Introduction To The
History And Science Of
Psychology
Please view after reading p. 1 – 17 in the text
Material taken from UCCP lesson content.
OBJECTIVES
After completing this lesson, you should be able to:
Trace the views of pre-scientific thinkers regarding the
origin of knowledge and how the mind and body relate.
Discuss early psychologists’ efforts to understand the
structure and functions of the mind.
Identify the nature and scope of contemporary
psychology.
Describe the different perspectives from which
psychologists examine behavior and mental processes.
Identify some of the basic and applied research subfields
of psychology, and differentiate the mental health
professions of clinical psychology and psychiatry.
Psychology is …
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes. In other words, psychologists use scientific
methods to study the way that people think, feel, and
behave.
For much of human history, people have been asking the
same questions about human nature that psychologists
do today. In the past, however, scientific methods were
not always used to find answers. Rather, other methods,
such as philosophy or religion, were used to explore the
questions that people had about humanity. These other
disciplines comprise the pre-scientific roots of
psychology. In order to see how psychology developed
into the discipline it is today, we will first examine these
precursors to psychology.
Religion & Philosophy
Some of the earliest theories about the human
mind were developed by religious thinkers.
- The Buddha in India wondered how the
information we receive from our five senses
becomes a part of our thought process.
- In China, Confucius argued that education was
a powerful force in human development.
- In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the mind and
emotions were linked to the body. Often,
religious thinkers stressed that the mind and
body were connected.
Religion & Philosophy
Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato theorized that the mind and
body were two separate entities. These philosophers differed from
religious thinkers in that they used logical reasoning to come to their
conclusions about human nature.
Logical reasoning involves applying rules of logic. Types of logical
reasoning, include:
1. Inductive Reasoning (using a specific example to state a general
law; every fast car I’ve seen is red, therefore every fast car is red)
2. Deductive Reasoning (arguing from a general law to a specific
instance; all babies cry, therefore my sister’s new baby cries)
3. Analogy (people are like other social animals, such as apes)
These different forms of logic can lead to different conclusions about
human nature, but they must always be based on premises that
people already assume to be true. Logic is faulty if the premise is
faulty (as you can see in the inductive reasoning example).
Religion & Philosophy
Another Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believed that
logical reasoning was not the best way to come
to an understanding of human nature. Rather,
Aristotle argued that gathering data through
observation of people is the best way to learn.
In his emphasis on data and observation,
Aristotle anticipated modern science, and
even today direct observation is used in
many fields of psychology.
Modern Science
During the Renaissance period in Europe, a
number of philosophers explored human
behavior with a greater emphasis on scientific
methodology. One highly influential person was
John Locke, who argued that at birth the human
mind is a tabula rasa (meaning a blank slate, or
a white paper) and that our experiences in life
“write” on that blank slate to make us into
the people we are today. Locke’s theory has
been formalized into the concept of empiricism,
the idea that knowledge we have comes from
experiences and the idea that science should be
used in observation and experiments.
Psychology As Its Own Discipline
Psychology was born as a formal discipline in 1879, when William
Wundt conducted an experiment to measure people’s reaction time
to sounds.
The first experiment:
When research participants were asked to press a key as soon as
the sound occurred, it took them 1/10 of a second. When
participants were asked to press a key as soon as they were aware
of perceiving the sound, it took them 2/10 of a second to respond.
These results showed that people’s behavior doesn’t depend only on
the information received by the sense organs (in this case, ears).
Behavior can sometimes depend on the social environment in which
we find ourselves, the instructions given, or our expectations about
the situation. By making a change in wording, the reactions time
slowed (their behavior changed).
Contemporary Psychology
Today, psychology has grown to include a wide
variety of perspectives. Each perspective would
approach a given problem or question about
human nature somewhat differently, but each
would give us another piece of the puzzle to
help us understand the issue.
What would psychologists say about the following
example?
Example – In 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her 5
children in the bathtub after her husband left for
work. How would different psychologists
understand or explain what happened?
Contemporary Psychology
Theories
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A psychologist with a cognitive perspective might look for the cause in
Andrea’s private mental functions. She might note Andrea’s low selfesteem, or Andrea’s belief that she was possessed by the devil. These
beliefs could have influenced Andrea’s decision.
A psychologist with a neuroscience or behavioral genetic perspective
might look for the cause in Andrea’s potential mental disorder or an illness.
He might note that mood disorders ran in Andrea’s family, and that all 3 of
her siblings were on antidepressants. She may also have been suffering
from a chemical imbalance in her brain, which could cause depression and
psychosis.
A psychologist with a behavioral or social-cultural perspective might look
for the cause in Andrea’s social environment. She might note that Andrea’s
husband never helped with childcare, and that he left her alone to care for 5
children when he knew that she was so depressed she could barely take
care of herself. They might conclude that the stressors of her social
environment were so great that Andrea took extreme measures to reduce
her stress and change that social environment.
Theories cont …
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A psychologist with a humanistic approach might focus on
Andrea’s subjective experience. Humanistic psychology often
avoids statistical data in favor or introspection. A humanistic
psychologist would consider Andrea’s experience as a whole, and
avoid focusing on one single aspect of her actions or environment.
Psychodynamic approaches place importance on unconscious
drives and internal conflict. A psychologist focusing on this theory
would evaluate Andrea’s actions while focusing on unconscious
conflicts that may have influenced her behavior. Her actions might
be explained as the results of unfulfilled wishes, childhood trauma,
and defense mechanisms (such as denial).
Evolutionary and Sociobiological approaches consider the
mechanics of genetics, natural selection, and their interaction. For
example, a psychologist might argue that Andrea lacked the stress
management skills necessary to care for her children, and that led
her to behave in the way she did. They focus on how the
environment influences the selection of certain traits, and how this
selection perpetuates the genes of some and stifles those of others.
Contemporary Psychology
From this example, we can see that:
The different perspectives in psychology today
all provide important information about human
behavior AND there are many, many factors that
shape human behavior.
No one perspective is more “right” than the others
– each adds another piece to the puzzle. This
complexity is part of what makes psychology so
interesting.