PSYCHOLOGYHistorical Perspective

Psychology: Defined

The scientific study of behavior and

mental processes

• Key components of this definition:– Science– Behavior– Mental Processes

Predict what will happenSystematically observe eventsDo events support predictions

Life Before Psychology

René Descartes(1596-1650)

Philosophy asks questions about the mind: Does perception accurately reflect reality? How is sensation turned into perception?

Problem - No “scientific” wayof studying problems

Physiology asks similar questions about the mind

SCIENTIFICMETHOD

Psychology Is Born

Wilhelm Wundt(1832-1920)

First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)

Focuses on the scientific study of the mind.WW insists that Psych methods be as rigorous

as the methods of chemistry & physics.

University of LeipzigHarvard UniversityYale UniversityColumbia UniversityCatholic UniversityUniv of PennsylvaniaCornell UniversityStanford University

Wundt’s students start labsacross USA (1880-1900)

Women of PsychologyMary CalkinsMary Calkins - student of William James at

Harvard but was not awarded a Ph.D.Founded psych lab at Wellesley College (1891)

Maragaret WashburnMaragaret Washburn - first woman to receivePh.D. in Psychology. Wrote The Animal Mind,

which helped begin the Behaviorist movement.

Leta HollingworthLeta Hollingworth - Debunked popular theoriesthat suggested women were inferior to men.

Did pioneering work on adolescent development,mental retardation & “gifted” children.

Psychology (pre-1920)Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Physiologist & Perceptual PsychologistFounder of Psychology as a Science

Experiments

Edward Titchner (1867-1927)Student of Wundt

Formed at CornellIntrospection

William James (1842-1910)Philosopher & Psychologist

Formed at Harvard

PsychologyUnderstanding

Mental Processes

Structuralism vs Functionalism

William James(1842-1910)

Analyze consciousness into basic elementsand study how they are related

Introspection - self-observationof one’s own conscious experiences

Investigate the function, or purposeof consciousness rather than its structure

Leaned toward applied work(natural surroundings)

StructuralismStructuralism

FunctionalismFunctionalism

Wilhelm Wundt

Thoughts, memories & desiresexist below conscious awareness

and exert an influence on ourbehavior

Unconscious expressed indreams & “slips of the tongue”

Freud & Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)

Proposes the idea of the Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUSUNCONSCIOUS

Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explainpersonality, mental disorders & motivation in

terms of unconscious determinants of behavior

BehaviorismScientific Psychology should focus on

observable behavior.

John Watson(1878-1958)

Ivan Pavlov

Psych the Science of Behavior

StimulusStimulusResponseResponse

PsychologyPsychology

Mental Processes cannotbe studied directly

Skinner Box

Psychology (1920s-1960s)

John B. Watson (1878-1958)Behavior without Reference to Thought

The RAT & S-R Psychology

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)Behaviorism with a Twist

The PIDGEON & The Skinner Box

PsychologyScience of Observable

BehaviorBehaviorism

Gestalt Psychology

Max Wertheimer(1880-1943)

““The whole is different thanThe whole is different thanthe sum of its parts.”the sum of its parts.”

Phi PhenomenonIllusion of movement created bypresenting visual stimuli in rapid

succession.

A reaction against Structuralism An attempt to focus attention back

onto conscious experience(i.e., the mind)

WHY?WHY?

Cognitive Psychology

Noam Chomsky“Language”

Cognitive PsychologyThe study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think.Examples

How people perceive various shapesWhy they remember some facts and forget othersHow they learn language

Cognition (Ashcraft, 2002)The collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, and understanding, and the act of using those processes

Different Perspectives in Psychology

Biological Psychology

Behavioral/Clinical Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Social-Cultural Psychology

Biological Perspective

FocusHow the body and brain create emotions, memories,and sensory experiences.

FocusHow the body and brain create emotions, memories,and sensory experiences.

Sample Issues• How do evolution and heredity influence behavior?• How are messages transmitted within the body?• How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Behavioral/Clinical Perspective

FocusHow we learn from observable responses.How to best study, assess and treat troubled people.

FocusHow we learn from observable responses.How to best study, assess and treat troubled people.

Sample Issues• How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations?• What is the most effective way to alter certain behaviors?• What are the underlying causes of:

Anxiety Disorders Phobic Disorders Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Cognitive Perspective

FocusHow we process, store and retrieve information.

FocusHow we process, store and retrieve information.

Sample Issues• How do we use info in remembering and reasoning?• How do our senses govern the nature of perception?

(Is what you see really what you get?)• How much do infants “know” when they are born?

Social-Cultural Perspective

FocusHow behavior and thinking vary across situationsand cultures.

FocusHow behavior and thinking vary across situationsand cultures.

Sample Issues• How are we, as members of different races andnationalities, alike as members of one human family?• How do we differ, as products of different social contexts?• Why do people sometimes act differently in groups thanwhen alone?

Psychologists must be skepticaland think critically

What is the evidence?How was it collected?

Psychology is Empirical

Psych conclusions based on researchPsych conclusions based on researchNOT tradition or common senseNOT tradition or common sense

Knowledge acquired through observation

• Lots of different areas and fields• When Psychology uses scientific principles, it has no problems.• When Psychology does not use scientific models, gets many problems.• In some areas has a good reputation• In other areas has a very poor reputation• Inserts a lot of psychobabble with no positive result.• We will concentrate on the scientific aspects.

Where Are We Now?

Work in the history of psychology have an important place in our educations:  By looking at things from the big, historical perspective, and from the “aspect of eternity” one get by studying psychology, perhaps we will have progress in psychology sooner rather than later.

THANK YOU