Theories Of Phrenology

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

In the excerpt “Right Brain Rising”, Daniel Pink tells his experience in depth detail of an intriguing brain scan beneficial both to his curious mind, and the world of science. He then goes on to inform readers of the two distinct halves resting in our skulls; following up with the past inferiority associated with the human right brain, thought to be due to years of evolution. After acknowledging the disproved theory, Pink delves into information pertaining to psychology’s six

Psychology, due to its complexity can be approached in a variety of ways. To help us understand the human mind, behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches have helped us understand the alternative outlooks in the science of mind and behaviour. Both approaches can be examined by the means of theoretical assumptions and methodology.

My short assignment four best demonstrates this outcome. In this assignment, I explored the field of biopsychology, the study of the brain and behavior, by attending a lecture of biopsychology class here at the University of Washington. Dr. Lauren Graham spoke on the topic of the nervous system

Biological psychology is the study of how biology affects a number of psychological processes i.e. how the mind affects the body (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Hood 2015). The study of the mind has had many influential figures throughout history that often use each other’s ideas as a stepping stone to further advance psychology, some of the first being Plato and Aristotle. Plato believed in nativism and theorised some skills and characteristics are innate and a person is born with them (Schacter et al, 2015). Aristotle, however, was in favour of philosophical empiricism i.e. that all knowledge is acquired through experience, yet current scientists do not consider that nativism and empiricism are entirely accurate (Schacter et al, 2015). Aristotle also believed that the brain existed to cool the blood, as during that time people were sceptical that an organ could be responsible for behaviour (Kolb, Whishaw & Teskey 2016). The next major advancement in biological psychology was the introduction of phrenology by Francis Gall, Gall’s theory suggested that all psychological capabilities had a specific place in the brain (Schacter et al, 2015). This theory later turned out to be correct, although was overshadowed by Gall’s insistence that he could state a person’s character dependant on the size of lumps and indentations on a person’s skull, which he thought would represent the size of that brain region beneath (Schacter et al, 2015). Due to this, in spite of a large following, phrenology was quickly discredited. Biologist Pierre Flourens, unhappy with Gall’s research, began removing localized areas of the brain in various animals to observe their behaviour (Schacter et al, 2015). Flourens then found that animal’s movements differed to those with intact brains. This mirrored a situation for surgeon Paul Broca with whom one of his patients had damage to the left side of

This, I led me too a love of psychology. How wonderful was it that there was a whole science devoted just to that one mystical organ? Studying the brain, we can unlock the doors to human

The article I choose to investigate was one found in the magazine National Geographic. The article was entitled, “Secrets of the Brain”. This has personal meaning to me because I am planning on going into the field of psychology. The author, Carl Zimmer, wrote this article because he was interested in what he called “one of the great scientific revolutions of our times” which is the increased focus the scientific would has put on the research of the brain. Zimmer met with and aided in the research as a test subject at Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging where scientists are working to scan and then research brains. The scientists here took interest in this because they wanted to more fully understand disorders of the brain, including schizophrenia,

In my opinion, the human brain is arguably the most fascinated organs in our body. It leads every aspect in our life; biological and behavioral. If any part of that gray matter happens to be injured, our body system along with our demeanor would be liable to suffer. Currently, a student at Lone Star Community college in Texas, I wish to orientate myself towards not only the study of the brain and also its correlation with the personality.

“Phrenology continued to progress, and there then seemed to be no reason why it should not take its place among the recognized sciences,”1. The concept for phrenology was created by Francis Gall, a man who believed that parts of the brain would grow when exercised, like muscles. He reasoned that skull structure should reflect the development of the brain tissue beneath and ridges possibly indicated more developed parts of the brain.

Franz Joseph Gall created the main principles of phrenology, which was the first scientific theory of brain localization. His theories were based entirely on observation and natural philosophy. Phrenology was the study of associating an individual’s personality characteristics and mental abilities based on the shape of their skull. It was incomparably influential throughout the first half of the 19th century thanks to Gall and his many successors. Some of the main tenants of phrenology were later confirmed by scientific experiments and technology.

The human brain is a mystery that has been studied for centuries in attempt to understand how it functions. Scientists first thought that the brain was a structure that functioned a whole. It was in the early 1600’s where the first ideas of localisation of function in the brain started. At this time Rene Descartes discovered a tiny structure called the pineal

The common argue which in medical area is the scientist’s keen to research about the relationship between the cancer and psychology. Cancer is comment disease, also as known as malignant tumors, has become a threat to human health and life of common disease, even become a major case of human death. Cancer occurred for any age, race, and gender. The reason and the result of the cancer are different because of the diverse of population and situation, and the mental activity of patients depends not only on disease. (American Cancer Society)

Psychology is made up of many perspectives, such as, behavioural, biological, cognitive, social, humanistic and finally, psychodynamic. This essay will focus on the behavioural perspective and the biological perspective. According to J Walker (2012) the behavioural perspective is based on behaviourism and is the study of observing behaviour when in certain contexts and events. The biological perspective however, explains behaviour by focusing on the function of the nervous system, genes and the brain.

In this essay will I have a look at two Phycologist´s theories and go through their developmental stages to search for similarities and differences. I also want to reflect on how these theories could be interpreting a person close to me in the development through stages of life.