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William James

William James. Howie Kilpatrick Nick Arcaria Zach Gilday. Early Life. Born on January 11, 1842 in New York City. Grew up in a wealthy household. He was one of five children. Family consisted of historians, biographers, and critics. His father was a Swedenborgian theologian.

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William James

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  1. William James HowieKilpatrick Nick Arcaria Zach Gilday

  2. Early Life • Born on January 11, 1842 in New York City. • Grew up in a wealthy household. • He was one of five children. • Family consisted of historians, biographers, and critics. • His father was a Swedenborgian theologian. • Aspired to be an artist or scientist, and studied painting with William Morris Hunt when he was 16.

  3. Schooling • In 1861, James entered Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard University. • Suffered severe depression and contemplated suicide. • In 1865-6, left America to study psychology under Helmholtz in the Amazon. • In 1869, he received his M.D. from Harvard University. • In 1872, focused his studies on psychology instead of medicine. • Shortly after, in 1875 he started teaching psychology there. • Was fluent in five languages.

  4. Theories - Pragmatism • Definition – an approach that assess the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application. • What difference will this truth make in your life? • Example – Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. • Logical decision to convince the Japanese to surrender.

  5. Theories - Functionalism • Definition – the doctrine and philosophy of mind according to which mental states are defined by their causes and effects. • How the causes and effects of different situations affect your mental state. • If you have a big test coming up, you will get anxious, and start to shake. • When the body experiences pain, it produces the thought that something is wrong with the body, therefore causing anxiety , wincing, and moaning.

  6. Theories – James Lange Theory of Emotion • Definition – argues that an event causes physiological arousal first, and then we interpret the arousal. Only after our interpretation of the arousal, do we experience emotion. • I see a bear. My muscles tense, my heart races. I feel afraid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipFiG-p_nWc&feature=player_detailpage

  7. Bibliography • Wade, Carole. Invitation to Psychology. Third. Upper Saddle River,NJ,U.S.: Pearson Eduacation, Inc., 2005. 6,133,163. Print. • Cherry, Kendra. "William James Biography." About.com. About.com. Web. 10 Sep 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/jamesbio.htm>. • Goodman, Russell, "William James", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2012/entries/james/>. • History of Psychology. 1. Danbury, CT, U.S.: 2002. • Developmental Psychology.4 . Danbury, CT, U.S.: 2002.

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