The Evolution of Psychology
* Psych is more than abnormal behavior and influence, it's also about other things (perception of color, hunger regulation by the brain, etc.)
* It's a practical subject
*Provides a way of building dependable and accurate knowledge
* It's a practical subject
*Provides a way of building dependable and accurate knowledge
From Speculation to Science
*Psych developed from philosophical speculations about the mind to modern science
*etymology= Greek- Psyche= soul Logos= Study of stubject
* Started 16th century more commonly studied in the 18th
* went from study of the soul to study on mind
*etymology= Greek- Psyche= soul Logos= Study of stubject
* Started 16th century more commonly studied in the 18th
* went from study of the soul to study on mind
A New Science is Born: Contributions of Wundt + Hall
* Philosophy + physiology = PSYCHOLOGY!
* Philosophers and physilogists studied the mind in their seperateness
* Wilhelm Wundt decided it was a fantabulous idea to combine them
* Proposals were well recieved to this new idea by German universities and people were more welcome to science back in his time
* Wundt= Founding Father of psych
* Psychology's focus was counciousness -> scientific study of conciuousness
* Wundt was a world renouned teacher- everyone from everywhere studied from him
* G. Stanley Hall- student of Wundt
* Created first: research lab, psych journal, and even established American Psychological Assoc.
* Philosophers and physilogists studied the mind in their seperateness
* Wilhelm Wundt decided it was a fantabulous idea to combine them
* Proposals were well recieved to this new idea by German universities and people were more welcome to science back in his time
* Wundt= Founding Father of psych
* Psychology's focus was counciousness -> scientific study of conciuousness
* Wundt was a world renouned teacher- everyone from everywhere studied from him
* G. Stanley Hall- student of Wundt
* Created first: research lab, psych journal, and even established American Psychological Assoc.
Battle of the schools Begins: Structuralism vs. Functionalism
* Major schools of thought-> Structuralism and Functionalism
1. Structuralism
-Originated from Edward Titchener
- Task of Psych was to analyze conciousness into the base elements and investigate how they were all related
-Depended on introspection
- Introspection- Careful systematic self observation of ones own concious experience (it's really hard to do [that's what she said])
2. Functionalism
-belief that psych should investigate the function or purpose of conciousness rather than structure
- Founded by William James
- Principles of Psychology - most influential text in psych written by him
- Natural Selection- trait that allows a species to adapt therefore causing it to mate with others then spreading it's genes everywhere then having EVOLUTION take place. <--- reason for functionalism
* Cattell and Dewey begin investigating mental testing, child development, effectiveness of educational practices, etc. etc.
- brought many woman to the field
* Schools of thought fade away -> left more functionalist qualities (because introspection was such a freaking fail!)
1. Structuralism
-Originated from Edward Titchener
- Task of Psych was to analyze conciousness into the base elements and investigate how they were all related
-Depended on introspection
- Introspection- Careful systematic self observation of ones own concious experience (it's really hard to do [that's what she said])
2. Functionalism
-belief that psych should investigate the function or purpose of conciousness rather than structure
- Founded by William James
- Principles of Psychology - most influential text in psych written by him
- Natural Selection- trait that allows a species to adapt therefore causing it to mate with others then spreading it's genes everywhere then having EVOLUTION take place. <--- reason for functionalism
* Cattell and Dewey begin investigating mental testing, child development, effectiveness of educational practices, etc. etc.
- brought many woman to the field
* Schools of thought fade away -> left more functionalist qualities (because introspection was such a freaking fail!)
Watson Alters Psychs Course as Behaviorism makes it's debut
* Behaviorism- Premise that scientific psych should study only observable behavior
- founded by John Watson
-Proposed to abandon the study of conciousness altogether
* Verifiability- scientific claims can be verfied/ disproved through observation
* Nature vs. Nurture- whether behavior is determined by genes (nature) or environment (nurture)
* Behaviorists believed in nurture more
* behav. only related things through things they can see only
- refered to stimulus response psych
*Behaviorists used animals for experimentation because they can control them more and they're more reliable subjects
* Gestalt Psychology- Studied perception like crazy, psych should continue to study conciousness rather than behavior, whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
- founded by John Watson
-Proposed to abandon the study of conciousness altogether
* Verifiability- scientific claims can be verfied/ disproved through observation
* Nature vs. Nurture- whether behavior is determined by genes (nature) or environment (nurture)
* Behaviorists believed in nurture more
* behav. only related things through things they can see only
- refered to stimulus response psych
*Behaviorists used animals for experimentation because they can control them more and they're more reliable subjects
* Gestalt Psychology- Studied perception like crazy, psych should continue to study conciousness rather than behavior, whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Freud Brings Unconcious into the Picture
* Freud is the most controversial intellect of modern times
* Treated patients through psychoanalysis
* Unconcious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are below the surface of concious awarenessbut exert influence over behavior
* Psychoanalytic theory- explains personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconcious determinants of behavior
- Hella controversial- proposed that behavior is greatly influenced by how people cope with sexual urges. (uh oh talking about sex in the past? SCANDALOUS)
* Treated patients through psychoanalysis
* Unconcious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are below the surface of concious awarenessbut exert influence over behavior
* Psychoanalytic theory- explains personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconcious determinants of behavior
- Hella controversial- proposed that behavior is greatly influenced by how people cope with sexual urges. (uh oh talking about sex in the past? SCANDALOUS)
Skinner Questions Free Will as Behaviorism Flourishes
* Skinner went back to Watson's focus of obseving behavior
- argued that psych could understand and predict behavior adequately w/o resorting to physiological explanations
* Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend not to repeat responses if the outcomes are negative/ neutral
* Skinner believed that all behavior is governed by external stimuli
- free will is an illusion
- Skinner was criticized for things he didn't mean (taken out of context)
- argued that psych could understand and predict behavior adequately w/o resorting to physiological explanations
* Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend not to repeat responses if the outcomes are negative/ neutral
* Skinner believed that all behavior is governed by external stimuli
- free will is an illusion
- Skinner was criticized for things he didn't mean (taken out of context)
Humanists Revolt
* psychoanalytic theory criticized for belief that behavior is dominated by sexual urges
* Behaviorism criticized for studying animal behavior
- both of the above were "dehumanizing"
* Humanism - Emphasizes unique qualities of humans epsecially freedom and personal growth
- optomistic view of human nature
* founded by Carl Rogers
- to fully understand human behavior psychs must account fundamental human drive toward personal growth
- think of Mr. Roger's- everyone was too nice on that show and shtuff
* Behaviorism criticized for studying animal behavior
- both of the above were "dehumanizing"
* Humanism - Emphasizes unique qualities of humans epsecially freedom and personal growth
- optomistic view of human nature
* founded by Carl Rogers
- to fully understand human behavior psychs must account fundamental human drive toward personal growth
- think of Mr. Roger's- everyone was too nice on that show and shtuff
Psychology Comes of Age as a Profession
* Applied Psychology- branch of psych concerned with everyday, practical problems
* Clinical Psych- branch of psych concerned with diagnosis and treatment of psych problems and disorders
- not many people interested at first
* Clinical psych dramatically grows when WWII vets/ soldiers were suffering from post-traumatic stress
- after actually doing the work psychs got interested
* American Psychological Assoc. became dominated by clinical psychs but it tried to rep. other types too
- Amer. Psychological Society was created and devoted only to the science of psych.
* Clinical Psych- branch of psych concerned with diagnosis and treatment of psych problems and disorders
- not many people interested at first
* Clinical psych dramatically grows when WWII vets/ soldiers were suffering from post-traumatic stress
- after actually doing the work psychs got interested
* American Psychological Assoc. became dominated by clinical psychs but it tried to rep. other types too
- Amer. Psychological Society was created and devoted only to the science of psych.
Psychology Returns to its Roots: Renewed Interest in Cognition+ Physiology
* Renewed interest in conciousness- called cognition
-Cognition- mental processes in acquiring knowledge
* Jean Piayet- increased attention on study of cognitive developement in children
* Noam Chomsky- interest in psych- underpining of language
* Cognitive perspective- People's manipulations of mental images influence how they behave
* James Olds- used electrical stimulation to evoke emotional responses (yikes)
* Biological responses- much of human behavior can be explained in terms of bodily structures and biochemical processes allow organisms to behave.
-Cognition- mental processes in acquiring knowledge
* Jean Piayet- increased attention on study of cognitive developement in children
* Noam Chomsky- interest in psych- underpining of language
* Cognitive perspective- People's manipulations of mental images influence how they behave
* James Olds- used electrical stimulation to evoke emotional responses (yikes)
* Biological responses- much of human behavior can be explained in terms of bodily structures and biochemical processes allow organisms to behave.
Psychology Broadens it's Horizons: Increases in Cultural Diversity
* psych's realize different types people have different types of results (wow, what geniuses)
* Reasons why they didn't do it before?-> it's expensive, might cause stereotypes, ethnocentrism
* Ethnocentrism- tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as a standard of judging the worth of foreign ways
- despite those factores the lack of cultural varables was diminishing worth of the work
* Advances of communication, travel, etc. shrunk the world
* ethnic make-up became diverse
(above were reasons for interests in culturals studies.
* Reasons why they didn't do it before?-> it's expensive, might cause stereotypes, ethnocentrism
* Ethnocentrism- tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as a standard of judging the worth of foreign ways
- despite those factores the lack of cultural varables was diminishing worth of the work
* Advances of communication, travel, etc. shrunk the world
* ethnic make-up became diverse
(above were reasons for interests in culturals studies.
Psychology Adapts: Emergence of Evolutionary Psychology
* Evolutionary Psych- Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations
- theory of natural selection in psych
* Crtitics argue that the hypotheses in evolutionary psych are untestable and explanations are speculative accounts for obvious behaviors. (therefore bullshit)
- theory of natural selection in psych
* Crtitics argue that the hypotheses in evolutionary psych are untestable and explanations are speculative accounts for obvious behaviors. (therefore bullshit)
Psychology Today: Vigorous and Diversfied
* Psychology- science that studies behaviors and physiological + cognitive processes that underlie it and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this to practical problems
Research Areas In Psychology
* people specialize in one branch or another because it has expanded so much
* 7 major areas of research: developmental, social, experimental, physiological, cognitive, personality, psychometrics
* 7 major areas of research: developmental, social, experimental, physiological, cognitive, personality, psychometrics
Professional Specialties in Psych
* Applied Psych has 4 areas
1. Clinical Psych
2. Counseling Psych
3. Educational and school psych
4. industrial/ organizational psych
* Psychiatry is a branch of medicine concerned with diagnosis and treatment of psych problems and disorders.
1. Clinical Psych
2. Counseling Psych
3. Educational and school psych
4. industrial/ organizational psych
* Psychiatry is a branch of medicine concerned with diagnosis and treatment of psych problems and disorders.
7 Key Themes
Theme 1: Psych it empirical
- Empiricism- Knowledge should be acquired through observation
- experimentation
- requires some skepticism
Theme 2: Psych is theoretically diverse
- Theory- Interelated ideas to explain observations
-different points of view
Theme 3: Psych evolves in a sociohistorical context
-Sociohistorical= Social + Historical
- progress in psych affects trends, issues, and values in society
Theme 4: Behavior is determined by multiple causes
- Behavior is complex and it's determined by multiple causes
- multifactoral causation fo behavior- complex network of interacting factors that behavior is governed by
Theme 5: Behavior is shaped by cultural heritage
- Culture- Widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions etc. of a community that are transmitted socially accross generations
Theme 6: Heredity and Environment jointly influence behavior
- nature vs, nurture
-in past psychs chose 1 over the other now most psychs agree they go hand in hand
Theme 7: Peoples experience of the world id highly subjective
- people impose organization on the stimuli they pay attention to
- people sometimes see what they want to see
-people see what they expect to see.
- Empiricism- Knowledge should be acquired through observation
- experimentation
- requires some skepticism
Theme 2: Psych is theoretically diverse
- Theory- Interelated ideas to explain observations
-different points of view
Theme 3: Psych evolves in a sociohistorical context
-Sociohistorical= Social + Historical
- progress in psych affects trends, issues, and values in society
Theme 4: Behavior is determined by multiple causes
- Behavior is complex and it's determined by multiple causes
- multifactoral causation fo behavior- complex network of interacting factors that behavior is governed by
Theme 5: Behavior is shaped by cultural heritage
- Culture- Widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions etc. of a community that are transmitted socially accross generations
Theme 6: Heredity and Environment jointly influence behavior
- nature vs, nurture
-in past psychs chose 1 over the other now most psychs agree they go hand in hand
Theme 7: Peoples experience of the world id highly subjective
- people impose organization on the stimuli they pay attention to
- people sometimes see what they want to see
-people see what they expect to see.