American Psychology and Functionalism and Animal Models Lecture

Stage 1

moral and mental philosophy

• psychology was concerned with religion and matters of the soul

Stage 2

intellectual psychology

• psychology becomes a separate discipline

Stage 3

the U.S. renaissance

• psychology was emancipated from the religion and philosophy to become an empirical science

Stage 4

U.S Functionalism

• aim to understand function of the mind not just its contents

• broadening of psychology to study animals and children

• pioneering clinical and psychopathology

• interested now in the WHY of mental processes and behavior

• interested in what makes organisms different

• influenced by JAMES and DARWIN

William James

• taught anatomy and physiology

• Principles of Psychology

• pushed psychology beyond the lab

• attacks brass knob psychology + orthodoxes

• studied consciousness; anything animate has a form of consciousness which relies on the creatures neurological complexity

• Instinct Theory

• patterns of behavior become habits through exposure; habits are functional

• 5 Maxims of eliminating a bad habit

• The Self in 3 Components: material self, social self, spiritual self

• pragmatism: beliefs are true because they work

• Rationalists = tender minded vs. Empiricists = rough minded

James Elimination of Bad Habits

1. Place yourself in circumstances to eliminate the habit and replace with a good one

2. Do not allow yourself to act contrary to the new habit

3. Do not attempt to slowly develop a good habit or eliminate a bad one

4. You must do so, rather than intend to

5. Force yourself to act in ways beneficial to yourself

Hugo Munsterberg

• we act how our body feels

• no conscious & no voluntarism

• psychology without philosophy would deteriorate

• psychology is an applied science

• Clinical Psych: avoided psychotic, employed reciprocal antagonism

• Industrial Psych: increase efficiency in the workplace

• Forensic Psych: pioneer; called for application of psychology to legal field

Mary Whiton Calkins

• worked with Munsterberg

• paired associate learning technique

• self-psychology = experience of consciousness

G. Stanley Hall

• second to William James

• developmental psychology

• cofounder APA

• studied how culture develops and comes into fruition; how culture differs in different places

• recapitulation theory: we reenact throughout our lives stages of human history

• comparative psychology: interest on instinct; innate vs. fallen intelligence or reflex

• against introspection

Francis Cecil Sumner

• first black psychologist

• graduated from Lincoln

John Dewey

• reflex arc: stimulus produces sensation that triggers a response

• PhD in philosophy

• emphasis on problem solving & doing

• invested in education

James Rowland Angell

• functional psychology is interest in mental operations rather than conscious elements

• mental processes mediate between needs of organism and environment (survival)

• mind and body cannot be separated and act as a unit in the struggle to survive

George Romanes

• animal intelligence

Conwy Lloyd Morgan

• Morgan’s Canon: in no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of a higher psychical faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of once that stands lower on the psychological scale

Thorndike

• intelligence is inherited & is not one quality

• puzzle box experiment/cats

• learning is incremental & occurs automatically

Thorndike Laws

1. law of effect: once the stimulus and response are associated, the response is more likely to occur without the stimulus being present

2. law of exercise: the strength of the connection between stimulus and response

Robert Woodworth

• psychometrics

• WPDS (personality test)

• stimulus organism response (S-O-R)