Ivan Sechenov
Physiology will begin by separating psychological reality form the mass of psychological fiction which even now fill the human mind. In a word, psychology will become a positive science. Only physiology can do this, for only physiology holds the key to the scientific analysis of psychical phenomena. ~ Ivan Sechenov
Russian objective psychologist Ivan Sechenov (1829–1905) sought to explain all psychic phenomena via association and matterism. Paying no mind to the notion of a mind, Sechenov saw nothing mysterious about consciousness. Its activities could be explained by physiological processes triggered by external events. He denied the idea that thoughts cause behavior.
Sechenov’s introduced inhibition into psychology as a physiological non-response. In his 1863 book Reflexes of the Brain, Sechenov tried to explain all behavior in terms of the excitation or inhibition of reflexes.
