psychology an introduction. aristotle psyche – essence of life psychology – study of life
TRANSCRIPT
PsychologyAn Introduction
Aristotle • Psyche – essence of life
• Psychology – study of life
Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.
• Science – careful, controlled observation
• Behavior-The actions that others see in you.
• Mental processes – private thoughts, emotions, feelings, motives that others cannot directly observe
What Is Psychology
Describe Predict Understand Influence
What Is Psychology
What Is Psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt • First laboratory in psychology, 1879
• William James• Lab in Harvard University, 1875
• Many people founded psychology
Wundt and Titchner• Introspection
Observe contents of own mind Describe sensations
• Structuralism Structure of mind
J. Henry Alston• Studies of sensations of heat and cold
What Is Psychology
Max Wertheimer
• Gestalt psychology
• Gestalt – the whole
• Phi phenomenon – the whole is different from the sum of its parts
What Is Psychology
William James• Functionalism
• Interested in what the mind could do
• Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
• Critical of structuralist view
What Is Psychology
Hermann Ebbinghaus• Measurement of memory
Meaningful and nonsense information
Mary Calkins• Functionalist• Memory and related bits of information• Paired associates method
What Is Psychology
Cognitive psychology• Modern version of functionalism
• Strongly influenced by Gestalt and
structuralism
• Cognitive processes – functions of human consciousness
• Cognition – all intellectual processes
What Is Psychology
Founded 1st psychology lab in France Developed way to measure
intelligence• Identify intelligent children for extensive
education in France
Test modified in U.S.• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
• Psychometrics – measurement of mental functions
What Is Psychology
Behaviorists influenced by Darwin and learning from experience
Ivan Pavlov • Conditioning – simple form of learning
• Precise scientific way of studying learning
What Is Psychology
John Watson and Margaret Washburn• Impressed by Pavlov’s scientific precision
• Behaviorism - human behavior learned through classical conditioning
• Should study only overt behavior
B.F. Skinner• Strict behaviorist – no mental processes
What Is Psychology
Social learning theory • Broader version of behaviorism
Albert Bandura• Most of behavior learned from others in
society
• Important theoretical view today
What Is Psychology
Mental processes that we are unaware of
Sigmund Freud • Founder of psychoanalysis
• Unconscious mind
• Innate motives Conflicts influence behavior Sexual and aggressive are most important
What Is Psychology
Humanistic psychology• Maslow, Rogers, and Frankl
• Human fate based on conscious decisions
• Society is cause of self-defeating unconscious mind – bombarded with inaccurate information
• Self-concept – our view of what we are like Negative information causes anxiety
Difficult to have accurate self-concept
What Is Psychology
Sociocultural perspective• People are different – gender, cultural
heritage, age, sexual orientation, and unique experiences
• Derived from social anthropology
• Shaped by social learning theory – personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and skills learned from others
• Full understanding within sociocultural context
What Is Psychology
Interested in relationship between biological nature and psychological nature• How structures of brain influence behavior
• Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution – compare different species and humans
• Neurons and complex connections
• Active and inactive states of human brain
What Is Psychology
Sociocultural perspective• Culture – patterns of behavior, beliefs,
values shared by a people
• Ethnic group – persons who are descendants of common group of ancestors
• Ethnic identity – one’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group; sharing their culture
What Is Psychology
Sociocultural perspective • Gender identity – viewing oneself as female
or male
• Cultural relativity Think in relative terms, not judgmental
All cultures are different, none inferior
Usually more differences within groups than between groups
What Is Psychology
Sociocultural perspective in psychology• Psychology overemphasizes same,
neglects diversity
• History of psychology – Prejudiced against females and people of color Roadblocks in education and employment
Today – formal barriers dropped but some prejudice still exists
What Is Psychology
Studies behavior of animals and humans
Influenced by Darwin’s natural selection• Spontaneous change or mutation in
gene – the fittest survive
• Fitness – reproducing offspring to carry mutated gene to future generations
• Hard wired differences in men and women
What Is Psychology
Positive psychology movement• Study positive aspects of human lives
• Seligman – positive psychology as new school of thought Study health and happiness
What Is Psychology
Applied psychologists – research studies
Basic areas of modern psychology
• Biological psychology
• Sensation and perception
• Motivation and emotion
• Developmental psychology
• Sociocultural psychology
What Is Psychology
• Cognition
• Personality
• Social psychology
Applied areas of modern
psychology• Clinical psychology
• Counseling psychology
• Educational and school psychology
• Industrial and organizational psychology
• Health psychology
What Is Psychology
Relationship between psychology and psychiatry
• Psychiatrist – M.D. degree , residency training in psychiatry and medical internship
• Psychologist – Ph.D. or Psy.D., internship in clinical psychology
What Is Psychology
Human beings are biological creatures Every person is different, yet much the
same Can fully understand people in their social
context Human life is continuous process of change Behavior is motivated Humans are social animals People are active in creating experiences Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive
What Is Psychology
What Is Psychology