Part 1: A brief look at the roots of Psychology

A quote…

• “Psychology has a long past, but a short history.”• -Hermann Ebbinghaus

• What do you think this statement means?

Ancient roots• Buddha, Confucius, ancient Hebrews, etc.• Ancient Greece

• Socrates/Plato: relied on logic to determine that the mind is separate from the body

• Aristotle: human behavior governed by patterns and rules; i.e. seeking pleasure, avoiding pain; used observation and data

• Hippocrates: strange behavior caused by brain abnormalities, not the gods; four “humors” or fluids determined personality

1600s

• Rene DeCartes, France

• “I think, therefore I am.”

• People used their inborn knowledge to reason

• Theorized about brain fluids causing movement by flowing through nerves to our muscles

• Francis Bacon, Great Britain

• Focused on experiments and common sense over superstition; responsible for the scientific method

• John Locke

• “Tabula rasa:” blank slate

Birth of Modern Psychological Science

• Bacon and Locke’s insights lead to modern empiricism- that knowledge comes from experience and science relies on observation, experimentation, evidence.

• Important note: the first people who did psychology came from different fields of study (“Magellans of the mind”)!

• December, 1879: 1st psychology lab established in Germany at University of Leipzig by Wilhelm Wundt• The 1st ever psychology experiment on reaction time and

perception:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6nm69Z_IE

The first two perspectives/theories

Edward Titchener (Wundt’s student)

• Founded structuralism (1892): used self-reflective introspection used to discover the elements of the mind.

William James

• Created functionalism: how do our thoughts and behaviors help us adapt to our environments?

• Wrote the first psychology textbook (1890)

• Admitted the first female Psychology Ph.D at Harvard (Mary Calkins)

Other early landmarks• Hermann Ebbinghaus: first experiments on memory (1885)• 1st Psychology Ph.D awarded (1886)• 1st American Professor of Psychology (1888)• APA (American Psychological Association) founded in 1892• Edward Thorndike: first experiments on animal learning (1898)• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Psychoanalysis• Alfred Binet: first intelligence test (1905)• John B. Watson (1878-1958): Behaviorism

• In order to be a reputable science, psychology should limit itself to observable, measurable behaviors (1913)

• Gestalt Psychology (Wertheimer, Koffka, etc) (1920s): "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts;” learning comes from insight, not only from repetition and rewards

• For more details, watch this video:• http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/

history_flash.html

Part 2: The Six Modern Theoretical Approaches to Psychology

1. Psychoanalytic approach

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)• Human beings are driven by

unconscious fears, sexual and violent desires, conflicts

• The psyche is a “tea kettle”• Id, ego, superego• Early childhood experiences

and relationships with parents are important

• An essentially negative and deterministic view: the die is cast by age 5

2. Behaviorist approach

• John Watson (1878-1958)• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)• Emphasis on observable

behaviors• People are controlled by

outside forces, influenced mainly by environment, rewards and punishments

• Skinner quote:• “Give me a child and I‘ll

shape him into anything.”

3. Humanistic approach• The late 1950s and 1960s• A reaction against behaviorism

and psychoanalysis.• People are inherently good.• Each individual has great

freedom to direct his/her own future and achieve personal growth.

• Your personal choices and decisions make you who you are!

• We invent and reinvent ourselves throughout life.

4. Cognitive approach• Cognition=Thinking• The mind is like a computer:

we receive input, manipulate it, store and retrieve it.

• Our own way of thinking shapes who we are.

• Our world grows more sophisticated as we grow up, experience new things, and change.

• Problems can come from flawed patterns of thinking.

5. Biological approach• How do the following

impact an individual’s mental processes and behavior:

• Brain function

• Nervous system

• Glands and hormones

• General physical health

• Genes

6. Sociocultural approach• How do the following forces

impact a person’s behavior and mental processes?• Ethnicity, gender, culture,

language, socioeconomic status, nationality, religion, and region

• Does your language shape the way you think? Check these out:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

• http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/Misc/eskimo-snow-words.html

Final thoughts

• There are many approaches, therefore there are many possible answers.

• Think of each of the six perspectives as a “lens” onto each individual.• Human beings have free will; as a result, human behavior does not

follow set laws, like physics.• However, there are still patterns and tendencies that can be

discovered using the scientific method.

• For Monday: think of a favorite celebrity or well-known individual (or a few) who you pay attention to whose behavior in recent times has been interesting, problematic, or positive in any way you find compelling.