Introduction to Psychology
Trephining – early form of “therapy”
Salem witch trials - 1692
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventure
s/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html
Life Before Psychology
Philosophy asks questions about the mind:
 Does perception accurately reflect reality?
 How is sensation turned into perception?
René Descartes
(1596-1650)
Problem - No “scientific” way
of studying problems
Descartes believed that there was a link between the mind and body
Physiology asks similar questions about the mind –
but with a biological perspective (ie chemicals, etc)
SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
•Predict what will happen
•Systematically observe events
•Do events support predictions?
Psychology Is Born
First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)
• Focuses on the scientific study of the mind.
•Wundt insists that Psych methods be as
rigorous as the methods of other sciences.
• Wundt began to study humans in a lab.
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920)
Wundt’s students start labs
across USA (1880-1900)
University of Leipzig
Harvard University
Yale University
Columbia University
Catholic University
Univ of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
Stanford University
Women of Psychology
Mary Calkins - student of William James at
Harvard but was not awarded a Ph.D.
Founded psych lab at Wellesley College (1891)
Maragaret Washburn - first woman to receive
Ph.D. in Psychology. Wrote The Animal Mind,
which helped begin the Behaviorist movement.
Leta Hollingworth - Debunked popular theories
that suggested women were inferior to men.
Did pioneering work on adolescent development,
mental retardation & “gifted” children.
Psychology (pre-1920)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Physiologist & Perceptual Psychologist
Founder of Psychology as a Science
Introspection
Experiments
Edward Titchner (1867-1927)
Student of Wundt
Formed Y at Cornell
Psychology
Understanding
Mental Processes
William James (1842-1910)
Philosopher & Psychologist
Formed Y at Harvard
Structuralism vs Functionalism
Structuralism
Analyze consciousness into basic elements
and study how they are related
Introspection - self-observation
of one’s own conscious experiences
Wilhelm Wundt
Functionalism
Investigate the function, or purpose
of consciousness rather than its structure
Leaned toward applied work
(natural surroundings)
William James
(1842-1910)
Behaviorism
Scientific Psychology should focus on
observable behavior.
Psych the Science of Behavior
John Watson
(1878-1958)
Mental Processes cannot
be studied directly
StimulusResponse
Psychology
Ivan Pavlov
Psychology (1920s-1960s)
Behaviorism
Psychology
Science of Observable
Behavior
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Watson believed that a person’s behaviour
was a product of his/her experiences as
opposed to their internal mental state
“Give me a dozen healthy infants,
well-formed, and my own specified
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, even
beggar-man and thief, regardless
of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations,
and race of his ancestors.”
John B. Watson - 1930
Freud & Psychoanalysis
Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS
Thoughts, memories & desires
exist below conscious awareness
and exert an influence on our
behavior
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Unconscious expressed in
dreams & “slips of the tongue”
Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explain
personality, mental disorders & motivation in
terms of unconscious determinants of behavior
Freud believed that our minds were divided into conscious,
subconscious and unconscious behaviours. He believed these
behaviours looked like an iceberg – with only a small part of our
conscious self exposed to the world – and a large component of our
minds buried or hidden beneath – filled with conflicts and desires
which would bubble up to the surface and cause us anxiety and guilt.
Psychoanalysis – is a
treatment method that
involves bringing
unconscious conflicts
and unresolved issues to
the surface to be dealt
with and “put to rest”.
Freud’s techniques
Free association – is a technique used to bring unconscious thoughts,
emotions, feelings, etc to the surface
- The traditional method is to have the patient lie on a couch and respond
to random words without using the conscious mind to “think”
- The idea is that the unconscious thoughts rise above the conscious mind
 Freud’s couch
The following exercise is a FREE
ASSOCIATION test that you are going
to take…
When you see the word on the
screen – simply write down the
FIRST word that comes into your
head – try NOT to think about it!!
There are 20 words in total… READY?
white
death
house
holiday
child
water
dog
boat
blue
shoes
sea
stars
head
sad
black
eat
flower
moon
love
mother
What to look for in your free association test ….
-Freud would have looked for numerous words relating to
sexual images, violence, dark images, seemingly unrelated
images (eg: holiday = machete)
- most of the time our minds associate words together, and
link common themes
- unless there is something dark and unresolved brewing in
the unconscious, the words should be fairly benign –
usually opposites or related words.
- Try this next activity: you will be given a word to start
with – write down words one after another as they come to
you (don’t “think” about them!)
- you will have one minute – here is the word…..
school
Behaviouristic Psychology
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) - was a
Russian physiologist who was trying to
study the effects of salivation on
digestion in dogs. He inadvertently
discovered something else – that the
dogs would salivate even without food
present – just the sight of the
experimenter would cause the dog to
salivate! Pavlov began to study this
phenomenon and called it “classical
conditioning”.
Behaviourist Psychology
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) –
Skinner believed that
reinforcements were needed in
order for the subject to stay
motivated to complete the
task. He coined the term
“operant conditioning” which
is based on the theory of
positive and negative
reinforcements to shape
behaviours.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognition the mental processes
involved in acquiring, processing,
storing & using information
Cognitive Psychologists return
to the study of learning,
memory, perception, language,
development & problem solving
Noam Chomsky
“Language”
Advent of computers (late 1950s) provides
a new model for thinking about the mind
Humanistic Psychology
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) – was
the founder of humanistic
psychology
• according to Rogers, we value
positive self-regard, that is, selfesteem or self-regard. Without
this self-regard, we feel small
and helpless, and we can fail to
become all that we can be!
Different Perspectives in
Psychology
Biological
Psychology
Behavioral Psychology
Humanistic Psychology
Cognitive
Psychology
Social-Cultural Psychology
Biological Perspective
Focus
How the body and brain create emotions, memories,
and sensory experiences.
Sample Issues
• How do evolution and heredity influence behavior?
• How are messages transmitted within the body?
(hormones)
• How is brain and blood chemistry linked with moods
and motives?
Behavioral Perspective
Focus
We are a product of our experiences and our environment
How to best study, assess and treat troubled people.
Sample Issues
• How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations?
• What is the most effective way to alter certain behaviors?
• What are the underlying causes of:
 Anxiety Disorders
 Phobic Disorders
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
Humanistic Perspective
Focus
• People are inherently good and strive to be the best
that we can be. You are in control of your own destiny.
Sample Issues
• people with mild depression can relook at their past and
future path
• encouraged to take control of one’s own life and set a
new course for recovery
• you are in control of your own destiny and future
Cognitive Perspective
Focus
How we process, store and retrieve information.
Sample Issues
• How do we use info in remembering and reasoning?
• How do our senses govern the nature of perception?
• How can we analyze our thought and behavioural
processes?
Social-Cultural Perspective
Focus
How behavior and thinking vary across situations
and cultures.
Sample Issues
• How are we, as members of different races and
nationalities, alike as members of one human family?
• How do we differ, as products of different social contexts?
• Why do people sometimes act differently in groups than
when alone?
Psychology is Empirical
Knowledge acquired through observation
Psychologists must be skeptical
and think critically
What is the evidence?
How was it collected?
Psychology conclusions are based on research NOT tradition or
common sense
Influence of Heredity &
Environment
NATURE
versus
NURTURE
Identical twins = identical DNA
These identical twins lived in different
environments – evidence for
environmental influence?
Perception Is Subjective
Internal Information
Current mental state
Memories from previous
experiences
External Information
Actions/behaviours
from others
Both Determine
Our Experience
of the World
Work In Psychology (?)
Elementary/
Secondary
Schools
4.2%
Independent
Practice
33.1%
Hospitals,
Business,
Counseling,
Government or
Clinics, etc.
Consulting
22.3%
12.1%
Universities &
Colleges
27.2%
Specialties In Psychology
Research/university
3.6%
Cognitive
5.2%
Industrial
5.7%
Social/
Developmental
6.4%
School
19.4%
Clinical,
Community
& Counseling
51.1%
Other
8.6%