Summarize Bain’s contributions to psychology. Include in your answer the new laws of association that he added and his explanation of how spontaneous activity is transformed into voluntary behavior.
Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher. He was a prominent and innovative figure in the field of psychology and moral philosophy. He was the friend of John Stuart Mill. He was referred to as the first true psychologist and was the first to write a book on relation between mind and body.
Like Hartley, Bain’s philosophical goal was to describe the relation between the physiological and the psychological processes. In his work, he described the correlation between the physiological processes with the mental and behavioral phenomenon. He was the first in Great Britain who applied physiology to the clarification of mental states.
He rejected the materialistic assumptions over the mental states. He explained that the traditional psychology could be understood by the associations between physiology and psychology. He was responsible for the application of scientific method to the study of psychology. He pointed out that mental thoughts and processes are not spontaneous, and are only due to the physical sensations. This idea made him to be considered as a first modern psychologist.
Like other empiricist, Bain also believed the law of contiguity as the basic associative principle. Law of contiguity states that when one think about an object, he/she recalls the other objects that are experienced previously at the same time and same place. He applied this law to various human behaviors and nature such as sensations, ideas, feelings and action.
According to him, various human behaviors are due to the coordination of sensations and movements. He also supported the law of frequency and law of similarity. Law of frequency states that two things or events are more often linked and the more powerful will be the association. Law of similarity states that events separated in time can be associated. New laws of association added by Bain are as follows:
1. Law of compound association- It states that more than one present object or event make as remember the ideas associated with them.
2. Law of constructive association- It states that infinite number of combinations of past memories can be rearranged in mind, depending on the experiences.
Bain in his analysis differentiated two types of behavior namely, reflexive behavior and spontaneous activity. According to him, reflexive behavior occurs automatically in response to external stimuli, and spontaneous activity occurs without any stimulus. He also explained in his analysis that how the spontaneous activity gets converted into voluntary behavior. He explained the conversion in the following ways:
1. When any situation occurs, such as hunger, the spontaneous activity takes place.
2. Certain random movements occur to satisfy the need of hunger.
3. The random movements and activities are remembered.
4. Next time when the same situation occurs, the same activities will be repeated, which is a voluntary behavior.