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| The Concept of Mind |
The Concept of Mind
Defining the human mind can be a philosophical challenge, a mystical event, or the prosaic task of fitting most of what we know about our mental activities into a descriptive chart.
Primal processes
A single-celled paramecium can swim through its environment by co-ordinating the sweeping motion of thousands of tiny cilia on its outer layer. It can capture prey, digest food, and excrete waste. It can reproduce. Thus, a single-celled animal can participate in all the basic processes of life, even though it has no neurons, and is thus incapable of any thought processes. The ‘behaviours’ of a paramecium are strictly electro-chemical reactions to stimuli received from its environment.
Each of us is composed of billions of individual cells, and each of those cells lives out its life much as a paramecium would. Each of us is really an integrated collection of the cell colonies that make up our various structures and organs. Perhaps many of our behaviours are simple responses to external stimuli, like a paramecium, rather than the result of conscious or subconscious thought. Or, perhaps the collective urges of the individual cells in our bodies are reflected in the overall activity of our minds.
A model of human behaviour
The biological purpose of the mind – to keep us alive and reproducing – is embedded in our very being.
In the stimulus-response model developed by B. F. Skinner, a subject is provided with a physical reward when a target activity is performed, and is ignored otherwise. Over time, a series of random acts can be shaped into a sequence of planned behaviours.
For example, a pigeon can be taught to play a simple tune on a keyboard. A more elaborate model of behaviour requires a five-step sequence:
1. Your brain receives a stimulus from your sensory organs.
2. In response, your brain creates an urge that demands to be satisfied.
3. A sequence of actions is then initiated to satisfy that urge.
4. When the urge is satisfied, your pleasure centre is stimulated.
5. You attain a sense of contentment.
Many of your thoughts and actions are generated in this manner. The reward for completing an intended activity is typically the release of suitable neurotransmitters in your brain such as dopamine, serotonin, or endorphins that provide a neural sense of pleasure and contentment.
There is an important difference between the stimulus-response model and the fivestep model of human behaviour. In the stimulus-response model, a controlling external agent (the experimenter) provides both the target activity and the rewards.
In the five-step model, the subject’s own mind generates the target activity and creates the urge to complete that activity.
Defining the human mind can be a philosophical challenge, a mystical event, or the prosaic task of fitting most of what we know about our mental activities into a descriptive chart.
Primal processes
A single-celled paramecium can swim through its environment by co-ordinating the sweeping motion of thousands of tiny cilia on its outer layer. It can capture prey, digest food, and excrete waste. It can reproduce. Thus, a single-celled animal can participate in all the basic processes of life, even though it has no neurons, and is thus incapable of any thought processes. The ‘behaviours’ of a paramecium are strictly electro-chemical reactions to stimuli received from its environment.
Each of us is composed of billions of individual cells, and each of those cells lives out its life much as a paramecium would. Each of us is really an integrated collection of the cell colonies that make up our various structures and organs. Perhaps many of our behaviours are simple responses to external stimuli, like a paramecium, rather than the result of conscious or subconscious thought. Or, perhaps the collective urges of the individual cells in our bodies are reflected in the overall activity of our minds.
A model of human behaviour
The biological purpose of the mind – to keep us alive and reproducing – is embedded in our very being.
In the stimulus-response model developed by B. F. Skinner, a subject is provided with a physical reward when a target activity is performed, and is ignored otherwise. Over time, a series of random acts can be shaped into a sequence of planned behaviours.
For example, a pigeon can be taught to play a simple tune on a keyboard. A more elaborate model of behaviour requires a five-step sequence:
1. Your brain receives a stimulus from your sensory organs.
2. In response, your brain creates an urge that demands to be satisfied.
3. A sequence of actions is then initiated to satisfy that urge.
4. When the urge is satisfied, your pleasure centre is stimulated.
5. You attain a sense of contentment.
Many of your thoughts and actions are generated in this manner. The reward for completing an intended activity is typically the release of suitable neurotransmitters in your brain such as dopamine, serotonin, or endorphins that provide a neural sense of pleasure and contentment.
There is an important difference between the stimulus-response model and the fivestep model of human behaviour. In the stimulus-response model, a controlling external agent (the experimenter) provides both the target activity and the rewards.
In the five-step model, the subject’s own mind generates the target activity and creates the urge to complete that activity.
