First approaches to Psychology, the study of mental processes and human behavior.
1. Philosophy of Mental
Processes
Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle
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Studied the source
of human
knowledge
Studied the nature
of mind and soul
2. Empiricism
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Philosophers John Locke,
George Berkeley and David
Hume.
Some knowledge was
innate
Everything we know comes
from the experience of our
senses
Human beings = blank slate
(tabula rasa)
3. Beginning of Formal Psychology
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Wilhelm Wundt, 1879.
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Titchener
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Established the first formal
psychology research lab in
Leipzig, Germany
Studied sensory-perceptual
systems.
Wanted to use methods of
laboratory to study
consciousness
Used the technique of
“introspection”
Concluded that sensations and
feelings are described in
terms of pleasure-displeasure,
tension-relaxation, and
excitement-depression.
7. Functionalism
William James
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Structuralist
Wundt’s student
Wanted to define the structure of
consciousness
Added a new element to describe sensations
and feelings: clarity
First psychology laboratory in
USA, Harvard.
Was influenced by Darwin’s
theory of evolution
Studied how consciousness
functions to help people
adapt to environments
Discovered that mental
processes vary from person to
person
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5. Ebbinghaus
Hermann
Ebbinghaus
Disagreed with
Wundt’s theory
Conducted
experiments on
capacities,
limitations, and
other
characteristics of
mental processses
Formed the basis
of what is known
about memory
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6. Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, Vienna
Explored the unconscious
Claimed that behavior and
mental processes have
physical causes in the
nervous system. He
questioned his theory some
years later.
Used hypnosis to cure his
patients’ neuroses
Neuroses were shocking
experiences in the past and
pushed out of
consciousness
4. Structuralism
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8. Behaviorism
John Watson
Observed animals in experimental situations
in order to come up with inferences about
conscious experience, learning, memory,
intelligence and other mental processes
Overt behavior in animals and humans was
the most important source of scientific
information for psychology.
Claimed that it was unscientific to use
behavior as the basis for inferences about
consciousness
Psychologists should ignore mental events and
base psychology on what is observed about
overt behavior and its response to various
stimuli.
Believed that learning is the most important
determinant of behavior.
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Skinner
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Found out that rewards and punishments
maintain and change behavior through
“operant conditioning”
Modern Psychology
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Psychologists are dissatisfied with limitations imposed by behaviorism
Uncomfortable with ignoring mental processes that might be important to fully understand behavior
Computers enabled psychologists to measure mental activity and to study the biological bases of mental processes.
Cognitive and biological factors are influential
Commitment to empiricism and scientific research
Evolution of psychology into subfields
Your approach to psychology –that is, the set of assumptions, questions, and methods that you believe will be most helpful for understanding the
behavior and mental processes you wish to explore.
Some psychologists have adopted an eclectic approach, combining features of two or more approaches because they believe that no one perspective
can fully account for all aspects of psychological phenomena.
Biological approach
Behavior and mental processes are shaped
by biological processes.
Study of the psychological effects of
hormones, genes, and the activity of the
nervous system, especially the brain.
Patterns of brain activity
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b)
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Behavioral approach
Behavior and mental processes are the
primary results of learning.
Behaviorists try to understand behavior in
terms of an individual’s learning history,
especially the patterns of reward and
punishment experienced.
People can change problematic behaviors
by unlearning old habits and developing
new ones.
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Evolutionary approach
The foundation for this approach was
English naturalist Charles Darwin’s book,
The Origin of Species.
The behavior of animals and humans
today is the result of evolution through
natural selection.
Psychologists who take an evolutionary
approach try to understand:
the adaptive value of behavior
the anatomical and biological mechanisms
that make behavior possible
the environmental conditions that
encourage or discourage behavior
Cognitive approach
Focuses on how people take in, mentally
represent, and store information
Studies how cognitive processes are
related to the integrated patterns of
behavior we can see
Attempts to discover the building blocks
of cognition and to determine how these
components produce complex behaviors
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Psychodynamic approach
Rooted in Freud’s psychoanalysis
All behavior and mental processes reflect the
constant and mostly unconscious psychological
struggles that rage silently within each person.
Conflict to satisfy instincts or wishes and the
need to put up with the social restrictions.
Humanistic approach
Also called phenomenological approach
Behavior is determined primarily by each
person’s capacity to choose how to think and
act. These choices are dictated by each
individual’s perceptions.
Celebrates immediate, individual experience.
Behavior and mental processes can be
understood by appreciating the perceptions and
feelings experienced by each individual.
People are essentially good, in control of
themselves, and their main innate tendency is
to grow toward their highest potential.