Transcript History of psychology 1:2

Historical Approaches
Understanding
Behaviors
Life Before Psychology
Philosophy –believed in dualism
 a separation of the mind and body as
two individual parts yet somehow linked.
Mind controlled the body..but how???
René Descartes
(1596-1650)
Problem - No “scientific” way
of studying problems
Physiology asks similar questions about the mind.
Scientists applied the:
SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
in an attempt to explain behaviors.
and the mind body connection.
Phrenology The 1800’s
Phrenology- examine bumps to determine intellect
and character traits…
Phrenology inspired scientist to study the role of
the brain
rather than the heart
to explain human behavior.
Psychology Is Born
First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)
Focuses on the scientific (systematic) s
study of the mind.
WW insists that Psych methods be as rigorous
as the methods of chemistry & physics.
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920)
Wundt’s students start labs
across USA (1880-1900)
University of Leipzig
Harvard University
Yale University
Columbia University
Catholic University
Univ of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
Stanford University
Structuralism vs Functionalism
Structuralism focused on the mind
Analyze consciousness into basic elements
and study how they are related
Introspection - self-observation
of one’s own thoughts and feelings
Wilhelm Wundt
Functionalism
Investigate the function, or purpose
of consciousness rather than its structure
How do people adapt to function
in new environments?
William James
(1842-1910)
Inheritable Traits
• Sir Frances Galton (1822-1911)
• Wanted to understand how
heredity influences a person’s
ability
• Heredity includes all the traits
and properties that are passed
along from parents to children
• He thought the world would be
a better place if we got rid of
less desirable people
• Most fit were those with high
intelligence
• Galton assumed wealthiest
people were the most intelligent
Gestalt Psychology
“The whole is different than
the sum of its parts.”
Max Wertheimer
(1880-1943)
WHY?
A reaction against Structuralism
An attempt to focus attention back
onto conscious experience
(i.e., the mind)
Today's Approaches
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Psychoanalytical
Behavioral
Humanistic
Cognitive
Biological
Sociocultural
Freud & Psychoanalysis
Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS
Thoughts, memories & desires
exist below conscious awareness
and exert an influence on our
behavior
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Unconscious expressed in
dreams & “slips of the tongue”
Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explain
personality, mental disorders & motivation
using the unconscious
Freud and Free Association
• Patient said anything that came to mind
• Psychoanalyst is a psychologist that studies how
the unconscious motives and conflicts determine
human behavior, feelings and thoughts
• Dreams are an expression of the most primitive
unconscious urges – Freud used dream analysis
which is free association applied to dreams
• Case study: analyze the thoughts, feelings,
beliefs, experiences, behaviors and problems of
individual
Behaviorism
Scientific Psychology should focus on
observable behavior.
John Watson
(1878-1958)
Mental Processes cannot
be studied directly
Stimulus
Response
Psychology
Ivan Pavlov
Watson
• John Watson (1878-1958)
• Concern with only observable behaviors
• All behavior is result of conditioning and
occurs because the appropriate stimulus is
present in the environment
Ivan Pavlov
• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Pavlov dogs: Pavlov rang a tuning fork each time
he gave dog meat. The dog would normally drool
when he got the meat. After Pavlov repeated the
procedure many times, the dogs would drool when
it heard the ring of the tuning fork, even if no food
appeared. It had been conditioned to associate the
sound with the food.
• This is known as conditioning or the conditional
reflex
B.F.Skinner
• B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
• Introduced concept of reinforcement
• Response to a behavior that increases
likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
(rewards)
Behavioral/Clinical Perspective
Focus
How we learn from observable responses.
How to best study, assess and treat troubled people.
Sample Issues
• How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations?
• What is the most effective way to alter certain behaviors?
• What are the underlying causes of:
 Anxiety Disorders
 Phobic Disorders
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
Humanistic
• Developed as a reaction to behavioral psychology
• 1960’s Maslow, Rogers
• Humans not controlled by environment or
unconscious forces
• Environment and the outside forces serve as a
background to our own internal growth
• Each person is unique and has a self concept and
potential to develop fully
Cognitive Psychology
Cognition
the mental processes
involved in acquiring, processing,
storing & retrieving information
Cognitive Psychologists return
to the study of learning,
memory, perception, language,
development & problem solving
Cognitive Perspective
Focus
How we process, store and retrieve information.
Sample Issues
• How do we use info in remembering and reasoning?
• How do our senses govern the nature of perception?
(Is what you see really what you get?)
• How much do infants “know” when they are born?
NEW Perspectives in Psychology
Psychobiological
Social-Cultural Psychology
Biological Perspective
Focus
How the body and brain create emotions, memories,
and sensory experiences.
How physical and chemical changes in our bodies
influence our behavior
Sample Issues
• How do evolution and heredity influence behavior?
• How are messages transmitted within the body?
• How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
• Use tools like MRI CT
• Recent discoveries between chemicals in brain (neurotransmitters)
and human behavior
EX – autisitic children share a genetic defect in regulation
neurotransmitter Serontin – serontin plays a role in brain function
Social-Cultural Perspective
Focus
How behavior and thinking vary across situations
and cultures.
Sample Issues
• How are we, as members of different races and
nationalities, alike as members of one human family?
• How do we differ, as products of different social contexts?
• Why do people sometimes act differently in groups than
when alone?
• Is our ways of thinking, feeling and
behaving dependent on the culture in which
we belong?
• What is the impact of millions of
immigrants who come to U.S. each year?
• How do genders and socioeconomics
influence our behaviors, male-female, richpoor?
Psychology is Empirical
Knowledge acquired through observation
Psychologists must be skeptical
and think critically
What is the evidence?
How was it collected?
Psych conclusions based on research
NOT tradition or common sense
Psych Is Theoretically Diverse
Theory
A system of interrelated ideas used
to explain a set of observations
Biological
Psychology
Perspective
Clinical
Psychoanalytic
Perspective
Dreams
Psych & Sociohistorical Context
Trends & Issues
In Society
Advances In
Psychology
Psychology develops in both a
social & historical context
Early Psychology
Affected by
physics & physiology
Society Today
Affected by
psychological testing
(IQ, SAT, GRE)
What Causes Behavior?
Behavior is Shaped by Culture
Personal Space
Value of
Education
Punctuality
Social Norms
Influence of Heredity &
Environment
Nature versus Nurture
Perception Is Subjective
Internal Information
Prior Expectations
Current Mental State
Experience
External Information
Actual Words/Actions
Image Reflected from Objects
“Sound” Waves
Both Determine
Our Experience
of the World