Evolutionary Psycology Part 1-History of Psycology-Lecture Handout, Exercises of History of Psychology

Download Evolutionary Psycology Part 1-History of Psycology-Lecture Handout and more Exercises History of Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! History and Systems of Psychology – PSY502 VU Lesson 25 HISTORICO-EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY There were two current philosophies and practices of psychology during the early and till the middle of the 20th century; Behaviorism and Functionalism. The Historico-Evolutionary or Soviet Psychology tried to adopt a different approach and methodology. As the name implies, the contributors in the Historico-Evolutionary Psychology tried to see how consciousness in humans developed, what exact role it played in different historical stages of man’s development and how it impacts behavior. In other words, these psychologists looked at the historical evolution of consciousness. They focused on how, in the past, man has been able to develop his power to think and understand and what role has his consciousness played in this regard. For further explanation, because this group looked at the historical evolution of man’s mental functions and its relationship with behavior, that is why this point of view is called the Historico- Evolutionary Psychology. Leon Vygotsky The first amongst the Historico-Evolutionary psychologists was Leon Vygotsky who was born in 1896 and died in 1934. The Soviet revolution had taken place in 1917 and therefore Vygotsky was the first truly Soviet psychologist. Vygotsky was impressed by Sechenov and Pavlov and believed that man’s consciousness came into being as a result of his development or evolution, and man’s higher mental functions, i.e. consciousness developed as a result of collective labor. So man became different from animals in some fundamental and basic ways. In other words, as man went through the process of evolution, his mental functions also went through the same process. This resulted in the development of the higher mental functions, such as that of thinking and understanding. As the Historico-Evolutionary psychologists focused on the development of consciousness, Vygotsky proposed that the higher mental function of consciousness also developed through the process of evolution. Vygotsky taught that behaviorists, and structuralists and functionalists divide man into parts; some try to study his behavior and others his consciousness, whereas man is a unity. Therefore, he emphasized on the fact that the structure and the functions of the consciousness cannot be separated. They both complement each other and exist for and because of each other. In Vygotsky’s view, man’s development is a function of biological evolution and a function of historico-cultural evolution. The body develops and so does the mind; man’s behavior and his consciousness is a mixture of these two developments. Historico-cultural evolution can be seen in the form of man’s thoughts, determination, ideas etc. Man uses language and mathematical symbols and these are the tools of his developed consciousness. On the other hand, animals are unable to use language and symbols to express their thoughts. They have not reached the point of evolution which man has reached. Therefore, this further substantiates the fact that consciousness and higher mental functions are a result of the evolutionary process which man had undergone over the past. He showed that environment effects man, but then in turn man also effects the environment. In other words, as proposed by previous psychologists such as Darwin, environment has an impact on man, but according to Vygotsky, in turn man tries to change the environment in his own way, moulds it and thereby uses it to fulfill his needs. For example, man has over the last one hundred years, developed various methods and techniques to make the best out of the opportunities available in the environment. In other words, it is not just the environment that affects man, but man in turn also influences the environment. This is how consciousness functions and separates man from animals. So Vygotsky said that behavior and consciousness can not be studied separately. Since consciousness is impacted by the environment, and the behavior is dictated by consciousness. Further, that the human mental functions are radically different from functions of lower animals. And this difference is due to man’s development of consciousness which is the ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 58 docsity.com