ASSOCIATIONISTS:Thomas Hobbes, John Locke

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 07

ASSOCIATIONISTS

Associationist is a group of three English philosophers/psychologists of the 16th century.

Associationists are given this name because they believed in the concept of association of ideas. They are

very important in the history of psychology and their theories are known as Associationism.

Thomas Hobbes

One of the most important names in the context of Associationism is that of Thomas Hobbes. He

was born on 5th April 1588 AD and died on 4th December 1679 in Wiltshire, England. Hobbes was a

philosopher/psychologist and a writer who is known for his book "Leviathan" which was published in

1651. Hobbes is also known for his emphasis on materialism. Hobbes was educated at Oxford and worked

as a tutor to the son of William Cavendish, later the Earl of Devonshire. His connections to the royal family

gave him opportunities to travel and pursue his studies, but they also put him in the middle of the English

Civil War. In 1640 political turmoil forced him to leave England for France, where he continued to

associate with scholars and scientists of Europe, including Galileo and René Descartes.

As mentioned earlier, Hobbes is considered an important materialist thinker of the time.

Materialism means, greater interest in material possessions rather than spiritual values. Materialist thinkers

were of the view that matter is dynamic, which means that matter changes from one form to another.

Hobbes put forward the view that all we see including humans are different forms of matter and the laws

that govern matter are also applicable to animals and humans, therefore these laws can be discovered. He

contented that animals and man are in fact different types of machines and their functions and operations

can be studied, understood, explained and even predicted. This mechanical view of human beings was

initially given by Rene Descartes. Hobbes went on to elaborate the idea given by Descartes by saying that all

human feelings and emotions such as laughing, crying, feeling hungry could be understood and explained in

terms of functions of the human machines. This means that there has to be an input into the human

machine in order to get an output in the form of the above mentioned functions of the human machine.

For example, when a person is subject to heavy stress, he may start crying. A person who has not eaten for

a long time starts feeling hungry. Therefore, the human machine has to have some sort of an input in order

to give the above mentioned responses as its functions or outputs. Hobbes concentrated on finding

similarities between humans and machines and this idea of finding similarities between man and machines is

called "mechanical materialism," and Hobbes was one of its originators.

Hobbes was of the opinion that our thoughts and emotions are caused by the motion the external

stimuli. As the variables of the external stimuli change, they impact the human body which results in

emotions and thoughts.

He further proclaimed that motion in the brain creates thoughts. Then these thoughts get

accumulated and get connected. This results in creating chains of thoughts or ideas leading to complex

ideas. This is what has been termed as the association of ideas. Aristotle has also given his explanation of

association of ideas which according to him is caused due to similarity, contiguity and contrast. Hobbes and

two other associationists propounded this concept later that ideas tend to get associated.

Thomas Hobbes believed that knowledge can be acquired by observation through the sense organs.

Therefore, he rejected the idea of introspection and agreed with Aristotle's empiricism as a means of

acquiring knowledge.

According to Hobbes three things create association:

Habits

Wishes

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Repetition

Habits result in association of ideas. Wishes create linkages in ideas. A person who wishes for

something links many ideas with his wish which in turn results in association of ideas. Further, repetition of

event also results in association of ideas. This is similar to Aristotle's contiguity and similarity when two

things happening close to each other or having similarity with each other result in association of ideas.

Because of his views of association of ideas he is called an Associationist by historians of

psychology.

John Locke

Another important British Associationist was John Locke. He was born in 1632 AD and died in

1704 AD. Educated at Christ Church College, Oxford, he became (1660) a lecturer there in Greek, rhetoric,

and philosophy. He studied medicine, and his acquaintance with scientific practice had a strong influence

upon his philosophical thought and method. He is considered to be the founder of British Empiricism.

His major contribution in psychology came in the form of an Essay. In the Essay Concerning

Human Understanding Locke examines the nature of the human mind and the process by which it knows

the world. Repudiating the traditional doctrine of innate ideas, Locke believed that the mind is born blank

and the world writes on it.

John Locke was of the view that ideas were not innate or inborn, but ideas were developed over the

due course of time through experiences that an individual has. In other words he rejected the Platonian

point of views of introspection and ideas being inborn. According to John Locke, the mind of a child at the

time of his birth is like a clean slate. Locke called this clean slate a "tabula rasa." This means that the mind is

open to all external influences. The slate is blank and anything could be written upon the slate. Experiences

throughout the life of the individual write on the slate. This is how ideas and thoughts are formed.

Therefore, ideas are not inborn; it is the environment around the individual that shapes his or her

imagination, feelings and thoughts.

According to Locke, we learn by two ways:

Sensations

And reflection

Sensation is the acknowledgement of the stimuli by the body. For example if a person touches

something hot, the body feels the hotness of the object and as a result person learns to avoid the hot object.

This is learning through sensations, where a stimulus or may be stimuli induce the learning process to take

place. On the other hand, reflection means the interpretation of the stimuli by the body. The individual

interprets the stimuli according to his own perception. Therefore two persons may differ in their reflection

i.e. the interpretation of the stimuli.

In Locke's views, sensations create ideas, but reasoning connects those ideas together and these

connections or associations are the source of knowledge. When the sensations are interpreted, a reason for

it is sought. This reason results in creating knowledge for the person. For example, the sensation of feeling

something as hot may be interpreted by the person as the hot object being dangerous. Therefore, the person

may reach the conclusion that hot objects are dangerous, the reason being that they hurt the body.

John Locke was also a political philosopher. He therefore contented that for the society to move

forward, prosper and develop, it is essential to gather knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired through the

process of sensation, reasoning and association of ideas. John Locke supported the Aristotelian view point

of learning by empiricism rather than introspection. His method encouraged learning by observation.

Because of his support for the theory of association of ideas, he is also considered as an associationist.

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