Defining Psychology

Psychology – the science of behavior and the mental process ◦ behavior: anything

an organism does◦ mental process: the

internal subjective experiences we infer from behavior

Basic Research- aims to increase the scientific knowledge base Ex- Social Psychologists

study the conditions which make specific age groups conform.

Ex. Developmental Psychologists study why high school students have more difficulty with authoritarian parents than do elementary age students.

Types of Research Psychologists conduct

Applied research – aims to solve practical problems◦ Ex. Industrial /

Organizational Psych.

◦ Ex. Sports Psychology- Ex. Olympics

◦ Ex Consumer Psychology

◦ Hidden Motives (1:30-10:00)

Supermarket Psychology – YouTubeSupermarket Psychology: Specials, pricing, Supermarket Psychology - Entrances, layout and shelving - YouTube

Political Psychology Political Psychologists

are trained to

The Politics of Fear by John Dean

Ex- LBJ Daisy Commercial

Ex- Barrack Hussein Obama OR recent coverage trying to tie

Subfields (cont.)

Counseling Psychologist – graduate degrees in psychology – clients have less serious problems.

Clinical Psychologist – PhD in clinical psychology - study, assess, and treat people with psychological disorders

Psychiatrist – medical doctors who are licensed to prescribe drugs and treat causes of psychological disorders

What is Psychology?

The History Of Psychology

Socrates was a teacher of Plato. Both Socrates and Plato agreed

that the mind and body are separate entities

Both believed that some ideas are inborn.

Philosophers and Psychology(pre-scientific)

Socrates 469-399 BC

Plato 427-347 BC

Aristotle was a student of Plato. Although he was a student of

Plato, many of Aristotle’s ideas set him apart from the philosophies of Plato and Socrates

Aristotle believed that the mind and body are connected and cannot be separated.

He also believed that the mind begins as a blank slate.

Philosophers and Psychology(pre-scientific)

Aristotle 384-322 BC

Francis Bacon and John Locke viewed the mind as a blank slate (“tabula rasa”). Our experiences write on the blank slate and shape who we are.

Western Thought

Bacon 1561-1626

Locke 1632-1704

Some ideas are inborn Blank Slate

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke & Bacon

Inborn or Blank Slate?The state of our Mind and Body?

Mind & Body Separate

Mind & Body Connected

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke

Descartes “dualism”

Wilhelm Wundt – First psychological laboratory in Germany - 1879

Studied the time lag between hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a telegraph key. He measured the reaction time, reaction to color/sound etc.

Psychology is born.

Wundt is known as the Father of Psychology – He moved Psychology out of a realm of philosophy to a realm of science.

Wundt and his

students used introspection to study structuralism.

◦Introspection - record cognitive reactions to simple stimuli

◦Structuralism – the study of the most basic elements of the mind. Ex. Reaction time

Wundt (cont.)

wrote psychology’s first textbook in 1890 (The Principles of Psychology)

Developed the theory of functionalism Functionalism - school of psychology

that focused on how mental and behavioral processes enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish. Ex Fear can help us survive.

William James

Functionalism studies the function of the mind rather than the structure of the mind.◦ James’ central

question was how do our minds adapt to changing environment?

Functionalism vs. Structuralism

Functionalism James How does it work?

Structuralism Wundt What is it?

How to remember…

Introduced the Gestalt approach (1920) Gestalt psychology – emphasize our

tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes. ◦ The perception (whole experience) is often more

than just a sum of the parts “Gestalt” means whole We perceive motion where there is nothing

more than a sequence of individual sensory events. ◦ Ex. motion picture - The viewer sees an effect of

the whole event. ◦ Ex. Flashing road sign during construction – our

perception is that the arrows are moving

Max Wertheimer

Examples of Seeing the WholeLaw of Closure - If parts are missing, we tend to add to it

OXXXXXX XOXXXXX XXOXXXX XXXOXXX XXXXOXX XXXXXOX XXXXXXO

Law of Similarity – we tend to group similar items together

Principle of figure ground – perceiving one part as the foreground and the other as the background

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Law of proximity – things that are closer together are seen as belonging together.

Gestalt psychology contributed to the study of therapy and perception.

Evolutionary Perspective

Human thoughts and actions are examined in terms of natural selection.

Look for traits that are advantageous for survival. Certain traits are passed down from the parents to the next generation.

How would Donna’s situation be explained using the evolutionary perspective?◦ Donna’s behavior is

not acceptable to society and may decrease her chance of survival

introduced the psychoanalytic theory

Freud believed that he discovered the unconscious mind. (a part of our mind in which we do not have conscious control over)

Sigmund Freud believed that the unconscious mind is repressed

Psychoanalysis – theory of personality and therapeutic technique that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

Sigmund Freud

One can understand human thought and behavior through dream analysis, word association and psychoanalytic techniques

Freud is criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories.

Psychoanalysis (cont.)

Watson introduced the behavioral approach

Watson studied the experiments of Pavlov

Behaviorism – belief that psychology should be

1. an objective science2. study behavior without reference to

mental processes(Today, psychologists agree with #1 but not

#2)

John B. Watson

Behaviorists believed that psychologists should only look at behavior and causes of behavior (one cannot observe sensation, feeling and thought)

Thus Watson, and other behaviorists reject ideas like structuralism and functionalism.

From the 1920’s to the 1960’s behaviorism is the dominant force in American psychology.

Behaviorism (cont.)

Skinner was a behaviorist that contributed to the understanding and school of thought of behaviorism.

Skinner introduced the idea of reinforcement to the understanding of behavior.

Reinforcement is the environmental stimuli that either encourage or discourage certain responses.

B.F. Skinner