Evolution can be defined as the process by which change is accumulated over time. The change is gradual and leads to a more complex form. Charles Darwin who is a British is said to be the father of evolution theory, his theory of natural selection brought a great revolution in biology. Unlike Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer worked on people and the society. This does not mean that Darwin did not work on a human, he actually did. Actually, his work was more on the plants and animals and we all know that human beings are included in the animals. These two men had some contrasting opinions concerning the anthropological studies and therefore this forms the basis of our essay. ("Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and the human species," 2004)
In Darwin’s theory, we get three very important principles, these are variation which is the modification of hereditary traits. The other principle is hereditary- this is passing on of some organic traits that are similar from one species to the other. The final principle is the survival of the fittest (struggle to exist). From these principles, life will continue to change unnoticeably. Darwin abandoned his faith in Christianity and believed that both plants and animals were not from Devine creation. ("Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and the human species," 2004)
Herbert Spencer who is an English philosopher championed for the importance that an individual has over the society and also the importance of science over religious beliefs. His theories were conceived before Darwin’s. Human society gradually evolved through the increasing division of labor unto civilizations. The theory stated that the primitive humans were less intelligent and more emotional than the civilized ones. They were also said to be smaller, according to Herbert, religion is the major source of ghosts, and worship was directly linked to dead ancestors. This can be said to be true when some African beliefs are taken into account where libation was poured on the ground as a way of giving unto the ancestors. ("Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and the human species," 2004)
Herbert being among the first people to confirm that human society can be studied scientifically, this was through an evolution based on human behavior is socially influenced. Children in civilized areas are more intelligent, his work was taken over by anthropology. These two men became forerunners of science.
References
Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and the human species. (2004). The Evolution of Institutional Economics. doi:10.4324/9780203300350.pt2
Chomsky’s influence on Behaviourism and Psycholinguistic
Chomsky has championed the opinion that the ability to acquire any language is normally present at birth. This, therefore, explains the reason behind children being able to absorb a new language very fast. He has also contributed to the discussion on the universal (common) grammar. He assured that the one and only way of accounting for several linguistic was through mental representation one that behaviorism affirmed that one cannot talk about. The said mental representation is from some formalism that he invented, these formalisms formed the foundation for the formal language and philosophy of language. (Stout, 2006,)
Chomsky worked on how different vies of people or their judgments on their language can be taken as information to be used to study cognitive structure which is the mental functions that deal with logic unlike effective that deals with emotions. The effect, however, is the one that takes into account the behaviorism. He suggested that just by observing what people say is not enough to deduce the knowledge they have in a language. ("2. Chomsky’s Computationalism,")
There are new sentences and phrases being used every time one speaks. This according to him proves that people don’t just speak or imitate what they have heard and thus this brings about the immense knowledge of some rules, patterns, and procedures that help in the creation of new sentences.
Chomsky blew away several ideas of behaviorism and hence caused people to consider the brain. A scientist had to improve on their work because of him. The work he did on language makes him the father of cognitive science thus it can be said that psycholinguistic came up because of this great man though many scientists dislike him however to figuring out how the mind works on language is a great and wide discussion. ("2. Chomsky’s Computationalism,")
References
Chomsky’s Computationalism. (n.d.). The Cultural Logic of Computation. doi:10.4159/9780674053885-002
Stout, R. (2006). Behaviourism. The Inner Life of a Rational Agent, 21-35. doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623433.003.0002
Witmer’s contribution to clinical psychology
Witmer is greatly known as the one responsible for several improvements in the field of clinical psychology. He is therefore taken as the father or founder of clinical psychology. This is because he was the first person to focus on the treatment of patients with mental illness. He created the psychological clinics and hospitals that could be used to treat the impaired children. (Winnicott, 2016,)
He started offering classes in his clinic, in this way he gave those in the medical field and other social workers a chance to study the normal and impaired children and thus they were able to offer therapies to the impaired ones. Witmer mixed the children and thus gave room for professionals to observe them and then gave them a course demonstrating his methods of clinical practice. This changed the professionals' view and saw the importance of working with even the disabled children (Winnicott, 2016,).
In the year 1908, he published the article named (The Psychological Clinic). This article explained all his work for 10 years. He did some intelligent test on the children and he stressed to all his students that they should not rely on those tests even the two tests that he himself did. He argued that those tests only give a measure of an individual’s efficiency and nothing more.
He was not only concerned with understanding the abnormality of children but also he was more concerned with helping children reach their potential. In his publication of the Psychological Clinic, he talks about gifted children and towards the end of the publication he says “The physiological retardation is whereby a child is not able to reach or get to the normal level of growth and development at their chronological age. However pedagogical retardation is whereby a child is able to reached adulthood earlier without developing into their full capacity,” (Winnicott, 2016,)
References
Winnicott, D. W. (2016). The Mother’s Contribution to Society. Oxford Clinical Psychology. doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780190271374.003.0070
