Materialism Vs Dualistic Psychology

Modern psychology is defined as many subject areas within psychology, examples including either biological or cognitive psychology (Schultz and Schultz 2012). Such subjects have little in common except for their broad interest in human behaviour. However, a framework which binds these approaches is their history. By exploring the history of psychology it is possible to see the nature of psychology in the modern day (Schultz and Schultz 2012). It is also important to consider the influence of philosophy, as debates amongst modern psychologists are rooted in philosophy (Leahey 1994). Human evolution also has relevance to modern psychology as it has been applied to psychological theories. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the role of the
Materialists argue this theory is simpler and more rational than dualism and that the simpler of contradicting theories is often favoured (Churchland 1994). Neuroscientists have supported materialism by finding that mental processes correlate with physical brain events which suggests brain events can lead to mental phenomena (Clifton 2004). Materialism contributes to modern psychology and most biological psychologists support this theory as in biology there is emphasis on the brain consisting of matter and controlling behaviour (Kim 2011). Biological psychologists argue that life evolves from matter (Kim 2011), which is in line with materialism. However, another trend in modern psychology is known as humanistic psychology. This focuses on looking at the individual as a whole and believes experiences are important in studying behaviour (Buhler 1971) which is why humanistic psychologists would be more open to non-materialistic philosophy of mind theories. This is because materialism can be reductionist by over emphasising physical existence and neurobiological knowledge whilst dismissing mental contexts (Velmans