The mentalism is a philosophical principle is based on the presence of a mental reality itself, different and independent corporeal essence. In the psychological aspect, this term encompasses any theory that uses concepts such as mind, spirit, mental faculties, etc., as well as all the psychology that requires meditation.
The mentalist model emerged at the end of the 19th century, its main characteristics were: The perception that the purpose of psychology is the mind, its conditions and processes. The perception that the proper procedure for its study is through meditation. On the other hand, some consider mentalism as a branch of illusionism, and that as a scenic science, it is different and independent from magic and illusionism. During the early stages of scientific psychology and thanks to the influence of Cartesian dualism (mind-body), two dilemmas arose about its purpose of study: The mentalist, which is based on the mental, giving greater interest to acts of thought. And the Physicalist, which originates as a contradiction of mentalism, and supports only those facts that can be directly observable, this led to the appearance of the behaviorist model.
The most prominent schools included in the mentalist model are experimental psychology created by Wundt, Psychoanalysis, and the first differential psychology created by Galton and Binet. In conclusion, mentalism can be defined as a theoretical alternative that considers the mind as the purpose of psychology, or that thinks that behavior cannot be understood without the reference of mental techniques.
