Welcome to Psychology
MR. MARTIN
PERIOD 1,2 AND 8
2015-2016; SEMESTER 2
Agenda
 Seating Chart
 Go Get Books
 Google Classroom
 Website
 Cool Stuff
 Notecards – Two truths and a lie
 What is Psychology?
Chapter 1 - I Can…
 Define psychology and identify it's goals as a science
 Analyze human behavior from modern day
psychological perspectives
 Identify past/present contributors to the study of
psychology.
 Describe the key concepts of the ethical guidelines
applied by the American Psychological Association
regarding the use of human and non-human animal
subjects.
Psychology Feels
Colors
You’ve probably noticed
companies such as Pizza
Hut, KFC, Domino’s,
McDonald’s all use red color
in the logos. Red is a color
associated with excitement
and youthfulness. It also
stimulates the area of the
brain which is responsible
for color. Most of the brands
have researched to figure out
which color works best to
stimulate that particular
emotion which can drive the
sales of their products. The
image below shows
examples.
What is Psychology?
 Definition – scientific study of human behavior and
mental processes

Behavior – any action that people can observe/measure

Walking, talking, eating, sleeping, heart rate, brain activity, blood
pressure, etc.
 Cognitive actives – mental process
 Dreams, perceptions, thoughts, memories
 Other interests: emotions/feelings
The Goals of Psychology
 Goals: observe and describe behavior and mental
processes to better understand them.
 Enables us psychologists to explain, predict, and
help clients control their behavior.
Psychology as a Science
 Testing Ideas: most common methods –
surveys/experimentations

Why experiments on animals?
 Psychological Theories
 Organize their research about behavior and mental processes
into theories, or statements that attempt to explain why things
are they way they are and why they happen the way they do.
 Principle – basic truth or law
 Theories are used and tested when predicting behavior/mental
processes.
Can you answer the following?
 What is psychology and what are its goals?
Section 2: What Psychologists Do
 Chapter 1 Section 2 Guided Reading on Google
Classroom
Psychology Feels
People who play video
games often are much
more likely to have
lucid dreams than
non-gamers.** They
were also better able
to influence their
dream worlds, as if
controlling a videogame character.
Section 3: A History of Psychology
 Crash Course : Intro to Psychology
 “Fun Fact” Quiz Questions from Video
 Section 3 “I CAN”
 Identify past and present contributors (and their
contributions) to the study of psychology.
Early Views and Beliefs
 Ancient Greece (347 B.C.)
 Socrates “Know thyself” (recorded by Plato)



Introspection , look within
Aristotle (student of Plato)
Associationism – Theory that our understanding of the world
occurs through ideas associated with similar sensory
experiences/perceptions

Scientific approach
 Behaviors subject to rules/laws
• Basic human motivation: Seek pleasure, avoid pain

Hippocrates

Individual problems are a result of biological factors, not a
punishment from the gods.
The Middle Ages
 Fall of the Roman Empire disease, famine, war, etc.
 St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon provided
foundation for Renaissance by studying the human mind.
 Byzantine Empire preserved the knowledge of the Ancient
Greeks
 Europe dominated by Christianity, first scholarly studies were
done by theologians holding Biblical values.
 Superstition, possessions by the devil, etc, were common.
 “Water Float Test”
 The Renaissance occurred following the Middle Ages
Pioneers in Psychology
 15th century – Scientific Revolution
 Copernicus (astronomy), Isaac Newton (laws of gravity and
motion)
 John Locke (government)
 Antoine Lavosier (chemistry, oxygen respiration)
 Ushered in the Scientific Approach, or using evidence to
support claims
 1879, beginning of psychology
 German Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt established the first lab
in Germany
Structuralism and Functionalism
Wilhelm Wundt (Struct)
William James (Funct)
 Concerned with discovering the
 Harvard professor (1842-
basic elements of consciousness

Combining these elements is how the
mind functioned.
 1.Objective sensations (accurately
reflect the outside world-- facts)
 2. Subjective feelings (includes
emotional responses and mental
images – personal view)

Eating an apple (Objective
sensations/Subjective emotions)
**Structuralism is important
because it is the first major school
of thought in psychology
1910)
 Believed eperience is a
continuous “stream of
consciousness” and
cannot be broken down.
 The Principles of
Psychology (1890)
considered by many the
first modern Psych.
Textbook.
Functionalism continued..
 Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in
a more systematic and accurate manner
 Focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior,
and how it helped organisms adapt to their environment.
 Closely linked to Darwinism
 Emphasized individual differences
**Important influence on the development of behaviorism
and applied psychology. Also influenced the educational
system, especially with regards to John Dewey’s belief that
children should learn at the level for which they are
developmentally prepared.
Final Thoughts: Structuralism/Functionalism
Structuralism
Functionalism
 Wilhelm Wundt
 William James
 Analyze consciousness
 Investigate the
into basic elements and
study how they are
related
 Introspection – selfobservations of one’s
own conscious
experiences
function/purpose of
consciousness rather
than its structure
 Lab observations and
introspection
 Focus on adaptive
behaviors
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
 Founded the school of thought Psychoanalysis,
emphasizing the importance of unconscious motives
and internal conflicts in determining/understanding
human behavior
Modern Developments
 John B. Watson and Behaviorism
 B.F. Skinner and Reinforcement
 The Gestalt School
John B. Watson and Behaviorism

Class: Raise your hand if you consider yourself at least
minimally healthy. Keep your hand up if you think you could
become a NASA astronaut with proper training.
 Foundation of Behaviorism: regardless of who we
think we are inside, we can be totally conditioned by
external events; our belief in individual choice is just
an illusion.
 Behaviorism is a learning theory based on the ideas
that behavior can be controlled/modified based on
the results of the behavior.

“If you get everything finished today you can get on your
phones.”
B.F. Skinner and Reinforcement
 "The consequences of behavior determine the
probability that the behavior will occur again" --B.
F. Skinner
 Skinner referred to his own philosophy as 'radical
behaviorism' and suggested that the concept of free
will was simply an illusion – all human action is a
direct result of conditioning.

In the operant conditioning process, actions that are followed
by good consequences are reinforced and therefore those
behaviors are more likely to occur again in the future and
visa/versa.
The Gestalt School
 Gestalt psychology developed as an alt. to behaviorism and
structuralism, influenced by a number of thinkers, including
Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 Gestalt Psychologist reject the structuralist idea that experience can
be broken down into individual parts/elements.
 Also reject behaviorist notion that psychologists should concentrate
only on observable behavior.


Believe that our perceptions of objects are more than the sum of their parts.
Rather, they are wholes that give shape, or meaning, to the parts.
Also believe that learning is active and purposeful, not mechanical (like the belief
of behaviorist).


We learn through insight – the reorganization of perceptions that enable us to solve
a problem.
See video for examples!
Can you answer the following?
 1. What basic foundations of psychology did the Ancient




Greeks set forth? (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates)
“Know Thyself,” Associationism, role of religion, etc.
2. How does Structuralism differ from functionalism, an
who is responsible for these schools of thought.
3. According to Freud, what is the key to people’s
behavior?
4. What are the basic beliefs held by behaviorist such as
Watson and Skinner?
5. What is the basic idea of the Gestalt school of learning?
Section 4: Contemporary Perspectives
The Role of
Biology
The Role of the
Mind
The Role of
Experience
The Biological
Perspective
The Cognitive
Perspective
The Learning
Perspective
The Evolutionary
Perspective
The Humanistic
Perspective
The Sociocultural
Perspective
The
Psychoanalytic
Perspective
The
Biopsychosocial
Perspective