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Prescience Psychology
More than 2000 years ago Buddha and Confucius focused on the powers and origin of ideas
The ancient Hebrews, and Greeks pondered whether mind and body are connected or distinct, and whether human ideas are
innate or result from experience.
Socrates (469-399BC)
 viewed the mind as separate from the body
 mind continuing after death
 thought knowledge was built within us or preexisting, innate
Plato- same as Socrates
Aristotle• believed in direct observation and data
• Observations told him that the soul was not separate from the body
• He believed that knowledge was not preexisting, but that it grew from the experiences stored in our memories.
• Right…
he said events experienced under strong emotion are better recalled than unemotional happenings
we do recall memories through a network of associations among our stored experiences
• Wrong…
he thought that a meal made us sleepy by causing gas and heat to collect around the source of our
personality- the heart.
Rene Descartes (1595-1650)
 agreed with Socrates and Plato about the existence of innate (ideas and the mind’s being “entirely distinct from the body
and able to survive its death.”)
 The truth and the soul come from the difference between humans and animals…thinking
1. Experience- Animals do not see as we do, they are not aware of their own cognition
2. Behavior- humans are more unpredictable; we can modify our behavior by our thoughts (tell a child to calm
down) animals don’t have the ability to modify their behavior…their behavior is predicable
3. Language- believes it is only for humans…Human language is an outgrowth of internal language. CoCo the
chimp uses sign language, but the only animal that can understand the chip is the human…not the other chimp.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
 founders of modern science and the scientific method
 his influence lingers in the experiments of today’s psychological science
John Locke (1632-1704)
 He argued that the mind at birth was a (blank slate)—a white paper upon which experience writes, also known as the
Tabula Rosa.
 Knowledge was gained through experience and experimentation.
 He held that ideas are mental representations of objects. “The minds knows only of ideas…my mind only knows my
mother as an idea”
Empiricism- The view that knowledge originates in sensory experience and that science should, therefore rely on observation and
experimentation. (Aristotle would have been very enthusiastic about empiricism)
Psychological Science is Born
Wilhelm Wundt-(Structuralism
 created the first experimental apparatus (1879 first lab)—he measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball hit the
platform and their pressing a telegraph key, (sensory research)
Edward Titchener—(Structuralism)
 His method was to engage people in self-reflective introspection (looking inward) training them to report elements of
their experience as they looked at a rose, smelled a scent, or tasted a substance. What were their immediate sensations,
their images, their feelings? Introspection required smart, verbal people and it proved somewhat unreliable, varying from
person to person and experience to experience.
William James—(Functionalist)
 thought to consider the evolved functions of our thoughts and feelings. Smelling is what the nose does; thinking is what
the brain does.
 Under the influence of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, James assumed that thinking, like smelling developed
because it was adaptive—it contributed to our ancestors’ survival. Consciousness serves a purpose.
 He wrote Principles of Psychology in 1890 (a 1400 page book dedicated to psychology)
“We can do so much more than what we think we can”
“the sum is greater than its parts”
“Consciousness will be different things to different people”
Structuralism vs. Functionalism
•Structuralism-- Wundt
•Asked, “What is the mind?”
•Believed that the science of psychology should study
the conscious mind
•Believed that all complex substances could be
separated into component elements and analyzed– they
asked subjects to describe mental images
(intropsection)
•Wundt wundted to divide the mind into mental
elements
Functionalism- William James
•Asked,” What does the mind do?”
•Inspired by Darwin’s evolution, believed that all
behavior and mental processes help organisms to adapt
to a changing environment
•James thought that our rich storehouse of ideas and
memories is what enabled us to function in our
environment
•His practical uses of mental processes led to important
advances in education.
Psychological Science Develops
Ivan Pavlov
 pioneered a study of learning called classical conditioning. The original research design was actually done by
his professor- but he carried it out and translated it into English. (Timing is everything!!! G. Stanley Hallpublished a classical conditioning experiment 1 month after Pavlov)
 He hated being referred to as a psychologist and was actually studying all of this for another study in
physiology.
From 1920s into 1960s American psychologists John B Watson (behaviorism, directly observable behavior… that’s it…
Consciousness has no place in the role of psychology.
John B. Watson ignored mental processes and believed in the science of observable behavior. (also Watson and Rayner
did the Little Albert experiment) (By manipulating the environment, you can manipulate the behavior)
B F Skinner dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as the “science of observable behavior” rationale: you
cannot observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought, but you can observe and record people’s behavior as they respond to
different situations.
In the 1960s psychology began to recapture its initial interest in mental processes through studies of how our minds
process and retain information. To encompass psychology’s concerns with observable behavior and with inner thoughts
and feelings, today we define psychology as the science of behavior and mental processes.
Behavior—anything an organism does…any action we can observe and record.
Mental Processes-- internal subjective experiences we infer from behavior—sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings
Approaches
Psychodynamic— looks at behavior as driven by instinctive forces, inner conflicts, and conscious and unconscious
motivations
Behaviorist- views behavior as determined by external stimulus conditions
Humanistic- emphasizes an individual’s inherent capacity to make rational choices
Cognitive- stresses mental processes that affect behavioral responses
Biological— studies relationships between behavior and brain mechanisms
Evolutionary- looks at behavior as having evolved as an adaptation for survival in the environment
Sociocultural— examines behavior and its interpretation in cultural context
Psychology’s Big Issues
Stability vs. Change—Do our individual traits persist as we age? Do we become older versions of our younger selves?
Does a reactive infant become a volatile adult? Can shy teenagers become teenage class clowns?
Rationality versus Irrationality—We are so incredibly advanced in thought and in sensory perception. But we make
mistakes often. We misremember, we see causes that don’t exist, we discount statistical reality
Nature versus Nurture—do human traits develop through experience or are we equipped with them from birth?
Plato—ideas are inborn
Aristotle—there is nothing in the mind that does not first come in from external world through the senses.
Locke—rejected inborn ideas
Descartes- some ideas are innate
Darwin—Natural selection, nature selects those who are best suited for survival (why is the polar bear white?)
Psychology’s Subfields
Basic Research—builds psychology’s knowledge base
 Biological psychologist- exploring the links between brain and mind
 Developmental psychologist- studying our changing abilities from womb to tomb
 Cognitive psychologist- experimenting with how we perceive, think. And solve problems
 Personality psychologists- investigate our persistent traits
 Social Psychologists- explore how we view and affect one another
Applied Research- tackles practical problems
 Industrial Psychologist
 Organizational
 Clinical- study, assess, and treat troubled people. Administer and interpret tests, provide
psychotherapy (an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone
who suffers from psychological difficulties)
 Psychiatrist- often provide psychotherapy, prescribe drugs, and otherwise treat physical causes of
psychological disorders