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Prologue: The Story of Psychology

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Psychology’s RootsPrescientific Psychology

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In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and perceptions combined to form ideas.

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Prescientific PsychologyConfucius (551-479 B.C.)

In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and the importance of an educated

mind.

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Prescientific PsychologyHebrew Scriptures

Hebrew scriptures linked mind and emotion to the body.

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Prescientific PsychologySocrates (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.

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Prescientific PsychologyAristotle (384-322 B.C.)

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)

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

the immaterial mind and physical body communicated.

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The Dualism runs into problem trying to explain how non-material mind and material brain are supposed to interact causally.

Problem of Interactionism 1: Problem of Interactionism

Problem (1):Where is the interaction supposed to take place, given that all physical events are located in space in time, and the non-material events are not spatially located?

Problem (2):How the physical event in the brain is supposed to affect causally a non-material substance?

How can a non-material event, such as purportedly non-physical intention to drink a glass of water, cause a chain reaction in the brain leading to a physical act of picking up the glass and drinking?

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Prescientific PsychologyFrancis Bacon (1561-1626)

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

method.

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Prescientific PsychologyJohn Locke (1632-1704)

Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and experiences

wrote on it.

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Prescientific Psychology

Mind and body are connected

Mind and body are distinct

The Hebrews Socrates

Aristotle Plato

Augustine Descartes

What is the relation of mind to the body?

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Prescientific Psychology

Some ideas are inborn

The mind is a blank slate

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke

How are ideas formed?

Defining Psychology

• Role of philosophy

• Influence of biology

• Importance of outward behavior

• Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

The Birth…and Afterbirth of Psychology

• Classical origins• Wilhelm Wundt

– First psychology lab, 1879 at the University of Leipzig

– Examined introspection, or the analysis of one’s conscious experiences

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Psychological PhilosophyStructuralism

Wundt and Titchener studied the elements (atoms) of the mind by conducting

experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in 1879.

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Psychological PhilosophyFunctionalism

Influenced by Darwin, William James established the school of functionalism,

which opposed structuralism.

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Schools of Thought: “Old Skool”

• Structuralism– E.B. Titchener – Introspection– Break down immediate sensation, past memories, feelings

• Functionalism– William James – Darwin’s influence– Conscious experience is adaptive– focus on observable, conscious behaviour

Titchener James

Break it down!

No way! Why is it

ADAPTIVE?

Yeah! Why?

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Psychological Philosophy Functionalism

• Functionalism was the psychological school of thought that followed Structuralism and moved away from focusing on the structure of the mind to a concern with how the conscious is related to behavior... How does the mind affect what people do?

• One of the major proponents of Functionalism was Thorndike who studied the primary issue of functionalism... What function does a behavior have? In addition, this school of thought focused on observable events as opposed to unobservable events. (p.5)

Psychological PracticePsychodynamics and the Unconscious Mind

Sigmund Freud and his followers emphasized the importance of the

unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior. The “science of mental life.”

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Psychological Practice Develops

Behaviorism (p.7)

Watson (1913) and later Skinner emphasized the study of overt behavior as

the subject matter of scientific psychology.

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Schools of Thought:Classics

• Behaviorist School– John Watson, Ivan

Pavlov, B.F. Skinner– Observable,

measurable behavior

• Psychoanalysis– Sigmund Freud– Role of the

unconscious– Sex and aggression– Early childhood events– Evolved into

psychodynamic school

I’m a serious

man

Behaviorist John B. Watson

Und zen zie child becomes neurotic!

Sigmund Freud

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Psychological Practice Develops

Humanistic Psychology

Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth

potential and our need for love and acceptance.

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Schools of Thought:Classics

• Humanistic School– Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow– Human potential for growth– Free will– Here and now– Need for acceptance and love

• Cognitive School– Jean Piaget, Albert Ellis, Aaron

Beck– Importance of thoughts and

thought processes– Perception, thinking, memory,

languageCognitive psychologist Jean Piaget

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Psychology’s Big Debate

Nature versus Nurture

Darwin stated that nature selects those that best enable the organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

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Psychological PhilosophyEmpiricism vs. Nativism (p.8)

• Empiricism is the view that real knowledge comes from the senses. This formed the basis for the foundation of modern science - the reliance on empirical evidence, or evidence that is observable. Empiricism is based on the theory that the mind is formed through experience.

• Nativism is the view that certain skills or abilities are 'native' or hard wired into the brain at birth.

• Do empiricism and nativism remind you of another famous debate?

Schools of Thought:Biological and Evolutionary

• Biological– Looks to the body and its processes to explain human

behavior

– Genes, hormones, neurotransmitters, and organ structure/function

– Includes neuroscience which specifically examines the role of the brain and its chemicals in regulating behavior

• Evolutionary Psychology– Examines human behavior through processes of

adaptability, survival value and reproductive value

– How has human behavior changed to ensure survival?

Schools of Thought:The Biopsychosocial Approach

• Regardless of the particular school of thought, contemporary psychology has come to embrace the biopsychosocial approach– Biological influences – Psychological influences – Social-Cultural influences OBEY

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Schools of Thought:The Biopsychosocial

ApproachEach particular school of thought may emphasize one area more than another (p.10)

•Which area/s do you think each school would emphasize?

Schools of Thought:Women’s Contributions?

• Women overcame limitations on access to education, restrictions on awarding advanced degrees, and exclusion from psychological societies– Mary Whiton Calkins– Margaret Floy Washburn

– Mary Cover Jones– Rosalie Rayner

• Today, women earn the majority of Ph.D.s in psychology and hold nearly half of the leadership roles in psychological societies

Enduring Issues in Psychology

• Psychologists representing all schools of thought debate what shapes behavior

• Some on-going debates include the following:– Nature vs. Nurture – Person vs. Situation – Mind vs. Body – Stability vs. Change– Diversity vs. Universality

• The failure to resolve the debates suggests both sides are valid and shed light on behavior

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample QuestionsNeuroscience 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 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?

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample QuestionsPsychodynamic

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?

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample QuestionsCognitive 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?

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Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Type of Research

Purpose

Basic ResearchTo expand the general knowledge base of psychology.

Applied Research

To solve a specific psychological problem/issue.

Clinical Research

To solve the issues involved with psychological disorders (abnormal psychology).

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Psychology’s Subfields: Occupations

Psychologist What he or she does

ClinicalStudies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

CounselingHelps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

EducationalStudies and helps individuals in school and educational settings

Industrial/Organizational

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

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Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Data: APA 1997

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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.

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry