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Anne Richards
Dr. Richards
Dr. Anne
Miss Richards
Miss Anne
Teacher
Professor
Me
UW
You
The class
Interesting
Fun
Challenging
Classroom atmosphere
Study for exams
Take notes
Do your homework
Form study groups
Don’t give up
Ask for help
Take care of
yourself
Syllabus
Access to materials online
• Angel course website
• http://angel.northseattle.edu
– Powerpoints
– Syllabus
– Grades
– Tegrity recordings
Introduction to Psychology
Lecture 1
What are the roots of
psychology?
• Ancient healers
– Trephining
• Occurred as long ago as 7,000 years by
Neolithics
The Roots of Psychology
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
http://faculty.washington.edu
soul and body are not separate and that knowledge
grows from experience.
The Roots of Psychology
• Rene Descartes - 1637
– Pineal nerve is the “seat of the
soul” where the mind interacted
with the body
Portrait by Frans Hals, 1648
wikipedia
The Roots of Psychology
• John Locke - 1690
– Tabula rasa (blank slate)
Do you think you were a
blank slate when you
were born?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFqbwIzyvRM
The Roots of Psychology
• The birth of modern Psychology
– Wilhelm Wundt and his
graduate students
• First psychology laboratory
• Structuralism
• Used trained subjects
– Introspection
Lets try it
• What is your experience
of this lemon?
• How would you describe
the sensations lemon -colors, its roundness, its
shading?
• If you were Wundt’s
subjects you would be
asked to reflect on this for
hours!
The Roots of Psychology
• Functionalism
– William James
– Wrote “Principles of Psychology”
– Stream of consciousness
Lets try it
• What are you thinking about right now?
Write down on a scrap of paper everything
you are thinking of in the order you think of
it.
The Roots of Psychology
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William James quotes http://www.thinkexist.com/english/Author/x/Author_1046_1.htm
“A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize
him.”
“Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.”
“Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step
to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter
their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”
“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help
create the fact.”
Women in Psychology:
Founding Mothers
• Margaret Floy Washburn (18711939)
– First woman to receive a doctorate in
psychology
– Studied animal behavior
• Controversial theory that animals have minds
• Mary Calkins (1863-1930)
– Student of William James
– First female president of the American
Psychological Association
– Studied memory (paired associations)
Women in Psychology:
Founding Mothers
• Leta Stetter Hollingworth
(1886-1939)
– One of the first psychologists to focus on child
development and on women’s issues
• Mamie Phipps Clark (19171983)
– Pioneered work on how children of color grew
to recognize racial differences
Psychological Science is Born
Freud (1856-1939)
Psychological Science Develops
Behaviorists
Skinner (1904-1990)
Watson (1878-1958)
Watson and later Skinner emphasized the study of
overt behavior as the subject matter of scientific
psychology.
Rogers (1902-1987)
http://www.carlrogers.dk
http://facultyweb.cortland.edu
Maslow (1908-1970)
Psychological Science Develops
Humanistic Psychology
Psychology Today
We define psychology today as the scientific
study of behavior (what we do) and mental
processes (inner thoughts and feelings).
Contemporary Psychology
1. Psychology’s Subfields
2. Who are psychologists and what do they
do?
3. Issues and controversies in Psychology
Psychology Subfields
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Basic research
Applied research
Counseling psychologists
Clinical Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Where do psychologists work?
Key Issues in Psychology
• Nature versus Nurture
• Conscious versus Unconscious causes of behavior
• Observable Behavior versus Internal Mental Processes
• Free Will versus Determinism
• Individual Differences versus Universal Principles