Global InformationFaculty psychology information
Faculty psychology is the idea that the mind is separated into faculties or sections, and that each of these faculties is assigned to certain mental tasks. Some examples of the mental tasks assigned to these faculties include judgment, compassion, memory, attention, perception, and consciousness. For example, we can speak because we have the faculty of speech or we can think because we have the faculty of thought. [1] Thomas Reid mentions over 43 faculties of the mind that work together as a whole. Additionally, faculty psychology claims that we are born with separate, innate human functions.
The views of faculty psychology are explicit in the psychological writings of the medieval scholastic theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas,[2] as well as in Franz Joseph Gall's formulation of phrenology, albeit more implicitly.[3] More recently faculty psychology has been revived by Jerry Fodor's concept of modularity of mind, the hypothesis that different modules autonomously manage sensory input as well as other mental functions.
Faculty psychology resembles localization of function, the claim that specific cognitive functions are performed in specific areas of the brain. For example, Broca's area is associated with language production and syntax, while the Wernicke's Area is associated with language comprehension and semantics. It is currently known that while the brain's functions are separate, they also work together in a localized function.
Additionally, faculty psychology depicts the mind as something similar to a muscle of the human body since both function the same way. The way of training a muscle is by repetitive and brutal training in order to adapt the muscle to the type of workout you’re putting it through. Therefore, by putting your mind through plenty of brain-exercising problems, your mind will also increase in knowledge. In fact, it is also called ”mental discipline”.“Mental discipline” is also the best way to train one’s mind intellectually because when you’re focused, you’re motivated to learn. For example, an athlete who works on their sprinting every day, by running the same distance every day. After a certain time, their body is gonna adapt to the energy and the effort they put into their training. Similarly, if a student were to read the same book weekly for an entire year. They will eventually have read the same book 52 times, and by reading this often, their mind will process the information quicker when they see the same words and will share a deeper understanding and meaning of the same book.
Some psychologists brand it as a fallacy due to it being outdated, but others think that it is a necessary philosophical standpoint with added things for the conclusions of experiments because of bias. Faculty Psychology is branded as a philosophy due to the advancements in science. The term ‘faculty’ has been abandoned by psychologists due to their thinking that is old-fashioned, though many psychologists still abide by this philosophy. Many psychologists have moved on to newer psychological philosophies based on the theories they came up with on the brain and how it works with the help of modern technology. [4][5]
- ^ Hergenhahn, B.R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont, California: Michele Sordi. pp. 189–192. ISBN 9780495506218.
- ^ Croken, Robert (2004). Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965-1980. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4426-7840-8.
- ^ Hergenhahm, B.R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont, California: Michele Sordi. pp. 244–247. ISBN 9780495506218.
- ^ Lehman, C.; Witty, A. (July 1934). "Faculty psychology and personality traits". The American Journal of Psychology. 46 (3): 486–500. doi:10.2307/1415608. JSTOR 1415608. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ Commins, William (June 1933). "What Is "Faculty Psychology"?". Thought: Fordham University Quarterly. 8 (1): 48–57. doi:10.5840/thought19338170. Retrieved March 16, 2023.