Download Unit 1 History and Approaches

Unit 1
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What is Psychology?
Contemporary Psychology
Approaches
to Psychology
Careers
Growth of
We are
here
Psychology
The Science of
Psychology
Ethics
Research
Statistics
Methods
Sampling
Descriptive
Correlation
Naturalistic
Observation
Case
Study
Survey
Experiment
Descriptive
Central
Tendency
Variance
Inferential
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Ancient Greeks
Socrates and Plato
 Mind is separate from the body and continues
after the body dies
 Knowledge is innate (born within us)
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Aristotle
 Loved data
 Careful observation
 Knowledge is not pre-existing/ it grows from
experiences stored in our memories
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Rene Descartes
Francis Bacon
John Locke
 Tabula Rasa (blank slate)
 Empiricism
Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology
laboratory at the University of Liepzig in 1879.
 Reaction time experiment
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 Seeking to measure what?
 Introspection
 By insisting on measurement and experimentation he
moves psychology from a philosophy to a science
This is my lab!
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Edward Titchener
Structuralism
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School of psychology that
stressed the basic units of
experience (physical
sensation, feelings, and
memories) and the
combinations in which
they occur.
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Study these ‘atoms of
experience’ to get the
structure of the mind
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introspection
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William James
 Rejects Structuralism
 Influenced by Darwin
Functionalism –theory of mental life and
behavior that is concerned with how an
organism uses its perceptual abilities to
function in its environment.
 Functionalists wanted to the whole system of
mental processes rather than focusing on the
tiny elements of consciousness
 Functionalism also emphasized individual
differences, which had a profound impact on
education.
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William James
Functionalism
Mary Calkins
Margaret Floy Washburn
Experimental psychology
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Published Psychology’s first textbook
The Principles of Psychology (1890)
 Analysis
 Introspection
 Experiment
 Comparison
How would each study this situation?
Nature vs Nurture
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controversy over genes and experience make
to psychological traits and behaviors
Stability vs Change
2.
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individual traits change over time/situations?
Rationality vs Irrationality
3.
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free will or at the mercy of the unconscious?
Wundt and Titchener: focused on inner sensations,
images and feelings
 James: introspection analysis of consciousness and
emotion
 Freud: emphasized the ways emotional responses to
childhood experiences and our unconscious thought
processes affect our behavior
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“Science of mental life” –
through the 1920’s
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Behaviorism
John B. Watson
B.F. Skinner
“study of observable
behavior”
“You can not observe a sensation, a
feeling, or a thought, but you can observe
and record people’s behavior as they
respond to different situations”
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Humanistic Psychology
Carl Rogers
Abraham Maslow
Cognitive Neuroscience
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Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and
mental processes
Scientific?
 Not just common sense or guesses
 Psychology uses the scientific method
 Scientific Method: careful observations and the experimental
testing of hypothesis
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Behavior – what people do on the outside
Mental Processes – Thinking - we call this cognition.
Psychology includes the study of both humans and
animals
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Psychology is the scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
It is the study of WHY.
Why do humans do the things they do?
“Cause we’re crazy”
Please delete this word from your everyday
usage. It means nothing.
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Nature – Nurture Issue
Biology versus experience
Charles Darwin
Natural Selection
Nurture works on what nature
endows.
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Levels of Analysis
Biological
Psychosocial
Social-cultural
Biopsychosocial Approach
We are
here
Approaches
to Psychology
Careers
Growth of
Psychology
The Science of
Psychology
Ethics
Research
Statistics
Methods
Sampling
Descriptive
Correlation
Naturalistic
Observation
Case
Study
Survey
Experiment
Descriptive
Central
Tendency
Variance
Inferential
Approaches are lenses through which to explain human behavior
Biological
Evolutionary
Behaviorism
Cognitive
Psychodynamic
Humanism
Social-cultural
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This approach to explaining human behavior and
mental processes focuses on biological
mechanisms and structures. It looks to such
things as the brain, neurotransmitters, hormones,
drugs (both legal and illegal), and genetics.
Biological Psychology is
Observable
Here is a view of how massive cell loss changes the
whole brain in advanced Alzheimer's disease.
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Explains human behavior by looking at
what made us most likely to
survive/reproduce
 Language – How did communication make
us more likely to survive?
 Altruism – Why are we nice to each other if
this is just about survival of the fittest?
 Sexual attraction – Is there a reason certain
aspects of a person are considered
‘attractive’ Why not sexy elbows?
Why do we find blue eyes attractive?
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How behavior springs from unconscious drives and
conflicts
Analysis of personality traits and disorders in terms
of sexual and aggressive drives as the disguised
effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas
Unresolved complexes hidden within ones
unconscious (Oedipus and Electra, potty training)
ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
Unconscious of why we do what we do
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Treatment???
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id = pleasure principle
 ego = reality principle
 superego = conscience
(inhibitions and moral
values)
 Battleground
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id,ego, superego
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How observable responses are acquired and
changed
How we learn to fear particular objects or situations
How we most effectively alter our behavior, say, to
lose weight or stop smoking
Reinforcements and Punishments
How has ones environment shaped who they are
Personal experiences and reinforcement guide
individual development
Skinner box, Pavlov’s dog, Little Albert
Treatment???
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This approach only studies observable human
BEHAVIOR. It focuses on how we:
 LEARN (or are conditioned)
 React to our environment
Since you can not observe the mind,
behaviorists see it as a BLACK BOX. Can’t
see it? Don’t study it.
Big names
 Pavlov – Dogs
 Watson – Little Albert
 Skinner – Operant Conditioning
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http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=D-RS80DVvrg
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4
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Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Observational
Learning
Little Albert
Skinner’s Box –
Operant Conditioning
 Pavlov’s Dog –
Classical Conditioning
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Would you do it?
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Gestalt is a German word that means “the
whole”
This approach to psychology looks at how
your perceptions of the word come together
to form you whole perception.
This perception is often greater than the
sum of its parts.
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School of psychology that studies mental processes
 Thinking, feeling, remembering, making
decisions/judgments and language
Studies how we encode, process, store, and retrieve
information.
 Studies behavior and makes inferences about the
mental processes behind the behavior
 Thanks to new technologies like CAT scans, MRIs
and fMRIs, we can open the black box.
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School of psychology that emphasizes the
means of realizing one’s full human
potential
Importance of love, belonging, human
potential, and self-esteem.
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers
Not mainstream, more a cultural and
spiritual movement.
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Study of how people influence one another
Topics include:
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First impressions
Interpersonal attraction
Attitude formation
Prejudice
Behavior in a group
Obedience to Authority
Some applications include:
 Support groups
 Family Therapy
 Sensitivity Training
Approaches
Growth
of Psych
to Psych
We are
here
Careers
The Science
of Psychology
Ethics
Research
Statistics
Methods
Sampling
Descriptive
Correlation
Naturalistic
Observation
Case
Study
Survey
Experiment
Descriptive
Central
Tendency
Variance
Inferential
About 50% of all Psychologists
Counseling psychologists deal with “normal” problems,
such as stress caused by career change or marital
problems
 Counseling psychologist’s focus more on the
psychologically healthy individual where clinical
focuses on individuals with serious mental illness (e.g.
schizophrenia).
 Clinical psychologists are concerned with diagnosis and
treatment of psychological disorders
 Split time between treatment and researching the
cause of psychological disorders and the effectiveness
of different types of psychotherapy and counseling.
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Career options include:
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Licensed social workers
Counseling psychologists
Clinical psychologists
Psychiatrists
Psychoanalysts
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Study of physical and mental growth from
birth to old age
study of changing abilities from womb to
tomb
Subfields
 Child psychology
 Adolescent psychology
 Life-span psychology
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School Psychologist
Psychological evaluations
Consult with school personnel in relation to
students’ learning, behavior, and environments
They are trained to look at the effectiveness of
academic programs, classroom agendas, and
treatment interventions, which assists in the
development of specific interventions.
Design research experiments
May or may not have a direct impact on
the treatment of patients
 Animal subjects
 Drug trials
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The science of understanding the properties of
human capability (Human Factors Science).
 The application of this understanding to the
design, development and deployment of systems
and services (Human Factors Engineering).
 The art of ensuring successful application of
Human Factors Engineering to a program
(sometimes referred to as Human Factors
Integration).It can also be called ergonomics.
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Study of psychological principles in industry
and business
Examples
 Selecting and training personnel
 Productivity improvement
 Optimizing working conditions
 Managing the impact of automation on workers
looks at the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and
behavior that make a person unique.
 Study of how people differ from one another on
traits such as
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Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion
Administer personality tests such as the MMPI or
the Myers Briggs
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the field of psychology concerned with the
theory and technique of psychological
measurement.
Create psychological tests that are reliable
and valid.
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Psychometrics
Basic Research
Developmental psychology
Educational psychology
Personality psychology
Social psychology
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Applied Research
Industrial/organizational psychology
Human factors psychology
Counseling psychology
Clinical psychology
Psychiatry