Chapter 1 - The Evolution
of Psychology
Presented by :
Lauren Ornelas
Walter Neal
Warren Ruis
Lupita Espinoza
Developing “Psychology”
terms - ‘Psyche’: Soul, “logos’: Referring to
the study of a subject
 Stemmed from the studies of Philosophy and
Physiology
 Wilhelm Wundt (1879)
 Established Psychology as its own field
 54,000 pages of books
 “Father” or “Founder” of Psychology
 Greek
Consciousness
 Developed
by Wundt
 Developing the idea of consciousness
 “Awareness of immediate experience.”
Structuralism V. Functionalism

Structuralism:
 Edward
Titchener (English Professor in America)
 “Based on the notion that the task of psychology
is to analyze consciousness into its basic
elements and investigate how these elements
are related.”
 Recognizing Relationships
 Breaking Down Barriers
 Taking things Apart
Structuralism V. Functionalism

Functionalism
 William
James (American Scholar)
 “Psychology should be based on the
belied that psychology should investigate
the function or purpose of consciousness
[alone] rather than its structure.”
 Seeing the psychological process as a
whole
Natural Selection
William
James (1842-1910) used this
Darwin Theory
Characteristics that are beneficial and
carry down through time and generations
Applied to the Functionalism model of
psychology’s purpose
Women Pioneers in Psychology
Calkins (1863-1930) Invented
Techniques for studying memory
 Margaret Washburn (1871-1939)  First female
PhD in Psychology and was later very influential
in behaviorism
 Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939) Studied and
wrote about adolescent development, retardation
and focused on gender differences
 Mary
Watson and Behaviorism
 Behaviorism
is a “theoretical orientation based on
the premise that scientific psychology should
study only observable behavior.”
 Watson wanted to abandon consciousness
theories all together
 Challengers: Gestalt Theorists, who through the
Gestalt Principals focused on consciousness and
its level of perceptual importance.
Freud and the Unconscious
 Developed
the innovative process, Psychoanalysis, the
study of the mind through behavior
 Unconscious, as he termed it, largely revolved around
“thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the
surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless
exert great influence on behavior.”
 He later developed the Psychoanalytic Theory, which
attempts to explain personality, motivation, mental
disorders and focuses on unconscious determinants of
behavior.
 Sexual Urges play a large role
Behaviorism and B.F Skinner

All behavior is governed by external stimuli
 Fundamental Principle: organisms tend to repeat
responses that lead to positive outcomes and
tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral
or negative outcomes
 Actions are the results of unconscious decisions
 Free will is an Illusion
Humanism: Carl Rogers and
Abraham Maslow

Humanism is a theoretical orientation that
emphasizes the unique qualities of humans,
especially their freedom and potential for growth.
 Humans are fundamentally different from other
animals
 Governed by sense of self or one's "self-concept"
 Rogers and Maslow argued that human nature is
governed by one's personal desire for growth.
Psychology as a Profession

Applied Psychology : everyday practical
problems
 WW1 produced tests to put soldiers into fields
of their capabilities
 Clinical Psychology: diagnosis and
treatment of psychological disorders
 WW2 produced 40,000 veterans who
returned from war seeking medical treatment
Returning to Its Roots

Renewed interest in cognition: mental processes
involved in acquiring knowledge
 Psychologists showed little interest in cognition
because it was "unobservable" behavior.
 Cognitive theorists argue that must study internal
events to fully understand how the human mind
works.
 Focusing solely on observable behavior does not
produce a full picture of what is really going on.
Culture

Psychologists used to study how their theories could be
applied to western cultures
 Theorists ignored how their theories could be applied to
groups such as women and minorities in eastern cultures
 New interest in culture can be attributed to two recent
factors 1) world has "shrunk" 2) Multicultural nations are
now becoming more and more prevalent in today's
societies
 Psychologists of today are now trying to understand how
culture groups and minorities are affected by everyday
topics such as discrimination, prejudice and racism.
Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology examines behavioral
processes in terms of their adaptive value for members
of a species over the course of many generations
 Natural Selection favors behaviors that enhance
organisms reproductive success.
 Evolutionary Psychologists tend to look at things like
differences between male and female visual-spatial
ability.
 William James and other functionalists were influenced
by Darwin's concept of natural selection
Psychology Today: Vigorous and
Diversified
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Psychology: the science that studies behavior and the
physiological and cognitive processes that underlie
behavior, it is the profession that applies to accumulated
knowledge of this science to practical problems.
APA (American Psychological Association)- this is a
national organization devoted to the advancement of
psychology
-founded in 1892
-today APA has over 80,000 members
Research Areas in Psychology
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Within psychology there are 7 major research areas
Developmental psychology- looks at human development across a life
span
Social psychology- the focus of interpersonal behavior
Experimental psychology- the focus on sensation, perception, learning,
conditioning, motivation, and emotion
Physiological psychology- the influence of genetic factors on behavior
Cognitive psychology- the focus of higher mental processes
Personality- involves describing individuals' consistency in behavior
revealing their personality
Psychometrics- the use of test to determine the measurement of
behavior and capacities
Professional Specialties in
Psychology
Four identified areas of specialization within psychology:

Clinical psychology- deals with people who have psychological
disorders and their evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment
 Counseling psychology- relates to clinical but deals with
people who have everyday problems, often work with family,
marital, or career counseling
 Educational and school psychology- their goals are to
improve the curriculum, testing, teacher training, and other
things within a school and education
 Industrial and organizational psychology- does several
things in the business and industry world
Putting it in Perspective:
Seven Key Themes
3 Themes Related to Psychology as a Field of Study

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Psychology is Empirical- Empiricism is the premise that knowledge
should be acquired through observation. Psychologist’s conclusions
are based according to their gathered observation, speculation,
traditional beliefs, or their common sense.
Psychology is Theoretically Diverse- Theory a system of
interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. Because of
the theoretical diversity within psychology, there are several opposing
theories, views, etc. to explain several things.
Psychology Evolves in a Sociohistorical Context- psychology is
both an influence and is influenced by several worldly things such as
trends, issues, and values in a society. i.e. raising children, sexual
urges, etc.
Putting it in Perspective:
Seven Key Themes
4 additional ideas
 Behavior is Determined by Multiple Causes- behavior is a
complex component of all people and is determined by
several causes. This idea that behavior is governed by
several factors is called multifactorial causation of behavior.
 Our Behavior Is Shaped by Our Cultural Heritage- Culturerefers to the widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms,
institutions, and other products of a community that are
transmitted socially across generations. Culture carries an
impact on ones thoughts, feelings, and behavior and is
important to factor in when researching for any subject.
Putting it in Perspective:
Seven Key Themes
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Hereditary and Environment Jointly Influence Behaviormany theorists argued over the fact that personal traits and
abilities are governed completely by hereditary, or completely by
environment. Today most psychologists believe that both
environment and hereditary are important factors that govern
people.
Our Experience of the World is Highly Subjective- people
process incoming information very differently while ignoring
some factors and focusing on others. People may see or what
they choose to see or what they expect to see and this has been
tested through experiments by researchers like Hastorf and
Cantril.
Developing Sound Study Habits
Siebert’s study habits program
 Set up a schedule for studying
 Important to allocate definite times to studying
 Study breaks can revive sagging concentration
 Write down study schedule
 Cramming last minute is an ineffective study
strategy
– Strains memorization, tax energy level, and
stoke the fires of test anxiety
Developing Sounds Study Habits

Find a place to study where you can
concentrate
 Find a place where distractions are minimal
 Reward your studying
 Systematic manipulation if rewards =
behavior modification described by B.F
Skinner
Improving your Reading
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Majority of study time spent reading and absorbing
information
Various strategies for actively reading, such as
Robinson’s SQ3R method.
SQ3R: a study system designed to promote effective
reading by means of five steps: Survey, question, read,
recite and review.
What makes SQ3R effective is that it breaks a reading
assignment into manageable parts and requires
understanding before you move on
SQ3R Steps
Survey
 Glance over topic headings
 General overview of material
Question
 o Proceed through reading one section at a time
 o Convert the heading of the first section into a reading
Read
 Read only the specific section, keeping in mind the
question you formulated in the 2nd step

Reread section until you can answer the question
SQ3R Steps
Recite
 Recite the answer to your question out loud to
yourself in your own words
 Not until the main ideas of this section are
understood can you move on to the next section
Review
 Go back over key points
 Repeat questions and attempt to answer them
without using book
Improving Test-Taking Strategies
Testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics
and format of a cognitive test to maximize ones scores
 Changing your answers in a test, may ultimately pay
off
Tips for Multiple choice questions
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Read each question completely
Eliminate options that are highly implausible
Options representing broad generalizations tend to be
incorrect
Options representing carefully qualified statements tend to
be correct.
Critical Thinking
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Critical Thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies
that increase the probability of a desirable outcome
A useful model of critical thinking has at least two
components
– cognitive component
– emotional or affective component
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Critical thinking skills include:

– distinguishing among facts, opinions and reasoned
judgements, working systematically toward a goal
Also called Transcontextual skills