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Prologue:
Psychology’s Roots
 Definition of Psychology
 The science of behavior (what we do)
and mental processes (sensations,
perceptions, dreams, thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings)
Psychology’s Roots
Prescientific Psychology
In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and
perceptions combined to form ideas.
Prescientific Psychology
Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas
and the importance of an educated mind.
Prescientific Psychology
Hebrew Scriptures
Hebrew scriptures linked mind and emotion to the
body.
Prescientific Psychology
Plato
Socrates
Socrates (469-399 B.C.) and Plato (428-348 B.C.)
Socrates and his student Plato believed the mind
was separate from the body, the mind continued to
exist after death, and ideas were innate.
Prescientific Psychology
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Aristotle suggested that the soul is not separable
from the body and that knowledge (ideas) grow
from experience.
Prescientific Psychology
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Descartes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind)-body
separation, but wondered how the immaterial
mind and physical body communicated.
Prescientific Psychology
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Bacon is one of the founders of modern science,
particularly the experimental method.
Prescientific Psychology
John Locke (1632-1704)
Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or
blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it.
Prescientific Psychology
What is the relation of mind to the body?
Mind and body are
connected
Mind and body are
distinct
The Hebrews
Socrates
Aristotle
Plato
Augustine
Descartes
Prescientific Psychology
How are ideas formed?
Some ideas are inborn
The mind is a blank
slate
Socrates
Aristotle
Plato
Locke
Prologue:
Psychology’s Roots
 Psychological Science
Is Born
 Empiricism
 Knowledge comes from
experience via the senses
 Science flourishes
through observation
and experiment
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt is referred to as the
“father of psychology” because
in 1879 he started the first
laboratory in psychology for
studying humans.
He broke into parts the elements
of feelings and thought.
Using a procedure called “introspection” he
introduced scientific procedure to study feelings.
Psychological Science is Born
Structuralism
Titchner (1867-1927)
Wundt (1832-1920)
Wundt and Titchener studied the elements (atoms)
of the mind by conducting experiments at Leipzig,
Germany, in 1879.
Psychological Science is Born
Functionalism
Mary Calkins
James (1842-1910)
Influenced by Darwin, William James established
the school of functionalism, which opposed
structuralism.
Prologue:
Psychology’s Roots
 Functionalism
focused on how
behavioral
processes
function- how
they enable
organism to
adapt, survive,
and flourish
Psychological Science is Born
The Unconscious Mind
Freud (1856-1939)
Sigmund Freud and his followers emphasized the
importance of the unconscious mind and its effects
on human behavior.
Psychological Science Develops
Behaviorism
Skinner (1904-1990)
Watson (1878-1958)
Watson (1913) and later Skinner emphasized the
study of overt behavior as the subject matter of
scientific psychology.
William James
James is considered to be one of
the founders of American
psychology.
In 1890, he published Principles of
Psychology. The book was 1400
pages long, two volumes in length
and it took him 12 years to write.
Unlike Wundt, he did not want to break behavior
into parts; instead, he never wanted to lose sight of
the individual as a whole.
Psychological Science Develops
Rogers (1902-1987)
Maslow (1908-1970)
Humanistic Psychology
Maslow and Rogers emphasized current
environmental influences on our growth potential
and our need for love and acceptance.
Other Pioneers
John B. Watson (1878–1958)
psychologists should study overt
behavior “Father of Behaviorism”
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)
American psychologist at Harvard
studied learning and effect of
reinforcement
“Father of Operant Conditioning”
John B. Watson (1878–1958)
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)
Psychological Associations &
Societies
The American Psychological Association is the
largest organization of psychology with 160,000
members world-wide, followed by the British
Psychological Society with 34,000 members.
Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis
Prologue: Contemporary
Psychology
 Psychology’s Big Issues
 Stability vs. Change
 Do our individual traits persist as
we age?
 Do we become older versions of
ourselves?
Prologue: Contemporary
Psychology
Rationality vs. Irrationality
Rationality– reasonableness, good sense of
equity and proportion
Irrationality– not reasonable in thinking or
behaving, distorted perception of reality
Philosophical Developments
Another
Question:
Nature vs. Nurture
the relative contribution that genes and
experience make to development of
psychological traits and behaviors
Are abilities determined by our genes or our
experiences?
What are the interactions between genetics
and environment?
What effect does it have on behavior?
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
John Locke
empiricist; believed that knowledge is
acquired solely through life experiences.
Tabula Rasa: blank tablet
Claimed each of us is born a blank slate
on which are written the life experiences
we acquire through our senses.
(Plato believed just the opposite)
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
Rene Descartes
rationalist; insisted we should doubt
everything that is not proved by our own
reasoning. True knowledge comes
through correct reasoning and it is inborn.
Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species was
published in 1859. His theory
was that humans and animals
had evolved and changed. His
theory inspired scientists to
study animals in order to
understand human behavior.
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
Charles Darwin
 Natural selection
 principle that those
inherited trait
variations
contributing to
survival will most
likely be passed on
to succeeding
generations
Psychology’s Current
Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Neuroscience
How the body and brain
enables emotions?
How are messages
transmitted in the body? How
is blood chemistry linked with
moods and motives?
Evolutionary
How the natural selection
of traits the promotes the
perpetuation of one’s
genes?
How does evolution influence
behavior tendencies?
Behavior genetics How much our genes and
our environments
influence our individual
differences?
To what extent are
psychological traits such as
intelligence, personality,
sexual orientation, and
vulnerability to depression
attributable to our genes? To
our environment?
Psychology’s Current
Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Psychodynamic
How behavior springs
from unconscious drives
and conflicts?
How can someone’s
personality traits and
disorders be explained in
terms of sexual and
aggressive drives or as
disguised effects of unfulfilled
wishes and childhood
traumas?
Behavioral
How we learn observable
responses?
How do we learn to fear
particular objects or
situations? What is the most
effective way to alter our
behavior, say to lose weight or
quit smoking?
Psychology’s Current
Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Cognitive
How we encode, process,
store and retrieve
information?
How do we use information
in remembering? Reasoning?
Problem solving?
Social-cultural
How behavior and
thinking vary across
situations and cultures?
How are we — as Africans,
Asians, Australians or North
Americans – alike as members
of human family? As products
of different environmental
contexts, how do we differ?
Psychology’s Subfields:
Research
Psychologist
Biological
Developmental
Cognitive
Personality
Social
What she does
Explore the links between brain and
mind.
Study changing abilities from womb to
tomb.
Study how we perceive, think, and solve
problems.
Investigate our persistent traits.
Explore how we view and affect one
another.
Approaches
to
Psychology
Biological
Behavioral
Psychoanalytic
Humanistic
Cognitive
Sociocultural
Biological Perspective
Study the physiological mechanisms in the brain
and nervous system that organize and control
behavior
Focus may be at various levels
individual neurons
areas of the brain
specific functions like eating, emotion, or learning
Interest in behavior distinguishes biological
psychology from many other biological sciences
Evolutionary Perspective
Influenced by Darwin and the emphasis
on innate, adaptive behavior patterns
Application of principles of evolution to
explain behavior and psychological
processes
John B. Watson
Watson studied the impact of
learning on people. This led to
the school of behaviorism.
He believed that careful and
structured parenting could
eliminate psychological
problems.
Watson later wrote a book applying scientific
methods to raising children.
The Behavioral Approach
People such as B. F. Skinner
(pictured to the left) and John B.
Watson are called behaviorists.
This approach emphasizes that behavior is
primarily the result of learning and not due to a
person’s thoughts and unconscious processes.
Behavioral Perspective
View of behavior based on
experience or learning
Classical conditioning-- Pavlov
Operant conditioning-- Skinner
Sigmund Freud
Freud developed the first
comprehensive theory of
human development and
behavior, especially how the
personality develops.
He believed that childhood memories and
thoughts influenced the behavior of people when
they became adults.
Psychodynamic Perspective
View of behavior based on experience
treating patients
Psychoanalytic approach (Sigmund Freud)
both a method of treatment and a theory of the mind
behavior reflects combinations of conscious and
unconscious influences
drives and urges within the unconscious component
of mind influence thought and behavior
early childhood experiences shape unconscious
motivations
Cognitive Perspective
How is knowledge acquired,
organized, remembered, and used to
guide behavior?
Influences include
Piaget – studied intellectual development
Chomsky – studied language
Cybernetics – science of information
processing
Humanistic Perspective
 Developed by Abraham Maslow &
Carl Rogers
 behavior reflects innate ‘actualization’
 focus on conscious forces and self
perception
 more positive view of basic forces than
Freud’s
The
Humanistic
Approach
Carl Rogers is the best
known of the humanists.
This approach emphasizes that people have free will,
self-concepts and are basically good. Humanists believe
that every person can fulfill his or her potential.
Carl Rogers (1902–1987)
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970)
The Sociocultural
Approach
This approach looks at the impact that society,
culture, ethnicity, race, and religion have on
personality.
Psychoanalytic
Cognitive
Cross-Cultural Perspective
The study of psychological
differences among people living in
different cultural groups
How are people’s thoughts, feelings
and behavior influenced by their
culture?
What are the common elements
across culture? Are these innate?
Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Other 11.5%
Experimental
14.1%
Biological
9.9%
Developmental
24.6%
Psychometrics
5.5%
Cognitive
8.0%
Social 21.6%
Personality
4.8%
Data: APA 1997
Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Psychologist
Clinical
What she does
Studies, assesses, and treats people with
psychological disorders
Counseling
Helps people cope with academic,
vocational, and marital challenges.
Educational
Studies and helps individuals in school
and educational settings
Industrial/
Organizational
Studies and advises on behavior in the
workplace.
Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Industrial
6%
Educational
9%
Other
3%
Counseling
15%
Clinical
67%
Data: APA 1997
Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry
A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses,
and treats troubled people with psychotherapy.
Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical
professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like
drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically
diseased patients.
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Basic Research-- laboratory
 Biological psychologists explore the
links between brain and mind
 Developmental psychologists study
changing abilities from womb to tomb
 Cognitive psychologists study how we
perceive, think, and solve problems
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Basic Research
 Personality psychologists investigate
our persistent traits
 Social psychologists explore how we
view and affect one another
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
 Psychology’s Subfields
 Applied Research—face to face
 Industrial/organizational psychologists
study and advise on behavior in the
workplace
 Clinical psychologists study, assess,
and treat people with psychological
disorders
Prologue:
Contemporary Psychology
 Psychiatry
 A branch of medicine dealing with
psychological disorders
 Practiced by physicians who sometimes
use medical (for example, drug)
treatments as well as psychotherapy
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Your Study of Psychology
Survey, Question, Read, Review and Reflect (SQ3R)
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Survey: What you are about to read, including chapter
outlines and section heads.
Question: Ask questions. Make notes.
Read: Make sure you read outlines, sections and
chapters in entirety.
Review: Margin definitions. Study learning outcomes.
Reflect: On what you learn. Test yourself with quizzes.
Close-up
Additional Study Hints
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Distribute your time.
Listen actively in class.
Overlearn.
Be a smart test-taker.