Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Prologue:
The Story of Psychology
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
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Prologue: Psych’s Roots
Psychology…from psukhe …Ancient Greek for
breath…& later became to represent soul or spirit
Prescientific Psy
 Is the mind connected
to the body or distinct?
 Are ideas inborn
(innate) or is the mind
a blank slate filled by
experience?
 Came from
philosophy &
physiology
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Prologue: Psych’s Roots (p. 3)
Dualism: can have 2 separate parts……i.e. (that is), Mind & body
are separate—believed by Socrates, Plato, Descartes
Monism: both = 1 …mind & body inseparable
believed by Hebrews, Aristotle, & St. Augustine
Knowledge (Some aspects) are Innate (inborn): Socrates; Plato
Human mind is __?__ slate: Aristotle; John Locke
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Prologue: Psych’s Roots
 Psychological Science Is Born
Renaissance  Age of Enlightenment  Age of Reason
 ALL this led to Empiricism: Scientific method
 Knowledge comes from experience via the senses
 Science flourishes through observation &
experiment…empirical thinking
 Vs. anecdotal evidence ”I knew a guy….”
Why is anecdotal evidence dangerous? (Ex: Seat belts??)
How can it lead to superstitions.. & “magical thinking?”
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Prologue: Psych’s Roots
 Wilhelm Wundt (“father of psy”):
 opened 1st psych lab, Univ. of Liepzig, Germany
(c. 1879: “b’day of psy”)
- was 1st place established
specifically to study
empirically the ideas of psych
Wundt’s “Big Ideas:”
 Structuralism
 Introspection
(but…NEITHER lasted  )
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Early theories:
Structuralism vs. Functionalism
 Structuralism used
introspection (looking in) to
explore the elemental structure of
the human mind
 Wundt & his student Edward
Titchener
(Titchener brought new area
of study, “psychology,” to USA)
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*William James:
(btw: had famous bro.: Henry, Amer. author)
Functionalism focused on how behavioral processes
function… i.e, how they enable organism to adapt,
survive, & flourish— adapt behaviors to survive
A huge fan of Darwin, James relateed psych to Darwin’s
ideas…
& Functionalism LED to Evolutionary Psych, a big area of
Psych today
James also taught Mary Calkins at
Harvard…
Later was 1st female pres. (1905)
of APA (Amer. Psychological Assoc.)
Why did he teach her in classroom
by herself?
Why did she NOT get a Ph.D in Psychology
as the male Harvard students had?
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Psych’s Roots: Psychological Science Develops
 Wundt--German philosopher and physiologist; “Father of
Psy.” (1879)
 James--American philosopher; wrote 1st major psy text:
Principles of Psychology (1400 pp.)
(late 1800’s)
 Pavlov--Russian physiologist; classical conditioning:
learning thru survival or automatic means (1900)
 John Watson (early 20th cent.): 1st “behaviorist”
 B.F. Skinner: operant conditioning: “it’ all environment &
learning!” (1940’s – 1990’s)
 Freud--Austrian physician; psychoanalytical
method…became today’s psychodynamic (1880’s-1930’s)
 Piaget--Swiss biologist; developmental…later some of
cognitive..how we change as we get older
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Psych’s Roots (p. 7) & dramatic growth:
Approx# in 1940? 1980? 2000?
Figure 1- British Psychological Society membership
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Prologue: Psychology’s Roots
 Definition of Psychology
 The science of behavior (what we do) & mental
processes (sensations, perceptions, dreams,
thoughts, beliefs, & feelings)
 Science: empirical (scientific) study of something
 Behavior: the observable things we do…things
we & others see us do
 Mental processes: sensations, perceptions,
dreams, thoughts, beliefs, & feelings…things going
on in us but cannot be seen or observed
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Contemporary
(more recent)
Psych
3 Big Issues today in Psych study:
1. Nature vs. Nurture: Is it genes (genetics,
heredity) OR is it experience, learning,
2. Stability vs. Change: Are our traits the
same thru life…or do we change as we age?
3. Rationality (reasonable; logical) vs.
irrationality: Are humans logical …OR…ruled
by emotions, etc.?
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Psych’s 3 Big Issues
1. Nature vs. Nurture: Is it
genes (genetics, heredity)
OR is it experience,
learning, etc. that make
to develops our psy. traits
& our behaviors?
 This is the MAJOR , most
often discussed issue
 AKA heredity vs.
environment (now mainly
use term experience
instead….Why?)
 Innate vs. ___?__ slate:
means what? Who
(philosophers, etc) went w/
which idea??
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Psych’s 3 Big Issues
2. Stability vs. Change:
Do our traits stay basically the same thru life…or
do we change a lot as we age?
Do shy kids tend to stay shy?
Do adventurous kids get more adventurous..or
more cautious?
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Psych’s 3 Big Issues
3. Rationality vs. irrationality:
Are humans
basically logical (reasonable) (like Mr. Spock, the Vulcan) …
OR… Illogical (irrational…ruled by emotions, etc.) ? EX’s?
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More Contemporary
 Natural selection &
Charles Darwin:
Psych Ideas:
We change &/or adapt in
Evolutionary Psych: How
order to survive
we become more successful
Those adapting well are more
humans… What WORKS??
likely to have offspring…
Natural selection: off-spring
inheriting trait variations
(mutations) that help
survival will be most likely to
breed …& to pass strong
traits to succeeding (later)
generations
In Psych, it is the behaviors &
thinking that change same
way to create a better
animal…
(THIS was basis for Wm.
James ‘s ideas of
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functionalism )
Psychology’s Perspectives

How we see something depends on our viewpoint…
How we each see the same issue depends on POV
ALL 3 figures below are the same figure…just depends on
how you are looking at it… yr POV (point of view) or
perspective.
There are also differing PERSPECTIVES in Psych..
…sets of ideas or beliefs about how
humans/animals learn, think, behave, adapt, etc.
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Psychology’s Subfields w/in Basic Research Psy.
& Applied Psychology
Basic Research: These psychologists do research,
not treatments, etc.
1. Biological psychologists explore the links
between brain/mind & the body..the physical body
2. Developmental psychologists study changing
abilities from womb to tomb..how aging affects us
3. Cognitive psychologists study how we perceive,
think, use language, & solve problems
4. Personality psychologists investigate our
persistent personality traits (or patterns)
5. Social psychologists explore how we view &
affect & interact w/ one another w/in groups..how
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groups affect our behaviors
Prologue: Contemporary Psychology
Psychology’s Subfields w/in Basic Research Psy.
& Applied Psychology
Applied Psychology: USING info from Psych research
EX:’s:
 Industrial/organizational (I.O.) psychologists
study and advise on behavior in the workplace
 Clinical psychologists study, assess, and treat
people with psychological disorders (seeing
patients or clients) or with personal problems
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Be careful NOT to confuse…
 Psychiatry: These are M.D.’s…not
psychologists, which generally are Ph.D’s
Psychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing w/ psych.
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disorders…usually the more severe disorder --& more
likely to use medical (for example, drug &/or surgical)
treatments as well as psychotherapy
Trained in medicine first…psych disorders later
Clinical psychologists are Ph.D.’s, NOT M.D.’s, but
takes about same amt. of time!
MOST Psychol. can’t write out Rx for meds…referring
MD does that
But this is changing as Ph.D. psych’s push for the
licensing to Rx for psych disorders
Several states now allow this, though most do NOT
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