Prologue: The Story Prologue: The Story of Psychologyof Psychology

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Prologue: The Story of Prologue: The Story of PsychologyPsychology

Psychology’s Roots Prescientific Psychology

Psychological Science is Born

Psychological Science Develops

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Prologue: The Story of Prologue: The Story of PsychologyPsychology

Contemporary Psychology Psychology’s Big Debate

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Psychology’s Subfields

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Psychology’s RootsPsychology’s RootsPrescientific Psychology

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In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and perceptions combined to

form ideas.

Prescientific PsychologyPrescientific PsychologyConfucius (551-479 B.C.)

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In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and the importance of an

educated mind.

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Prescientific PsychologyPrescientific PsychologyHebrew Scriptures

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Hebrew scriptures linked mind and emotion to the body.

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What is the mind?What is the mind?The battered offspring of the

union of philosophy and psychology (Reber)

The totality of the conscious and unconscious mental experiences of an individual organism (Reber)

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Where is the mind?Where is the mind?

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The scientific study of The scientific study of behavior and mental processbehavior and mental processBehavior

◦Any measurable response of an item◦The actions by which an organism

adjusts to its environmentMental Processes

◦An ongoing systematic series of actions or events that takes place in the brain

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Fascination with Abnormality:Fascination with Abnormality:TrephiningTrephining

Evidence that the brain controls behavior◦ 40,000 years ago◦ Cro-magnons

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TrephiningTrephining

Geographical evidence of trepanning◦ Ancient Egypt◦ far and middle east◦ China◦ India◦ Aztecs◦ Incans◦ Brazilian tribes◦ the south seas◦ north and equatorial

Africa

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TrephiningTrephining

Drill holes in the brain to release “something”

Used to cure mental illness◦ Lobotomy

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Orientations of Greek Orientations of Greek Explanation of Human ActivityExplanation of Human Activity

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Naturalistic

Biological

Mathematical

Eclectic

Humanistic

NaturalisticNaturalistic

Ionian physicistsLife and matter

are inseparable

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Thales (650-546 BC)Thales (650-546 BC)

Water is first element

Intrinsic to all life

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Anaximander (610-546 BC)Anaximander (610-546 BC)

Earth is suspended in the cosmos

Stars, sun and moon revolve around the earth

Air surrounds earth

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Heraclitus (530-? BC)Heraclitus (530-? BC)

Sought unifying principle to explain the nature of change - Fire

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BiologicalBiological

Emphasized the internal state of human as holding the clue to life

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Alcmaeon of CrotonAlcmaeon of Croton(c. 500 B.C.)(c. 500 B.C.)MonistFirst real

psychologistDissected the

eye◦ Traced the optic

nerve◦ Thought thought

and sensation occur in the brain

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Hippocrates Hippocrates (c. 460 – 377 B.C.)(c. 460 – 377 B.C.)

The Brain◦ Pleasure◦ Joy◦ Sorrow◦ Pain◦ Grief and tears

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Hippocrates Hippocrates (c. 460 – 377 B.C.)(c. 460 – 377 B.C.)

“With it we think and understand, see and hear, and we discriminate between the the ugly and beautiful, between what is pleasant and what is unpleasant and between good and evil”

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Hippocrates Hippocrates (c. 460 – 377 B.C.)(c. 460 – 377 B.C.)

EpilepsyDisease of the

brainWarned against

treatment with spells, amulets and “other illiberal practices.”

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Hippocrates Hippocrates (c. 460 – 377 B.C.)(c. 460 – 377 B.C.)

SensesOccurred in the

brain◦ “the primary seat of

sense”◦ supreme gland

secreted soothing phlegm called pituita (pituitary gland)

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MathematicalMathematical

Used the order and beauty of math to assert the unity of the world

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Pythagoras (582-500 BC)Pythagoras (582-500 BC)

GeometryBasis for life

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EclecticEclectic

Wandering Scholars

Study life as presented by people in the world

cautioned against speculation beyond observable reality

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HumanisticHumanistic

Humanity on a higher plane of life

emphasizes:◦ reason◦ language◦ self-reflection

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Anaxagoras (488-428 BC)Anaxagoras (488-428 BC)

NousBasic Elements

◦ Earth◦ Air◦ Fire◦ Water

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Socrates (469-399 B.C.) Socrates (469-399 B.C.) and Plato (428-348 B.C.)and Plato (428-348 B.C.)

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Socrates and his student Plato believed the mind was separate from the body, the mind

continued to exist after death, and ideas were innate.

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Aristotle (c. 384 – 322 B.C.)Aristotle (c. 384 – 322 B.C.)

Student of Plato◦ The heart was the seat of

intelligence◦ The heart was the body’s

nerve center◦ The brain cooled hot

blood from the heart

Aristotle suggested that the soul is not separable from the body and that knowledge (ideas) grow from experience.

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Aristotle’s structure of the Aristotle’s structure of the soulsoul

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Vision

Hearing

Touch

Taste

Smell

CommonSense

ImaginationMemory

Passive Mind

Active Mind

Medieval Times and The RenaissanceMedieval Times and The Renaissance(c.1000 - 1500)(c.1000 - 1500)

The emergence of science

The emergence of humanism◦ Thinking became

human-centered Rather than God-centered

Grünewald’s The temptation of St. Anthony◦ Human qualities of

temptation and evil

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Medieval Times and The RenaissanceMedieval Times and The Renaissance(c.1000 - 1500)(c.1000 - 1500)

The emergence of a more biological view of human behavior

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Medieval Physicians Medieval Physicians Explanation for BehaviorExplanation for Behavior

Invented humors (bodily fluids)◦ Phlegm◦ Blood◦ Yellow bile ◦ Black bile

(melancholy) All interacted to

cause disease or preserve health

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Rene Descartes (1596-1650)Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

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Descartes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind)-body separation, but wondered how

the immaterial mind and physical body communicated.

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Rene Descartes (1596-1650)Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Cartesian DualismThe mind was an

object◦ one that took up no

spaceThe soul or mind

moved “vital forces” about in the brain◦ its action on a

special organ called the pineal

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Francis Bacon (1561-1626)Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

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Bacon is one of the founders of modern science, particularly the experimental

method.

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John Locke 1632-1704John Locke 1632-1704

EmpiricismIdeasFountains of

Knowledge◦ Sensations◦ Reflection

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Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth,

and experiences wrote on it.

Prescientific PsychologyPrescientific PsychologyWhat is the relation of mind to the body?

Mind and body are connected

Mind and body are distinct

The Hebrews Socrates

Aristotle Plato

Augustine Descartes

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Prescientific PsychologyPrescientific PsychologyHow are ideas formed?

Some ideas are inborn

The mind is a blank slate

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke

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Psychological Science is Psychological Science is BornBorn

Structuralism

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Wundt and Titchener studied the elements (atoms) of the mind by conducting

experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in 1879.

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Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)1920)

In Lepzig, GermanyFounded the 1st

formal laboratory dedicated to psychological research◦ Focused on sensation

and perception◦ Looked at speed of

simple mental processes

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•Wundt’s student, professor at Cornell University

•Analyzed the intensity, clarity and quality of the parts of consciousness

•Founder of structuralism

E.B. Titchener

Max Wertheimer 1880-1943Max Wertheimer 1880-1943

Gestalt Psychology

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FunctionalismFunctionalism

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Influenced by Darwin, William James established the school of functionalism,

which opposed structuralism.

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William James 1842-1910William James 1842-1910

Principles of Psychology

Functionalism

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Psychological Science is Psychological Science is BornBorn

The Unconscious Mind

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Sigmund Freud and his followers emphasized the importance of the

unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior.

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Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)(1856-1939)

Austrian physician that focused on illness

Founder of the psychoanalytic perspective

Believed that abnormal behavior originated from unconscious drives and conflicts

Psychological Science Psychological Science DevelopsDevelops

Behaviorism

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Watson (1913) and later Skinner emphasized the study of overt behavior as

the subject matter of scientific psychology.

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John B. WatsonJohn B. Watson

Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It

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Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

BehavioristRussian PhysiologistStudied learning through associations in animals

Emphasized the study of observable behaviors

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)

•Behaviorist

•American psychologist at Harvard

•Focused on learning through rewards and observation

•studied learning and effect of reinforcement

B.F. Skinner

Psychological Science Psychological Science DevelopsDevelops

Humanistic Psychology

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Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth

potential and our need for love and acceptance.

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Wolfgang KohlerWolfgang Kohler

Created Gestalt Psychology

The whole is different from the sum of its parts.

Integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Wolfgang Kohler

(1865-1965)

Psychology TodayPsychology Today

We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we

do) and mental processes (inner thoughts and feelings).

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Psychological Associations & Psychological Associations & SocietiesSocieties

The American Psychological Association is the largest organization of psychology with 160,000

members world-wide, followed by the British Psychological Society with 34,000 members.

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Psychology’s Big DebatePsychology’s Big Debate

Nature versus Nurture

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Darwin stated that nature selects those that best enable the organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

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Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Psychology’s Three Main Levels of AnalysisAnalysis

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Psychology’s Current Psychology’s Current PerspectivesPerspectivesPerspective Focus Sample QuestionsNeuroscience How the body and

brain enables emotions?

How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes?

How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

Behavior genetics

How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences?

To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?

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Psychology’s Current Psychology’s Current PerspectivesPerspectivesPerspective Focus Sample Questions

Psychodynamic

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?

How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

Behavioral How we learn observable responses?

How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

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Psychology’s Current Psychology’s Current PerspectivesPerspectivesPerspective Focus Sample QuestionsCognitive How we encode,

process, store and retrieve information?

How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?

Social-cultural

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?

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Psychology’s Subfields: Psychology’s Subfields: ResearchResearch

Psychologist What she does

BiologicalExplore the links between brain and mind.

DevelopmentalStudy changing abilities from womb to tomb.

CognitiveStudy how we perceive, think, and solve problems.

Personality Investigate our persistent traits.

SocialExplore how we view and affect one another.

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Psychology’s Subfields: Psychology’s Subfields: ResearchResearch

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Data: APA 1997

Psychology’s Subfields: Psychology’s Subfields: AppliedApplied

Psychologist What she does

ClinicalStudies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

CounselingHelps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

EducationalStudies and helps individuals in school and educational settings

Industrial/Organizational

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

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Clinical Psychology vs. Clinical Psychology vs. PsychiatryPsychiatryA clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people

with psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use

treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically

diseased patients.

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