Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Psychology

Lauren Ornelas

Walter Neal

Warren Ruis

Lupita Espinoza

Presented by :

Developing “Psychology”

Greek terms - ‘Psyche’: Soul, “logos’: Referring to the study of a subject

Stemmed from the studies of Philosophy and Physiology

Wilhelm Wundt (1879)Established Psychology as its own field54,000 pages of books“Father” or “Founder” of Psychology

Consciousness

Developed by WundtDeveloping the idea of consciousness“Awareness of immediate experience.”

Structuralism V. Functionalism

Structuralism:Edward Titchener (English Professor in America)“Based on the notion that the task of psychology

is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related.”

Recognizing RelationshipsBreaking Down BarriersTaking things Apart

Structuralism V. Functionalism

Functionalism William James (American Scholar)“Psychology should be based on the

belied that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness [alone] rather than its structure.”

Seeing the psychological process as a whole

Natural Selection

William James (1842-1910) used this Darwin Theory

Characteristics that are beneficial and carry down through time and generations

Applied to the Functionalism model of psychology’s purpose

Women Pioneers in Psychology

Mary Calkins (1863-1930) Invented Techniques for studying memory

Margaret Washburn (1871-1939) First female PhD in Psychology and was later very influential in behaviorism

Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939) Studied and wrote about adolescent development, retardation and focused on gender differences

Watson and Behaviorism

Behaviorism is a “theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.”

Watson wanted to abandon consciousness theories all together

Challengers: Gestalt Theorists, who through the Gestalt Principals focused on consciousness and its level of perceptual importance.

Freud and the Unconscious

Developed the innovative process, Psychoanalysis, the study of the mind through behavior

Unconscious, as he termed it, largely revolved around “thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.”

He later developed the Psychoanalytic Theory, which attempts to explain personality, motivation, mental disorders and focuses on unconscious determinants of behavior.

Sexual Urges play a large role

Behaviorism and B.F Skinner

All behavior is governed by external stimuli Fundamental Principle: organisms tend to repeat

responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes

Actions are the results of unconscious decisions Free will is an Illusion

Humanism: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and potential for growth.

Humans are fundamentally different from other animals

Governed by sense of self or one's "self-concept" Rogers and Maslow argued that human nature is

governed by one's personal desire for growth.

Psychology as a Profession

Applied Psychology : everyday practical problems

WW1 produced tests to put soldiers into fields of their capabilities

Clinical Psychology: diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

WW2 produced 40,000 veterans who returned from war seeking medical treatment

Returning to Its Roots

Renewed interest in cognition: mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge

Psychologists showed little interest in cognition because it was "unobservable" behavior.

Cognitive theorists argue that must study internal events to fully understand how the human mind works.

Focusing solely on observable behavior does not produce a full picture of what is really going on.

Culture

Psychologists used to study how their theories could be applied to western cultures

Theorists ignored how their theories could be applied to groups such as women and minorities in eastern cultures

New interest in culture can be attributed to two recent factors 1) world has "shrunk" 2) Multicultural nations are now becoming more and more prevalent in today's societies

Psychologists of today are now trying to understand how culture groups and minorities are affected by everyday topics such as discrimination, prejudice and racism.

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations

Natural Selection favors behaviors that enhance organisms reproductive success.

Evolutionary Psychologists tend to look at things like differences between male and female visual-spatial ability.

William James and other functionalists were influenced by Darwin's concept of natural selection

Psychology Today: Vigorous and Diversified

Psychology: the science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie behavior, it is the profession that applies to accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.

APA (American Psychological Association)- this is a national organization devoted to the advancement of psychology

-founded in 1892 -today APA has over 80,000 members

Research Areas in Psychology

Within psychology there are 7 major research areas Developmental psychology- looks at human development across a life

span Social psychology- the focus of interpersonal behavior Experimental psychology- the focus on sensation, perception, learning,

conditioning, motivation, and emotion Physiological psychology- the influence of genetic factors on behavior Cognitive psychology- the focus of higher mental processes

Personality- involves describing individuals' consistency in behavior revealing their personality

Psychometrics- the use of test to determine the measurement of behavior and capacities

Professional Specialties in Psychology

Four identified areas of specialization within psychology: Clinical psychology- deals with people who have psychological

disorders and their evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment Counseling psychology- relates to clinical but deals with

people who have everyday problems, often work with family, marital, or career counseling

Educational and school psychology- their goals are to improve the curriculum, testing, teacher training, and other things within a school and education

Industrial and organizational psychology- does several things in the business and industry world

Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes

3 Themes Related to Psychology as a Field of Study

Psychology is Empirical- Empiricism is the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. Psychologist’s conclusions are based according to their gathered observation, speculation, traditional beliefs, or their common sense.

Psychology is Theoretically Diverse- Theory a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. Because of the theoretical diversity within psychology, there are several opposing theories, views, etc. to explain several things.

Psychology Evolves in a Sociohistorical Context- psychology is both an influence and is influenced by several worldly things such as trends, issues, and values in a society. i.e. raising children, sexual urges, etc.

Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes

4 additional ideas Behavior is Determined by Multiple Causes- behavior is a

complex component of all people and is determined by several causes. This idea that behavior is governed by several factors is called multifactorial causation of behavior.

Our Behavior Is Shaped by Our Cultural Heritage- Culture- refers to the widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations. Culture carries an impact on ones thoughts, feelings, and behavior and is important to factor in when researching for any subject.

Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes

Hereditary and Environment Jointly Influence Behavior- many theorists argued over the fact that personal traits and abilities are governed completely by hereditary, or completely by environment. Today most psychologists believe that both environment and hereditary are important factors that govern people.

Our Experience of the World is Highly Subjective- people process incoming information very differently while ignoring some factors and focusing on others. People may see or what they choose to see or what they expect to see and this has been tested through experiments by researchers like Hastorf and Cantril.

Developing Sound Study Habits

Siebert’s study habits program Set up a schedule for studying Important to allocate definite times to studying Study breaks can revive sagging concentration Write down study schedule Cramming last minute is an ineffective study

strategy

– Strains memorization, tax energy level, and stoke the fires of test anxiety

Developing Sounds Study Habits

Find a place to study where you can concentrate

Find a place where distractions are minimal Reward your studying Systematic manipulation if rewards =

behavior modification described by B.F Skinner

Improving your Reading

Majority of study time spent reading and absorbing information

Various strategies for actively reading, such as Robinson’s SQ3R method.

SQ3R: a study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: Survey, question, read, recite and review.

What makes SQ3R effective is that it breaks a reading assignment into manageable parts and requires understanding before you move on

SQ3R Steps

Survey Glance over topic headings General overview of material

Question o Proceed through reading one section at a time o Convert the heading of the first section into a reading

Read Read only the specific section, keeping in mind the question

you formulated in the 2nd step Reread section until you can answer the question

SQ3R Steps

Recite Recite the answer to your question out loud to

yourself in your own words Not until the main ideas of this section are

understood can you move on to the next section

Review Go back over key points Repeat questions and attempt to answer them

without using book

Testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize ones scores

Changing your answers in a test, may ultimately pay off

Tips for Multiple choice questions Read each question completely Eliminate options that are highly implausible Options representing broad generalizations tend to be incorrect Options representing carefully qualified statements tend to be correct.

Improving Test-Taking Strategies

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome

A useful model of critical thinking has at least two components

– cognitive component – emotional or affective component

Critical thinking skills include:– distinguishing among facts, opinions and reasoned

judgements, working systematically toward a goal Also called Transcontextual skills