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