HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS VARIOUS SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

ANCIENT GREECESocrates gives psychology introspection: method where participant self-observes themselves and reports thoughts and feelings.Aristotle laid down the foundation of association: mentally linking thoughts/experiences with other thoughts/experiences

• Ex. You associate a vacation with being happy, bacon and eggs with the morning.

MIDDLE AGESAKA The “Dark” Ages (and you can see why…)

• Various psych disorders were considered “demonic possession,” “witchcraft,” etc.

STRUCTURALISM1879 first Psychology lab created in Germany, set up by Wilhelm Wundt

• Had a background in physiology, study of the body.

Structuralist: psychologist who studies the basic elements/pieces of experiencesTwo main pieces:

• objective sensations (observation)• Subjective feelings (introspection)

FUNCTIONALISMWilliam James: taught first class in psychology at Harvard in 1875

• Often called “father of psychology” in U.S.

• Wrote the discipline’s first textbook in 1890.

Functionalist: one who studies the functions/purposes of consciousness

BEHAVIORAL PSYCH.Behaviorism: focuses on behaviors and what specifically causes them.

• Direct link between a stimulus and a response.

• Ivan Pavlov’s dogs can be conditioned to respond to certain stimuli.

John Watson experimented on and applied these principles to humans B.F. Skinner added the concept of reinforcements/ punishments.

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGYFocuses on our understanding of the world through recognizing patterns and groupings

• Gestalt = German for “shape/form”• We learn through playing around with these gestalts

• How do we learn our alphabet?

PSYCHOANALYTICSigmund Freud was more interested in the unconscious mind.Psychoanalysis: Explores primal urges lurk underneath our willingness to follow societal norms

• Focused mostly on the practices of dream interpretation and free association

• Sometimes called “psychodynamic” because thoughts/behavior is being determined by dynamic unconscious processes.

BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVEBiological Psych: Study the impact of chemical imbalances, effect of medications, and the “wiring” of the brainGet all the cool toys like MRIs, fMRIs, CAT scans, etc.Behavior can be determined by biological processes.

EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVEStarts with Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” ideaBiological and Psychological adaptations have developed in ways that make us more likely to survive and reproduce

• Ex. When we are depressed about our lives, we tend to lack energy. If our energy levels went up instead, we may be more likely to carry out a suicide.

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVECognitive Psych: Focus on how the brain receives, stores, and retrieves informationAlso focus on the learning process and language acquisitionBig in the 1950s with psychologists like Jean Piaget and Noam Chompsky

HUMANIST PSYCHIn response to the stark behavioralistsHumanist Psych: Believed that human nature evolves and is self directedAbraham Maslow developed his Hierarchy of Needs, which suggests which human needs must be met in a particular order

LEARNING PERSPECTIVEEmphasizes the impact on how our experiences change our behavior

• Ex. Experience your hand on a hot stove? Your behavior will change to avoid that again

Social learning theory states that we choose to imitate others and we choose who/what we imitate.

• Ex. You choose to learn how to play the sousaphone because you chose to hang out with bandos.

SOCIOCULTURE PERSPECTIVEEmphasizes aspects about you (like race, sex, gender, socioeconomic status) and how others treat you because of these aspects

• Ex. Black students tend to score lower than average when tested in a room with a white proctor (but score average when the test is given by a black proctor)

• Ex. Women are often outnumbered by men 10:1 in college engineering programs. Do women choose not to go into engineering or are they being steered away from high level math/science classes in high school?