Download PowerPoint Presentation - Psychology`s Perspectives

Psychology’s Perspectives
Advanced Placement Psychology
Mrs. K. Hennen
Schools of Psychology:








Structuralism
Functionalism
Gestalt Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Behaviorism
Cognitive Psychology
Humanistic Psychology
*others will be discussed within this chapter and
throughout the course.
Structuralism








Wundt (Germany, 1979)
Other psychologist: Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener
Goal: To specify the structure of conscious experience
Method: used Introspection… looking into self/ inward/ self
reflection
Tried to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.
Step by step account of an experience, like our candy demo.
Proved to be unreliable.
Application: “Pure Scientific Research”: spurred
development of psychological laboratories.
Functionalism
 William James (United States, 1890’s)
 Other psychologists: E.L. Thorndike, John Dewey
 Goal: To study how the mind works to allow an organism to
adapt to its environment
 Focused on how mental and behavioral processes
function….(an organism is able to adapt, survive, and
flourish in its environment.)
 Method: Naturalistic Observation of animal and human
behavior
 Application: Child Psychology, educational and industrial
psychology, study of individual differences.
Gestalt Psychology
 Max Wertheimer (Germany, 1910’s) and Wolfgang Kohler
 Founded in a revolt against Wundt in a simple explanation of apparent
movement that structuralists could not explain… simple sensations.
 Defined psychology as the study of immediate experiences of the whole
organism… the whole is different from the sum of the parts.
 They focused on perception and initiated the study of insight and
problem solving in animals and humans, which had been ignored.
 Many trace contemporary psychology to the Gestalt movement.
 Goal: To describe organization of mental processes
 Method: Phenomenology (e.g.: phi phenomenon)
 Application: Perception - ground work for cognitive psych.
Psychoanalysis
 Unlike the other early schools, psychoanalysis developed outside a
university setting, led by Sigmund Freud, a physician. (Germany, early
1900’s)
 Other psychologists: Carl Jung, Alfred Adler
 Goal: To explain personality and behavior and develop techniques for
treating mental illnesses. (It focused on development and treatment of
abnormal behavior.)
 From working with troubled patients, Freud concluded that unconscious
mental forces direct our everyday behavior. Psychoanalysis
maladjustment results from unresolved conflicts of which a person is
unaware.
 Methods: Free association and dream analysis were among the
techniques he used in exploring the unconscious.
 Freud maintained that awareness enables patients to lead more rational
lives.
 Application: Development of psychotherapy, emphasis on childhood as
important in later personality.
Behaviorism
 In the 1910’s, in the U.S., John Watson led the revolt that
produced the most influential school of psychology. Trained
as a functionalist, Watson shifted attention from the
functioning of the mind to behavior.
 He argued that psychology should only study only what could
be observed and measured objectively.
 Watson’s ideas were so influential, that two years after
starting the revolt, he was elected president of the American
Psychological Assoc. (1915)
 Goal: To study only observable behavior and explain it via
learning. Behaviorists focused on how behaviors are learned
and modified, and thus most of their influence has come
through their theories of learning.
 Baby Albert Experiment.
Behaviorism continued…
 Other Psychologist: B.F. Skinner has been modern
behaviorism’s MOST important and controversial figure.
 Operant conditioning, which will be discussed in Chapter 8,
was the focus of much of Skinner’s work.
 Skinner insisted that external influences shaped behavior.
 Method Behaviorists Use: Observation of the relationship
between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses.
 Application: Learning theory, environmental emphasis,
development of language to make psychological information
more explicit and communicable.
Humanistic Psychology
 Abraham Maslow
(U.S., 1960’s)
 Other psychologist:
Carl Rogers
 Goal: To ensure
mental healthiness
of individuals and
develop therapeutic
techniques.
 Application: Clinical
Psychology.
Important Pioneers
**we will learn about them in more detail during the
course
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
- Austrian physician that focused
on illness.
-psychoanalytic theory of mental
disorders
Alfred Binet (1857 - 1911)
- French intelligence researcher
- developed first intelligence test
Freud
Important Pioneers
continued…
Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936)
-Russian physiologist
-discovered conditioned reflexes
(experiment with dog and bell!)
B.F. Skinner (1904 - 1990)
-American psychologist at Harvard
-studied learning and the effect of
reinforcement
-behaviorism
Important Pioneers
continued…
Jean Piaget
- Swiss biologist/ developmental
psychologist
-focused on children’s minds
-stages of cognitive development
Contemporary Psychology  Today psychologists
debate issues and
concerns regarding
stability and change,
rationality and
irrationality, and
nature versus
nurture.
A lot depends on your
viewpoint!
Contemporary Psychology stability versus change
 The issue of stability versus
change addresses the
question of whether our
individual traits persist or
whether we become
different people as we age.
 Another way to look at it is:
to what extent does our past
reach into our future?

Contemporary Psychology human rationality and
irrationality.
In some ways, human capabilities outstrip the
smartest computer with recognizing patterns,
handling language, and processing abstract
concepts.
 At the same time, we are prone to predictable error
and bias. We squeeze reality into our
preconceptions. We overestimate our judgments.
Contemporary Psychology nature versus nurture debate
 The biggest and most persistent issue.
 It concerns the relative contributions of biology
and experience.
 Darwin’s concept of natural selection, the
organizing principle of biology, has become very
important in psychology as well.
 Today’s psychologists recognize that both
biological and social factors direct our life courses
and that their effects intertwine.
 Example: Depression can be both a thought
disorder and a brain disorder.
Perspectives:
 Perspective is a way of viewing phenomena
 Psychology has multiple perspectives






ethological
Biological / neuroscience
psychoanalytic
cognitive
cross- cultural
Social
 **we will go more in depth with these in the weeks to come.
Ethology:
 The study of animal behavior in the natural
environment rather than in a lab setting
 Influenced by Darwin and the emphasis on
innate, adaptive behavior patterns
 European approach to studying behavior
founded by animal researchers, Lorenz and
Tinbergen
Psychology’s Perspectives
 Neuroscience perspective: studies how the body and brain work to create
emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. Ex: how messages are
transmitted within the body… NEURO! =)
 Evolutionary perspective: considers how evolution influences behavior
tendencies.
 Behavior genetics: considers how genetics and our environment influence
our behavior tendencies. Ex: to what extent does our personality come
from our genes or our environment.
 Psychodynamic perspective: views behavior as springing from unconscious
drives and conflicts.
 Behavioral perspective: examines how observable responses are acquired
and changed. Ex: how do we learn to fear something.
 Cognitive perspective: studies how we encode, process, store, and retrieve
information. Ex: how we use information to solve problems.
 Social-cultural perspective: examines how behavior and thinking vary with
the situation and culture.
Psychology’s Subfields
 Basic Research:
 Basic research is pure science that aims to
increase the scientific knowledge base (we heard
that!) such as:
 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
Psychology’s Subfields
 Applied Research:
 Applied research is the scientific study that aims
to solve practical problems such as:
 Industrial/organizational psychologists study and
advise on behavior in the workplace
 Clinical psychologists study, assess, and treat
people with psychological disorders
Psychology’s Subfields
 Psychiatry
 A branch of medicine dealing with
psychological disorders
 Practiced by physicians who sometimes use
medical (for example, drug) treatments as well
as psychotherapy
APA
 The American Psychological Association
 First President of APA in 1892 was:

Granville Stanley Hall. (also in 1924)
 Other notables:





(1894)
(1905)
(1915)
(1958)
(1968)
(1904) William James
Mary Calkins
John B. Watson
H.F. Harlow
A.H. Maslow
Current President: ??? Look on your technology handout! =)