INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS

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RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS:Ivan Pavlov, Reflex, Acquisition >>

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 10

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Perhaps the most important development in the last one thousand years was the Industrial

Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries. This was the real beginning of our modern world. Its main

features were:

Hand to machine manufacture

Home to factory production

Natural power to mechanical power

It was also characterized by a movement of people from villages to new industrial cities and the

rapid development of transport.

The steam engine was the heart of industrial revolution. The first really practical engine was

invented by the Scotsman James Watt in about 1775. For the first time in history, people did not have to

rely on human or animal muscle, wind or water, for power. Very quickly the steam engine was being used

for many things other than powering textile machines. It was used to pump water from coal mines; to lift

trucks of coal to the surface; to blow air into furnaces for making of iron; to grind clay for pottery, and to

power new factories of all kinds. For over a hundred years, steam was the king of the industry.

Steam Engine being used for transportation

The rate, at which new inventions were made, accelerated. The industrial Revolution consisted, in

some respects, of a chain reaction. The construction of machines required more iron; more iron required

more coal; more coal required faster and more efficient transport; more transport required engineering skills

of all kinds. The manufacture of larger quantities of textiles, for example, needed more chemicals; new

chemicals needed more scientists; scientist needed more specialized education.

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Large numbers of workers had to move to new towns from countryside: they needed transport,

housing, water, sanitation, shops, entertainment, a police force and general organization. The increased

amounts of trading led to the need for more services such as banking, the post and later transport systems.

The industrial revolution changed England, and then spread to France, then affected Germany,

then Russia and America, then Japan and then the rest of the world. Machines replaced much of the manual

labor, industry developed and flourished, means of communication became rapid, electricity was invented

and used for commercial purposes and an industrial class emerged which replaced feudalism. New ideas and

curiosity were encouraged, and man's outlook and his attitude changed.

The industrial revolution does a great deal to the modern world today. The effect of this revolution

could be seen immediately on the whole outlook of man, and it ultimately affected all the future

developments of mankind. Man's outlook became more empirical and more open towards new ideas and

innovations.

RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS

Ivan Sechenov

Ivan Sechenov

The first among the Russian contributors was Ivan Sechenov. He was born on 1st August, 1829 and

he died on 2nd November, 1905. He taught at Moscow University. Ivan was physiologist, named by Ivan

Pavlov as "The Father of Russian physiology." Sechenov authored major classic "Reflexes of the Brain"

introducing electrophysiology and neurophysiology into laboratories and teaching of medicine. Sechenov's

major interest was neurophysiology (the structure of the brain). He showed that brain activity is linked to

electric currents and was the first to introduce electrophysiology. His work laid the foundations for the

study of reflexes, animal and human behavior, and neuroscience.

Sechenov explained psychological functions in terms of physiological responses. This means that all

psychological responses of the brain have some physiological reason or basis. In other words, when the

brain acts in a certain manner, it is in response to certain physiological changes that have taken place.

Sechenov said that the mind and soul are the functions of the brain and that there is no duality

between soul and the body. Therefore, he rejected the prevailing view of soul and the body being separate

and accepted the Aristotelian point of view of unity of body and soul.

Sechenov concluded that all psychological responses are the result of sensory stimulation and that

all psychological responses manifest themselves in behavioral forms. In other words, whenever there is a

change in the environment, it is received by the sensory organs of the body which convey it to the brain.

The brain then reacts to these messages. This reaction of the brain is manifested in the form of the behavior

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

of the person. For example when a person touches a hot surface, the sensory organs in his or her skin

transmit the information to the brain which in turn sends back the signal to the body to withdraw away

from the hot surface. Therefore, the behavior of the person is the response to the physiological change.

Sechenov also put forward the view that there are certain parts in the brain that augment and

facilitate certain responses, and are certain other parts which inhibit certain responses. We now know this to

be true. Sechenov's ideas deeply influenced the ideas of psychology and formed the basis of many new

researches in the subject.

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