PSYC 1100: Intro to Psychology

Kurt PennerStanding in for Dr. Levente Orban

1. Introductions

2. Your Course Syllabus (still under minor revisions)

3. What is Psychology and how did it develop?

4. Introduction to the Brain

5. BRAIN LAB – active learning experience (in class)

Introducing...Dr. Levente Orban: Your Instructor

BBA Psyc KPUPhD from U. of OttawaEvolutionary Psychology, honeybees…In Transylvania now

Back in 2006…

And

You…1. Name2. Program and year at KPU3. Where do you commute from?4. Where did you grow up?5. Possible career interest(s)?6. What languages do you know?7. What is a favourite:

a. Hobbyb. TV Show c. Movied. Sport

COURSE SYLLABUS

1. Read a course syllabus carefully!2. How to contact Levente, office & hours3. The textbook, course website, Exams, Assignments, Bonus

Marks and Calendar of Topics and Readings

Other Notes:4. Student life, leadership & volunteer opportunities5. Student Support – Various Services at KPU

Any specific or syllabus questions: email Levente at llo@kpu.ca

Small group activity:Discuss strategies you have done or heard of that students use to manage their time/projects, and have more success at university.

Pick a strategy you will try out this semester.

How exactly will you attempt it, monitor, adjust?

What is Psychology?

Scientific Behavior

Mental Processes

Observable actionsAnswering questions objectively based on observable facts, data, and established methods

Thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, motivations, dreams, subjective experiences

Today’s definition:The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

The Origins of Psychology as a discipline

Roots of Psychology: PhilosophyAncient philosophers asked questions about human existence.

Aristotle (to 322 BC)

Philosophical empiricism, or the idea that all knowledge

is acquired through experience

Plato (to 347 BC)Nativism, or the idea that

certain kinds of knowledge are inborn or innate

Nature vs Nurture

Rene Descartes1596 – 1650

“The Father of Modern Philosophy”

Dualism: the idea that the mind and body are separate entities that

interact

Do you know Descartes’ most famous quote?Latin: Cogito Ergo SumEnglish: I think, therefore I am.A better translation: I am thinking, therefore I exist.

Foreshadowing

Psychology…

Roots of Psychology:

In the 1600s, physiologists begin to study the workings of the brain and its relation to behavior.

By the 1700s, physiologists find that specific bodily functions can be traced to specific brain areas.

What is “phrenology”?

PhysiologyThe branch of biology that studies the functions and parts of living organisms

Psychology: A Discipline Is Founded

Uses scientific methods to study psychological processes

Writes first psychology textbook (1874)

Establishes first psychology research laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany (1879)

“Structuralism”

Wilhelm Wundt

(1832-1920)Leipzig, Germany

Called himself a “Psychologist” – first one?

Early Schools of Psychology

FunctionalismAdvocated by William James and influenced by Darwin, functionalism focuses on how behaviors function to allow people and animals to adapt to their environment.

As a professor and philosopher, William James was influential in establishing psychology in the United States.

William James(1842-1910)

Charles Darwin(1809-1882)

New Schools:Psychoanalysis The Unconscious is

the part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness

Unconscious conflicts determine behavior and personality

Psychoanalytic TheoryUnconscious mental processes shape

feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939

Why do people do things “out of character?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLHr_S6_OX8 Just the first 30 seconds…

Freudian Slip Video

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)discovers conditioned reflexes (involuntary learning)

New Schools Develop:

Behaviorism

Psychology redefined as the scientific study of observable behavior

John Watson (1878-1958) extends approach to human behavior.

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)further experiments on behavior, learning, and conditioning.

External environment affects our behavior

Learning from reward and punishment

“operant conditioning, behavior modification”

15

Behavioral / Learning Perspective

Pavlov

Watson

B.F. Skinner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE

Brain Lab!