Comparison Of René Descartes Understanding Of The Mind-Body Interaction?

One of René Descartes’ major contributions to psychology was his understanding of the mind-body interaction. For thousands of years leading up to the seventeenth century, scholars had been arguing that the mind and the body are unlike one another. These individuals also believed that the interaction between mind and body went in only one direction—while the mind could exercise a substantial influence on the body, the body had very little effect on the mind. In his interpretation of the distinction between mental and physical qualities, Descartes did agree with the belief that there are differences between mind and body. However, Descartes also believed that the body can exercise a greater influence on the mind than previously thought. In other

For example, in Marshall Hall and Pierre Flourens’ exploration of the brain, they attempted to map out brain functions. While Hall was able to locate the root of voluntary and involuntary movement in the brain, Flourens assigned physical locations on the brain to different vital functions of the brain, including, but not limited to: auditory and visual reflexes, heartbeat, respiration, higher mental processes, and coordination. While Descartes’ was able to theorize about the functions of the brain as a whole, Hall and Flourens expanded upon his original theory and they revealed the functions of individual parts of the brain. Also exploring the brain, Franz Joseph Gall wanted to know whether or not the shape or the size of the brain could reveal something about a person or animal’s personality characteristics or intelligence. Gall attempted to “map the brain from the outside” (70), and his research reinforced the belief that specific brain functions could be generally localized. While Gall failed in his effort to map the brain from the outside, he was able to distinguish white or gray matter and to further Descartes ' evolving

Helmholtz 's research also aided in the scientific understanding of psychophysiological processes; both discoveries proving to be of great use in the understanding the mind-body relationship.

Weber, in his study of the senses, experimented with muscular sensations and cutaneous senses by way of the two-point threshold and the just noticeable difference. His research revealed that there could not be a direct connection between our perception of a physical stimulus and the stimulus itself.

In his study of and analysis of the senses, Fechner introduced the idea of a differential threshold with the goal of drawing a line from stimulus intensities to the sensation values that would ensue. Fechner also studied the relationship between material stimuli and mental sensation. Fechner 's work in Psychophysics brought together the work of Descartes ' and all of the scientists whose work contributed to an updated mind-body