History of Psychology
Lecture Overview
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What is Psychology?
History of Psychology
Early views of Mental Disorder
Origins of Psychological Science
Psychological Science Today
– Levels of analysis
What is Psychology?
• Psychology is the study of the
– Mind -- mental activity such as thoughts,
feelings, and subjective experiences
– Brain – an organ in the skull that produces
mental activity and behavior
– Behavior – any observable action or response
History of Psychology
• Interest in understanding human behavior and
mental processes has existed for centuries
– Written documents date back 25 Centuries to Greek
Philosophers Socrates, Aristotle, & Plato
– In Asia, evidence of interest in exploring
consciousness and in controlling it with meditation
and yoga
– In Africa, personality and mental disorder explained
based on traditional spiritual beliefs
History of Psychology
• Over time, our understanding of behavior and
mental processes has evolved
• Current understanding of behavior and mental
processes is derived from the science of
psychology
– What were the earliest conceptions of disordered
mental processes (i.e., mental illness)?
– How did psychology as a science evolve?
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Earliest conceptions of mental disorder –
displeasure of the gods or demonic
possession
– E.g., Ancient Babylonians – insanity resulted
from possession by the demon Idta
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Treatment developed out of conception of
mental disorders
– Flogging
– Starvation
– Drinking “unpalatable brews”
– Trephining
Trephining
Trephining
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Other forms of treatment
– Sleeping in the temple of the deity of healing
– Artistic endeavors
– Bathing in hot springs
– Exercise
– Those who were not cured, however, were
chased from the temples and/or stoned
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
– Earliest proponent of somatogensis
• Mental disorder resulted from disturbances
of the body NOT demonic possession
• Stress can also damage the mind and body
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Hippocrates
– Normal Functioning depended on delicate
balance of four “humors” or body fluids
– Mental Disorder resulted from an imbalance of
these “humors”
• Blood – changeable mood
• Black Bile -- melancholia
• Yellow Bile (choler) – irritable; anxious
• Phlegm – sluggish or dull
Early Views of Mental Disorder
• Treatment
– Looked for natural remedies
– E.G., For melancholia
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Tranquility
Sobriety
Care in choosing food and drink
Abstinence from sexual activity
History of Psychology
• Galen (1st Century AD) – autopsy of apes  lead to his
belief in the role of the brain in mental function
• 3rd Century AD -- Return to demonology; mentally ill as
witches (?); Church had responsibility for care of
mentally ill
• 1700’s -- move toward Psychogenesis – mental
disorders attributed to psychic malfunctions
• 1850’s -- Return to Somatogenesis with publication of
Kraeplin’s classification system
Origins of Psychological Science
• Three major historical debates/theories
influenced development of psychology as
a science
– Nature vs Nurture
– Mind vs Body
– Theory of Evolution
Origins of Psychological Science
• Nature vs Nurture Debate
– Ongoing debate since the time of the Greeks
about causes of psychological characteristics
• Psychological characteristics  thinking feeling,
experiencing and behavior
Origins of Psychological Science
• Nurture  psychological characteristics
are acquired through learning, experience,
or culture
– John Locke 
• Tabula Rasa – the mind is a blank slate which is
written upon through experience –
• View that psychological characteristics are entirely
determined by experience
• i.e., ENVIRONMENT IS KEY!
Origins of Psychological Science
• Nature  psychological characteristics are
biologically determined or innate; that is,
we are born with it
• i.e., IT’S ALL ABOUT OUR GENES
Origins of Psychological Science
• Schizophrenia as an example
– Higher rates of concordance for schizophrenia
between identical than between fraternal
twins  nature
– Schizoprehnogenic mother  nurture
– Rates higher when identical twins share a
placenta than when they each have their own
placenta  nurture
Origins of Psychological Science
• Intelligence
– Highly heritable but also influenced by
• Education, nutrition, enrichment of environment
• Nature  may limit potential to a certain range
BUT Nurture can influence where individual can
fall within that range
• Current thinking  all behavior is some
combination of Nature and Nurture
Origins of Psychological Science
Implications of the Nature/Nurture
Debate
• Thinking, feeling, experiencing, behavior
have multiple causes
• Biology is NOT destiny
Origins of Psychological Science
• The Mind vs Body Debate
– Earliest conceptions were driven by religious
doctrine
– The divine and immortal soul is what
separated humans from animals
• It controlled the mind and behavior
– Thus, the mind was seen as distinct from the
body
Origins of Psychological Science
• DaVinci (1500 AD) –
– Believed that all sensory experience (i.e., vision,
touch, smell) was located in a single area of the brain
which he believed to be the home of thought and
judgment
– He based his beliefs on autopsies he conducted on
people
– His method and views were seen as offensive to the
church because they violated the presumed sanctity
of the human body
Origins of Psychological Science
• DesCartes(1600 AD) –
– The first to promote the concept of dualism  the
mind and the body were separate BUT related entities
• The mind influenced the body
• The body also influences the mind (considered his most
radical view)
– Some mental functions, such as memory and
imagination, were the result of bodily functions
– Volitional behavior, which was divine, was controlled
by the rational mind, and therefore was independent
of the body
Origins of Psychological Science
• Current advances in biological and medical
research now suggest that the mind is a function
of the brain
– Examples
• Terry Schiavo
• Specific brain regions have specific functions
• Impact of imbalance of one neurotransmitter on ability
to think and reason
• Current conception – the mind is what the brain
does!
Origins of Psychological Science
• The relation between the mind, brain, and
behavior is bidirectional
Brain
Mind
Behavior
Origins of Psychological Science
• The Theory of Natural Selection
– Species evolve through a process known as
natural selection
– Characteristics that were adaptive in specific
environments had a selective advantage
– In Darwin’s words “ … favourable variations would
tend to be preserved and unfavourable ones to be
destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of
a new species.”
Origins of Psychological Science
• Genetic variation produces variations in traits or
characteristics.
• Traits that increased the likelihood of survival of
the species were preserved and passed along to
the next generation
– These are known as adaptations
• Maladaptive traits (i.e., decreased the likelihood
of survival) become extinct, because the animal
did not survive or did not procreate.
Origins of Psychological Science
• Sir Francis Galton (Darwin’s cousin)– some of
the traits that evolved were psychological in
nature
Origins of Psychological Science
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– The brain has evolved over millions of years to solve
adaptive problems – such as “how does one survive
during periods of famine or deprivation”
• Then
– “How does this survival mechanism, that evolved
millions of years ago, affect us in modern society?”
Survival Mechanisms: Famine
• Taste-specific satiety – become satiated more
quickly when exposed to a single flavor than
to a variety of flavors
• Adaptive because  we see out a variety of
foods to ensure we meet our nutritional
needs
– E.g., We eat more at buffets that at regular
restaurants
• Current Implications – high rate of obesity
Survival Mechanisms: Learning
• Specific area of the brain that recognizes reward
• This area of the brain “lights up” when a
behavior is followed by a biologically relevant
consequence
– i.e., consequence that increases our likelihood of
survival
• Leads to repetition of the behavior
• Current Implications  brain mechanisms that
set us up for addiction or obesity
Survival Mechanisms: Sex
• Gender differences in tendency toward
promiscuity develops from need to ensure
survival of offspring
– Males  more sexual partners means greater
number of offspring survive
– Females  better sexual partners means greater
likelihood of offspring survival
• Remember: Biology is NOT destiny
Implications of Evolutionary Theory
• Pioneering research in animals could be used to
explain human behavior
– Pavlov’s dogs – implications for human learning
– Helmholtz’ research on nerve impulses in frogs could
be used to understand nerve impulses in humans
– Animal models of addiction, ADHD and other mental
disorders allow us to determine brain areas involved
in these disorders and novel compounds for treatment
Origins of Psychological Science
• Wundt and Structuralism
– Structuralism – conscious experience can be
broken down into its most basic components
or elements
– Introspection – the process of reporting on
one’s own mental experiences of a stimulus
– Identified major areas of interest to
psychologists
Origins of Psychological Science
• James and Functionalism
– Argued that structuralism was too narrow
– Functionalism – Influenced by Darwinian
Theory; i.e., that the mind evolved to serve
adaptive functions
– These adaptive functions should be evident in
behavior and in daily life; thus interested in
studying the functions of the mind
Origins of Psychological Science
• Freud and Psychoanalysis
– Freud was a physician
– Had patients with neurological symptoms that had no
physical explanation
– Freud believed that much of mental activity occurred
outside of the individual’s conscious awareness 
first to be interested in the Unconscious mind
– Mental disorder – unconscious mental forces in
conflict
Origins of Psychological Science
• Gestalt Theory
– We perceive information as uniform and
whole not as separate elements
– The whole is greater than the sum of its
elements
Origins of Psychology as a Science
Origins of Psychological Science
• Watson, Skinner, & Behaviorism –
Studying the mind is unscientific
– Observable behavior, not the mind, should be
the focus of scientific inquiry
– All behavior is a function of environmental
influences
How do we Understand Behavior?
7 Levels of Analysis
• Genetic
• Neurochemical
• Brain Systems
• Behavioral
• Perceptual/Cognitive
• Individual
• Social/Cultural
7 Disciplines
• Biological
• Developmental
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Trait
• Clinical
• Sociocultural
Understanding Behavior using a
Levels of Analysis Approach
• Depression
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Genetics
Neurochemistry
Developmental
Perceptual/Cognitive
• Academic
Performance
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Genetics
Behavioral
Developmental
Perceptual/cognitive
Social/Cultural