Transcript Myers Module One

The Story of Psychology
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A widely varied field of enquiry, presented as a smooth
flow...
Credit Aristotle the Greek philosopher with asking the right
questions.
Today we call this 'critical thinking'
Psychology began as a science in 1879 when Wilhelm
Wundt measured 'atoms of the mind’(mp2; cp2)
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In American Psychological Association format this is:
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(Wundt, 1879) reported that:
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This is the format that you will see in multiple-choice.
Wilhelm Wundt's Experiment
Wundt 1879, reported that:
Subjects heard a ball hit a platform, then pressed a telegraph
key
1/10 second to press the key without being aware of thinking
about it;
2/10 second to press the key with awareness of thinking about
it.
Conclusion: Thinking about things requires extra time and
effort; action requires much less.
Watson & Behaviourism
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Watson 1920,dismissed introspection, as well as
occultism.
Defined psychology as 'the science of observable
behaviour' in the mid 1920s. (mp5, cp5)
This approach dominated N.A. institutions until the 1970s.
Skinner applied Watson's methods to rats and birds,
showing commonalities with humans with respect to
learning.
Freud & The Unconscious
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Freud 1895, asked 'how much do our unconscious
processes and childhood emotional responses influence
our adult life'? (mp5, cp5)
Remember what Wundt discovered about conscious
processes: they take more effort
Freud has had a huge impact on our culture, especially in
books and movies. Writers love him. Remember that for
'The Ward'.
Why? Because we all like to believe that we are driven by
mysteries below and beyond our conscious perception.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology scientifically explores the way we perceive, process &
remember information.
Cognitive neuroscience is the interdisciplinary study of brain activity
linked with cognition.
The two big approaches in this course are cognitive neuroscience &
evolutionary psychology; first we ask: “Where is it in the brain?”
The second biggest question is: “how did it get there?”
To answer that question, we need to combine genetics & paleoanthropogy.
Assuming that you basically know what genetics is, go to google and type in:
Define: paleoanthropology
the study of the origins and predecessors of the present human species,
using fossils and other remains. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paleoanthropology
Darwin: Evolution & Psychology
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Darwin 1859, proposed the process of natural selection,
which we now know is caused by genetic mutations, not
the environment.(mp7, cp7)
To understand evolution, you need to understand
permutation, the ordered combination of things.
From Wikipedia: Informally, a permutation of a set of
objects is an arrangement of those objects into a
particular order.
In evolutionary psychology, some arrangements enhance
survival, some do not.
For example: Our brain is arranged for left-side languagebased dominance.
Think: Biology = Stage; Environment = Script
Biological Influences
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Natural Selection of Adaptive Traits
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Genetic predisposition responding to environment
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brain mechanisms
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hormonal influences
Psychological Influences
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Learned fears and other learned expectations
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Emotional responses
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Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
Social-Cultural Influences
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Presence of other people
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cultural, social, and family expectations
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peer and other group influences
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compelling models, such as media celebrities.
The usual way we look at a problem/phenomenon in psychology
is the Bio-Psycho-Social approach.
Fig. 1.1 (module); Fig. 1 (chapter)
Current Perspectives
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Table 1.1 will be on the exam; make sure to study it.
This class will stress the neuroscience approach, because
contrary to Watson and Skinner, the brain is no longer a
'black box'.
Study Tip 1: Author, Year
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Wundt, 1879: Wundt and his pioneering students who
developed the empirical methodologies that first granted
psychology a disciplinary identity distinct from philosophy.
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http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-wundt/
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Watson, 1925: Dismissed introspection and redefined
psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior.
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Freud, 1895: emphasized the ways our unconscious thought
processes and emotional responses to childhood experiences
affect our behavior.
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Darwin, 1859: Natural selection shapes behavior as well as
bodies. He championed the concept of the 'niche' the specialty
each species has to optimize survival.
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For this course, think of intelligence as a 'Darwinian niche'.