Transcript What Is Psychology?

Where does Psychology
Come From?
A Brief History
Psychology is as old as history
and as modern as today
Aristotle: Greek philosopher
Peri Psyches (About the
Psyche)-nature of mind
behavior
People are basically
motivated to seek pleasure
and avoid pain (modern view)
Psychology is as old as history
and as modern as today
Democritus: behavior as body
and a mind
Behavior influenced by
external stimulation
First to raise issue of free will
or choice
Psychology is as old as history
and as modern as today
If we are influenced by
external forces, can we be
said to control our own
behavior?
Question: where do the
influences of others end and
our “real selves” begin?
Structuralism
Willhelm Wundt: debut of
modern psych
1897: established first
psychological laboratory in
Leipzig,Germany
Claimed that the mind was a
natural event and could be
studied scientifically (light,
heat, flow of blood)
Structuralism

Define makeup of conscious
experience, breaking it down into
objective sensations (light and taste)
and subjective feelings (emotional
responses, will, mental images)
Believe that mind functions by
creatively combining the elements
of experience
Functionalism
Emphasizes the uses or
functions of the MIND rather
than the elements of
experience
 Deals with overt behavior as
well as consciousness
Functionalism
William James (1842-1910):
Wrote first modern
psychology textbook,

The Principles of Psychology
Functionalism
Influenced by Darwin’s
“survival of the fittest” theory
 The “fittest” behavior
patterns survive
 Adaptive actions tend to be
repeated and become habits

Behaviorism
John Watson (1878-1958):
Founder of behaviorism
 Psychology must limit
itself to observable,
measurable events-to
behavior

Behaviorism
Examples:
 Pressing a lever, turning left
or right, eating and mating,
heart rate, dilation of the
pupils
Behaviorism
Psychology address the
learning of measurable
responses to environmental
stimuli
 Pavlov’s salivating dogs
(conditioning not mental
processes)

Behaviorism

B.F Skinner (1904-1990):

Reinforcement:
organisms learn to
behave in certain ways
because they have
been reinforced for
doing so
Gestalt
Focused on
perception and on
how perception
influences thinking
and problem solving
Gestalt
 Perceptions
more than
the sum of its parts
 Wholes that give
meaning to parts
Gestalt
 Learning to solve
problems, is accomplished
by insight, not by
mechanical repetition
 “Aha moment” flash of
insight
Psychoanalysis
Emphasizes the
importance of
unconscious motives and
conflicts as determinants
of human behavior
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939):
 Believed that unconscious
thought , especially sexual and
aggressive impulses, were more
influential than conscious
thought in determining human
behavior.
Psychoanalysis
Thought mind was
unconscious, consisting of
conflicting impulses, urges,
and wishes.
 People motivated to gratify
these impulses and urges

Psychoanalysis
 Freud: gained his
understanding of people
through clinical interviews with
patients
 Gain insight into deep-seated
conflicts and find socially
acceptable ways of expressing
wishes and gratifying needs
How Today’s
Psychologists View
Behavior
Perspectives
 Biological
 Cognitive
Humanistic-Existential
 Psychodynamic
 Learning
 Socialcultural