The Hidden Mystery Behind NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
What is neuropsychology? And what is the history of psychology?
What is neuropsychology?
The study of the correlation between brain organization and behavior. Hippocrates is the forefather of neuroscience (Breitenfeld et al, 2014). Taught by Democritus, father of modern science (Triarhou, 2016). Leucippus(about 480bc–420 bc)(metaphysician) was Democritus his teacher, and together they created modern science. Democritus made also ideas about the brain. So, neuropsychology is chemistry and modern science-based.
M.D. Hippocrates, the first in neuropsychology
The father of medicine (Grammaticos and Diamantis, 2008) his teacher was Democritus. Hippocrates lived from 460 bc — 375 (Smith, 2020). Greek philosophers studied the body, mind, and soul. They had teachers and students studying on these topics. Hippocrates was also, the forefather of neuroscience. (Breitenfeld et al, 2014). He was a holistic and humanitarian M.D. The brain would be the analyst of the outside world. He had learned a lot about the body treated patients. Democritus (470–380 BC) was his teacher and studied on atoms(windows to the universe, 2010)
What is psychology?
Study of what humans think and do.
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle discussed topics we discuss today in psychology.
Plato's student of Socrates(Birthday estimated 428 BC and 423 BC). Aristotle's (384 BC-322 BC) student of Plato. These three made western beliefs, just like Democritus and Leucippus.
There are a few fields in psychology.
For example(centre of excellence, 2020):
- Abnormal psychology, behavior that is not “normal”.
- Behavioral psychology, study with the belief all human behavior is the result of conditioning.
- Cognitive psychology focusses on internal processes. The unseen processes in the brain.
- Comparative psychology, looks at animal behavior, to understand human behavior.
- Cross-cultural psychology looks at different behaviors in cultures, and different groups of people, and looks at the root cause of the differences.
- Developmental psychology, how behavior changes over the lifespan. Now the average age changes in the western world, studies about elderly are more common in this field, not only childhood and adolescence.
- Educational psychology researches learning and educational settings.
- Forensic psychology studies the intersection between psychology, law and criminal behavior.
- Health psychology, the study about behavior, thoughts, and health.
- Organizational psychology, the study on how people act, feel, and behave in the workplace.
- Personality psychology and individual differences, the study on how personality and traits differ between people.
- Positive psychology, the study on people who have good mental health, and psychological well-being.
- Social psychology, how our behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes are influenced by other people.
APA has a lot more divisions.
Neurology
The study of the brain and the nervous system. Understanding of illnesses and the parts in the brain causing this. Understanding the structure and function of the brain. (centre of excellence, 2020)
Although Hippocratis is named the father of neuropsychology, and Democritus taught him, and Democritus was taught by Leucippus. Pythagoras was the first stating the brain was an organ responsible for thoughts around 550BC. Pythagoras had taken many ideas from the Jews. So, the basic of the idea of the brain is a Jewish concept, but the Greeks worked a lot on the western ideas we have today (Dr. Cadworth explains in the book of Rees, A, N.D.)
All these ideas were common for centuries, but since 1600 western academics studied the brain’s structure (centre of excellence, 2020).
Descartes worked on these concepts since 1600.
Descartes(1596–1650) was a metaphysician. (Stanford, 2016). I think because in the history of metaphysics the brain was studied already by Leucippus, and his students, it was a normal study to continue.
Descartes described the pineal gland as the seat of the soul (centre of excellence, 2020).
The old history is the history of neuropsychology, but there are also trends today.
From phrenology to neuropsychology
Although there was already neuroscience, neuropsychology, there was also a trend, phrenology made by Gall, later made popularly by Spurzheim, in the 1700s.
“Phrenology had three stages.
- Gall and Spurheim worked from mid-1790–1810 on phrenology as the only ones.
- An article in 1815 launched science in the general public.
- From 1820, the middle-class man took the science and made a phrenological society. “(Wyhe, 1999, History of phrenology.)
Phrenology got lots of criticism in the 1900s (Centre of excellence, 2020).
People wanted a more scientific-based idea about the brain, like Flourens (1794–1867)
Broca (1824- 1880) proofed the brain function was in the brain. People with language problems had a damage in a small area in front of the brain, which is named after him, Broca's area. ).
Wernicke found people who could talk, but difficulty understanding people had another area damaged, Wernicke’s area.
They proofed the brain can be mapped.
Modern neuropsychology continues these studies and uses MRI and fMRI.
References
G. Berlucchi (2009) Neuropsychology: Theoretical Basis. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2009, Pages 1001–1006. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128093245024652
Van Wyhe, J. (2011) The History of Phrenology on the Web. History of phrenology. Retrieved from http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/overview.htm
https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH002824518/NLI
Perdue, S. (2014) THE BIG THREE OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY: SOCRATES, PLATO, AND ARISTOTLE. PSU. Retrieved from https://sites.psu.edu/rclperdue/2014/09/19/the-big-three-of-greek-philosophy-socrates-plato-and-aristotle/#:~:text=Although%20there%20were%20Greek%20philosophers,the%20founders%20of%20Western%20philosophy.&text=Plato,%20student%20of%20Socrates,%20also%20has%20mystery%20surrounding%20him.
(Grammaticos, p. and Diamantis, A. (2008) Useful Known and Unknown Views of the Father of Modern Medicine, Hippocrates and His Teacher Democritus. Pubmed. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18392218/
Smith, W. (2020) Hippocrates. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hippocrates#:~:text=Hippocrates%2C%20(born%20c.,as%20the%20father%20of%20medicine.
Breitenfeld, T, Jurasic, M, and Breitenfeld, D. (2014) Hippocrates: The Forefather of Neurology. Pubmed. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25027011/
Windows to the universe. (2020) Democritus. Retrieved from https://www.windows2universe.org/people/ancient_epoch/democritus.html
Triarhou L C. (2016) Democritean Conceptions in Brain Research, Arch Neurosci. 2016 ; 3(2):e35877. doi: 10.5812/archneurosci.35877. Retrieved from https://sites.kowsarpub.com/ans/articles/20580.html#:~:text=Democritus%20of%20Abdera%20(b.,the%20father%20of%20modern%20science.&text=Concerning%20neuroscience%2C%20Democritus%20accepted%20Alcmaeon's,concept%20of%20the%20human%20psyche.
O’Connor, J, and Robertson, E. (1999) Leucippus of Miletus. Mathshistory. Retrieved from https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Leucippus/
Cherry, K. (2020) Phrenology’s History and Influence. Verywellmind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-phrenology-2795251#:~:text=Phrenology%20originated%20in%20the%20late,physician%20named%20Johann%20Gaspar%20Spurzheim.
Rees, A. (N.D.) The Cyclopædia, Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. Google. Retrieved from https://books.google.de/books?id=_H2gBTnEa34C&pg=PP266&lpg=PP266&dq=pythagoras+and+leucippus&source=bl&ots=7dlgMldS7U&sig=ACfU3U3vjgRbD-BjMS7UM1ws7obsz54cVA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj__5_zwpvqAhXR6aQKHQXdBEIQ6AEwC3oECGYQAQ#v=onepage&q=pythagoras%20and%20leucippus&f=false
Stanford (2016) Rene Descartes. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/