Unit 1
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What is Psychology?
Contemporary Psychology
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Ancient Greeks
Socrates and Plato
 Mind is separate from the body and continues
after the body dies
 Knowledge is innate (born within us)
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Aristotle
 Loved data
 Careful observation
 Knowledge is not pre-existing/ it grows from
experiences stored in our memories
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Rene Descartes
Francis Bacon
John Locke
 Tabula Rasa (blank slate)
 Empiricism
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Wilhelm Wundt (1879)
University of Leipzig (first lab)
Reaction time experiment
 Seeking to measure what?
 Introspection
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Edward Titchener
Structuralism
introspection
“There is one thing, and only one in
the whole universe which we know
more about than we could learn from
external observation. That one thing
is ourselves. We have, so to speak,
inside information”
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William James
Functionalism
Mary Calkins
Margaret Floy Washburn
Experimental psychology
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Published Psychology’s first textbook
The Principles of Psychology (1890)
 Analysis
 Introspection
 Experiment
 Comparison
1.
Nature vs Nurture
2.
Stability vs Change
3.
Rationality vs Irrationality
Wundt and Titchener: focused on inner sensations,
images and feelings
 James: introspection analysis of consciousness and
emotion
 Freud: emphasized the ways emotional responses to
childhood experiences and our unconscious thought
processes affect our behavior
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“Science of mental life” –
through the 1920’s
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Behaviorism
John B. Watson
B.F. Skinner
“study of observable
behavior”
“You can not observe a sensation, a
feeling, or a thought, but you can observe
and record people’s behavior as they
respond to different situations”
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Humanistic Psychology
Carl Rogers
Abraham Maslow
Cognitive Neuroscience
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Psychology
Science
Behavior
Mental processes
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Nature – Nurture Issue
Biology versus experience
Charles Darwin
Natural Selection
Nurture works on what nature
endows.
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Levels of Analysis
Biological
Psychosocial
Social-cultural
Biopsychosocial Approach
 Biological psychology
 Evolutionary psychology
 Psychodynamic psychology
 Behavioral psychology
 Cognitive psychology
 Humanistic psychology
 Social-cultural psychology
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How the body and brain create emotions,
memories and sensory experiences
How evolution and heredity influence behavior
How messages are transmitted through the
body
How blood chemistry is linked to moods and
motives
Major focus: the influence of biology on our
behavior
Best way to treat/heal patients???
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How behavior springs from unconscious drives and
conflicts
Analysis of personality traits and disorders in terms of
sexual and aggressive drives as the disguised effects
of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas
Unresolved complexes hidden within ones
unconscious (Oedipus and Electra, potty training)
ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
Unconscious of why we do what we do
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Treatment???
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id = pleasure principle
 ego = reality principle
 superego = conscience
(inhibitions and moral
values)
 Battleground
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id,ego, superego
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How observable responses are acquired and
changed
How we learn to fear particular objects or situations
How we most effectively alter our behavior, say, to
lose weight or stop smoking
Reinforcements and Punishments
How has ones environment shaped who they are
Personal experiences and reinforcement guide
individual development
Skinner box, Pavlov’s dog, Little Albert
Treatment???
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http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrP
QE
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=DRS80DVvrg
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=hhqumfpxu
zI
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=qy_mIEnnl
F4
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Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Observational Learning
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Little Albert
Skinner’s Box – Operant
Conditioning
Pavlov’s Dog – Classical
Conditioning
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How we process, store, and retrieve
information
How we use information in remembering,
reasoning, and solving problems
Interpretation of mental images, thinking,
and language
Memory
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Treatment???
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Our capacity to choose our life patterns and
not just be driven by the unconscious forces or
shaped by the environment
 A reaction to behaviorism and psychoanalysis
 How we seek maturity and fulfillment
 How people experience and understand their
own lives
 How people find meaning in life
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
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Treatment???
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John is 40 years old. He lives alone with his mother. He has never
been married but has a good job as an engineer. His life seemed to
be going well until one day a month ago. John’s boss chewed him out
for not doing something right at work. During the last month, John
has been worried and depressed because he has started to forget
things. He told his mother, who told Ethel who lives next door, and
now everybody knows. Here are some examples of what has been
happening to him: he was supposed to turn in plans for a new project
but forgot they were due. He had always remembered his mother’s
birthday, but it was a week ago and he completely forgot about it,
hurting her, even though she pretended not to be upset. A month
ago, a few days after the incident on the job, he met a woman he
really liked and set up a date with her for later in the week. But he
had forgotten that he was going to be out of town then, so he had to
cancel the date./ Explain John’s behavior and treatment you would
recommend based on the theory given to your group.
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Psychometrics
Basic Research
Developmental psychology
Educational psychology
Personality psychology
Social psychology
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Applied Research
Industrial/organizational psychology
Human factors psychology
Counseling psychology
Clinical psychology
Psychiatry
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SQ3R
Study Tips
 Distribute your study time
 Learn to think critically
 In class, listen attentively
 Overlearn
 Be a smart test-taker
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The view that knowledge originates in
experience and that science, should,
therefore rely on observation and
experimentation
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An early school of psychology that used
introspection to explore the structural
elements of the human mind
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A school of psychology that focused on how
our mental and behavioral processes
function – how they enable us to adapt,
survive and flourish
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The study of behavior and thinking using
the experimental method
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The view that psychology (1) should be an
objective science that (2) studies behavior
without reference to mental processes
Most research psychologists today agree
with (1) but not (2)
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Historically significant perspective that
emphasized the growth potential of healthy
people and the individual’s potential for
personal growth
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The interdisciplinary study of the brain
activity linked with cognition (including
perception, thinking, memory and
languate).
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The science of behavior and mental
processes
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The longstanding controversy over the
relative contributions that genes and
experience make to the development of
psychological traits and behaviors
Today’s science sees traits and behaviors
arising from the interaction of nature and
nurture
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The principle that, among the range of
inherited trait variations, those contributing
to reproduction and survival will most likely
be passed on to succeeding generations
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The differing complementary views, from
biological to psychological to social-cultural,
for analyzing any given phenomenon
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An integrated approach that incorporates
biological, psychological and social-cultural
levels of analysis
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A branch of psychology that studies the
links between biological (including
neuroscience and behavior genetics) and
psychosocial processes
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The study of the roots of behavior and
mental processes using the principles of
natural selection
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A branch of psychology that studies how
unconscious drives and conflicts influence
behavior, and uses that information to treat
people with psychological disorders
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The scientific study of observable behavior
and its explanation by principles of learning
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The scientific study of all the mental
activities associated with thinking, knowing,
remembering and communicating
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The study of how situations and cultures
affect our behavior and thinking
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The scientific study of the measurements of
human abilities, attitudes and traits
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Pure science that aims to increase the
scientific knowledge base
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The scientific study of physical, cognitive
and social change throughout a life span
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The study of how psychological processes
affect and can enhance teaching and
learning
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The study of an individual’s characteristic
pattern of thinking, feeling and acting
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The scientific study of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one another
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Scientific study that aims to solve practical
problems
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The application of psychological concepts
and methods to optimizing human behavior
in workplaces
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The study of how people and machines
interact resulting in the design of machines
and environments
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A branch of psychology that assists people
with problems in living (often related to
school, work, and marriage) and in
achieving greater well-being
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A branch of psychology that studies,
assesses, and treats people with
psychological disorders
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A branch of medicine dealing with
psychological disorders; practiced by
physicians who often provide medical (for
example, drug) treatments as well as
psychological therapy
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A study method incorporating five steps;
Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review