Transcript The History Of Psychology

What is Psychology?
A
set of questions about mental
functioning
– trace back to philosophy

The scientific method
A
product of history
– Dualism in philosophy
The BIG Question…
Is knowledge innate ?


Empiricism
Empiricism( John Locke)- Tabula
Rasa


Nativism
Nativism- is the view
that elementary ideas
are innate
Foundations of Modern
Psychology
 Rene
Descartes ( 1596-1650)
 How is man different from other
animals?
Our minds control our body
( except reflex)
 Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
 Theory of natural selection (1859)
Ignorance
more
frequently
begets
confidence
than does
knowledge
I think; therefore
I am.
Charles
Darwin
Rene Descartes
A New Science is Born
 Separated
century
from philosophy in 19th
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
– Leipzig, Germany
– applied laboratory techniques to study of the
mind
– Developed theory of Structuralism
-Mind combines objective sensation &
subjective emotion
The Battle Begins
 Edward
Titchener (1867-1927)
– Wundt’s student, professor at Cornell
University
– structuralism
– -Wrote first Psychology Textbook
 William
James (1842-1910)
– started psychology at Harvard in 1870s
– functionalism –investigate purpose of
consciousness led to behaviorism
If merely
'feeling good'
could decide,
drunkenness
would be the
supremely
valid human
experience."
What can I
say????
William James
Edward Tichener
Behaviorism Debuts

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Behaviorism- asserts that psychology should
only study behavior that is observable (scientific)
Emphasis on environment
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
– Russian physiologist
– discovered conditioned reflexes
John Watson( 1878-1958)
While you are
experimenting, do
not remain
content with the
surface of things.
Ivan Pavlov
Freud & Unconscious
Psychoanalytic
Theory= emphasis on
the unconscious as a
behavior determinant
Eros & Thanatos
-Originally controversial

Dreams are often
most profound
when they seem
the most crazy.
Behaviorism Flourishes
 B.F.
Skinner (1904-1990)
– American psychologist at Harvard
– studied learning and effect of
reinforcement
– behaviorism
– Free Will is an illusion
– Prominence in 1950’s
Education is
what
survives
when what
has been
learned has
been
forgotten.
B. F. Skinner
The Humanists Revolt
 Humanism-
Human beings have
freedom and endless growth
potential
 Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
The curious
paradox is that
when I accept
myself just as I
am, then I can
change
Carl Rogers
Cognition and Physiology
Resurface
 In
the 1960’s and 70’s emphasis on
mental processes ( consciousness)
and biological basis of behavior
reemerged.
 MRI- PET Scan, EEG
Evolutionary Psych Develops
 In
the 1980’s and 90’s Darwin's ideas
resurfaced