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History of Psychology:
Aristotle, before 30 BC
Greek naturalist and
philosopher who theorized
about learning, memory,
motivation, emotion,
perception, and personality.
René Descartes:
1596-1650
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Originated the concept of Dualism,
viewed mind and body as
interactive machines.
Stated that the mind could follow body
and vice versa.
Proposed the idea of both voluntary and
involuntary behavior.
Ruled out areas other than the brain
for mental functioning.
John Locke:
1632-1704
Knowledge should be
acquired by careful observation.
 No innate ideas: all knowledge
comes from experience or
reflection.
 Mind is a blank slate written on
by experience (tabula rasa).
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Charles Darwin:
1850s
Studied the evolution
of finches and expands
his study to include humans.
 Opposed religious teachings of
the time by suggesting that
man was a common ancestor
to lower species.
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Birth of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt:
Father of Psychology
1879: Leipzig, Germany.
 Intended to make psychology
a reputable science.
 Many American psychologists
eventually went on to study
in Leipzeig.
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Wilhelm Wundt:
Father of Psychology
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Most of his experiments on
sensation and perception.
Did not think that high order mental
processes could be studied
experimentally.
Trained in medicine and philosophy.
Wrote many books about psychology,
philosophy, ethics, and logic.
Can you read this?
This is bcuseae the
huammn mnid deos not
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istlef, but the word as a
wlohe. Amzanig, huh?
Introspection
Looking inward at one’s
own mental processes.
Because it is not
objective, it fails
miserably.
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E.B. Titchener
Wundt’s student.
 Taught at Cornell University.
Studied nature of mental
experiences.
 Structuralism: Analyze
sensations, images and feelings
into their most basic elements.
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William James:
1842-1910
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Claimed that searching for building
blocks was a waste of time
because brain and mind are constantly
changing: focused on function.
Functionalism. Underlying causes and
practical consequences of certain
behaviors and mental strategies:
“Stream of Consciousness.”
Expanded psychology to animal behavior.
Herman Ebbinghaus
1885
Published
classic studies on
memory, nonsense
syllables, learning
curve.
American Psychological
Association (APA)
Founded in 1892:
the governing body of all
research not conducted
by universities.
Eclecticism
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Utilizing of diverse theories and schools
of thought.
Mosaic, no single approach can create
the whole picture.
Unlikely for psychology to ever have a
unifying paradigm.
Grand theories replaced by more specific
ones.
Fields in Psychology
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Group activity:
Schools of Pscyhology
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song
The Gestalt School
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Based on the idea that perceptions are
more than the sums of their parts
Instead of “parts”, they are wholes that
give shape, or meaning, to the parts.
Ex: the previous song
Psychological Perspectives
Today
Behavioralism
Behavioral Perspective:
Focus on the influence of
environment on behavior.
All behavior is observable and
measurable.
Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov, 1849-1936.
 Russian experimenter who showed
automatic/involuntary behavior in
learned responses to specific
stimuli in the environment.
 Created “Classical
Conditioning.”
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Behaviorism
John Watson, 1913.
 Psychology can never be as
objective as chemistry or
biology. Consciousness is not
that easy.
 “I can take a child and make him
into anything, a beggar, a doctor,
a thief.”
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Behaviorism
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B.F. Skinner, 1950’s.
Dismissed importance of inherited
traits and instincts about human
behavior. Private events can be
studied as long as they are treated as
a form of behavior, many experiments
with learning and memory.
Believed that all behavior is a result of
rewards and punishments in the past.
Behavioristic Theory
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Social Learning Theory: How people
acquire new behaviors by observing
and imitating others (modeling).
Criticisms: Excluded all behavior that
cannot be seen. All behavior cannot
be explained by rewards and
punishments. Treats people like
robots as if they have no free-will.
Psychoanalytic Theory
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Focus on how unconscious motives
influences behavior.
All behavior is meaningful, and much of it
is controlled by digging below the
surface to uncover the roots of
personality.
Sigmund Freud!!! (Da MAN!)
Psychoanalytic Theory
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Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939.
Studied neurology, but wanted to
be a medical researcher, forced
into being a private physician.
Became convinced that patients difficulties
were due to mental rather than physical
problems.
Proposed that distress due to problems that
dated back to childhood.
Siggy Freud
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Psychoanalysis: Freud’s method for treating
people with emotional problems, free
association.
Unconscious: Nearly all of our impulses are
sexual and aggressive in nature. Because
we cannot accept them in our conscious,
thoughts find their expression in dreams,
slips of the tongue that appear as
accidents, and even jokes.
Psychoanalytic Theory
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Aggressive energy: Basic human instinct
lodged in unconscious; the duty of society
is to get people to channel their aggressive
energy into productive activity. If not,
aggression is released and violent activities
occur.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Hidden Desires: Freud stated
that people are “cesspools of
hidden desires.”
 Unresolved Conflicts: If these
occur in childhood, this will
cause fixations in later life.
(Stages)
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Psychoanalytic Theory
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Freud’s Stages: Oral (Birth - 1 yr.),
anal (1 yr.), phallic (4 yrs. - separates
males/females), latency (Puberty), genital
(adult)
3 Personalities: Id, Ego, Superego:
Id: Wants/Desires, Basic primal instincts.
“Pleasure Principle”
Ego: “Reality Principle”
Superego: Conscious mind. “Do the right
thing.”
Psychoanalytic Theory: Criticisms
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Does not focus on observable behavior,
negative viewpoint of mankind because
actions are provoked by unconscious
thoughts, cannot be scientifically proven
or disproven.
Ignores political and social explanations of
people’s problems.
Currently focuses on perceptions, memories,
and thinking in our unconscious
(Psychodynamic theory).
Humanistic Theory
1950’s-60’s: Emphasize free-will,
people not completely ruled by
environment or past experience,
able to control one’s own choices
and destinies to achieve full
human potential.
Humanistic Theory
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Abraham Maslow:
Hierarchy of Needs:
People’s struggle is to be
the best they possibly can,
known as self-actualization.
Carl Rogers: Former minister;
believed all people strive for
perfection; some interrupted
by a bad environment.
Humanistic Theory
Human Potential: Everyone striving
to reach their highest potential.
 Criticisms: Believes all people are
good and that people have the
ability to heal themselves. Too
vague, more of a philosophy for
life than a psychology.
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Biopsychological (Neurobiological)
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Focuses on the influence of biology on behavior
Seeks to understand the nervous system. All actions,
feelings associated with the nervous system.
Wilhelm Wundt: Expected psychology to rest almost
solely on Anatomy and Biology. Interested in how
bodily events interact with events in the external
environment to produce perceptions, memory and
behavior. Roger Sperry won Nobel-Prize for his SplitBrain research.
Biopsychological (Neurobiological)
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Nervous System: Responsible for our
behavior; Specifically abnormal and
immediate responses.
Anatomy/Biology: Solely responsible for
human behavior.
Criticisms: Ignores mental processes.
Explains too little of human behavior, rejects
environmental influences.
Cognitive Theory
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Thinking: Focuses on how mental thoughts
affect behavior.
Studies how we attend, perceive, think,
remember, solve problems and arrive at
beliefs.
Know what’s going on in people’s heads first,
then applies it to their behavior.
Jean Piaget: studies children’s
cognitive development.
Cognitive Theory
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Thought Processes: Can infer mental
processes from observable behavior.
Remember Gestalt Psychology: means
“pattern” or “whole.” Studies how
people interpret sensory information in
order to acquire knowledge.
“The whole is larger than the sum of its
parts”
Cognitive Theory: Criticisms
Downplays emotion, too
mentalistic, hard to decide
between competing cognitive
explanations.
 Strong approach today.
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Sociocultural Psychology
Examines how cultural and
political (religious) experience
effect our everyday life.
 Gender influences of behavior.
 Job opportunities to influence
people’s goals and ambitions.
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Sociocultural Psychology
It is NOT intrapsychic: Within
the mind or self.
 Cultural Values/Political
Systems: How norms and
social influences affect
behavior.
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Sociocultural Psychology
Ambition/Goals/Values:
Environments influence on one’s
long-term ambitions.
 Criticisms: Underestimated personal
and overestimated social influences
on our behavior. Makes broad
generalizations about ethnic groups
and cultures.
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Jobs in Psychology
Clinical Psychologists
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Help people with psychological
problems, such as anxiety, depression,
or severe psychological disorders
Clinical psychologist help their clients
overcome problems and adjust to the
demands of life.
They also help people with problems in
their relationships, addictions, or weight
control.
Clinical Psychologists continued….
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Clinical psychologists are trained to
evaluate psychological problems
through use of interviews and
psychological tests
Then they help clients understand and
resolve their problems by changing
ineffective or harmful behaviors.
Psychiatrists
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A psychiatrist is a MEDICAL DOCTOR.
They specialize in treatment of
psychological problems and can
PRESCRIBE MEDICATION
Counseling Psychologists
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Typically treat people with adjustment problems rather
than those with serious psychological disorders
 Ex:
 Struggling making a decision about ones career
 Having difficulty making friends
 Having conflicts with family members, teachers,
employers, etc
 Dealing with parents’ divorce
Counseling psychologists help people identify their goals,
overcome adjustment problems, and meet challenges
School Psychologists
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School psychologists help identify and help students
with problems by talking with teachers, parents, and
the student themselves.
They may also administer tests such as intelligence
tests and achievement tests.
School psychologists help identify and assist students
with special needs, learning difficulties or disorders,
and students who may be academically gifted.
In many school districts school psychologists help place
students in certain classes to help them be successful
Education Psychologists
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They are concerned with helping students learn, but focus
more on planning and instructional methods for an entire
system
They are concerned with theoretical issues that relate to
how we measure student abilities, learning, and
development
They help decide which tests are most effective in
determining student success.
They also help consider how certain items on tests or
certain instructional methods in the classroom account for
student differences and promote their success.
Developmental Psychologists
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Study the changes that occur throughout a
person’s lifespan
Include:
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Physical changes
emotional changes
Cognitive changes
social changes
They also look at how heredity (genes) and the environment influence a
person’s development
Personality Psychologists
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Identify characteristics or traits
Looks for different traits people have
and then study these traits
They share this information with clinical
psychologists who are interested in the
origins of certain psychological
disorders
Social Psychologists
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Concerned with people’s behavior in social situations
Look at how men and women act in same settings/
different settings
What attracts people to one another
Why people tend to conform to groups standards
and expectations
How people change in groups
What effects prejudice
Why people act aggressive or why people help others
in certain situations
Experimental Psychologists
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Conduct research into basic human
processes such as the nervous system
Engage in basic research
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Has no immediate application, but is done
for its own sake
Their findings are often put into practice by
other psychological specialists.
Industrial Psychologists
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Focus on people and work
Improve working conditions
Job satisfaction
Help people who have problems on the
job
Environmental Psychologists
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Focus on the way in which people
influence and are influenced by their
environment.
Consumer Psychologists
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Study behaviors of shoppers to explain
and predict their behavior
Forensic Psychologists
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Work within the criminal justice system
Can testify about the psychological competence of a
defendant
They may be called to explain how psychological
problems can give rise to certain criminal behaviors
Help select police officers
Train police officers in handling dangerous situations
such as suicide threats, hostage crises, and family
violence
Health Psychologists
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May study the effects of stress on
health problems such as headaches and
heat disease
Try to explain why some people follow
doctors advice and some disregard it
Help people adopt helpful lifestyle
changes such as exercising