FORERUNNERS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
WILHELM WUNDT
• Founder and father of experimental
psychology
• the first person to study the mind using the
scientific method.
• considered psychology to be the science of
conscious experience,
• he believed that trained observers could
accurately describe thoughts, sensations, and
emotions through a process known as
introspection.
• psychology was a science of conscious
experience and that if you became a trained
observer, you could tell precisely about
emotions, thoughts and feelings through a
process he called introspection.
• Wilhelm Wundt’s name is also associated
with structuralism, a theoretical perspective
that describes the structures that compose
the mind.
• Internal perception, according to Wundt,
required a properly trained observer who
was aware when an interesting input was
introduced.
• three aspects of mental functioning:
thoughts, images, and emotions.
• Wundt pioneered the use of experimental
methods in carefully controlled conditions to
use psychology as valid experimentation.
freud fled Austria to escape the Nazis in 1938 and
died in England on September 23, 1939, at age 83
by suicide. He had requested a lethal dose of
morphine from his doctor, following a long and
painful battle with oral cancer.
developed psychoanalysis, a method for unpacking
unconscious conflicts based on the patient's free
associations, dreams, and fantasies. His ideas on
child sexuality, libido, and the ego, among other
things, were among the most influential academic
ideas of the twentieth century.
Freud has published several important works on
psychoanalysis. Some of the most influential
include:
•
➢ 'Studies in Hysteria' (1895)
-Confronting trauma from a patient’s past
•
➢ 'The Interpretation of Dreams' (1900)
-Dream analysis can give insight into the
workings of the unconscious mind.
•
➢ 'The Psychopathology of Everyday Life'
(1901)
-This book gave birth to the so-called
“Freudian slip” — misuse of words in
everyday writing and speech and the
forgetting of names and words.
SIGMUND FREUD
Freud was influenced by the work of his friend and
Viennese colleague, Josef Breuer, who discovered
that encouraging a hysterical patient to talk freely
about the earliest occurrences of the symptoms
sometimes resulted in the symptoms gradually
abating.
Breuer ended the relationship, believing that Freud
placed too much emphasis on the sexual origins of a
patient's neuroses and was unwilling to consider
alternative viewpoints.
•
➢ 'Three Essays on the Theory of
Sexuality' (1905)
-Explores sexual development and the
relationship between sex and social behavior
without applying his controversial Oedipal
complex.
•
➢ Psychosexual Theory
- suggests that as children develop, they
progress through a series of psychosexual
stages.
our dreams and memories, we can understand them,
which can subconsciously influence our current
behavior and feelings.
➢ Psychoanalysis
His work supported the belief that not all mental
illnesses have physiological causes, and he also
recognized that cultural differences have an
impact on psychology and behavior.
- adult personality is made up of three
aspects: (1) the id; (2) the ego; and (3) the
superego.
His work and writings contributed to our
understanding of personality, clinical psychology,
human development, and abnormal psychology.
Criticisms:
proposed that neuroses stemmed from deeply
traumatic experiences in the patient's past
The three essential components of human
personality are the id, ego, and superego.
The id is the primitive, impulsive, and irrational
unconscious that is solely concerned with the
outcome of pleasure or pain and is responsible for
sex and aggression instincts.
The ego is the "I" that people perceive as evaluating
the outside physical and social worlds and making
plans in response.
And the superego is the moral voice and conscience
that guides the ego; violating it causes guilt and
anxiety. Freud believed that the superego was
formed primarily during the first five years of life,
based on the moral standards of a person's parents,
and that it was influenced by other role models
throughout adolescence.
Oedipus complex: Between the ages of three and
five, Freud suggested that as a normal part of the
development process all kids are sexually
attracted to the parent of the opposite sex and in
competition with the parent of the same sex. The
theory is named after the Greek legend of Oedipus,
who killed his father so he could marry his mother.
Dream analysis: In his book The Interpretation of
Dreams, Freud believed that people dreamed for a
reason: to cope with problems the mind is
struggling with subconsciously and cannot deal
with consciously. Dreams were fueled by a
person’s wishes. Freud believed that by analyzing
•
•
•
Sexist
highly subjective personal reports from
Freud on his experience with clients
cannot be tested by empirical means, making
it impossible to falsify or confirm
BF SKINNER
Walden Two, he described a fictional utopian
society in which people were trained to become ideal
citizens through the use of operant conditioning.
operant conditioning is that a stimulus (antecedent)
leads to a behavior, which then leads to a
consequence
A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired
response. It could be verbal praise, a good grade or a
feeling of increased accomplishment or satisfaction.
The theory also covers negative reinforcers — any
stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a
response when it is withdrawn (different from
adversive stimuli — punishment — which result in
reduced responses).
Reinforcement is the process by which a behavior
is strengthened, increasing the likelihood that the
behavior will be repeated. Reinforcement is most
effective when it immediately follows a behavior.
Positive reinforcement is a process that
strengthens the likelihood of a particular response
by adding a stimulus after the behavior is
performed.
Example: Mhel got a perfect score on his exam, her
mother gives him a thumbs-up.
Unconditioned Stimulus – food
Unconditioned Response – salivate
Negative reinforcement also strengthens the
likelihood of a particular response, but by removing
an undesirable consequence.
Examples: Mhel doesn’t want to eat vegetables. His
parents takes away the vegetables.
Punishment is the process by which a behavior is
weakened, decreasing the likelihood of repetition.
Positive punishment involves adding an aversive
consequence after an undesired behavior is emitted
to decrease future responses.
Example: Mhel didn’t make ice water for their store.
His father doubled his chores in washing the dishes.
Negative punishment includes taking away a certain
reinforcing item after the undesired behavior
happens in order to decrease future responses.
Example: Mhel’s mother is calling him for dinner but
mhel didn’t hear her because his full attention is
towards his IPad, His mother took his IPad and never
lets him use it for a week.
one of the main criticisms of Skinner is that he
disregarded the existence of free will. Any human
behavior can be justified using such a viewpoint
since the person can place the blame for their acts
on outside forces. This eliminates responsibility,
which is essential to any functioning community.
IVAN PAVLOV
Professor of Pharmacology
Best known for his classical conditioning
experiments with dogs
Pavlov noted that the animals salivated naturally
upon the presentation of food
He also noted that the animals began to salivate
whenever they see the white lab coat
By associating the presentation of food with the lab
assistant, a conditioned response occurred.
Contributed significantly to the development of the
school of thought known as behaviorism
Neutral Stimulus- bell
Conditioned Stimulus- bell
Conditioned response (Pavlovian response)
/learned – salivate
Law of Temporal Contiguity- two stimuli had to
be presented close together in time
Classical conditioning does not allow for any degree
of free will in the individual.
JOHN B WATSON
Behaviorism- focuses on the idea that all
behaviors are learned through interaction with
the environment. This learning theory states that
behaviors are learned from the environment, and
says that innate or inherited factors have very little
influence on behavior.
“Psychology as the Behaviorist View It”
4 concepts of Behaviorism:
Behavior is determined by the environment
Behavior is the result of stimulus-response
Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable
behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking
Psychology should be seen as a science, to be
studied in a scientific manner.
INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology- is the science of mind and behavior
Psyche = “breath, spirit, soul”
Logia= study of something
For the psychologist, human behavior is the raw
data.
Human behavior is used as evidence- or an
indication- of how mind functions.
All our actions, feelings, and thoughts are
influenced by the functioning of our minds.
Neuropsychology- which looks at how different
brain areas are involved in memory, language,
emotions