Question

The study of how ideas developed over time is a type of conceptual or psychological historical research. Identify a key concept within the field of psychology and describe in detail the types of primary sources you could use to understand its history, explaining what each source might add to the study. Then, explain why conducting rigorous historical research involves more than reading historical documents, taking notes, and organizing those notes. Provide two examples to illustrate the point.

Answer 1

Though Psychology emerged as a separate discipline in around a couple or more centuries ago, it has long standing roots dating back to as early as Greek and French philosophers and other philosophers of ancient times. In those times, Psychology did not have scientific research and methodologies.

One of the key concepts used then was pure observation of human physiology, behavior, and logic.

The primary sources to understand the history, were the questions that arose in the human minds in the early philosophers like the questions below:

1. How did the human mind function starting from birth to death,

2. How did the human mind develop through various ages, civilizations and culture,

3. How does Psychology shape our society, education, public policy, human behavior, health etc.

4. Early sources of study of human Physiology, behavior and philosophy.

Conducting rigorous historical research involves much more than just reading historical documents, taking notes and organizing those notes beacause Psychological history involves observation of human behavior right from the ancient times. Though scientific methods were missing, observation and logic were used to study human behavior and physiology right from the ancient times and across civilizations, culture and ages. Two examples below illustrate the point:

Example 1: During as early as the 17th century, a French Philosoher named Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism. In his studies, he propounded that the mind and the body were two entities that interacted to form human experience. These kind of studies are still carried on in modern research through scientific, empirical and clinical methods.

Example 2: In the 18th Century, a German philosopher named Immanuel Kant made investigations into human thoughts, feelings, desires and actions. He also gave to the world his doctrine of transcendental idealism where space, time and causation are mere sensibilities. He said that they were "things in themselves" but their nature could not be known. The "things in themselves" is his concept which meant that they were objects which were independent of observation.

Hence Pyschology is not just studying history of humankind. It involves much more historical research, observations and philosophies propounded by ancient philosophers and knowledge workers of physiology..

,