AP Psychology Unit 1: Scientific Foundations of Psychology MCHS

(Chp 1 - History & Development of Modern Psychology) Topic 1.1: Introducing Psychology

What is psychology?

The science that focuses on studying the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of humans. It explores Cognition and emotions as well as outward, observable behaviors.

Who opened the first experimental psychology lab in Germany in 1879?

Wilhelm Wundt

Ebers Papyrus

An Egyptian document from 1550 BCE, the earliest known medical text and included information on psychological disorders.

Ancient Greek Philosophers (3)

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. They discussed and debated important ideas about the relationship between the body, brain, and mental processes, and the orgins of knowledge.

Rene Descartes

Promoted the concept of dualism (The idea that the body and mind are separate and distinct entities). "I think, therefore I am"

John Locke

British philosopher who disagreed with the concept of dualism. He also wrote "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," which presented his famous concept of the mind as a tabula rasa, or a "blank slate" at birth.

The two earliest schools of thought

Structuralism and Functionalism

One of the first to describe/treat mental illness (late 800s)

Rhazes

First true psych textbook

"Principles of Physiological Psychology"

2,000 years ago, Chinese rulers created the first _

psychological exams, requiring public officials to take personality and intelligence tests

Who created structuralism?

Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener

Who created functionalism?

William James

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that our personalities are shaped by unconscious motives

Harvard astronomer who acknowledged the human brain is by far the most complex physical object known to us

Owen Gingerich

The Capailano bridge study and the Asch Conformity experiments showed

The obvious is not always obvious

Misattribution

giving credit to something not deserving - emotions and the transfer of it

The seven branches of psychology

Structuralism, Functionalism, Biological, Psychodynamic, Cognitive, Behavioral, Humanistic, Developmental, Evolutionary

Structuralism Psychology

Used introspection and self-reporting to understand the structure of the mind. "Looking inward."

Functionalism Psychology

Objective methods to understand the overall purpose or function of the mind and behavior.

Biological Psychology

Influence of the body and the brain, and how they impact emotions and behavior (Ex. study basis for mental disorders)

Psychodynamic (Psychoanalysis) Psychology

Unconscious drives and childhood experiences that shape personality, psycological disorders, and behavior. Focuses on what's happening in our unconscious minds. Freud, Carl Jung, Erik Erikson used talk therapy and dream analysis to understand

Cognitive Psychology

Emphasizes mental processes such as memory, thinking, perception, language, and learning. Look how our thoughts/interpretations of situations impact responses, emotions, and behaviors.

Who created the stages of cognitive development?

Jean Piaget

Behavioral Psychology

looks at outward and observable behavuors, and how those behaviors can be motified/changed/learned. (Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner)

Anna O

The first psychoanalytic patient. "Talk therapy," As they started to talk and bring up the past, stress lessoned.

Humanistic Psychology

Human self-actualization, potential, free will. (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow)

Develpomental Psychology

Stages of development throughout the lifespan. (Lawrence Kohlberg, Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson)

Evoloutionary Psychology

Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and evolution applies to human behavior and functioning. Behavior is viewed through a survival lens and how certain characteristics help us adapt.

This branch looks at behavioral and personality traits in terms of how they improve fitness, or the likelihood of passing on your genetic material to the next generation.

Four primary goals of psychology

describe, explain, predict, influence (DEPI)

Phineas Gage

A railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury that dramatically changed his personality and behavior allowed us to conduct more experiments on the brain

Introspection

contemplating one's own thoughts and feelings (Wundt and Titchener). They were the first to distinguish sensation and perception.

fitness/byfitness

Cheetah

Why is Dualism important to psychology?

It opened up the idea that the mind needed to be studied in a separate manner. It led to the study of Cognition and the eventual creation of the field of psychology.

What are the 3 main Domains/Areas of Psychology?

1. Counseling: helps people cope with challenges and crises in their lives. could be related to school, work, relationships, etc.

2. Clinical: assess and help treat people with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

3. Psychometric: study math-related aspects of psychology. Develop and interpret results of tests, studies, etc. -statistic heavy-

When evolutionary theory is applied to human learning, it is reffered to as _

Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

Instinct

Inborn pattern of activity or common tendency shared by a species

Gestalt

German movement that focused on how we perceive whole objects. Humans tend to shape ambiguous or incomplete stimuli into whole, coherent pictures.

Emergence

Our ability to perceive a whole without first noticing its parts

Id, Superego, Ego

Id is natural instincts. Superego is morals and ideals. Ego is logical and rational.

Mind-Body Problem

Are mind and body separate and distinct, or is the mind simply the physical brain's subjective experience?

Substance Dualism

The mind is located completely outside the body and in the soul instead

Property Dualism

Thoughts are located within the brain as part of the mind

James functionalism gave rise to the modern feild of __ psychology.

Evolutionary

Martin Seligman

"Learned helplessness." We learn to be fearful of something in our environment more quickly due to the influence of evolutionary history.

Why did Watson and Skinner develop the principle of Conditioning?

To explain how people and animals learn some behaviors instead of others. If a behavior receives reinforcements, someone will continue to do it, while if it receives punishments, the person will stop.

What aspects of psychodynamic psychology and behaviorism are still practiced today?

Talk therapy, and the study of learning and reinforcments.