Myers’ Psychology for
AP
Kerri Dowd
Hazen High School
Psychology’s History & Approaches
Do now:
• Please get a book from the cart.
• If you haven’t already, read the “Have
you ever” bullet points on pages 1 and 2.
• Which of these questions most intrigue
you?
• What are three things you have always
wondered about human behavior?
Do now!
How would you establish the validity of these
statements?
• God is dead
• The best things in life are free
• Abortion is wrong
• There is a genetic predisposition to
schizophrenia
• The mind is just like a computer
• Attitudes affect cancer
• Macklemore is better than Miley Cyrus
The same or different?
Elevator: I need eight volunteers!
What gestures can you think of that
mean different things in different
cultures?
Key Names for this Unit:
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Aristotle
Francis Bacon
Mary Whiton Calkins
Charles Darwin
Rene Descartes
Dorothea Dix
Sigmund Freud
G. Stanley Hall
William James
John Locke
Abraham Maslow
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Ivan Pavlov
Jean Piaget
Plato
Rosalie Rayner
Carl Rogers
B.F. Skinner
Socrates
E.B. Titchener
Margaret Floy Washburn
John B. Watson
Wilhelm Wundt
Discussion: What do you know about
any of these people already?
And now: A brief history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1wKZ
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsxKc
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Do now! How easy was it to learn from
the two videos? How did they work with
your learning style?
Key Terms: What is Psychology?
What is Psychology?
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Empiricism
Structuralism
Functionalism
Experimental Psychology
Behaviorism
Humanistic Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology
Discussion: What’s the difference
between structuralism & functionalism?
Key Terms: Contemporary Psych
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Nature-nurture issue
Natural selection
Levels of analysis
Biopsychosoocial approach
Biological psychology
Evolutionary psychology
Psychodynamic psychology
Behavioral psychology
Cognitive psychology
Social-cultural psychology
Psychometrics
Basic research
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Developmental psychology
Educational psychology
Personality psychology
Social psychology
Applied research
Industrial-organizational (I/O)
psychology
Human factors psychology
Counseling psychology
Clinical psychology
Psychiatry
Three levels of biopsychosocial
analysis
Biological
Psychological
Social-cultural
A timeline overview
Approaches & Perspectives: Bio
Approach
Biological
Focus
How the body and brain enable
emotions, memories, and sensory
experiences; how genes combine
with environment to influence
individual differences.
Sample Questions
• How are messages transmitted within the
body?
• How is blood chemistry linked with moods and
motives?
• What traits are attributable to our genes?
A&P: Evolutionary &
Psychodynamic
Approach
Evolutionary
Focus
How the natural selection of traits
promoted the survival of genes*
Sample Questions
• How does evolution influence behavior
tendencies?
Psychodynamic How behavior springs from
unconscious drives and conflicts
Sample Questions
• How can someone's personality traits and
disorders be explained in terms of drives?
• How can someone's behavior be explained
as disguised effects of childhood trauma?
A&P: Behavioral & Cognitive
Approach
Behavioral
Focus
How we learn observable
responses
Sample Questions
• How do we learn to fear particular objects or
situations?
• What is the best way to alter our behavior?
Cognitive
How we encode, process, store,
and retrieve information
Sample Questions
• How do we use information in
remembering?
• Reasoning?
• Solving problems?
A&P: Humanistic & Social-cultural
Approach
Focus
Humanistic
How we meet our needs for love and
acceptance and achieve selffulfillment
Sample Questions
• How can we work toward our potential?
• How can we break through barriers to
personal growth?
Social-Cultural
How behavior and thinking vary
across situations and cultures
Sample Questions
• How are we alike as members of one human
family?
• How do our environments influence
differences?
Ugh! How will I remember?
A mnemonic device you can TAKE
WITH YOU to the exam!
• On the sheet of paper you’ve been
given, trace your hand!
• Now label your hand as follows to
remember the approaches:
Cognitive:
Perception,
sensation,
memory, problem
solving
Pscychoanalytic/
Psychodynamic:
Freud/childhood
influences
Behaviorism:
Can “flip off”
rewards &
punishments
Humanistic/
Existential:
Needs for
love/belonging
Biological:
Brain structure,
chemicals &
heredity influence
Sociocultural: The
effects of gender,
ethnicity, culture
and SE status on
behavior & mental
processes
Whole Hand—
Evolutionary:
Behaviors adapt to
continue the
species
Let’s Practice!
• Buttons Activity
• Why the Heck do I do that? (Uh oh…
homework!!!)
• The Outrageous Celebrity