History of Psychology
Modern Psychology’s
Roots
What is Psychology?
The science of behavior and mental processes
Behavior—observable actions of a person or animal
Mind—thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions,
memories, dreams, motives and other subjective
experiences
Science--an objective way to answer questions based on
observable facts/data and well-described methods
• Separated from philosophy in 19th century
– influences from physiology remain
Philosophical Developments
•A
Question: How is mind and body
related?
• René Descartes (1596–1650)—Interactive
dualism
• The mind and body interact to produce
conscious experience
Philosophical Developments
• Another
Question: Nature vs. Nurture
• Are abilities determined by our genes or our
experiences?
• What are the interactions between genetics and
environment?
• What effect does it have on behavior?
Wilhelm Wundt
–Leipzig, Germany
–The “father of psychology”
–Founder of modern psychology
–Opened the first psychology lab in
1879
–applied laboratory techniques to
study of the mind
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832–1920)
E.B. Titchener
•Wundt’s student,
professor at Cornell
University
•Analyzed the intensity,
clarity and quality of the
parts of consciousness
•Proponent of
structuralism
E. B. Titchener
(1867–1927)
Structuralism
• Studied the basic elements (structure) of
thoughts and sensations.
– identify ‘atoms’ of the mind
• focused on basic sensory and perceptual
processes
• measured reaction times
William James
•First American psychologist
•Started psychology at Harvard
in 1870s
•Opposed Wundt and
Titchener’s approach
•Author of the first psychology
textbook
•Founder of Functionalism
–functionalism – influenced by Darwin
to focus on how behaviors help us
adapt to the environment
William James
(1842–1910)
Functionalism
• Emphasized studying the function of
consciousness and how consciousness
helped people adapt to their
environment
DAILY
DOUBLE
Explain the difference between
Structuralism & Functionalism.
Structuralism – basic parts of a
person’s thoughts and feelings.
Focus on basic senses &
perception.
Functionalism – how our
consciousness helps us to function
or adapt to our environment.
John B. Watson
•Founder of Behaviorism
•Studied only observable
and objectively described
acts
•Emphasized objective
and scientific
methodology
John B. Watson
(1878–1958)
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Behaviorist
• Russian Physiologist
• Studied learning
through associations in
animals
• Emphasized the study
of observable
behaviors
B.F. Skinner
•Behaviorist
•American psychologist at
Harvard
•Focused on learning
through rewards and
observation
•studied learning and
effect of reinforcement
B. F. Skinner
(1904–1990)
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
• Austrian physician that
focused on illness
• Founder of the psychoanalytic
perspective
• Believed that abnormal
behavior originated from
unconscious drives and
conflicts
Freud’s Influence
• Influence on “pop culture”
– Freudian slips
– Anal-retentive
• Influence on psychology
– Psychodynamic theory
– Unconscious thoughts
– Significance of childhood experiences
Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow
(1902-1987)
(1908-1970)
• Helped to create Humanistic Psychology
• Stressed the study of conscious experience and an
individual’s free will
• Healthy individuals strive to reach their potential.
Wolfgang Kohler
• Created Gestalt
Psychology
• The whole is different
from the sum of its parts.
• Integrate pieces of
information into
meaningful wholes.
Wolfgang Kohler
(1865-1965)
What do you see?
You See the whole picture first rather than the
individual dots that make it up. – Gestalt Psychology
How old is Psychology??
• The consideration of psychological questions is as
old as the human being
– Examples:
• Democritus’ (around 400 b.c.) described the process of
perception:
– Small images move in the air
– From eye to brain where it interacts with atoms and thus the
experience of perception is created.
• Aristotle’s answer to why we are sleepy after heavy meal
– Thinking in the heart, and after heavy meal all blood leaves the
heart to go to digestive system…
– But: Man in conflict between moral codes and drives. The
conflict is negotiated by what within us is in touch with reality.
(very similar to id, ego and superego conception).
• The age of scientific psychology: Since 1879
(Wundt’s opening of the first laboratory in Leipzig).
• Our course:
–
–
–
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Beginning in ancient Greece
16th-17th century : Descartes
British Empiricists: Locke, Hume etc.,
The 19th – early 20th centuries: the 3 gates to modern
psychology• The physiological gate (Franz Gal- Phrenology, etc.,).
• The gate of “conscious processes” : Structuralism and
Functionalism (Wundt and James)
• The analytic gate: The question of levels of consciousness
(Mesmer, etc., ).
– Other major influences (e.g., Darwin).
• An important gate to the science of psychology in the 19th
century: The “Body-Mind” controversy.
– This question rose because of developments in the biological
sciences
• Galvani (18th century) – electrical stimulation of a frog’s muscle.
• A second important gate: The controversy about levels of
consciousness.
– This question “gathered steam” because of the cultural fascination
with hypnosis (18th century Franz Anton Mesmer)
• A third important gate: How should we build our science?
Like Chemistry? A new perspective?: The Wundt-James
(structuralism-functionalism question).
A pre-paradigmatic/paradigmatic
stage in scientific enterprise
• In the pre-paradigmatic stage there are
many schools; there is disagreement on
what are the basic questions we need to ask
and what are the methodologies we need to
use to answer these questions.
• In the paradigmatic stage there is a
consensus within the scientific community
on what we are exploring, and how we
explore.
• Psychology still in the pre-paradigmatic stage.
– A psychoanalyst
• What is important to investigate?
» Unconscious processes
• What specific phenomena you want to look at?
» Personality dynamics
• How will you look at these?
» Clinical research methods
– A behaviorist
• What is important to investigate?
» Overt behavior
• What specific phenomena you want to look at?
» S-R chains
• How will you look at these?
» Experimentation
• A physicist:
– The important phenomenon: The structure of the
universe
– What do we look at?: Behavior of smallest particles
– How do we do that?: Experimental methods and
quantifiable theories.
• Psychology in a pre-paradigmatic stage.
– What does this mean? May be there is no chance for a
shared paradigm in psychology? Maybe it’s a question
of level of analysis?
Schools in Psychology
• A school : A group of scientists who agree
on the three questions:
– What is the problem we deal with?
– What phenomena do we look at?
– How do we look at these phenomena?
• Six schools:
– Structuralism; Functionalism; Psychoanalysis;
Behaviorist; Humanist; Gestalt