Contemporary
Psychology
1
Scientific reasons for the decline of
behaviorism

Findings began to occur that were
inconsistent with learning theories

Behaviorist began to argue among
themselves about the need to develop
learning theories
2
The Zeitgeist

Psychologist became involved in WWII

Behaviorist psychology could not address
important questions being asked

Psychologists were working with other
professionals who contributed new tools for
looking at human behavior
3
1950’s –The beginning of the
cognitive movement

1954 – P. W. Bridgman, who gave
psychology the concept of operational
definitions renounced strict behaviorism

Jean Piaget – most of his studies done in
1920’s and 30’s, but not translated until
1950’s
4
1950’s –The beginning of the
cognitive movement

Two people instrumental in the resurgence
of cognitive psychology

George Miller and Ulric Neisser
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George Miller

Introduction to psychology mostly self-taught

1950’s all textbooks were purely behaviorist

Latter part of the 1950’s he became interested in
computers and computer simulations of the mind

Also encouraged to abandon behaviorism when
he developed allergies to animal hair
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Miller at Harvard

1960 Hr and Jerome Bruner given William
James old house to set up a lab to study
the human mind

Miller chose the name cognition as the
name for their subject
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Center for Cognitive Studies

Developed to be against behaviorism

Behaviorism the ruling authority, they were antiestablishment (1960’s)

Topics studied: language, memory, perception,
thinking, development, etc.

All basic parts of cognitive psychology and
forbidden topics for behaviorists
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Ulric Neisser

Physics undergraduate who took a
psychology course from Miller

M.A. degree from Kohler and in 1956
received his PhD from Harvard

Found behaviorism to be very peculiar if
not crazy
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Ulric Neisser

1st academic position was at Brandeis University – Abraham
Maslow was chair of the dept.

1967 – he published Cognitive Psychology in which he
defined what it was

He was proposing a new way of studying human behavior not
trying to start a new school of psychology

In 1976, he published a new book Cognition and Reality in
which he criticized cognitive psychology for too much reliance
on laboratory studies
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Cognitive psychology today

The information processing and computer model
of Miller and others has been abandoned for a
brain model

The basic topics have remained the same
although the immense increase in knowledge has
created more specialized areas of study

Cognitive psychology like behaviorism has
impacted all disciplines in psychology
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Humanistic psychology

Basic ideas of Humanistic psychology were not
new

Humanistic supporters developed the ideas at a
time it when it could be accepted

Greatly effected by the unrest and dissatisfaction
of young people in the 1960’s
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Humanistic criticism of Behaviorism

1. too narrow, sterile, and artificial approach

Emphasis on overt behavior was dehumanizing

Rejected the concept of humans functioning in a
deterministic manner

Behaviorism did not address human
characteristics that made us different than
nonhumans
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Humanistic criticism of
Psychoanalytic theory

Too deterministic and ignored the role of
consciousness

It only studied disturbed individuals

It ignored positive human qualities
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Basic concepts of Humanistic
psychology

Study all aspects of the human experience

Study normal healthy humans

Help normal people grow
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Abraham Maslow

A staunch behaviorist who became influenced by
Wertheimer and Ruth Benedict, an American
anthropologist

Developed his hierarchy of need with selfactualization at the pinnacle of the pyramid

Humans seen in a very positive light – always
striving to improve
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Criticisms of Maslow

Subjective criteria for a person to be selfactualized

Very little empirical support for his theory



Based on very few subjects
Limited research failed to support his theory
Theory found to have a low degree of scientific
validity and a very limited application to business
and industry
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Carl Rogers

Person-centered or client centered therapy

Personality was the result of a motivation similar
to self-actualization

Studied people with mental disorders because he
was treating people

People can rationally change their thoughts and
behaviors from undesirable to desirable
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Influence of Humanistic psychology

Roger’s person centered therapy still popular and
frequently used

Never replaced behaviorism and psychoanalysis
and never developed into a school of psychology



Most humanist were in clinical practice not academic
positions
Continued to attack behaviorism and Freudian psychology
long after their influence was gone
They never truly defined what it was, just what it wasn’t
19
Growth of Professional psychology in
the U. S.

1930’s almost all people calling themselves
psychologists worked in universities and
colleges

1950’s only half were in academic positions
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Influence of WWII

Need to treat war large number of war casualties
and others created a large need for psychologists
working outside academia

1950’s APA set up the Board of Professional
Psychologist to test and license professional
psychologists

1950’s and 1960’s demand for clinical
psychologist much greater than the demand; now
supply has caught up with demand
21
Changes in the nature of professional
psychology

The result of other professions recognizing
that knowledge of human behavior can be
applied to many situations



Industrial settings
Management consulting
Quantitative applications – surveys, opinion polls
etc.
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Outside influences on psychology

Computers that revolutionized statistical
analysis – Multi-variant statistics

Combining psychology with biological
sciences – Cognitive Neuroscience

Psychology and medicine – behavioral
medicine and health psychology
23
Has parapsychology (ESP) earned a
place in psychological science?

Attempts of scientific study of psychic phenomenon date
back to 1882 – the Society for Psychical Research in London

Proponents argue that parapsychology was once tangles up
with astrology, numerology, magic and the occult, but it no
longer is associated with these forms of mysticism. It now
only includes




Precognition
Clairvoyance
Psychokinetics
Mental telepathy
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Advocates of ESP

There are now experimental techniques that
conform to strict scientific methodology

History is full of examples of phenomenon which
at one time were caused by unknown factors

Their “science” is being held up to standards that
no science could pass
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Criticisms of ESP as a science





Gullibility of humans ; we easily fooled
Inaccuracy of our sensory systems
Inaccurate perception of probability of
events
Illusion of control
No acceptable theory of what ESP is and
how it works only what it isn’t
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Examples of criticism

Probability – there are 22 people in a room. What
is the probability that 2 of them have the same
birthday?

What we perceive as a rare event isn’t always

Deja vue –

Dreams and other premonitions of things that will
happen
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Bottom line

The study of ESP will probably not be considered
as a science by most until they can describe what
it is and the system that underlies it.

Does this mean that it does not exist?

No, only that current evidence does not seem to support it
now. It is necessary to be highly critical of their existence
until the mechanisms have been identified.
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