The science of behavior and mental process.

PsychologyWhat is it?

The study of our inner feelings and behaviors.

Do our feelings always match our behaviors?

If you call me dumb, I may feel sad inside.

But I will still act tough. (but I will be crying on the inside, so be gentle).

History of Psychology• Although the science of psychology started in the late 1800’s, the concept has been around a lot longer.

• There was evidence of trephination (cutting holes into a skull to let evil spirits out) back in the stone age.

It was like a bad SAW movie!!!!

Prescientific PsychologySocrates (469-399 B.C.) and Plato (428-348 B.C.)

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Socrates and his student Plato believed the mind was separate from the body, the mind continued

to exist after death, and ideas were innate.

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Prescientific PsychologyAristotle (384-322 B.C.)

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Aristotle suggested that the soul is not separable from the body and that knowledge

(ideas) grow from experience.

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Prescientific PsychologyRene Descartes (1596-1650)

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Descartes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind)-body separation, but wondered how the immaterial

mind and physical body communicated.

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Prescientific PsychologyFrancis Bacon (1561-1626)

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Bacon is one of the founders of modern science, particularly the experimental method.

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Prescientific PsychologyJohn Locke (1632-1704)

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• Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it.

• Adding to Bacon’s ideas, he helped form modern empiricism, the idea that what we know comes from experience, and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge.

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Prescientific PsychologyWhat 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

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Prescientific PsychologyHow are ideas formed?

Some ideas are inborn

The mind is a blank slate

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke

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Psychology’s Roots

Psychological Science is Born• Wilhelm Wundt (1879)

– University of Leipzig– Reaction time experiment

-first psychological laboratory• G. Stanley Hall

– Established the first formal U.S. psychology laboratory, at Johns Hopkins University

Psychology’s Roots

Thinking About the Mind’s Structure

• Edward Titchener– Former student of Wundt– Structuralism (1892)

• introspection-looking at

the structure of the

human mind

Psychology’s Roots

Thinking About the Mind’s Function• William James

– Functionalism-– explored how mental and behavioral processes

function—how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

– Influenced by Darwin

Psychology’s RootsThinking About the Mind’s Function

• Mary Calkins– Pioneer memory researcher and the first woman to be president of the American Psychological Association (APA).– 1st woman to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, but was

denied because she was a woman.• Margaret Floy Washburn-1st woman

Ph.D. recipient from Harvard; 2nd female APA

president• Experimental psychology- those who explore behavior and thinking with experiments

Psychological Science Develops

• Sigmund Freud• Freud and his followers emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior.

Psychological Science Develops

• Behaviorism–John B. Watson

• Rosalie Raynor• Studied behavior without references

to mental processes

Psychological Science Develops

• Behaviorism–B.F. Skinner

–“study of observable behavior”

–conditioning

Psychological Science Develops

• Humanistic psychology- emphasized current environmental influences on our growth potential and our need for love and acceptance– Carl Rogers– Abraham Maslow

• Cognitive Neuroscience-explores the way we perceive, process and remember information

Psychology’s Big Debate • Nature-Nurture Controversy

• the relative contribution that genes and experience make to development of psychological traits and behaviors

• History• Greeks• Rene Descartes

Natural selection-Charles Darwinprinciple that those inherited

trait variations contributing to survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

• Levels of Analysis–Biological

–Psychological

–Social-cultural

• Biopsychosocial Approach

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Psychology is made up of 7 different perspectives or approaches.

In other words, psychologists today, pick and choose from about 7 schools of thought to help you with your problems.

Thus we have:THE SEVEN SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

•Behavioral perspective•Biological perspective•Cognitive perspective•Evolutionary perspective•Humanistic perspective•Psychodynamic perspective•Social-cultural perspective

Biological (Neuroscience) Perspective

• Emphasizes how our physical makeup and the operation of our brains influence our personality, preferences, behavior patterns, and abilities.

• All of your feelings and behaviors have an organic root.

Behavioral Perspective

• Focuses on observable behaviors while putting feelings to the side.

• We behave in ways because we have been conditioned to do so.

• To change behaviors, we have to recondition the client.

Pretend that you fail psychology class. You become depressed. In turn, you begin to binge and gain weight.

What do you think a behaviorist may do?

They would probably ignore the fact that you are depressed and just focus on your overeating.

Maybe make you run a mile every time you eat over 2000 calories.

Evolutionary Perspective

• Focuses on Darwinism.• Suggests that many human traits arise from hereditary characteristics established in our remote ancestral past.

• We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors.

• Thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors survival.

How could this behavior have ensured Homer’s ancestors survival?

Psychodynamic Perspective• Focuses on the unconscious mind.

• We are motivated primarily by the energy of irrational desires generated in our unconscious minds.

• We repress many of our true feelings and are not aware of them.

• In order to get better, we must bring forward the true feelings we have in our unconscious.

If a man has intimacy issues and cannot form relationships with others. What do you think someone from this school may think?

Perhaps they may delve into the man’s unconscious and discover that he was bullied when he was younger. The bullying may have caused fear in getting close to others.

Humanistic Perspective• Our actions are hugely influenced by our self concept and by our need for personal growth and fulfillment.

• Peaked in the late 1960’s and 70’s….so it focused on spirituality and free will.

• We have to strive to be the best we can be -“self-actualization”.

• Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self-concept” and “ideal self”.

Cognitive Perspective

• Focuses on how we encode (think), process, store, and retrieve information.

• How do we see the world?• How did we learn to act sad

or happy during certain events?

• Cognitive Therapist attempt to change the way you think.

You meet a girl…Hopes are high!!!

She rejects you…don’t even get digits.

How do you react to the rejection?

Some learned get back on the horse & try again.

Some learned to give up and live a lonely life of solitude.

Social-Cultural Perspective

• Says that much of your behavior and your feelings are dictated by the culture you live in.

• Some cultures kiss each other when greeting, some just bow.

• Does your culture place value on individual or the group?

See, I told you!

Psychology’s Subfields• Psychometrics-scientific study of the measurement

of human abilities, attitudes and traits• Basic Research-increase the scientific knowledge

base– Biological psychologists– Developmental psychologists– Cognitive psychologists– Educational psychologists– Personality psychologists– Social psychologists

Psychology’s Subfields

• Applied Research– Industrial/organizational psychologists

–Human factors psychologists

–Counseling psychologists

–Clinical psychologists

–Psychiatrists

–Positive psychology

–Community psychologists

Psychology’s Subfields•Experimental psychologists

• Conducts basic researchBiological 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 SubfieldsPersonality psychologists study individuals characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling & acting

Social psychologists- how we think about, influence, & relate to one another

Educational psychologists- studies of psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning

Psychology’s SubfieldsApplied Psychologists-aims to solve practical problems

Industrial/organizational psychologists study and advise on behavior in the workplace

Clinical psychologists study, assess, and treat people with psychological disorders

Counseling psychologists help people cope with challenges and crisis and to improve personal and social functioning.

School psychologists have expertise in the problems of teaching and learning. They typically work in a school district, where they can diagnose learning and behavior problems.

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied Continued

• Positive psychology- explores positive emotion, positive character traits, strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive

• Community psychology- studies how people interact with their social environments

• Teachers of Psychology• Overlaps with the experimentalists because most researchers also teach classes at the colleges and high schools.

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.

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