Psychology
An Introduction
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Aristotle
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Psyche – essence of life
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Psychology – study of life
What Is Psychology
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Psychology is the science of behavior and
mental processes.
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Science – careful, controlled observation
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Behavior-The actions that others see in you.
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Mental processes – private thoughts, emotions,
feelings, motives that others cannot directly
observe
What Is Psychology
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Describe
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Predict
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Understand
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Influence
What Is Psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt
• First laboratory in psychology, 1879
• William James
• Lab in Harvard University, 1875
• Many people founded psychology
What Is Psychology
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Wundt and Titchner
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Introspection
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Structuralism
 Observe contents of own mind
 Describe sensations
 Structure of mind
J. Henry Alston
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Studies of sensations of heat and cold
What Is Psychology
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Max Wertheimer
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Gestalt psychology
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Gestalt – the whole
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Phi phenomenon – the whole is different from
the sum of its parts
What Is Psychology
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William James
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Functionalism
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Interested in what the mind could do
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Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
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Critical of structuralist view
What Is Psychology
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Hermann Ebbinghaus
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Measurement of memory
 Meaningful and nonsense information
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Mary Calkins
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Functionalist
Memory and related bits of information
Paired associates method
What Is Psychology
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Cognitive psychology
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Modern version of functionalism
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Strongly influenced by Gestalt and structuralism
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Cognitive processes – functions of human
consciousness
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Cognition – all intellectual processes
What Is Psychology
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Founded 1st psychology lab in France
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Developed way to measure intelligence
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Identify intelligent children for extensive
education in France
Test modified in U.S.
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Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
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Psychometrics – measurement of mental
functions
What Is Psychology
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Behaviorists influenced by Darwin and
learning from experience
Ivan Pavlov
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Conditioning – simple form of learning
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Precise scientific way of studying learning
What Is Psychology
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John Watson and Margaret Washburn
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Impressed by Pavlov’s scientific precision
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Behaviorism - human behavior learned through
classical conditioning
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Should study only overt behavior
B.F. Skinner
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Strict behaviorist – no mental processes
What Is Psychology
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Social learning theory
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Broader version of behaviorism
Albert Bandura
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Most of behavior learned from others in society
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Important theoretical view today
What Is Psychology
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Mental processes that we are unaware of
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Sigmund Freud
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Founder of psychoanalysis
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Unconscious mind
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Innate motives
 Conflicts influence behavior
 Sexual and aggressive are most important
What Is Psychology

Humanistic psychology
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Maslow, Rogers, and Frankl
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Human fate based on conscious decisions
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Society is cause of self-defeating unconscious
mind – bombarded with inaccurate information
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Self-concept – our view of what we are like
 Negative information causes anxiety
 Difficult to have accurate self-concept
What Is Psychology
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Sociocultural perspective
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People are different – gender, cultural heritage,
age, sexual orientation, and unique experiences
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Derived from social anthropology
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Shaped by social learning theory – personalities,
beliefs, attitudes, and skills learned from others
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Full understanding within sociocultural context
What Is Psychology
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Interested in relationship between biological
nature and psychological nature
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How structures of brain influence behavior
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Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution –
compare different species and humans
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Neurons and complex connections
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Active and inactive states of human brain
What Is Psychology
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Sociocultural perspective
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Culture – patterns of behavior, beliefs, values
shared by a people
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Ethnic group – persons who are descendants of
common group of ancestors
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Ethnic identity – one’s sense of belonging to a
particular ethnic group; sharing their culture
What Is Psychology
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Sociocultural perspective
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Gender identity – viewing oneself as female or
male
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Cultural relativity
 Think in relative terms, not judgmental
 All cultures are different, none inferior
 Usually more differences within groups than between
groups
What Is Psychology
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Sociocultural perspective in psychology
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Psychology overemphasizes same, neglects
diversity
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History of psychology – Prejudiced against
females and people of color
 Roadblocks in education and employment
 Today – formal barriers dropped but some
prejudice still exists
What Is Psychology
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Studies behavior of animals and humans
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Influenced by Darwin’s natural selection
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Spontaneous change or mutation in gene – the
fittest survive
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Fitness – reproducing offspring to carry
mutated gene to future generations
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Hard wired differences in men and women
What Is Psychology
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Positive psychology movement
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Study positive aspects of human lives
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Seligman – positive psychology as new school
of thought
 Study health and happiness
What Is Psychology
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Applied psychologists – research studies
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Basic areas of modern psychology
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Biological psychology
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Sensation and perception
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Motivation and emotion
• Cognition
• Personality
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Developmental psychology • Social psychology
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Sociocultural psychology
What Is Psychology
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Applied areas of modern psychology
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Clinical psychology
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Counseling psychology
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Educational and school psychology
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Industrial and organizational psychology
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Health psychology
What Is Psychology

Relationship between psychology and
psychiatry
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Psychiatrist – M.D. degree , residency training in
psychiatry and medical internship
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Psychologist – Ph.D. or Psy.D., internship in
clinical psychology
What Is Psychology
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Human beings are biological creatures
Every person is different, yet much the same
Can fully understand people in their social
context
Human life is continuous process of change
Behavior is motivated
Humans are social animals
People are active in creating experiences
Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive
What Is Psychology