Download Unit 1 History and Approaches 2017

Unit 1:
History and Approaches
• Psychology is a scientific study of
mental processes and behaviors.
Prescientific Psychology
• Ancient Greeks
–Socrates
–Plato
–Aristotle
Prescientific Psychology
• Rene Descartes
• Francis Bacon
• John Locke
–Tabula Rasa
(blank slate)
• Empiricism
Empiricism
= the view that knowledge originates in
experience and that science should,
therefore, rely on observation and
experimentation.
Lets make this easy….its SCIENCE
Psychological Science is Born
• Wilhelm Wundt (Father of
Psychology)
–University of Leipzig (1st psych lab)
–Reaction time experiment
Structuralism
= an early school of psychology that used
introspection to explore the structural
elements of the human mind.
• Edward Titchener
–Structuralism
• Introspection – Everything you sense
Functionalism
= a school of psychology that focused on
how our mental and behavioral processes
function – how they enable us to adapt,
survive, and flourish.
• William James
–Wrote
1st Psychology
Textbook
-Functionalism
Mary Calkins
• Screwed out of her degree
–Margaret Floy Washburn
• 1st Woman to receive Ph.D.
Experimental Psychology
= the study of behavior and thinking using
the experimental method.
Gestalt Psychology
• a movement in psychology founded in
Germany, trying to explain perceptions in
terms of whole parts rather than by analyzing
their small parts
• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• Max Wetheimer
Psychoanalysis
• Sigmund Freud
Freud belived
• Unconscious mind – what we are not aware of
• Repress bad memories – Repression
• Dreams tell us about our unconsciousness –
Dream Analysis
• Defense mechanisms –
– We use these as a way to deal
with things that bother us
Behaviorism
= the view that psychology studies behavior
without reference to mental processes.
Study of observable behavior
–Ivan Pavlov
–John B. Watson
–B.F. Skinner
Humanistic Psychology
= emphasized the growth potential of
healthy people and the individual’s
potential for personal growth.
• Humanistic psychology
–Carl Rogers
–Abraham Maslow
Cognitive Perspective
= study of cognition (including perception,
thinking, memory, and language).
Psychoanalytic Psychology
= studies how unconscious drives and
conflicts influence behavior, and uses that
information to treat people with
psychological disorders.
Biological/Neuroscience
Psychology
= a branch of psychology that studies the
links between biological (including
neuroscience and behavior genetics) and
psychological processes.
Evolutionary Psychology
= the study of the roots of behavior and
mental processes using the principles of
natural selection.
Behavioral Psychology
= the scientific study of observable behavior,
and its explanation by principles of
learning.
Cognitive Perspective
= study of cognition (including perception,
thinking, memory, and language).
Social-Cultural Psychology
= the study of how situations and cultures
affect our behavior
and thinking.
Psychological
Approaches/Perspectives
Psychological
Approaches/Perspectives
Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis
–Biological factors
–Psychological factors
–Social-cultural factors
All guide behavior
• Biopsychosocial Approach
Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis