Myers PSYCHOLOGY
Seventh Edition in Modules
Module 1
The History and Scope of
Psychology
James A. McCubbin, Ph.D.
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
Psychology’s Roots
Prescientific Psychology
 Is the mind connected
to the body or distinct?
 Are ideas inborn or is
the mind a blank slate
filled by experience?
Psychology’s Roots
Psychology’s Roots
 Prescientific Psychology
 Empiricism
 knowledge comes from experience via
the senses
 science flourishes through observation
and experiment
Psychophysics
Psychophysics refers to the interaction
of the mind (psyche) and the physical
world (physics)
Psychology’s Roots
 Wilhelm Wundt
opened the first
psychology
laboratory at the
University of
Leipzig (c. 1879)
Psychology’s Roots
 Structuralism
used introspection
(looking in) to
explore the
elemental
structure of the
human mind
Psychology’s Roots
 Functionalism
focused on how
behavioral
processes
function—how
they enable
organism to
adapt, survive,
and flourish
Freud and Psychoanalysis
 Sigmund Freud was a mid-century psychiatrist from
Vienna.
 He believed that psychological problems could often be
traced to childhood sexual conflicts over such issues as
breastfeeding, toilet training, and sexual jealousy
centered on the parents.
 In 1900 he introduced the first complete theory of
personality, which he called psychoanalysis. It
focused on abnormal behaviour and relied on personal
observation and reflection instead of controlled
laboratory experimentation.
Pavlov and Conditioning
The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s classical studies
of animal learning in 1906 fueled a move in psychology
toward interest in observable behaviour and away from the
self-examination of inner ideas and experiences.
 His experiments with salivating dogs have become
famous. His study of the conditioned reflex provided
psychology with a model of learning that is called
classical conditioning.
Watson and Behaviourism
 Around 1900, the time was right for a new concept of
psychology. The American psychologist John B. Watson
believed that psychology should be defined as the study
of behaviour. He called this behaviourism.
 He would completely eliminate introspection (remember
this is looking inside to gather data about the mind)
from psychology and rely on scientific method.
 This would mean studying only things that could be
observed and measured. For Watson, studying the
unconscious, or anything that you can’t see, was of
little value
Maslow, Rogers and
Humanism
 Humanistic psychology focuses on inner needs,
fulfillment, the search for identity, and other distinctly
human concerns. It is less concerned with doing
research on human behaviour than with describing its
meaning and purpose.
 Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers emphasized conscious
experience as the focus of psychology. They believed
that humans have free will in their decision making, and
that healthy people strive to reach their full potential.
 They rejected the idea that humans are controlled by a
series of rewards and reinforcements.
Modern Trends
 Cognition emphasizes information processing within
humans. It focuses on how people think – how they
take in, process, store, and retrieve information.
 Neuroscience emphasizes the biology of the brain and
nervous system. Neuroscientists use a variety of
scanning techniques that reveal brain structures and
activity.
 The Sociocultural perspective examines how thinking
and behaviour changes depending on the setting or
situation.
New Areas of Interest
 Those studying behaviour genetics focus on the
relative effects of our genes and environment on our
behaviour. It combines biology and behaviourism.
 Those studying evolutionary psychology focus on
studying behaviours that helped our ancestors survive.
This approach combines biological, psychological and
social aspects of human behaviour.
 The positive psychology movement (Martin Seligman)
focuses on making life more productive and fulfilling and
identifying and nurturing talent and wisdom. It is like
the humanistic perspective but there is a research.
Psychology’s Roots
 Definition of Psychology
 The science of behavior (what we do)
and mental processes (sensations,
perceptions, dreams, thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings)
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Big Issues
 Nature-nurture controversy
 the relative contribution that
genes and experience make to
development of psychological
traits and behaviors
Contemporary
Psychology
 Natural selection
 principle that those
inherited trait
variations
contributing to
survival will most
likely be passed on
to succeeding
generations
Contemporary
Psychology
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Perspectives
 A lot depends on your point of view
Eclectic View
No one perspective can answer all of the
questions that psychology addresses.
Each examines behaviour and mental
processes from a different viewpoint.
Most psychologists today choose to view
behaviour from more than one
perspective because they know that this
choice will increase their understanding of
topics that interest them.
Example
The handout is an example of how the
different perspectives might explain
whether or not a person helps a stranger
pick up a spilled bag of groceries when
given the opportunity.
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Basic Research
 biological psychologists explore the
links between brain and mind
 developmental psychologists study
changing abilities from womb to tomb
 cognitive psychologists study how we
perceive, think, and solve problems
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Basic Research
 Personality psychologists investigate
our persistent traits
 Social psychologists explore how we
view and affect one another
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Applied Research
 Industrial/organizational psychologists
study and advise on behavior in the
workplace
 Clinical psychologists study, assess,
and treat people with psychological
disorders
Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychiatry
 A branch of medicine dealing with
psychological disorders
 Practiced by physicians who sometimes
use medical (for example, drug)
treatments as well as psychotherapy