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The History of Psychology
Super Important
Psychology is … the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Before it became psychology…
1649
1859
1861
1874
1879
1887
1890
RENEE DESCARTES:Mind & body
separate
PIERRE PAUL BROCA:
l & r hemispheres =
separate functions
WILHELM WUNDT:
1st experimental psych lab in
Lepzig
WILLIAM JAMES:
1st Psych textbook:
Principles of Psych
CHARLES DARWIN:Origin of Species – inherited
traits, survival of fittest
CARL WERNICKE:Evidence that
damage to specific area of brain causes
specific skill loss
G. STANLEY HALL:
1st Pres of APA – 1st ed of Journal of American
Psych
Galen
Humor: body fluid Levels of humors =
effect personality
4 temperaments Sanguine: too much
blood Phlegmatic: too
much phlegm Choleric: yellow bile Melancholic: black
bile
Early suggestion of a mind / body connection
Ancient Greeks
Socrates & Plato
Mind separate from body, knowledge was innate
Dualism
Aristotle
Mind & body connected, knowledge from experience
Renee Descartes
Mind & body connected, knowledge from experience
Believed mind was atabula rasa (blank slate) at birth & experience was written on it “Let us suppose the
mind to be, as we
say, white paper, void
of all characters.”
John Locke
Psychology is born…
Wilhelm Wundt“The exact description of the consciousness is the sole aim of
experimental psychology”
Father of psychology 1st psych lab built in 1879 (Leipzig, Germany) 1st to apply scientific principles to study of
human mind Believed mind = thoughts, experiences,
emotions & other elements Students had to think objectively
Objective introspection: objectively examining & measuring own thoughts
Examining basic sensory processes Sensations = 3 components:
Quality, Intensity, Feeling-tone Ex: Dead rat = nauseating quality, strong
intensity, stench feeling-tone
Wundt experiments (Time lag): Press button when hearing sound of a ball
dropping Press button when consciously aware of
perceiving the sound
Demonstrating choice reaction time Wundt style
FUN FACT: Wundt believed that meaning is more impt than language as evidenced by the fact that we often remember the general meaning of what a person said long after we’ve forgotten the words that were used to convey it.
Why is Wundt considered the first psychologist?
Structuralism
Edward Titchener Student of Wundt Structuralism: Titchner’s idea that objective
introspection can be used on physical sensations (Wundt) + thoughts Ex: Use Titchner’s structuralist view on objective
introspection to explain a rose (What sensations would you have and what thoughts?)
Margaret F. Washburn Student of Titchner 1st PhD in Psych Studied the animal mind
FunctionalismCompeting view arising at same time(also after Wundt’s lab was formed)
William James Taught at Harvard
1st US school to have psych Author of the Principles of
Psychology How the mind allows ppl to
function in real world Live, work, play, adapt etc
Consciousness = an indiv’s awareness of his/her own thoughts, incl sensations, feelings, memories Stream of consciousness –
constant chg in response to continuous flow of info
Mary Whiton Clakins
Student of James Denied Harvard degree – offered from Radcliffe
– refused Became first female pres of APA
Structuralism vs Functionalism
Structuralism: What the mind is
Vs.
Functionalism: What the mind is for
No longer major viewpoints
Charles Darwin
On The Origin of Species
Theory of natural selection: an evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring
Genes are inherited
If random genetic mutation that is beneficial gets passed down it becomes more common in the species
How might this be connected to psychology?
Gestalt Psychology
Max Wertheimer
Perception & sensation couldn’t be broken down into smaller pieces and still be understood
Ex: A melody is made up of indiv notes that alone don’t = a song
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
Ppl naturally seek out patterns and wholes in sensory info
Today part of cognitive psychology
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud Neurologist – patients had nervous disorders Proposed an unconscious mind into which we
repress (push) unwanted/threatening thoughts Repressed thoughts result in nervous disorders
Personality formed in first 6 yrs of life Psychoanalysis – theory & therapy based on
work of Freud (dream analysis, word association, etc) Psychotherapy – based on psychoanalysis – trained
professional helps patient gain insight into own behavior
Criticized for being unscientific Followers:
Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Anna Freud, Erik Erikson
Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov
Reflex could be caused by unrelated stimuli
Conditioning – learned reflexive response
John B. Watson
Behaviorism – focus only on observable behavior
No focus on consciousness
All behavior is leaned
Stimuli (environmental events) + responses (physical reactions)
Little Albert – taught to fear a rat by making scary noise – eventually other white fluffy things scary (Watson & Rayner)
Little Albert update…
Opposed to Freud (phobia result from repressed memories)
B F Skinner
Included the idea of reinforcement into behaviorism
Environmental stimuli that encourage or discourage responses
Mary Cover Jones
Little Peter – countering fear of rabbit
Counterconditioning – slow exposure to rabbit to eliminate fear
The Approaches to
Psychology
Many psychologists today use an
eclectic approach
The Biological Approach
Sometimes called biopsychological
Attributes behavior to biological events
Criticized for that
Genetic inf, hormones and nervous system
Behavior is the direct result of events in the body
Ex: Investigate why heart races when you are afraid
The Behavioral Approach
Scientific study of observable behavior responses & their environmental determinants
We do what we do bc of the conditions we have experienced
Ex: Child is well-mannered bc parents have rewarded that behavior
Applied to help ppl chg behavior for better
Today not all reject cognition (thought processes)
The Psychodynamic Approach
The idea that behavior comes from unconscious drives & conflicts
Conflict btwn biological drives and societal demands & early experiences
Originates with Freud
Today: less emphasis on sexual drives and more on experience
The Humanistic Approach
Emphasizes a person’s positive qualities, capacity for growth & free will to chose destiny
Ppl controls their lives, their environments don’t
Humans have free will & strive for self-actualization (achievement of ones full potential)
Differs from psychoanalytic: Not driven by unconscious impulses
Differs form behaviorism: Not driven by external rewards Can aim for altruism
The Cognitive Approach
Focuses on mental processes involved in knowing How we direct our attn., perceive,
remember, think, solve probs Ex: How we solve math problems, why we
remember somethings for only a short time but others a long time, how we use our imagination to plan for the future
Differs from behaviorism: not driven by external forces rather the indiv mental processes are in
control of behavior thru memories, perceptions, images, thinking
Cognitive neuroscience – study of the physical chgs in brain & nervous systems as the result of thinking
The Sociocultural Approach
Focuses on relationship btwn social & cultural environments inf on behavior
Understanding a person’s behavior requires understanding the cultural context in which it occurs
Compares behavior across countries and different ethnic groups within a country
Ex: A smile is a smile everywhere
The Evolutionary ApproachNote: Sometimes not considered one of the approaches
Focuses on the biological basis of the universal mental characteristics of all humans
Uses evolutionary ideas to explain level of aggressiveness, fears, mating patterns, etc.
All are traceable to probs early humans faced
Ex: Aggressiveness is more necessary in men bc they fought off other animals
Believe they have umbrella approach that underlies all others