History
&
Approaches
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1.1: Describe how psychology developed
from its pre-scientific roots in early
understandings of mind & body to the the
beginnings of modern science
1.2: Describe some important milestones in
psychology’s early development
1.3: Describe how psychology continued to
develop from the 1920s through today
Crash Course: Psychology #01 – Intro to Psych
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M
What is it?
The study of our inner
feelings and behaviors.
Do our feelings always match our behaviors?
If you call me a
dumb@$$, I may
feel sad inside.
But I will
still act
tough.
(but I will be
crying on the
inside, so be
nice!).
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Although the science of psychology started in
the late 1800’s, the concept has been around a
lot longer.
There was evidence of trephination (cutting
holes into a skull to let evil spirits out) back in
the stone age.
It was like a bad SAW movie!!!!
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Mind/Body/Soul
Mind/Body/Soul
Mind/Body
Logic
Logic
Data
Innate
Knowledge
Innate
Knowledge
Experience &
Memory
Early Greek
philosophers such
as Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle
explored topics
such as pleasure,
pain,
knowledge, motiva
tion, rationality,
and mental
illness—topics
often discussed in
psychology today.
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Rene Descartes
◦ “Dualism”
◦ Innate Ideas
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Francis Bacon
◦ Experimental Method
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John Locke
◦ Tabula Rasa
(blank slate)
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Empiricism
◦ Implications?
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How does the mind work?
What is the relation of mind to the
body?
How are ideas formed? How much
is built in vs. how much is
acquired?
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The science of psychology has gone through
about 5 different waves since it started.
Waves are different ways of thinking over
time.
•Started with William Wundt’s first
psychological laboratory and his concept of
introspection (structuralism = understand
the structure of the conscious mind).
Wundt defined introspection as the
analysis of:
•Memory
•Perceptions
•Cognitive processes
•Motivations
•In reality this idea does not have much
impact on how psychologists think today.
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Highly trained assistants would be given a
stimulus such as a ticking metronome and would
reflect on the experience. They would report
what the stimulus made them think and feel. The
same stimulus, physical surroundings and
instructions were given to each person.
Introspection Activity: In pairs, use introspection
to describe an object/event. Verbalize the
contents of your conscious mind: sensations,
feelings, emotions-not names or functions.
Compare with other groups…
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Did you have difficulty reporting only sensations,
feelings, emotions, etc.?
How many of you thought about the function of
the object?
Other thoughts?
Did Wundt unrealistically limit the content of the
conscious mind?
Does introspection reflect the way we experience
objects and events?
Do we experience things as series of sensations
or as an integrated whole?
Is there more to experience than conscious
awareness?
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Then William James wrote The Principles of
Psychology and discussed functionalism.
(mousetrap vs. diamond)
Functionalism is the
theory that mental
states are more like
mouse traps than they
are like diamonds.
That is, what makes
something a mental
state is more a matter
of what it does, not
what it is made of.
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http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/psychsim5/l
auncher.html
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So, according to
functionalism, the essential
nature of your desires and
your pains is not to be found
in the stuff that your desires
are composed of, but rather
in the function that each
performs. What kind of
stuff is your pain made of?
Are pains somehow made of
molecules (i.e., physical
stuff)? Or are they made of
some kind of
immaterial mental stuff?
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Led by Max Wertheimer, these guys focused not on
how we feel, but on how we experience the world.
The whole of an experience can be more than the
sum of its parts.
This may seem like
one picture, but it can
be perceived as
different faces. Can
you find them?
Think for a moment of all the reasons that you love your mom.
If you add all those reasons up, do they equal your love for your
mom?
Hopefully not!!!
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This wave of thinking started with Sigmund
Freud (in the early 1900’s).
In a nutshell, during this time period people
believed that most of your feelings come from
a hidden place in your mind called the
unconscious.
We protect ourselves from our real feeling by
using defense mechanisms.
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During this time period (early to mid 1900s), people
started to ignore how you feel inside.
All that mattered was how you acted.
If you they could change your behavior, who cares
how you feel.
Very popular during the conservative 1950s
when social appearance mattered more than
self-expression.
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We are now in wave five….which is about variety.
Psychologists pick and choose what theories to
use depending on the situation and the client.
Just like Ben 10 choosing the right alien to
fight the bad guy depending the situation.
Bio-Psychology
(Neuroscience)
Humanist
Cognitive
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All of your feelings and
behaviors have an organic root.
In other words, they come from
your brain, body chemistry,
neurotransmitters, etc…
Let us imagine for a second that your dog died
(sad but it will happen). You become
depressed. You stop eating and sleeping.
What would a psychologist from this school say
is going on and how might they help you?
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Focuses on Darwinism.
We behave the way
we do because we
inherited those
behaviors.
Thus, those behaviors
must have helped
ensure our ancestors
survival.
How could this behavior ensured
Homer’s ancestors survival?
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Focuses on the
unconscious mind.
We repress many
of our true
feelings and are
not aware of them.
In order to get
better, we must
bring forward the
true feelings we
have in our
unconscious.
If a man has
intimacy issues
and cannot form
relationships
with others.
What do you
think someone
from this school
may think?
Perhaps they may
delve into the man’s
unconscious and
discover that he was
bullied when he were
younger. The bullying
may have caused fear
in getting close to
others.
Pretend that you
fail psychology
class. You become
depressed. In turn,
you begin to binge
and gain weight.
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What do you think a
behaviorist may do?
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They would probably ignore
the fact that you are
depressed and just focus on
your overeating.
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Focuses on observable
behaviors while
putting feelings to
the side.
We behave in ways
because we have been
conditioned to do so.
To change behaviors,
we have to
recondition the client.
Maybe make you run a mile every time you eat over 2000 calories.
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Peaked in the late 1960’s and
70’s….so it focused on
spirituality and free will.
We have to strive to be the
best we can be “selfactualization”.
Happiness is defined by the
distance between our “selfconcept” and “ideal self”.
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Focuses on how we
think (or encode
information)
How do we see the
world?
How did we learn to
act to sad or happy
events?
Cognitive Therapist
attempt to change
the way you think.
You meet a girl…
Hopes are high!!!
She rejects
you…don’t even
get digits.
How do you react to the rejection?
Some learned get back on Some learned to give up
the horse
and live a lonely life of
And try again.
solitude.
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This is my culture!!!
(this is the point when the
class usually rolls their eyes)
High Five & Candy to anyone
who gets the joke here???
Says that much of
your behavior and
your feelings are
dictated by the culture
you live in.
Some cultures kiss
each other when
greeting, some just
bow.
Does your culture
place value on
individual or the
group?
Psychology’s Three Big Debates
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Nature Versus Nurture
Stability Versus
Change
Continuity Versus
Discontinuity
The Science of Psychology???
•Soft Science handout
•Physics/Chemistry –
Art/Philosophy continuum