Download Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology Module 1: Psychology`s

Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology
Module 1: Psychology’s Domains
Early Leaders and Approaches in the
Study of Psychology
"Speaking of fruitcakes, any plans for the holidays?"
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
“the father of psychology”
Structuralism
“What are the pieces that make
up thinking and experience?”
To apply scientific principles for
study of human mind and behavior,
establishes first laboratory in
Germany,1879.
Proposed School of Structuralism: approach of psychology that mind consists of three
basic elements – sensations, feelings, and images.
Believed brain was made of up of nonphysical elements – thoughts, emotions,
experiences, feelings, etc. Subjects required to look inward (introspection) to
describe their emotions or feelings.
William James (1842-1910)
Harvard professor; pioneer of American psychology.
Functionalism
Consciousness – awareness - is a stream of everchanging thoughts; impossible to break it down
into individual elements.
Most interested how humans function (School of
Functionalism Psychology) and adapt to and organize
their environment. Thinking developed because it is
adaptive.
“To the infant the world is
just a big, booming,
buzzing confusion.”
Adaptive behaviors
become habits: the
“flywheel of society.”
Like physical traits, useful
behavioral traits could be
passed to future
generations.
Gestalt
Germany, 1930s
School of Gestalt Psychology: emphasizing how
we organize information wholes and integrate
separate stimuli into meaningful patterns.
Focus on perception – the organization and
interpretation of stimuli received and within its context
on how it influences behavior and problem solving.
“Perceptions are more than
the sum of their parts.”
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Psychoanalysis
Austrian, develops first complex personality
theory.
School of Psychoanalysis Psychology:
importance of unconscious motives and
conflicts as determinants of human behavior.
“The mind is like an
iceberg, it floats with oneseventh of its bulk above
water.”
Humans are motivated by primitive sexual
drives, forbidden desires, and traumatic
childhood experiences. Focused on the
effects of these conflicts – buried in the
unconscious – on our conscious.
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Behaviorism
One of the first American psychologists to study
the impact of learning on human emotion
Made scientific inquiry a primary focus of research.
School of Behaviorism: study of observable behavior and
studies the relationship between stimuli and responses.
We feel or do because of the association we have made.
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, …to take any one at random and train him to become
any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even
beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents.”
The Field of Psychology
Psychology:
The scientific study of mental processes and behavior
Mental processes:
anything the brain is capable of doing (thinking, learning, believing, forming
attitudes, imagining, etc.).
Behavior
can mean most any activity (blinking, sweating, smoking, etc.).
Psychologists vs. Psychiatrists
Psychologists:
study the physical and the psychological aspects of behavior
Research Psychologists:
study the origin, cause or results of behaviors
Applied Psychologists:
make use of findings of research psychologists
Psychiatrists:
medical doctors with training to treat medical disorders
A Few Famous “Psychiatrists”
Bob Newhart Show
Dr. Frasier Crane
Dr. Lucy Van Pelt
Calvin and Hobbes
Subfields of Psychology
Clinical:
diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
Counseling:
diagnosis and treatment of less severe problems
Developmental:
changes over a life span
Personality:
comparing and contrasting personalities
Experimental:
conducting research and studies
Physiological:
Finding biological reasons for behavior
Social:
behavior affected by presence of others
Industrial/Organizational:
Relationship between people
and their work environment
What items will you not find in
a gaming hall of any casino?
how stores are spying on you
General Themes of Psychology
1. Nature v. Nurture
Is our behavior influence greater by our genes or by our
environment?
2. Determinism (“hardwired”) v. Freewill
How much control over our behavior do we have?
3. Methodology
What is the best approach in the scientific study of human behavior?
Modern Approaches Used in Psychology Today
Biopsychological Approach
Biopsychological: views behaviors as the result of nervous system
functions and biology.
Advantages
Understanding biological aspects
of behavior can help in developing
medical treatment for some
disorders; observable behavior.
Disadvantages
It does little to explain social
influences on behavior.
Hormones, heredity, brain
chemicals, tumors, etc.
football concussions
Vitruvian Man,
Da Vinci, 1490
Behavioral Approach
Behavioral: behavior is product of learning and associations.
Advantages
It can help parents teach children
appropriate behavior;
strengthening or weakening
observable behaviors.
Classical and Operant Conditioning
Disadvantages
It takes away our “free will.”
B.F. Skinner
John B. Watson
Humanistic Approach
Humanistic: people are basically good and capable of helping themselves.
Advantages
The “human potential;” It gives
people power over their own lives
and behavior; the importance of
environment.
Disadvantages
No one is good all the time.
Achieving “self actualization – the
ideal self.
Carl Rogers
Albert Maslow
Psychoanalytic Approach
Psychoanalytic: a system that views the individual as the product
of unconscious forces.
Advantages
A framework for examining
thought process below the
consciousness.
Less emphasis today on early
childhood experiences and
more on the motivations
behind behavior.
Disadvantages
It focuses on how people are only
products of mostly negative
unconscious impulses.
Sigmund
Freud
Cognitive Approach
Cognitive: emphasizes how humans use mental processes to handle
problems or develop certain personality characteristics.
Advantages
Disadvantages
It analyzes how thoughts affects
behavior; how information is
stored, recalled and utilized.
It downplays the role of emotions.
Use of brain scanning technology to observe the living brain.
Using marijuana impedes
left/right brain
communication – a
negative impact on
cognition
Roden’s “The Thinker”
(1882)
Sociocultural Approach
Sociocultural: behavior is strongly influenced by the rules and expectations of
specific social groups or cultures.
Advantages
It helps psychologists to counsel people
from different cultures and to understand
social influences on behavior.
Peer pressures and expectations of a
culture – how to look, act behave.
Disadvantages
It does not address physiological
influences on behavior.
Eclecticism
Eclecticism: process of making your own system by borrowing from other
systems; not always one answer to explain a behavior.
Dr. Frasier Crane
Steve Blass Disease
Rick Ankiel