Transcript A Short History of Psychology Origins of Psychology

A Short History of Psychology
Origins of Psychology
• Phrenology
• Greeks- 5th & 6th centuries
B.C.
– People’s lives were
dominated not so much by
gods but their own minds
• People are rational
• Aristotle = Asked Why?
– Began to compare the
sensations, wonder how the
thought process worked, and
even why we slept
Origins Continued…
• During Renaissance people began to
experiment and observe results
• Rene Descartes first to pose dualismidea that a link existed between the
mind and body
– Nativism- is the view that certain
skills or abilities are 'native' or hard
wired into the brain at birth.
(1596-1650)
John Locke (1632-1704)
– An Essay
Concerning Human
Understanding
–Tabula rasa
– Empiricism
• Knowledge
originates in
experience and
that science
should rely on
observation and
experimentation
Psychological Science Is Born
–Wilhelm Wundt
• (1832-1920)
• Established modern
psychology as a formal
field of study
–1st “Psychologist”
–Developed the first psychology
lab/experiment 1879
• Measuring reaction time
• E.B. Titchner- brought Wundt’s
psychology to U.S.
– Structuralism-study the basic elements
that make up human mental experiences
– Introspection
• Looking inward- analyzing immediate
sensations and how they related to one
another.
• Results varied and were unreliable
• For example…
• Using structuralism and the idea of
introspection I would need to analyze
everyone’s immediate sensations.
• Did this picture make you smile?
• Did this picture make you want to cry?
• Once again with structuralism, results
varied and were unreliable
Functionalism
• Functionalism- study how animals
and people adapt to their environments..
– Influenced by Charles Darwin
• William James- father of psychology in U.S.
– Taught first psychology class at Harvard
University in 1875.
• Why does the brain think? Why does the nose
smell?
• Wrote “The Principles of Psychology”
– Took 12 years!
1842-1910
Ladies
• Margaret Washburn
• Mary Calkins
– Denied degree by
Harvard in 1895
– First PhD 1894,
Cornell
– First woman president
of the APA
– The Animal Mindanimal behavior
Between – Renowned memory
research
researcher
1996-2009
Females
claimed twothirds of U.S.
Psychology
Ph.D.s
Contemporary Approaches
• Psychoanalytic/PsychodynamicUnconscious motives and conflicts
determines human behavior, feelings,
and thoughts
• Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939)
•
•
•
•
Dream Analysis
Emotional responses to childhood experiences
Pretty much linked everything to sex!
Free Association- say anything that comes to
mind.
• LETS PRACTICE FREE ASSOCIATION
Behaviorism
• Learn/modify behavior based on response
to environment
– Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) & Classical
Conditioning
• (The Dog Dude)
John Watson (1878-1958)
• Behaviorism
• Psychology as the
science of behavior!
• Little Albert
Experiment
– Classical Conditioning
• Watson later had a
successful career in…
Behaviorism Continued…
• Defined psychology as “the scientific study
of observable behavior.”
– Can record a person’s behavior as a
response to different situations.
• Skinner
Thorndike
Operant
Conditioning
1904-1990
1874-1949
Cognitive
• How people process, store, retrieve, use
info and how thought processes influence
our behavior.
Behavior is more than
a simple response to a
stimulus. Behavior is
influenced by a variety
of mental processes.
Jean PiagetObserved
Children
Processes include
perceptions, memories,
and expectations.
1896-1980
Humanistic
• Each person has freedom in directing his
or her future and achieving personal
growth.
• Importance of current environmental
influences on our growth potential and the
importance of having our needs for love
and acceptance satisfied.
19021987
Psychology Defined 2012
• The definition has evolved over time.
*The science of behavior and mental
*processes.
• Behavior = any action we can observe and
record.
– Examples: Yelling, smiling, sweating…
• Mental Processes = internal, subjective
experiences we infer from behavior.
– Examples: Sensations, perceptions,
feelings…
Nature versus Nurture
• The longstanding controversy over the
relative contributions that genes and
experience make to the development of
psychological traits and behaviors.
Plato
Descartes
Darwin
Aristotle
Locke
Nature versus Nurture
• How are humans alike but diverse?
• Are gender differences biologically predisposed
or socially constructed?
• Is children’s grammar mostly innate or formed by
experience?
• How are differences in intelligence and
personality influenced by heredity and by
environment?
• Are sexual behaviors more pushed by inner
biology or pulled by external incentives?