Question

a-Respecting evolution, compare and contrast the perspectives of charles Darwin and Herbert spencer

b- outline Chomsky's influence on behavorism and psycholinguistics

C -Describe and explain Witmer's contribution to the field of clinical psychology

Answer 1

a.

Both Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer made advancement in the theory of evolution in the 19th century and revolutionised the way we think about the development of human biengs and social transformations.

Spencer's work marked a significant influence on the 19th century developments in biology, psychology, sociology and anthropology. While Darwin was influential in the fields of natural history and geology, his theory of evolution created great controversy.

Darwin changed the way people thought about the role of humans in the natural world as his theory of adaptation based on natural selection traced a genealogy of human beings to apes and other primates. Thus, he defined evolution as a progressive change from simple to complex where the universe demanded unidirectional change in the species.

Spencer's selection differed from that of Darwin in his conceptualisation of the selection process of adaptive behaviours and traits and in his vision of evolutionary progress. He applied Darwinism in particular to social evolutionary change and posited that the "right," or most "fit," people would survive and individulaism would emerge as the hallmark of most deeloped societies through natural evolution. Thus unlike Darwin himself, Spencer's ‘Social Darwinism’ or the idea of fitness, was imbued with nineteenth century notions of desirability and value which created disparate divisions between different racial societies and cultures rather than see them on a continuum like Darwin did with humans and other animal species.