PS1012 & PS1014
Approaches to Psychology
Topics covered by John Beech
These areas will be covered over 9 lectures:
1. Introduction – to history of psychology and the context of
scientific progress.
2. The behaviorist approach.
3. The neo-behaviorist approach.
4. Early paradigms of cognitive psychology.
5. History of the cognitive approach. Part 1 pre 1967.
6. History of the cognitive approach. Part 2 post 1967.
7. The biological approach.
8. The approach of feminist psychology.
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Approaches to Psychology: John Beech
PS1012 Approaches to Psychology 1A
For: Joint degrees (PB1, PN1, PS1) & JYA students
10-credit course 2 lectures/week
• 1½ hour MCQ @ 75 questions. End of Semester 1
PS1014 Approaches to Psychology 1B
For: SS1 students only
20-credit course 3 lectures/week
• 3 hour MCQ @ 150 questions. End of Semester 1
All MCQs are scored: correct = 1; incorrect = -1/3
Background reading
• See handouts and see the web
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Timetable
Consult the web site for your module
PS1012 (Joint degrees)
Two sessions each week
PS1014 (SS1)
Three sessions each week
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PS1012 & PS1014 Approaches to Psychology
The module has 3 main aims (overview):
•
•
•
Psychology’s concern to be a science.
Important social factors in the development of influential
ideas.
A general introduction to psychology incorporating a strong
emphasis on historical factors examining major approaches
from past and present.
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Three main aims of coverage of “Approaches”
1. Psychology’s concern to be a science.
• Previously Psychology was the domain of philosophy. Only in last
100 years or so has Psychology been taught formally as a
discipline. This was when the scientific method was applied to
the study of Psychology.
• What is science? “The systematic acquisition of knowledge”
(Brennan, 1998). We have to observe directly something and
measure it in order to confirm its existence. This is empiricism.
• Science is applied by means of the experimental method. This
involves controlling, manipulating and measuring variables.
• But not everyone agrees, and so Psychology became more
diversified with different schools of thought.
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Three main aims of coverage of “Approaches”
2. Social factors
•
•
This diversification in psychology was influenced by social
factors. The social status of a science is important. At a time
when science was becoming more socially appealing,
explanations based on scientific knowledge were being
preferred. So it was necessary to at least appear to be
scientific to explain behaviour.
An exception was psychoanalysis which was flourishing even
when stimulus-response methods were dominant.
Psychoanalysis is not scientific, but Freud, the main proponent
was very persuasive and passionate and wrote with great
clarity (Storr, 1995).
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Three main aims of coverage of “Approaches”
2. Social factors (continued)
•
•
This social attitude still prevails: we are sceptical unless a
“revelation” is supported by science.
But social climate can influence the development of schools of
thought: e.g. the rise of Nazism led to the demise of
intellectual climate and of Gestalt psychology in particular.
The founders had to flee to the USA and were not very
successful over there.
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Three main aims of coverage of “Approaches”
2. Social factors (continued)
• After the war the atrocities during WW2 stimulated a great
deal of interest in the social-psychological factors that could
have been at work. This led to a programme of research on
conformity and obedience.
3. General introduction, with a historical perspective
This module serves to provide a general introduction to
psychology. It has a strong emphasis on historical aspects so
looks at major approaches from the past and looks at some in
the present.
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Lecture 1 Introduction
(An overview)
1. In the beginning: Wundt (1832-1920) – Leipzig 1879 first lab.
2. Relevance of the past to present
3. Concepts of scientific progress
- great person theory
- zeitgeist theory
4. Contextual forces
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1. In the beginning
•
•
•
•
Psychology is one of the oldest but newest disciplines
Goes back to 500BC and Plato and Aristotle
When was psychology born?
Where was psychology born?
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Some dates
• 1871 Germany and Italy founded
• 1879 Household gas
• 1879 Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig – set up the first Psychology
laboratory
• 1881 Philosophische Studien (A journal called “Philosophical
Studies”)
• 1885 First American laboratory
• 1887 American Journal of Psychology
• 1897 First UK laboratory
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2. Relevance of past to present
Why is the history of psychology taught?
• You are about to have a relationship with psychology for
the next 3 years, so it is appropriate to get to know its
background and history.
• Learning about the history of the subject should enable
you to appreciate the framework in which current ideas
are founded. There are many different strands in
psychology, so it is important to learn how these arose in
the first place.
• Ideas that were grappled with 100s of years ago are still
relevant today e.g. Plato and Aristotle on memory,
perception aesthetics. E.g. Today we have Berlyne’s
theory of aesthetics: an inverted-U relationship between
complexity and liking.
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2. Relevance of past to present
• The study of history is a field in itself, just like the
study of memory or language.
• Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
started in 1965.
• There is no single approach that encompasses all of
psychology. For instance, cognitive psychology and
social psychology are currently prominent, but they
can be quite different from one another.
• History holds it all together.
• A story full of feuding, revolution and - sex.
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Introduction
We have just covered:
1. In the beginning;
2. Relevance of the past to the present.
Two themes, that we are covering next, that are salient
throughout the module:
3. Conceptions of scientific progress i.e. what makes history?
4. Contextual shapers of science
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3. Conceptions of scientific progress
Great person theory
• This focuses on the great achievements of specific
individuals i.e. great innovators e.g. Newton, Einstein,
Darwin. These are responsible for major scientific
developments.
• Without these people progress would not have
happened?
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3. Conceptions of scientific progress
Why propose great person theory?
• We like heroes. It makes a good story, especially if
we identify with them.
• Social Attribution Theory looks at the way we
explain people’s behaviour. If we identify with a
person who has achieved something great then we
are likely to feel good: basking in reflected glory.
This applies nationally as well: MS Encarta
(Encyclopaedia) lists Bell as inventing the phone in
the USA, but names a Frenchman in the French
version! This is good for national egos.
• Scientists “blowing their own trumpet” in order to
boost their career. As there is pressure to publish,
this tendency will continue.
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What makes a great person? (Overview)
•
•
•
•
•
Historiometry (see Simonton, 1984)
Birth order
Being orphaned
Role models (Zuckerman, 1977)
Productivity (perhaps great people work harder?) E.g.
Dennis (1954); Moles (1958)
• Height
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What makes a great person?
Historiometry (see Simonton, 1984)
First it is useful to examine the history and methodology of
history. This involves the use of measurements in history.
For instance, to measure the eminence of scientists one
can start by counting the number of publications of
researchers. This can be useful data for measuring the
worth of a particular scientist.
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What makes a great person?
Birth Order
• The nature-nurture debate. Is genius born, or is it made?
Most likely it’s a combination of the two. If it were simply
hereditary, then surely all siblings would be of equal
genius? But who has heard of Darwin’s siblings?
• However, the order in which you were born may have an
effect. If you are a first born, and especially if you are a first
born male, research indicates that you are likely to achieve
more than your siblings.
• Francis Galton (1874) found that more first-born and only
sons among famous scientist than could be attributed to
chance.
• Ellis (1904) showed similar effects for disciplines other than
science and that the effect is similar for females. Ellis also
found that youngest children are more likely than
intermediate children to become eminent scientists
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What makes a great person?
Orphanhood
• Lenin lost his father as a teenager. Beethoven was head of
his family when he was 16. Napoleon and Julius Caesar
lost their father at about 15 years. Evidence seems to
suggest that being orphaned improves chances of being
eminent.
• Eisenstadt (1978) examined 699 eminent people from
various disciplines. ¼ of geniuses lost their first parent by
10 years of age; 2/3 by 15; about ½ by 21 (10% had lost
both parents by 21); >60% by age 30. These proportions
exceeded the numbers of the general population.
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What makes a great person?
Role models
Possible disruption of sexual identification: for males, loss of
father may prevent development of clearly-defined sex
role. The outcome may be a preponderance of
feminine characteristics, a type of personality that may
be related to or important for creativity. But orphan
hood does not fully explain great people. It is only a
small part of it.
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What makes a great person?
Role models (continued)
Many eminent people had role models in their specialist area
– this may have an effect. Walberg et al (1980) found
that 63% of eminent individuals had been exposed to
other eminent people at a very early age. Zuckerman
(1977) found that previous laureates had mentored
more than half of the Nobel laureates in science. There
may also be a critical age for the input of role models:
and this is around 20, and the role models are typically
about 20 years older, i.e. 40.
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What makes a great person?
Productivity (great people work harder?)
Thomas Edison held 1093 patents in the US – a record number ever.
He once said “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Einstein had 248 publications. He averaged almost 4 per year.
Charles Darwin 119. Freud 330 (averaged 7 per year). Mozart
>600 compositions. Perhaps great people work harder?
Dennis (1954) 10% of psychologists publish 37-47% of all
psychological research. The least productive 50% contribute <
15% of all psychological research.
Moles (1958) – just 36 of composers account for ¾ of all works
performed.
Eminent people also tend to produce work younger. Mozart began
composing at 6 years. Freud published his first paper at 21
years. Darwin and Einstein first published at 22 years.
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What makes a great person?
Productivity and age
Early commencement of scientific eminence does not
necessarily mean early burn-out. Bach dictated his final
composition on his deathbed at age 65. Benjamin
Franklin invented bifocals at age 78. Wilhelm Wundt –
founder of Experimental Psychology – finished the first
revision of “Volkerpsychologie” at 89 years of age. This all
suggests that eminence may be a result of a long and
productive career.
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What makes a great person?
Height
•
•
Height is also related to eminence: in all but
3 elections the winner of the US presidential
elections has been the taller candidate.
In the last election George W. Bush who won
was shorter than John Kerry, but apparently
there were no pictures in the media of them
standing next to each other.
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What makes a great person?
Height (continued)
•
This may be related to an indication of
greater maleness in that there is a strong
association between the height and status of
a man and the number of offspring that he
has. Furthermore women are more
attracted to men who are taller.
•
There are of course exceptions: Napoleon,
Hitler, etc.
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Great Person Theory (GPT)
Limitations of GPT
• Is the great person theory sufficient to explain scientific
progress?
• It is clear that there are great people around or in the past,
and certainly great leaders. But this alone is not sufficient to
explain the development of science.
• Why not? The work of what we call eminent people can be
ignored during their lives. It was only later that the work was
accepted. Perhaps the climate, or zeitgeist, has to be
appropriate in order for a new theory to be accepted?
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Great Person Theory (GPT)
Limitations of GPT (continued)
• E.g. Robert Whytt, a Scottish scientist first suggested
conditioning as an explanation for behaviour/learning in
1763 but nobody took much notice.
• In 1904 the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov was awarded
the Nobel prize in medicine for his contribution to the
physiology of digestion for his work on conditioning.
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Zeitgeist theory
• This can be traced back to the German philosopher Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) who claimed that
there is a “world spirit” which controls the course of
nature.
• This view suggests that science evolves through impersonal
forces – a natural spirit – not controlled by individuals.
Proponents of the zeitgeist say that the zeitgeist
establishes the climate within which the right person at the
right time can demonstrate innovation. If the timing is not
right, it won’t happen.
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Zeitgeist theory
How does zeitgeist influence science?
•
The accepted model dictates the way that research is
conducted. This largely prevents new ideas from
developing – because it doesn’t fit in with the accepted
model.
•
Behaviorism was dominant for years with quite a radical
proposal. It refused to acknowledge consciousness: all
behaviour could be explained in terms of stimulusresponse units, or conditioning. This was the dominant
model, especially in the USA for years and greatly
influenced how people raised children, for instance.
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Zeitgeist theory
•
•
Established theories affect the way that data are
interpreted – i.e. researchers insist on interpreting
findings in terms of the theory. Important alternative
interpretations can be missed.
Established theory influences what gets published: it is
very difficult to get others to accept finding which do not
support the theory. Findings are often rejected because
of potential “methodological flaws”, even though a
similar critique would sometimes be aimed at
“accepted” research studies: we like to read of
significant results.
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Zeitgeist theory
Science is therefore influenced by the wider context, and it is
important to understand this, if you are to get to grips with
psychology. The wider context is the focus of the rest of
this introduction.
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4. The wider context (Overview)
In effect, evidence for zeitgeist:
• temporal trends
• multiple discovery
• economic factors
• political factors
• warfare
• discrimination
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – temporal trends
• Research has looked at the cyclical nature of the
zeitgeist or spirit of the times. The idea that
society develops in cycles contradicts the idea of
slow, evolving progression. It is possible that
history is capable of retrogression as well as
progression.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – temporal trends
Kuhn’s theory of the structure of scientific revolutions
suggests that the dominant science of the time remains
dominant until anomalies are sufficient in number to
produce a new scientific theory. The new theory then
enjoys dominance until anomalies arise, and so on.
These wave-like cycles may be relatively quick, e.g. for
scientific discoveries and inventions, but cycles in the
dominance of specific creative geniuses may be very
slow, taking a long time to become dominant. Examples
of this can be seen in the arts: composers’ year of birth
and “greatest” nominations. Pop performers year of
birth and “favourite” nominations. Same applies to
painters, authors, etc.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – multiple discoveries
Further evidence for the idea that things happen when the
time is right comes from multiple discoveries, that is, the
same things discovered by different people working
independently. English astronomer J.C. Adams and
French astronomer U.J.J. Leverrier did not know of each
others work, but in 1845 and 1846 respectively, used
Newton’s work on gravity to predict the existence of
Neptune.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – multiple discoveries
Further evidence that ideas emerge when
time is right:
Elisha Gray announced his intention to file a
patent for the telephone on the same
day that Alexander Bell
filed his patent for the same. A court
battle settled the dispute.
Ogburn and Thomas (1922) detail 150 other
cases which all seem to suggest that
inventions are inevitable.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – political factors
The impact of Nazi Germany is perhaps the most dramatic
example of how culture influences scientific progress.
Jewish academics were expelled or arrested. Many
academics left Germany.
The result of this was the collapse of the intellectual climate
in Germany. In the 1920s the school of thought known
as Gestalt psychology was a dominant school. But when
the Nazis came to power in 1933 many scholars,
including the leaders of Gestalt psychology left and
moved to USA. Gestalt psychology was diminished in
Germany and was slow and rather unsuccessful in the
USA, as mentioned before.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – political factors
Naroll (1971) investigated the relationship between political
fragmentation (i.e. division of civilised country into
independent states (Yugoslavia) and creative genius.
He measured the number of active creators and the number of
independent states in four civilisations: China, India, Islam and
Europe each century between 500 BC and 1899 AD.
He found a positive relationship between the two: more
independent states = more creativity.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – political factors
Simonton (1975, 1976) conducted a similar investigation using 20year periods rather than whole centuries. As in the Noroll study,
political fragmentation was the best predictor of creativity.
He also found evidence to suggest the current political climate
predicted creativity 20 years later, regardless of the political
climate 20 years later. i.e. fragmentation now = creativity 20
years later (when academics are adults.)
Rebellions also seem to be relate to creativity, also within 20 year
time span: rebel now in 20 years = creativity (+.41).
Germany was unified with the Berlin Wall falling in 1989.
Yugoslavia is now more fragmented. What is the likely outcome
of this now at the beginning of the new century?
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – warfare
Much psychological effort was dedicated to the war effort music and productivity of munitions workers. War is
related to civil unrest one generation later. Simonton says
this may be because of the baby boom and resulting
population pressure. i.e. soldiers came home after WW2,
millions of babies were conceived and there was civil
unrest in the 1960s. Is this just coincidence?
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – warfare
• War also seems to influence creativity negatively. Perhaps
because the scientists get drafted. The greatest plays of
writers such as Shakespeare were written during peace
time. Even medical knowledge is not advanced by warfare.
While we may learn more about traumatic injuries, we
know less about basic and applied medical knowledge.
Casualty counts are negatively related to the number of
medical discoveries.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – warfare
• It is necessary to distinguish between different types of war.
Wars between European nations, or wars when European
nations are attacked by non-European nations, have an
adverse affect on creative output. But wars within nations
(civil wars) or wars when European nations attack nonEuropean ones do not have such an effect.
• Fortunately any negative consequences of war on creativity
are short-lived, because scientists make up for lost time over
the course of their careers.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – economic factors
It has been proposed that economic prosperity is positively related
to scientific achievement in a given culture.
E.g. Schmookler (1966) reported that the amount of money
invested in research is positively related to number of patents
filed.
In the extreme case, if there’s no money, there’s no science.
Padgett & Jorgenson (1982) looked at variables that were
related to economic depression. Recession was related to an
increased interest in non-science disciplines such as astrology
and mysticism.
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4. The wider context
Zeitgeist theory – economic factors
The field of applied psychology in the US grew up as a
consequence of limited academic positions -–no jobs in
universities – but there was work in industry. In
Britain, there is an emphasis in further education to
attract funding from the private sector. To do this
research has to be attractive to such sources of
funding. The popularity of forensic and consumer
psychology is evidence for this.
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4. The wider context
Discrimination or inequality
Discrimination also influences scientific progress.
There are relatively few Afro-Caribbeans in
academia. Between 1920-1966 the top ten
psychology departments in the USA awarded
almost 4000 PhDs to whites and only 8 to AfroAmericans. Women are discriminated against in
academia. We will examine this later in Feminist
Psychology.
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Summary
• History of psychology provides a framework for
understanding psychology now.
• History of science is dominated by Great Person Theory
and Zeitgeist Theory.
• Broad cultural context shapes the progress of science.
Rest of module looks at how psychological context influences
the progress of the subject. How does one school of
thought influence the development of the next?
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