interesting pretty easy to read right before bed. It also started some thoughts of how much Darwin really started with his evolutionary theory. This chapter mainly focused on his contributions to psychology (naturally, it is a psychology course), but think about all of the other fields that Darwin has influenced with his theory of evolution. Darwin even influenced religions, and even started his own religion: Darwinism! His theories have helped many fields develop more research ideas and branch out in their fields. I think this really says something about his idea of evolution. His contributions will never be forgotten: Especially by the protestants and Catholics.
I plan on writing my blog Thursday about Darwin's contributions to psychology in the form of functionalism. It's quite interesting how American psychologists took interest in Darwin's work and formed a new branch of psychology.
In terms of Darwin (I’m going to focus my points of interest on him because Darwin was the most interesting part of this chapter as far as I’m concerned): I am very interested and impressed by the fact that, in all reality, he never really dismissed creationism or the idea that there was a creator. (At least not publically or admittedly as I’m sure he had no desire to get attacked and killed as a heretic). I was very interested in his religious philosophy and the fact that it severely went against the time. He put his believe in the possibility the God created some things…but not everything.
Darwin was on some ship for 5 years? Holy Crap! I can’t help but think that’s interesting. With today’s transportation being so fast, it’s easy to forget about the large amounts of time put into travel back then. It’s also interesting to think about how much Darwin could have potentially done with his research if he hadn’t spent so much time on that boat. This also makes me wonder about the true time frames of all of the studies and research back during this time period. We (the collective world) seems to think that all of these historical psychologist got everything right and then we just continue to build off of their ideas. Darwin’s theories are pretty set in stone. It would be interesting to look into how people could do research on the same thing now in a fifth of the time and continue to build on it as part of their work. Could we find so much more out about the world if we repeated the work with modern technology? Who can deny that the fact that someone was willing to travel 5 years just for the cause research on something like evolution…knowing that people are going to hate all of the information you have…IS CRAZY. The whole situation, including the proceeding research is very interesting.
The influences of Thomas Malthus were also pretty interesting. In short, I find all of Darwin’s research to be interesting. Therefore, I am picking various parts discussed in the chapter and breaking them down to reflect my interests. I liked the connections made between society and the environmental/animal world in terms of evolution. Growing up on a farm, my dad would constantly compare life events to the animals. Perhaps it was most interesting to me because it was the easiest to relate to/understand. Malthus presented ideas that the way we functions as humans in terms of our reasoning, logic, and basic survival are all as basic as Darwin’s evolution theory. Growing up with my dad who is essentially a geneticist, it was always interesting to look at the genes and breeding as well as thought put into our livestock and agriculture in general. It’s interesting to read about Malthus’ way of relating this idea to our lives and world as humans.
How does word association fit with this chapter? Answer: It doesn’t really. That is why this topic was a less interesting point in the reading. It didn’t seem to flow as much with the rest. Additionally, all else aside, I still find it less interesting. Galton’s word association tests were the least interesting part in terms of this chapter’s chemistry and the direction of my thought.
I would like to learn more about Darwin’s specific religious beliefs and how he was able to get away with not being killed every time he talked about his findings and beliefs. Where did Darwin get his courage? What is Darwin’s personal philosophy about how or why we (humans) are all here.
I find it most difficult to relate this chapter to the past chapters. The best I can do in this category is say that it established a foundation for where the science of psychology is today. It seems to give a reason or a road map that leads to where we are currently standing. Also, much like the previous chapters, it provides the basic assumptions that are complete necessary for the understanding of psychology and the study as a whole. Perhaps just learning about evolution theory on an expanded platform (rather than the simple view) will be the most helpful as I work to understand the history of psychology and put the pieces together that tell me how we got to where we are today.
During this chapter I wondered why people are so hung up on the idea that we “evolved from monkeys”. Also, the chapter didn’t really say anything about this idea…at least not compared to the movie we watched for Friday.
I didn’t know that Darwin was not the first person to think of evolution. His grand-father Erasmus Darwin thought that all organic life evolved from a single living filament; he rejected the idea that Bible had about creation. Human beings are just the end result of evolution improving, but humans could still improve themselves. His other grand-father also believed in the chain of being. This means that species can be put in an arrangement according to their complexity. As the idea evolved it became known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics. I also found it interesting to find out that Darwin was not a very school oriented or ambitious person when he was young. His father did not think he would amount to much or anything, but he still hoped Darwin would. He sent his son to a prestigious medical school because hoped his son would become a great doctor like himself. This did not work out, so Darwin ended up going to Christ’s College where he studied to become a priest. Charles Darwin didn’t become a priest, but by going to this school his interest in nature and scientific observation was sparked. It is amazing to think of how different our lives can be from our younger years to our later years. I also found Darwin’s ideas about studying emotion interesting. Adults tend to mute their emotional reactions and when they do express their emotions it is a strong rational analysis of a situation. So, Darwin proposed several options of ways to observe this. One was that we look at children to find a way to measure the exact ways of emotional expression. Another was by a technique called galvanization which was used to figure out what muscles stimulated and contracted each type of facial expression we have. We also thought that we should study these “basic expressions” in animals and see if they are the same in other places around the world. I found this interesting because emotional are something we deal with every day and can sometimes be hard to understand in ourselves and from others. I didn’t really find George Romanes research that interesting. I feel it may be because I am more interested in human aspects of psychology and not so much animal intelligence. The idea of making a detailed catalog of animal behavior, just does not appeal to me at all. I think that the large part of the chapter that talked about Charles Darwin will be important to the understanding the history of psychology. Darwin is a very highly credited and highly talked about person in psychology. It is important to know what he has done and how it affects psychology as a whole. This chapter expands on the knowledge of the brain and nervous system and gives us an introduction into a lot of Charles Darwin’s work. The last chapters we ready were more about the rise of psychology and this chapter is more about the fiery growth of psychology.
I would like to learn more about how the education system was back in time. It seems that a lot of these psychological were not very interested in school. I wonder if it is because it was not advanced enough or if they were just showing signs of what we called today as teenage rebellion. This is also part of what I had ideas about while reading the chapter. Some many of these successful people were not predicted to do anywhere near as well as they did in their life. It seems ironic because in today’s society we always feel like we don’t have enough time to do all the things we should do before we are old. During college and high school they want kids to do everything. We are supposed to volunteer, do sports, speech, and try to get a 4.0. It is crazy to think not people predicted to be unsuccessful really can end up being the most successful.
After reading chapter 5, the topic I found to be most interesting was under the heading Charles Darwin’s’ theory of evolution. I find evolution to be interesting, but reading about Darwin’s’ background was something I would never have guessed. He lived a normal life, spoiled by his wealthy parents. Unlike his father, Charles didn’t have a lot of ambition and had a poor attitude toward school which led to bad performance. Charles was sent to study medicine at Edinburg, one of Europe’s best medical schools. Due to anesthesia not being invented yet and having to sooth a patient until the procedure was complete, Darwin decided medicine was not for him. The next stop for Darwin was Christ’s College, where he studied clergy. Even though it was not something he did for long, he did however find his calling there. He had a close relationship with geologist Reverend Adam Sedgwick. He taught Darwin basic tools of the geologic trade and sharpened his ability to make precise observations by taking him on geological trips with him. This eventually brought on the Voyage of the Beagle, which is something Darwin is still known for. This goes into something else I found interesting in this chapter, Darwin the geologist. Darwin’s prime interest was geology. He wrote a book called the Principles of Geology, which was destined to have the same effect on geology that this book would have on biology. There was some argument on the theory of geological change, called catastrophism, which is the attempt to maintain the supremacy of God and the Bible while accounting for what scientists were discovering about nature. I find this interesting because I have understood the theory of evolution (basic level) for a couple years due to many classes covering this topic. I have never really gone into depth though of his early years, never really learned about what kind of person he was. It surprised me to learn about his background, where he came from, and the different subjects he studied. Another topic I found interesting was After the Origin of Species, what the reaction was to Darwin’s theory. Because he didn’t mention humans in the Origin, it was thought to be a threat to the Church of England. Darwin decided to let other people argue over this and stayed out of the debates. This theory caused and still causes several concerns with the religious community, and the reaction to the scientific community was general acceptance. Which is how it is today, the religious community stills looks at this theory as wrong and harmful while the scientific community looks at this the opposite. There wasn’t a topic I found to be not interesting, one topic that was a little confusing was George Romanes and the anecdotal method. Romanes combined Darwin’s data with information he had collected, and shortly after Darwin’s death he published Animal Intelligence. A book with great discussion on animal behavior. Romanes was later credited for the founder of comparative psychology. This was something that was interesting just slower, and the wording didn’t make it very clear. I feel as if understanding the people who helped with a study or combined data with someone is important to know who all was involved. Making sure you are aware of all the aspects of something will help better understand what you are learning. Something I would like to learn more about would be the nature of intelligence, more basic information from the early years. Not just what is being said or what was said then but what they said before.
One thing I did realize while reading the chapter was over evolution, how it never really talked about how Darwin’s theory is that us humans evolved from monkeys. I wonder why? It did discuss the difference of the theories and why the scientific side and the side church had a problem, if they did, but never went into much discussion about the actual evolution of humans from monkeys. I would say I was disappointed to not learn about this as well, I have an idea of what Darwin was saying but for it not to be in the book still surprises me.
I was interested in looking more at Darwin’s personal religious beliefs and what his personal religion was. I wanted to see the spiritual perspective he had or at least the perspective with which he was raised. This fits with the chapter as it talked about Darwin and evolution. However, this also fits with Friday’s assignment about the Scopes Monkey Trial. I thought this topic would help to connect everything together as it seemed to look at the philosophical perspective. It also expands on the controversy that is around the evolution vs. creation issue by taking into account where Darwin may have been coming from and what the actual facts are. The chapter was largely about Darwin, why not explore even more into his life.
I am interested in this topic as I believe that it will give me even more of an understanding and appreciation for Darwin and his evolutionary beliefs. Essentially, I enjoy picking people brains and learning about them and their interests. I am interested because I want to know about Darwin’s personal or perhaps moral struggles with the publication or his work or even just the studies in general.
As I read about Darwin, it turns out that he was very religious! (Before, During and After his research). Darwin did make an interesting comment that, “Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws”, however, he constantly related those laws to religious views. Darwin stated in his autobiography that he spent a large amount of time on the Beagle thinking about religion and his creation. He also expressed that he was annoyed by those who quoted the bible incorrectly. Darwin originally when to school with the aim to be a clergyman. He attended Cambridge to achieve a BA in Anglican theology. Darwin also attended the Church of England school and was raised a non-conformist. Needless to say, Darwin was a man largely influenced by religion.
I found it incredibly interesting that Darwin fought to support both creation and evolution. It’s interesting because most people make it seem like you have to choose one or the other and you can’t have any other opinion. One of the best points Darwin made in regard to this was that divine design in nature is simply adaptation. Further, adaptation is an example of God acting through laws of nature. I really appreciate the fact that Darwin was able to step back and look at things from multiple view points. Still, it was also interesting that Darwin viewed religion as less accredited as he continued his research.
To answer my questions from the beginning: Darwin was raised religious. He also continued pretty religious and talked about how “God” takes a seat in the process of evolution as he controls everything and is just as poweruful. Whether or not Darwin agreed with the different views of creationism and talked about them in agreeance with the people merely to protect himself from public ridicule and dangers or whether he actually believed the things that he said cannot be proven with 100% certaintay. I enjoyed learning more about this topic and I find it cool and refreshing that Darwin fought to maintain both extremes of his beliefs. He held onto and agreed with creationism, but he introduced it as still being able to work and have some positive regard with creationism while studying evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Charles_Darwin -Basics about Darwin’s religious upbringing.
http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/library/cd_relig.htm -Autobiography= Darwin’s religious views at the beginning of his research (on the Beagle).
http://www.aboutdarwin.com/darwin/whowas.html -Questions, answers, and paragraphs all about Darwin.
For chapter five I decided that I wanted to learn more about Francis Galton. He seems like a pretty interesting person, and considering his upbringing and his bias outlooks on human intelligence and the wealthy, I thought he fit it pretty well with this chapter and so I decided I would look in to him a bit farther. Sometimes I think that the person it more interesting to learn about than just their findings alone. I wanted to see if I could find any more information on him or the kinds of theories and studies he did in his free time, since he seemed to have an abundance of it.
Galton was born in on February 16, 1822 and was the cousin of Charles Darwin. He was apparently a pretty gifted child and learned how to do multiplication and could tell time by the age of four. Some of his greatest achievements to the field of science and psychology in particular is that he was the first person to introduce surveys and questionnaires into research. He was also the first to coin the phrase “nature versus nurture.” To think that this man came up with the phrase is pretty amazing to know. Considering in four years of college, not to mention some high school, I have researched the nature and nurture theory, read books, written essays, etc…and still did not take the time to know that Galton came up with the phrase. He also came up with the first weather map and made a considerable contribution the field of forensics by figuring out how to classify fingerprints.
One of Galton’s less popular theories was on eugenics. He decided to open a laboratory in which the first year nearly 10,000 people passed through to find out how they would rank for their inherent intelligence. Galton’s ultimate goal in this experiment was to create a society of superior men and women based on intelligence and not necessarily on wealth or where they ranked in societies levels.
Galton also did quite a bit of work in the field of genetics where he transferred rabbit blood from parent to offspring, and offspring to parent, to see if the children had the traits of the biological parent. His studies proved that he was correct in countering Darwin’s theory that gemmules traveled within the blood. Another rather interesting fact about Galton, besides his countless contributions to several fields of science, is that two years before his death in 1911 he was knighted.
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/galton.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton
http://www.thefreeresource.com/sir-francis-galton-facts-life-findings-and-resources
posted for KN:
Week 6 RA
After reading chapter 5, the topic I found to be most interesting was under the heading Charles Darwin’s’ theory of evolution. I find evolution to be interesting, but reading about Darwin’s’ background was something I would never have guessed. He lived a normal life, spoiled by his wealthy parents. Unlike his father, Charles didn’t have a lot of ambition and had a poor attitude toward school which led to bad performance. Charles was sent to study medicine at Edinburg, one of Europe’s best medical schools. Due to anesthesia not being invented yet and having to sooth a patient until the procedure was complete, Darwin decided medicine was not for him. The next stop for Darwin was Christ’s College, where he studied clergy. Even though it was not something he did for long, he did however find his calling there. He had a close relationship with geologist Reverend Adam Sedgwick. He taught Darwin basic tools of the geologic trade and sharpened his ability to make precise observations by taking him on geological trips with him. This eventually brought on the Voyage of the Beagle, which is something Darwin is still known for. This goes into something else I found interesting in this chapter, Darwin the geologist. Darwin’s prime interest was geology. He wrote a book called the Principles of Geology, which was destined to have the same effect on geology that this book would have on biology. There was some argument on the theory of geological change, called catastrophism, which is the attempt to maintain the supremacy of God and the Bible while accounting for what scientists were discovering about nature. I find this interesting because I have understood the theory of evolution (basic level) for a couple years due to many classes covering this topic. I have never really gone into depth though of his early years, never really learned about what kind of person he was. It surprised me to learn about his background, where he came from, and the different subjects he studied. Another topic I found interesting was After the Origin of Species, what the reaction was to Darwin’s theory. Because he didn’t mention humans in the Origin, it was thought to be a threat to the Church of England. Darwin decided to let other people argue over this and stayed out of the debates. This theory caused and still causes several concerns with the religious community, and the reaction to the scientific community was general acceptance. Which is how it is today, the religious community stills looks at this theory as wrong and harmful while the scientific community looks at this the opposite. There wasn’t a topic I found to be not interesting, one topic that was a little confusing was George Romanes and the anecdotal method. Romanes combined Darwin’s data with information he had collected, and shortly after Darwin’s death he published Animal Intelligence. A book with great discussion on animal behavior. Romanes was later credited for the founder of comparative psychology. This was something that was interesting just slower, and the wording didn’t make it very clear. I feel as if understanding the people who helped with a study or combined data with someone is important to know who all was involved. Making sure you are aware of all the aspects of something will help better understand what you are learning. Something I would like to learn more about would be the nature of intelligence, more basic information from the early years. Not just what is being said or what was said then but what they said before.
One thing I did realize while reading the chapter was over evolution, how it never really talked about how Darwin’s theory is that us humans evolved from monkeys. I wonder why? It did discuss the difference of the theories and why the scientific side and the side church had a problem, if they did, but never went into much discussion about the actual evolution of humans from monkeys. I would say I was disappointed to not learn about this as well, I have an idea of what Darwin was saying but for it not to be in the book still surprises me.
One thing that interested me from the chapter was covered under the section, “Darwin’s Delay.” It discussed why it took Charles Darwin so long to publish Origin of Species. It had never occurred to me that Darwin was hesitant to publish his works because he was worried about the criticisms of his science community peers. Personally, I can imagine I’d be eager to get such groundbreaking information in the mainstream news as soon as I discover it. He had a lot of important discoveries and evolutionary information that has forever held him in science fame. Yet, he was nervous about revealing such unheard-of proposals.
Another thing I found interesting from the chapter was the serviceability of emotional expressions in early human life. It had never occurred to me that a face of contempt may have been used to indicate a physically offensive odor to our evolutionary ancestors. It now makes perfect sense. Facial expressions are a universally identifiable means of communication; even before the development of complex language systems.
A third thing I found interesting from the chapter was Lloyd Morgan’s canon. I like the concept of using parsimonious explanations to understand behavior. I had not realized that the whole school of thought known as behaviorism is built on Morgan’s notion or parsimony. Behaviors are best understood in terms of simple conditioning processes. This way of thinking led to a mechanical conception of animal behavior, increasing the advancement of our testing and understanding of such behavior rapidly.
The thing I found to be least interesting in the chapter was twin studies. This is a topic I covered heavily in my biopsychology class and also pretty significantly in my research methods class. I am a twin myself, so I took great interest in such studies when I initially covered them in high school. I thoroughly understand the importance of twin studies now, so I didn’t find the section of Galton’s twin studies to be very exciting.
The thing I read that will be most useful to understanding the history of psychology is the species problem, otherwise known as the “mystery of mysteries.” These are the questions that transformed the thinking of psychologists around the time of Charles Darwin. This problem rose to popularity in the Age of Enlightenment. Both the church and the academic community viewed this issue with great controversy for many years, but it has been an influential issue in the advancement of modern science.
This chapter relates to the previous chapter by completely turning the way psychologists’ study biology in a new direction. Scientific psychology in Germany as discussed in chapter four unlocked great knowledge about the brain and nervous system. Charles Darwin and evolutionary psychologists began to address how these findings about the human brain and other physiological characteristics came to be.
I would like to learn more about the topic of imagery and association. Since they weren’t Sir Francis Galton’s main topics of research, they got very little coverage in the text. I find imagery and association to be so interesting because certain types of people have more vivid imaginations than others. This was an observation initially made by Galton when he discovered that the fellow scientists he surveyed reported virtually no imagery compared to the general public.
An idea I had while reading this chapter was how fortunate Galton was to have the resources to investigate his many interests in psychology and beyond. Cases like his made me realize just how many prominent scientists came from upper-class upbringings and took advantage of independent wealth to put their career on a fast track.