Survey of Modern Psychology
Introduction
What is this class about?
Refer to syllabus
We will cover:
• What psychology is
• The history of psychology
• An overview of the major fields of psychology
• The focus of the course will be on mental
illness and clinical psychology
What is (and is not!) psychology
Psychology is defined as the study of the
mind
Psychology is not
• Mind reading
• Mind control
• All about therapy – therapy is only one part of
psychology
Ancient Greece
Hippocrates
Took an advanced view of mental illness by
attributing it to physical causes
HOWEVER
He believed that physical cause to be an
imbalance of four fluids in the body
Ancient Greece
Humors
A greater amount of a particular humor resulted in the following
personality types:
• Sanguine – strong, warm blood – cheerful
• Choleric – yellow bile in the liver – anger
• Melancholic - black bile in the liver –
depressive
• Phlegmatic – mucus in the brain – cool, aloof,
slow, unemotional
Religious Views
• Middle ages through today
• Disagreed with physiological explanations,
believed that mental illness was caused by
demonic possession
Religious Views
• “Cures” could be burning witches or exorcisms
– Exorcism is still used as a treatment for Tourrette’s
Syndrome
However
Scientists today believe that some prophets may
have been schizophrenic, and hallucinations were
interpreted as divine communication
Trepanation
Prehistoric times through today
Based on the ideas that mental illness was
caused by demons that were stuck inside the
head, or by a buildup of pressure in the brain
Trepanation
This was advanced for its time because it
correctly focused on the brain.
However
Trepanation is the practice of drilling a hole in
the skull.
Trepanation
Interestingly, trepanation does have practical
use in modern medicine, but in the realm of
brain injury or surgery.
Phrenology
• Initiated by Franz Joseph Gall in the 1800s in
Austria
• Used the shape of a person’s head/bumps on
the head to predict their personality, traits,
and flaws
• Was used in employment decisions and to
determine marital partners
“Bedlam”
• Starting in the middle ages, people began to
view mental illness as a form of real illness
However
• The mentally ill were put in “hospitals” in
inhumane conditions (including cages and
chains)
“Bedlam”
While conditions in psychiatric hospitals have
been notoriously bad, some changes in the
treatment approach began in 1793, when
Philippe Pinel (who was put in charge of
hospitals in Paris) ordered that patients be
unchained.
When they were treated like people, patients
did respond positively!
“The Talking Cure”
• Term popularized in America by Sigmund
Freud in the early 1900s
• Believed that symptoms were genuinely felt
and real to the person
• Acknowledged to some degree the influence
of biology and environment
Social Psychology
• In the 1940s – 1950s (after WWII), there was
increased interest in people’s behavior in
groups
• This contrasted with the previous focus on
pathology
Psychology Today
• “Medical model” of mental illness
– Mental illness is real and treatable
• The study of behavior and mental processes
– This includes behaviors that are observed, and a
person’s inner experience
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Biological/Physiological
– We are essentially complex biological systems that
respond to both hereditary and environmental
influences
Major Perspectives: Biological
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Behavior is determined by brain structure and
chemicals and by inborn responses to external
cues for survival and reproduction
Major Perspectives: Biological
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– How do the nervous system, endocrine system
produce behavior and mental processes?
– Evolutionary psychologists seek to learn how
behaviors may be linked to evolutionary changes
that conferred a survival or reproductive
advantage on our ancestors
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Developmental
– People undergo predictable patterns of change
throughout their lives
– Behavior is determined by the interaction of
nature and nurture (heredity and environment)
Major Perspectives: Developmental
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– What are the patterns that characterize
developmental change?
– What are the genetic and environmental
influences underlying these patterns
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Cognitive
• Often paired with behavioral psychology
– People are information processing systems
– Behavior is the result of our mental
interpretations of our experience
Major Perspectives: Cognitive
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– What factors influence our mental processes,
including sensation, perception, learning,
memory, and language?
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Behavioral
– Our behavior is primarily shaped by learning
– Based on laws of behavioral learning, we respond
to stimulus cues and to our history of rewards and
punishments
Major Perspectives: Behavioral
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– What are the “laws” that associate our responses
with stimulus conditions?
– How can they be applied to improve the human
condition?
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Trait or Personality
– Individual differences result from differences in
our underlying patterns of stable characteristics
(traits)
– Behavior results from each person’s unique
combination of traits
Major Perspectives: Personality
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– How many fundamental traits are there?
– How can we use trait patterns to predict
behavior?
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Sociocultural or Social Psychology
– People are social animals, so human behavior
must be interpreted in its social context
– Behavior is heavily influenced by culture, social
norms and expectations, and social learning
Note: Social Psychology focuses on the individual, as
opposed to Sociology which studies the group
Major Perspectives: Social Psychology
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– Under what conditions is the social and cultural
situation predictive of behavior?
– How are social influences different across
cultures?
Major Perspectives
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Clinical
– Psychodynamic view
– Humanistic view
Clinical psychology encompasses what is commonly
referred to as “abnormal psychology”
Major Perspectives: Clinical
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Psychodynamic
– Emphasizes negative forces in the unconscious
– Sees behavior arising from unconscious needs,
conflicts, repressed memories, and childhood
experiences
Major Perspectives:
Clinical Psychology - Psychodynamic
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– How can our understanding of the unconscious
help us understand and treat mental disorders?
Major Perspectives: Clinical
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Humanistic
– Emphasizes human growth and potential
– Focuses on the influence of self-concept,
perceptions, interpersonal relationships, and need
for personal growth
Major Perspectives:
Clinical Psychology - Humanistic
(Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber; Psychology Core Concepts Fifth Edition)
• Questions for study
– What factors encourage high self esteem and
mental health?
– How can this knowledge be used in counseling
and therapy?
Summary of Class Demonstration
• The first students who came in were
instructed to sit on the floor.
– Students who came in later often sat on the floor
too even without explicit instructions to do so
• Students followed the order to sit on the floor
because of a fear of getting in trouble and “it
wasn’t a big deal”
Obedience
The most notable research on obedience comes
from Stanley Milgrim.
This research began in 1963, and lead to his
book Obedience to Authority in 1974.
The research began during the time of Nazi war
crime trials.
Milgrim
• A participant went to the laboratory and met
another “participant” (actually a confederate*) and
the experimenter.
• The experiment was supposedly about the effects of
punishment on learning.
• The participant was assigned to the role of teacher,
the confederate was assigned to the role of learner.
*A confederate is a person who is working with the experimenter and
poses as a participant. The actual participants are not aware of this until
the study is over
Milgrim
• The participant and the confederate were put in separate
rooms
• The participant was instructed to test the leaner’s memory
and give increasingly strong electric shocks each time the
learner made a mistake.
• The participant was given a sample shock to show that the
shocks were real and let the participant know the intensity of
the shocks.
– The confederate was not actually receiving shocks and was
in no real danger
• The learner told the experimenter (in front of the participant)
about having heart problems, but the experimenter assured
both that it was safe.
Milgrim
• As the experiment went on, the learner began
making more mistakes, and the participant
was instructed to give higher and higher
voltage shocks.
– The mechanism for administering the shocks
claimed to start at 15 volts and increased by
increments of 15 volts up to 450
Milgrim
• Beginning at 75 volts, the learner complained
about the shocks being painful.
• At 150 volts, the learner complained of heart
related chest pains and asked to be let out
• At 300 volts the learner refused to continue
• At 300 volts the learner begged to be let out,
screamed in pain, and then went silent
Milgrim
• When the participant questioned whether he
should continue to give shocks, the
experimenter told him that he must go on for
the experiment
• 65% of participants reached the maximum of
450 volts before stopping
• Many seemed to be in distress about
continuing, but still did
Milgrim - Variations
• When the experimenter did not encourage
the participant to continue, the participant
stopped giving shocks early on
• Three factors that influenced obedience were:
1. The authority figure
2. The proximity of the victim
3. The experimental procedure
The Authority Figure
• While the experimenter was not actually a
powerful authority figure, he was seen as
someone to be respected
• When the experiment was done in a rundown
office building (as opposed to laboratories at
Yale) only 48% of participants were completely
obedient
The Authority Figure
• When the experimenter was presented as
another participant (as opposed to a
researcher) only 20% were obedient
• When the experimenter gave orders by
telephone or was otherwise unable to watch
the participant, only 21% were fully obedient
– Some participants feigned obedience by only
pressing the button for 15 volt shocks
The Victim
• In the original study, participants were in a
separate room from the learner
• When they were in the same room, 40%
obeyed
• When the participant had to physically place
the learner’s hand on a shock plate, 30%
obeyed
The Experimental Procedure
• The structure of the experiment allowed to
participant to avoid feeling personally
responsible for his actions – he could blame
the authority figure
• When participants were led to believe that
they were responsible for their own actions,
they became less obedient
The Experimental Procedure
• Kilham and Mann (1974) did a similar study in
which the participant was either:
– The transmitter – took orders from the
experimenter and passed them on
Or
– The executant – had to follow out the orders
Transmitters were more compliant than executants
(54% vs. 28%)
Final Thoughts on Milgrim
Part of what made the experiment so successful
was the gradual escalation/foot in the door
approach.
By the time participants began to question their
actions, they had fully committed themselves
to the task and each subsequent step seemed
smaller.
Final Thoughts on Milgrim
Similarly to the Asch experiments, when other
“participants” (confederates) refused to obey
the participant was also less likely to obey.
Conformity
The tendency to change our perceptions,
opinions, or behaviors in ways that are
consistent with group norms
Conformity
Even though we may feel that we are individuals
and can think for ourselves, we follow certain
social customs and find it hard to break these
rules.
Conformity
In an attempted study on breaching social
norms, psychology research assistants were
assigned to ask subway passengers to give up
their seats.
Even though they knew what the purpose of the
study was, many could not perform the task
and feigned illness so their request would
seem acceptable.
Solomon Asch
Conducted a study were participants were put in a
room with a group of other people and told that
the experimenter was studying the ability to
make visual discriminations.
The experimenter then showed the participants a
sample line and set of three other lines and asked
them which line was of the same length as the
sample.
The participant was seated so he or she would
answer second to last.
Asch
In each example, the correct answer was
obvious.
On the first two trials, everyone agreed on
the same answer.
Starting on the third trial, the other people
gave a clearly wrong answer.
The other people were confederates, who were affiliated with the
experimenter and instructed to give wrong answers.
Asch
• The participants went along with the majority
37% of the time
Of the remaining 63%:
• Only 25% refused to agree on any incorrect
answer
• 50% went along on at least half of the
incorrect answers
• The remaining 25% conformed on some trials
Asch
Standard line
Comparison lines
A
B
C
Asch
In later interviews, participants said that they
went along with the majority even though
they were not always convinced that the
majority was right.
Those who refused to conform reported feeling
“conspicuous,” “crazy,” and “like a misfit”
Others actually did come to believe the rest of
the group
Why People Conform
• Informational influence
– People want to be correct, and assume that if so
many others agree the others must be right
• Normative influence
– People fear the consequences of not conforming
because we want to be accepted and liked
– Disagreement can be stressful
– Sometimes it’s more useful to reach a consensus
quickly
Types of Conformity
• Private conforming
– “True acceptance”
– Outside influences actually cause the person to
change their mind, not just their behavior
• Public conformity
– “Compliance”
– Pretending to agree, even when one does not
Conformity
• Having even one ally makes dissent more
likely
• In a later version of the Asch study, a
confederate disagreed with the majority and
the participant
– The participant was still more likely to disagree
with the majority, even though no one agreed
with him or her