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The Evolution of PsychologyHistory, Approaches, and Questions
The Evolution of Psychology
• Learning Objectives:1. Explain how psychology changed from a philosophical to a scientific discipline.2. List the most important questions that concern psychologists.3. Outline the basic schools of psychology and describe how each school has
contributed to psychology.
The Evolution of Psychology
• Psychology has changed dramatically over its history.– The field has moved from speculation about behavior to a more objective,
scientific approach.– There has been an increasing influx of women into the field.
• Most psychologists are now women.• However, the basic questions of psychology have remained constant.
The Evolution of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers
The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers
• Greek Philosophers– Plato (428 BC – 347 BC) – “nature:” certain types of knowledge are inborn– Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – “nurture:” children are born a blank slate;
knowledge is acquired through experience• European Renaissance Philosophers
– Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650 BC) – believed in: free will – the mind controls the body; nature – innate natural abilities; dualism – the mind and body and fundamentally different
– Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers
• These philosophers did not conduct research to support their arguments. The transition from philosophy to psychology occurred in the 1800s.– Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) – developed psychology laboratory in Leipzig,
Germany– William James (1842-1910) – founded laboratory at Harvard University
The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers
The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers
The Evolution of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:Structuralism
• Structuralism – a school of psychology aimed at identifying the basic elements of conscious experience
• Structuralists used introspection to map the elements of consciousness.– introspection – involves asking participants to describe exactly what they
experience during mental tasks
The Evolution of Psychology:Structuralism
The Evolution of Psychology:Functionalism
• Functionalism – the goal is to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects they currently possess– Associated with William James and influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural
selection• Functionalism’s principles have been absorbed into psychology.
– Functionalism’s legacy is most apparent in the field of evolutionary psychology.
The Evolution of Psychology:Evolutionary Psychology
• Evolutionary psychology – branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior– Fitness – the extent to which a characteristic helps the individual organism
survive and reproduce
The Evolution of Psychology:Evolutionary Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:Psychodynamic Psychology
• Psychodynamic psychology – an approach focusing on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories
• Unconscious processes may be revealed through talk therapy and dream analysis, components of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.
The Evolution of Psychology:Psychodynamic Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:Psychodynamic Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:Behaviorism
• Behaviorism – approach based on the idea that consciousness cannot be studied objectively– proposed that psychologists should limit their attention to behavior itself
The Evolution of Psychology:Behaviorism
The Evolution of Psychology:Behaviorism
The Evolution of Psychology:Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive psychology – field that studies mental processes, such as perception, memory, and judgment– achieved prominence in the 1960s, with the advent of computer technology– argues that understanding mental processes is necessary to understand
behavior
The Evolution of Psychology:Cognitive Psychology
• Studied memory for lists under different conditions
• Studied the cognitive and social processes of remembering
• Found that our knowledge and expectations influence our memory
Hermann Ebbinghaus Sir Frederic Bartlett
The Evolution of Psychology:Cognitive Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:Cognitive Psychology
• The cognitive approach remains highly influential in many areas of psychology.• Cognitive psychology has benefited from advances in neuroimaging.
– neuroimaging – the use of techniques to provide pictures of the structure and function of the living brain
The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology
• Psychology is not a single discipline, but a collection of many subdisciplines.– The subdisciplines share common approaches and exchange knowledge
The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology
The Evolution of Psychology
• Key Takeaways– The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more objective
as more sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed.– Some basic questions asked by psychologists include those of nature versus
nurture, free-will versus determinism, accuracy versus inaccuracy, and conscious versus unconscious processing.
– The Structuralists attempted to analyze the nature of consciousness using introspection.
– The Functionalists based their ideas on the work of Darwin and their approaches led to the field of evolutionary psychology.
The Evolution of Psychology
• Key Takeaways, continued– The Behaviorists explained behavior in terms of stimulus, response and
reinforcement, while denying the presence of free will.– Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, process, and remember
information.– Psychodynamic psychology focuses on unconscious drives and the potential to
improve lives through psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.– The social-cultural approach focuses on the social situation, including how
cultures and social norms influence our behavior.