AP
Psychology
Introduction
What is psychology?
Psychology
is the scientific
study of behavior and mental
processes.
Roots of Psychology
 It
is a relatively new science that seeks to
discover how we think, feel, and act. It
has been a formal study for a little over
100 years, however…
Roots of Psychology
 Franz
J. Gall (1808) – Father of Phrenology
Roots of Psychology
 William
Wundt
Roots of Psychology
 William
James
Functionalism
 Mary Calkins

Psychology’s Current
Perspectives

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Psychodynamic- subconscious
Behavioral – studies behavior/learning
associations
Cognitive – studies brain processes; how we
store, process, and retrieve information
Humanistic- pays attention to cultural
responses, looks at human growth
Biological- biochemistry, nervous system, etc.
Social – your environment can impact your
behavior
Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic
Approach
 Sigmund
Freud
 Treated patients with mental disorders by
talking with them over time to reveal
unconscious conflicts, motives, and
defenses
Behavioral Approach
 Ivan
Pavlov was a forerunner, later
behaviorists include John Watson and B. F.
Skinner
 Study of observable behavior
 Reject studying mental processes
because private events cannot be
verified
Cognitive Approach
 Jean
Piaget
 Emphasize importance of receiving;
storing and processing information; of
thinking and reasoning; and of language
 Like a computer: encoding, storage,
retrieval
Humanistic Approach
 Abraham
Maslow and Carl Rogers
 Thought humans have unique qualities of
behavior different from other animals
 Free will and potential for personal growth
 Positive – humans can solve their own
problems
Biological Approach
 Focuses
on physiological bases of
behavior
 Looks at how complex chemical and
biological processes within the nervous
and endocrine systems are related to
behavior of organisms
Social Approach
 Study
social and environmental factors
that influence cultural differences in
behavior
 Examines cultural differences in order to
understand, predict, and control behavior