The Psychology Book (9 page)

philosopher who wanted to

system for differentiating and

investigate how the mind

storing ideas. He also wanted to

works—in particular, how it

account for the fact that although

unconscious.

manages ideas or concepts. Given

ideas exist forever (Herbart thought

that we each have a huge number of

them incapable of being destroyed),

ideas over the course of our lifetime,

some seem to exist beyond our

how do we not become increasingly

conscious awareness. The 18th-

confused? It seemed to Herbart that

century German philosopher

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 25

See also:
Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Carl Jung 102–07 ■

Anna Freud 111 ■ Leon Festinger 166–67

Thoughts and feelings
contain

energy, according to Herbart, acting

on each other like magnets to attract

Two ideas that

or repel like or unlike ideas.

cannot coexist

comfortably
repel

each other
...

+ –

Ideas that
do

not contradict

+ –

each other are

...and one of

Johann Friedrich

drawn together and

them may even be

can coexist in

– +

+ –

Herbart

pushed out of

consciousness.

consciousness.

Johann Herbart was born in

Oldenburg, Germany. He was

tutored at home by his mother

until he was 12, after which

he attended the local school

before entering the University

Gottfried Leibniz was the first

However, if two ideas are unalike,

of Jena to study philosophy.

to explore the existence of ideas

they may continue to exist without

He spent three years as a

beyond awareness, calling them

association. This causes them to

private tutor before gaining

petite
(“small”) perceptions. As

weaken over time, so that they

a doctorate at Göttingen

an example, he pointed out that

eventually sink below the “threshold

University, where he lectured

we often recall having perceived

of consciousness.” Should two ideas

in philosophy. In 1806,

something—such as the detail in

directly contradict one another,

Napoleon defeated Prussia,

and in 1809, Herbart was

a scene—even though we are not

“resistance occurs” and “concepts

offered Immanuel Kant’s chair

aware of noticing it at the time. This

become forces when they resist one

of philosophy at Königsberg,

means that we perceive things and

another.” They repel one another

where the Prussian king and

store a memory of them despite the

with an energy that propels one of

his court were exiled. While

fact that we are unaware of doing so.

them beyond consciousness, into

moving within these

a place that Herbart referred to as

aristocratic circles, Herbart

Dynamic ideas

“a state of tendency;” and we now

met and married Mary Drake,

According to Herbart, ideas form

know as “the unconscious.”

an English woman half his

as information from the senses

Herbart saw the unconscious

age. In 1833, he returned

combines. The term he used for

as simply a kind of storage place for

to Göttingen University,

ideas—
Vorsfellung
—encompasses

weak or opposed ideas. In positing

following disputes with the

thoughts, mental images, and even

a two-part consciousness, split by a

Prussian government, and

emotional states. These make up

distinct threshold, he was attempting

remained there as Professor

the entire content of the mind, and

to deliver a structural solution for the

of Philosophy until his death

from a stroke, aged 65.

Herbart saw them not as static

management of ideas in a healthy

but dynamic elements, able to move

mind. But Sigmund Freud was to

Key works

and interact with one another.

see it as a much more complex and

Ideas, he said, can attract and

revealing mechanism. He combined

1808
General Practical

combine with other ideas or feelings,

Herbart’s concepts with his own

Philosophy

or repulse them, rather like magnets.

theories of unconscious drives to

1816
A Text-book in

Similar ideas, such as a color and

form the basis of the 20th-century’s

Psychology

tone, attract each other and combine

most important therapeutic

1824
Psychology as Science

to form a more complex idea.

approach: psychoanalysis. ■

26

BE THAT SELF

WHICH ONE

TR

SØRE U

N KIE L

RK Y

EGA A I

R S

D (1813–1855)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

T
he fundamental question, understanding oneself, famously

“Who am I?” has been

saying: “The unexamined life is not

studied since the time

worth living.” Søren Kierkegaard’s

of the ancient Greeks. Socrates

book
The Sickness Unto Death

Existentialism

(470–399 BCE) believed the main

(1849) offers self-analysis as a

BEFORE

purpose of philosophy is to increase

means to understanding the

happiness through analyzing and

problem of “despair,” which he

5th century BCE
Socrates

states the key to happiness is

discovering the “true self.”

AFTER

I wish to be
other than I am
: to have a different self.

1879
Wilhelm Wundt uses

self-analysis as an approach

to psychological research.

So I try to make myself into
someone different
.

1913
John B. Watson

denounces self-analysis in

psychology, stating that

“introspection forms no

I fail and
despise myself

I succeed and
abandon

essential part of its methods.”

for failing.

my true self
.

1951
Carl Rogers publishes

Client-centered Therapy
, and

in 1961
On Becoming a Person
.

Either way, I
despair
of my true self.

1960
R.D. Laing’s
The Divided

Self
redefines “madness,”

offering existential analysis

of inner conflict as therapy.

To escape despair I must
accept
my true self.

1996
Rollo May bases his

book,
The Meaning of Anxiety
,

on Kierkegaard’s
The Concept

To be that self which one truly is, is indeed the

of Anxiety.

opposite of despair.

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 27

See also:
Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ William James 38–45 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Rollo May 141 ■ R.D. Laing 150–51

Napoleon’s overreaching
ambition

his old self. In both his desire and

for power, as depicted in this painting

accomplishment, he wants to “be

of him as a student, led him to lose

rid of” his self. This disavowal of

sight of his true self and all-too-human

the self is painful: despair is

limitations, and ultimately to despair.

overwhelming when a man wants

to shun himself—when he “does not

from an acute consciousness of the

possess himself; he is not himself.”

self, coupled with a profound dislike

However, Kierkegaard did offer a

of it. When something goes wrong,

solution. He concluded that a man

such as failing an exam to qualify

can find peace and inner harmony

as a doctor, a person may seem

by finding the courage to be his

to be despairing over something

true self, rather than wanting to be

that has been lost. But on closer

someone else. “To will to be that

inspection, according to Kierkegaard,

self which one truly is, is indeed the

considered to stem not from

it becomes obvious that the man is

opposite of despair,” he said. He

depression, but rather from the

not really despairing of the thing

believed that despair evaporates

alienation of the self.

(failing an exam) but of himself.

when we stop denying who we

Kierkegaard described several

The self that failed to achieve a

really are and attempt to uncover

levels of despair. The lowest, and

goal has become intolerable. The

and accept our true nature.

most common, stems from ignorance:

man wanted to become a different

Kierkegaard’s emphasis on

a person has the wrong idea about

self (a doctor), but he is now stuck

individual responsibility, and the

what “self” is, and is unaware of

with a failed self and in despair.

need to find one’s true essence

the existence or nature of his

and purpose in life, is frequently

potential self. Such ignorance is

Abandoning the real self

regarded as the beginning of

close to bliss, and so inconsequential

Kierkegaard took the example of

existentialist philosophy. His

that Kierkegaard was not even sure

a man who wanted to become

ideas led directly to R.D. Laing’s

it could be counted as despair. Real

an emperor, and pointed out that

use of existential therapy, and

desperation arises, he suggested,

ironically, even if this man did

have influenced the humanistic

with growing self-awareness, and

somehow achieve his aim, he

therapies practiced by clinical

the deeper levels of despair stem

would have effectively abandoned

psychologists such as Carl Rogers. ■

Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard was born to an

on his life. A solitary figure, his

affluent Danish family, and raised

main recreational activities

as a strict Lutheran. He studied

included walking the streets to