Transcript History of Psychology

History of
Psychology
Psychology’s beginning…
Wilhelm Wundt-- 1879 Leipzig, Germany
 Studied conscious experience.
 Used stimulus to elicit a sensory response.
 “Experimental Self-Observation”
Ok… but what do we need to remember
about him?
Careful observation and Evidence!!!
Structuralism
 Wilhelm
Wundt and Edward Titchener
Hoped to analyze experience into basic
“elements” or “building blocks”.
Focused on introspection which turned out
to be very unreliable as so few people came
to the same conclusions.

For example… taste can be experienced
differently by different people and yet,
neither is wrong in their own experience.
Functionalism

William James (American)
Broadened the study to include animal
behavior, religious experience, abnormal
behavior, etc.
James believed that what you experienced
could be characterized by a “stream” or “flow”
of consciousness.

Lasting importance?
Brought study of animal behavior and
educational psychology to importance.
Structuralism vs. Functionalism
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6
nm69Z_IE
Behaviorism
John Watson
The study of observable behavior.
Essentially, how does stimuli relate to an
animal or individual’s response?
Rejected introspection as “unscientific”

Adopted Pavlov’s understanding of
conditioning.
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and
my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll
guarantee to take any one at random and train him
to become any type of specialist I might select–
doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant—chief, and yes,
beggar—man and thief”
(Watson, 1913).
Baby Albert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE
Your reaction?
 What
does this quote tell us about
Watson’s beliefs?
 Do
you agree with him?
Nature vs. Nurture argument
Is this a case of categorical thinking?
John Watson spent the rest of his life as an extremely
successful advertising executive. Any idea why he was
so successful?
Gambling, video games (Farmville, Candy Crush).
Radical Behaviorism

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Our behavior is controlled by rewards or positive
reinforcers.
Skinner Box and Operant Conditioning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvaSEJtOV8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQAgzfwuNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io
Skinner and Watson…
 Are
any ethical issues raised by the
experiments of Skinner and Watson?
Would these practices be acceptable
today? Why or why not?
Cognitive Behaviorism
 Combines

cognition and conditioning.
Example: You frequently visit a particular
Web site because it offers free games. A
behaviorist would say that you visit the site
because you are rewarded by the pleasure
of game playing each time you go there. A
cognitive behaviorist would add that, in
addition, you expect to find free games at
the site.
Gestalt Psychology
 Form,
pattern, or whole.
 “The whole is greater than the sum of its
parts”.
 Max Wertheimer

Many experiences resist being broken into
smaller pieces.
Gestalt Psychology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glBgGhDh80
Born Schizophrenic
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vYQ
6pbJt2k
Psychoanalytical Psychology
 Sigmund


Freud (Austrian)
Mental life is like an iceberg
Identifies the idea of the “unconscious”
We are influenced by unconscious thoughts,
impulses, and desires.
 Threatening thoughts that are repressed,
unless in dreams, emotions, etc.
Freudian Slips
A slip of the tongue that reveals an
unconscious thought.
“Nice to beat you,” says a woman when
meeting the ex-girlfriend of her husband.
“A dinner guest thanks his host for “his
hostility”.
Freud cont.
 All
thoughts and actions are determined
 Will we be able to determine a cause of
every thought and action
 Child experience influences adult
personality
Internal motives, conflicts, and unconscious
forces.
Humanistic Psychology

Focuses on the subjective human experience
Abraham Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs)
 Problems, potentials, and ideals.
 Stresses free will
Need for love, self-esteem, belonging, expression

Self-Actualization: fully developing one’s own
potential.
5 major perspectives of
modern psychology
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Psychodynamic
Behavioristic
Humanistic
Cognitive
Biophysiologica
GROUP ACTIVITY!!
Positive Psychology
 Love,
happiness, creativity, well-being,
self-confidence, achievement.
Focus on positive aspects of human
psychology.
Though all of these schools of
thought exist…
 Most
modern psychologists pull expertise
from many different psychological schools
of thought.

They’re better together!!