Mentalism In Psychology, The Belief In The Soul, And Why It Is A Problem
Allan Paivio coined the concept of mentalism in the 1970s to refer to the use of the introspective method as a basic technique of scientific psychology. Later the term would come to be applied to any current of this discipline that focused on the analysis of mental processes that are not objectively observable, such as traditional cognitivism.
In this article we will talk about The origins and historical development of mentalistic psychology, including its most recent manifestations. As we will see, in this sense it is essential to understand the central role that the behavioral paradigm had throughout the 20th century.
The term “mentalism” is used in psychology to refer to the branches of this science that They focus their efforts on the analysis of mental processes such as thought, sensation, perception or emotion. In this sense, mentalism opposes currents that primarily study the relationships between observable behaviors.
In this way we could include very diverse theoretical orientations within mentalism. Those most commonly associated with the term are the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener, the functionalism of William James, and contemporary cognitivism, but psychoanalysis or humanism could also be seen as mentalism.
The word was popularized by the cognitive psychologist Allan Paivio, known above all for his contributions in the field of information coding. This author used the concept “classical mentalism” to refer to structuralist and functionalist psychology who studied consciousness through the introspective method and subjectivity.
One of the most characteristic aspects of the proposals that are classified as mentalist is that they oppose the understanding of psychological phenomena as a pure byproduct of physiological processes considering that this vision has a reductionist character and ignores relevant aspects of reality.
For most mentalists, thought, emotions, sensations, and other mental content are somehow tangible. In this sense, we could understand mentalistic perspectives as successors of Cartesian philosophical dualism which is in turn related to the concept of the soul and which has had a key influence on Western thought.
From introspective method to cognitivism
In its beginnings as a scientific discipline (at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century) psychology oscillated between the mentalist and the behaviorist poles. The majority of proposals of the time were located at one or the other of the extremes, whether or not their authors identified with the aforementioned perspectives; in this sense the hegemony of the introspective method was key.
The birth of behaviorism as we understand it today is attributed to the publication of the book “Psychology as the Behaviorist Sees It”, by John B. Watson, which took place in 1913. The father of behavioral orientation defended the need to study exclusively the observable and objective aspects of the behavior of human beings.
In this way Watson and other classic authors such as Ivan Pavlov, Burrhus F. Skinner and Jacob R. Kantor They opposed those who conceptualized psychology as the study of consciousness. Within this category we find both the structuralists and functionalists as well as the followers of psychoanalysis, who dominated psychology for decades.
The rise of behaviorism led to a reduction in interest in psychological processes, and in particular consciousness. However, from approximately the 1960s onwards, what we today call the “Cognitive Revolution” began to take place, which simply consisted of a return to the study of the mind through more objective techniques.
In the second half of the 20th century, cognitivism coexisted with radical Skinnerian behaviorism, the most successful variant of this perspective; However, it is evident that The “new mentalism” was much more concerned with objectivity than the classic one. This trend towards integration with scientific evidence as a basis has continued to this day.
Mentalism today
Despite the apparent opposition between mentalist and behaviorist perspectives, nowadays we very commonly find combinations between both types of approaches. As they have developed and have gained solid empirical foundations, the two theoretical currents have come closer more or less spontaneously.
The most characteristic manifestation of modern mentalism is probably cognitive neuroscience. The object of study of this discipline is mental processes (including, of course, consciousness itself); However, it is based on techniques much more advanced and reliable than introspection, such as brain mapping and computational modeling.
In any case, this is a debate that It is not going to be resolved in the near future because it responds to a nuclear dichotomy: the one that occurs among psychologists who believe that this science should be dedicated above all to the study of observable behaviors and those who highlight the role of mental processes as entities susceptible to analysis in themselves.
