Transcript Biological Bases of Behavior

Psychology’s History
and Approaches
Unit I
Psychology
• Scientific study of behavior and mental
processes
• Behavior: any action/reaction of a living
thing that can be formally observed
• Mental processes: internal processes (ex:
thinking, feeling, desiring) that can only be
indirectly observed
Psychology’s
perspectives
Early Approaches
Structuralism
• The analysis of the basic elements that make up the
mind
• Involved breaking consciousness down into sensations
and feelings
• Utilized introspection – subjective observation of one’s
own experience
• Developed by William Wundt (c. 1879)
• Legacy:
• Launched psychology as an independent science
• Influenced field for remainder of 1800s
• Criticisms:
• Introspective method lacks ability for
replicable observations
How would you describe
the taste of this apple?
Can you use introspection
to describe schizophrenia?
Functionalism
• The study of the purpose (or function) mental
processes serve in allowing people to adapt to
their environment
• Developed by William James (c. 1890)
• Inspired by Charles Darwin and his theory of
natural selection – features of an organism that help
it survive and reproduce are more likely than others
to be passed on to future generations
• James believed mental abilities
evolved b/c they were adaptive
(helped people solve problems)
• Functionalism became a dominant
approach by 1920
Structuralism vs.
Functionalism
“Describe the
emotion of fear.”
“How does fear enable humans
to adapt to the environment?”
Psychoanalytic
• Psychoanalytic theory –emphasizes the importance of
unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, belief,
and behaviors
• Developed by Sigmund Freud (c. 1900) with Carl Jung and
Alfred Adler
• Criticisms:
• Required exploration of person’s early sexual
experiences/unconscious sexual desires
• Emphasis was on limitations and problems rather than
possibilities and potentials
• Ideas were difficult to test
Gestalt
• Emphasizes that we often perceive the whole
rather than the sum of its parts
• Developed by Max Wertheimer (c. 1924)
Modern approaches
to Psychology
How can we learn
about this pigeon?
The Behavioral Perspective
(1930s – 1950s)
• Psychologists should restrict themselves
to the scientific study of objectively
observable behavior
• Developed by John Watson
• Influenced by Pavlov's work with dogs
• Watson influenced B.F. Skinner (c. 1938)
“Skinner Box”
“Teaching Machine”
• Criticisms:
• Ignored mental processes
• Ignored evolutionary history of
organisms
The Humanistic Perspective
• Emphasizes the whole person and the
positive potential of human beings
• People are free agents who have a need to
develop, grow and reach their full
potential
• Influenced by Carl Rogers and
Abraham Maslow
• Peaked in 1960
The Psychodymnamic
Perspective
• Emphasizes the importance of unconscious influences
but places less emphasis on sexual instincts
• Approach to therapy emphasizes repressed memories,
free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of
transference
The Biological
Perspective
• Studies the physical (body and brain)
bases of human and animal behavior
The Cognitive
Perspective
• Scientific study of mental
processes, including
perception, thought,
memory and reasoning
• Early influences: Sir
Frederic Bartlett (c. 1932)
and Jean Piaget (1960)
• Aided by the advent of the
computer
• Cognitive neuroscience
linked cognitive process to
brain activity
The Sociocultural
Perspective
• Focuses on how culture and social
situations affect our behavior and thinking
The Evolutionary
Perspective
• Explains mind and behavior in terms of the
adaptive value of abilities that are preserved
over time by natural selection
• Criticisms:
• Many traits probably evolved to serve different
functions than those they currently serve
What is the evolutionary
purpose of jealousy?
Is ability to drive the result
of natural selection?
So you want to major
in psychology…
Psychology vs.
Psychiatry
• Psychologist (Ph.D, Psy.D)
•
•
Counseling psychologist - helps people cope
with life
Clinical psychologist - assess and treats
mental, emotional and behavioral disorders
• Psychiatrist (M.D.) - medical doctor who
can prescribe drugs and treat physical
causes of psychological disorders
Other Fields
• biological – workings of the brain, nerves, body, sensations
• cognitive – higher level brain processes like language,
thinking
• developmental – changing abilities from womb to tomb
• educational – influences on teaching and learning
• experimental – conducts research studies to further
psychological knowledge base
• forensic- legal issues, criminal minds, insanity
• human factors - ergonomics, workplace safety, human error,
product design, human capability and human-computer
interaction
• industrial-organizational – psychological principles in industry
and business
• personality – studies how people differ from each other
• psychometric – measurement of human abilities, attitudes and
traits
• social – studies how people influence each other and group
behavior
• sports – applies psychology to sports and exercise, motivation, and
social aspects of sports
2004 Graduate Study in
Psychology
Social and Other rearch subfields
personality
7%
Neuroscience/Physiol
4%
ogical/Biological
3%
Industrial/Organizational
4%
Experimental
1% Developmental
5%
Clinical
48%
Cognitive
3%
Other applied
subfields
5%
School/Educational
9%
Health
1% Counseling
7%
Clinical
nueropsychology
3%
Where do U.S.
psychologists work?
Sales Managed
Colleges,
universities
and other
academic
settings
38%
Business,
government or
other settings
17%
care
settings
5%
Other human
services
10%
Hospitals
16%
Private
practice
School 7%
districts
7%