PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 1 Notes: An Overview

PSYCHOLOGY is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.

The PSYCHE is Greek for "mind" or "spirit" or "soul". PSYCHOLOGISTS systematically study and attempt to

explain observable behavior as well as unseen mental process that may influence

behavior.

THE EVOLUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY

• Psychology is the science that studies behavior and the cognitive and physiological processes that underlie behavior. It is also a profession that applies the knowledge of human behavior to practical problems.

Cognitive and physiological processes

EARLY FOCUS: STRUCTURALISM VERSUS

FUNCTIONALISM

• The first two major schools of thought, STRUCTURALISM and FUNCTIONALISM began the battle of many competing schools of thought about what psychologists should study. Wilhelm Wundt established the first lab in 1897 to explore the contents or structure of thought through INTROSPECTION, the systematic self-observation of one=s conscious experience.

EARLY FOCUS

• Wilhelm Wundt

• Contributions: 1st Psychology as a science

STRUCTURALISM VERSUS FUNCTIONALISM

• William James, the architect of FUNCTIONALISM disagreed with this approach in his landmark book, Principles of Psychology in 1890, in which he asserted that consciousness is a continuous stream of consciousness and therefore should focus on the function or purpose of consciousness. His views fostered the development of the modern focus on applied psychology and behaviorism.

EARLY FOCUS

• William James

• Contributions: Started the idea of experimentation.

BEHAVIORAL CONTRIBUTIONS

• John Watson, an early radical behaviorist, assumed behavior was wholly determined by conditions of the environment and searched for ENVIRONMENTAL rather than internal CAUSES of behavior. Ivan Pavlov contributed laws of CLASSICAL CONDITIONING while B.F. Skinner developed OPERANT CONDITIONING theories of the learning process.

Behaviorism

• John Watson—Learning Behaviors/Traits

• Contributions: Little Albert Experiment

Behaviorism

• B.F. Skinner—Operant Conditioning

• Contributions: Skinner Box/Learning Tests

Behaviorism

• Ivan Pavlov—Classical Conditioning

• Contributions: Dog Saliva Experiment

BEHAVIORAL CONTRIBUTIONS

• THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH to psychology assumes that man is born a "TABULA RASA", a blank slate and that behavior is DETERMINED by what one has LEARNED. Man's behavior is SHAPED by the ENVIRONMENT and one's behavior can be predicted from one's learning history and environmental determinants of behaviors such as reinforcers.

Locke and Tabula Rasa

BEHAVIORAL CONTRIBUTIONS

• BEHAVIORISTS are not concerned with inner mental processes. Behaviorists consider OBSERVABLE, MEASURABLE BEHAVIOR to be the only valid focus for scientific investigation. A main objective is to understand how environmental stimuli control particular behaviors. Since environmental stimuli cause behavior, Skinner argued that there is no free will and that behavior can be investigated and predicted in a cause-effect scientific manner by investigating stimuli and responses.

BEHAVIORAL CONTRIBUTIONS

• SOCIAL LEARNING THEORISTS such as Albert Bandura focused on the importance of MODELING AND IMITATION in the LEARNING PROCESS. They argued that people may influence the environment just as the environment may influence them.

Behaviorism

• Bandura

• Contributions: Observational Learning

PSYCHODYNAMIC/

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES • PSYCHOANALYSIS is Sigmund Freud's

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY that emphasizes the interplay of UNCONSCIOUS MENTAL PROCESSES in determining behavior. As these inner drives, motives and instinctual energies often clash, Freud's theory is also known as a CONFLICT APPROACH. INTRAPSYCHIC CONFLICTS between the three parts of Freud's model of the mind, the ID, EGO AND SUPEREGO, create anxiety and tension, "causing" the ego to act directly or indirectly through DEFENSE MECHANISMS to reduce anxiety.

Sigmund Freud--Psychoanalysis

• Freud

• Contributions: limitless

PSYCHODYNAMIC/PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

• PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY is also DETERMINISTIC. Personality is "determined" not only by unconscious motives and drives but also by EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE AND INBORN DRIVES which are largely unconscious. Unconscious sexual drives were a controversial focus of Freud’s theory. Many of his own students disagreed with the focus and developed their own schools of thought as to what was the strongest motivator of human behavior.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE

PSYCHODYNAMIC/PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

• NEO-FREUDIANS studied under Freud and developed new ideas to extend the focus of psychoanalytic theory. Alfred Adler emphasized man's "striving for superiority" and need to compensate for perceived feelings of inferiority. He suggested power dynamics such as BIRTH ORDER often gives us feelings of power or powerlessness in our family.

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

• Alfred Adler

PSYCHODYNAMIC/PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

• Erik Erikson proposed that development occurred throughout an individual's lifespan in response to eight PSYCHOSOCIAL CRISES. Carl Jung proposed that the mind also contains a COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS, a set of memories and capacities representative of the experiences of earlier generations that are a potent influence on human behavior.

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

• Erik Erikson

• Contributions: Psycho-Social Theory

THE HUMANISTS

• THE HUMANISTIC SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY revolted against both the behavioristic and psychoanalytic schools in the 1950’s, charging that both schools were pessimistic, deterministic and dehumanizing. Humanistic psychology emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential.

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

THE HUMANISTS

• Considered the "THIRD FORCE" in psychology, the optimistic view of man emphasizes HEALTHY HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND FREE WILL. The motivating force is the unique "SELF" that strives to "SELF-ACTUALIZE" it's inborn potential. Humanists focus on the SELF-CONCEPT, personal feelings, human dignity and free choice. Personal growth and self-fulfillment are natural strivings of our innate good nature, the natural unfolding of our unique and precious self.

Hierarchy of Needs

THE HUMANISTS

• CARL ROGERS emphasized the importance of a positive SELF-CONCEPT and founded CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY, a NON-DIRECTIVE, PERSON-CENTERED relationship that enabled the person to freely explore values, feelings and goals in a climate of acceptance and positive regard provided by the therapist.

Humanism

• Carl Rogers

• Contributions: Unconditional Positive Regard

THE HUMANISTS

• ABRAHAM MASLOW spent his lifetime as a humanistic psychologist studying healthy persons who had self-actualized their potential. He identified the characteristics of persons who had fulfilled their potential so that we could understand the process of self-actualization. Humanistic psychologists focused on mental health, wellness, personal growth and self-development so prevalent in our self-help books that flourish today.

Humanists

• Abraham Maslow

• Contribution: Hierarchy of Needs

Humanism

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• The GESTALT SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY focuses on principles of PERCEPTION. This school of thought emphasizes that all psychological phenomenon must be studied as a whole "GESTALT" rather than in parts. The "GESTALT", the whole, or "pattern" is more than the sum of its parts.

GESTALT

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• Gestaltists believe we organize stimuli in particular patterns that give them "meaning." Principles such as the relationship of the figure to the background, FIGURE-GROUND RELATIONSHIP, organize our perceptions and give them "meaning".

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• An example of a Visual Gestalt

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• Fritz Perls developed Gestalt therapy. His therapy focuses on integrating largely disowned parts of the self into the "whole" person. One might act out a projection to find one's real feeling, "play" an exaggerated role to discover one's full emotion, "talk to" an empty chair that represents an unacceptable part of self to "reown" one's feelings or unacknowledged desires.

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• Fritz Perls

• Contributions: Holistic Approach to Personality Theory

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• Gestalt therapists encourage people to focus on the "here-and-now", to develop full awareness of their feelings and emotions, to resolve past conflicts that are draining their energy so that they can actively control their lives and fully develop their "whole" being and potential.

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY has experienced a recent resurgence from the early approach to the study of conscious thought. Today Cognitive Psychology focuses on reasoning and mental processing of information. This currently favored approach to psychology studies processes of the mind such as memory, attention, decision-making, imagery and problem solving. Cognitive psychologists believe our thinking is the key causal factor in behavior.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• It is not the event or environment that disturbs us, but our thought or beliefs about a situation that creates havoc in our lives. NEGATIVE SELF-TALK, IRRATIONAL BELIEFS, CATASTROPHIC THINKING AND RIGID THINKING are the real "causes" of our emotional turmoil, our depressions and our disturbing thoughts.

RIGID THINKING

COGNITIVE APPROACHES

• COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS are interested in the way people think about things, the internal mental events that influence how we behave. They believe our behavior is a product of our INTERPRETATION of environmental stimuli that are influenced by our MEMORIES from the past which lead us to form EXPECTANCIES of what will happen now. Cognitive psychologists are developing objective methods to study mental processing and decision-making.

Cognitive

• Jean Piaget

• Contributions: Child Psychology Theory

BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• Recently a renewed focus on the BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE has arisen from the advances of medical science and biochemistry. It has become obvious that there are strong relationships between the body, the mind and human behavior. Advances in research on the brain, nervous system, mental illness, genetics and psychopharmacology have stimulated vast research into the way our bodies affect our minds and vice versa.

BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• Advocates of the Biopsychological Perspective argue that much of human behavior can be explained in terms of bodily processes and structures, genetics and biochemical processes. Numerous advances have been made in areas such as the treatment of mental illness through the interchange of ideas of psychology and biological sciences.

BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

• These are some of the major schools of thought in the science of psychology. Each school shares major assumptions and approaches to research. Many psychologists are ECLECTIC and develop their own theories and methods of study from a mixture of viewpoints and schools. More than 50% of therapists consider themselves to be ECLECTIC.

Sources

• Santa Fe Community College Online

• The Mind of the Sweetwood