Psychology Unit 1 Module 1

Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes

Innate ideas, mind is separate from the body and exists past death.

dissected animals -→ fluid in brain’s cavities contained “animal spirits”

Nerve pathways allowed for reflexes

Francis Bacon

Father of empiricism

Created scientific method

Brain tries to make sense of world through patterns

People are more likely to remember events that support their believes and ignore failures even if more common

John Locke

Mind is a “blank slate….one which experience writes”

Locke + Bacon = Empiricism

Belief that knowledge originates in experience and science should therefore rely on observation and experimentation

Wilhelm Wundt (Late 1800s)

Founder of psychology

Wanted to measure “atoms of the brain” / fastest and simplest mental processes → press a button when hear a ball (1/10 of a second) vs. when consciously aware of ball (2/10 of a second)

Began world’s first psychological lab

Used introspection

Edward Titchener (Late 1800s)

wanted to understand the structural elements of the mind

Use smart and veral people for introspection (not very reliable as it varies from person to person)

Credited for creating structuralism, which his professor, Wundt, used but didnt name

Structuralism

Using introspection (self - reflection) to understand the structure of the human brain

Fell off as introspection did

William James (Late 1800s)

Questioned why humans evolved with their current processes of thoughts and feelings

Influenced by the theory of evolution → everything developed to help our ancestors survive

Functionalism

Exploring how mental and behavioral processes function and enable an organism to adapt, survive, and reproduce

Made by William James, influenced by Darwin

Mary Whiton Calkins (Late 1800s - Early 1900s)

taught by Wundt

Harvard refused to give her the PHd she earned

Became a distinguished memory researcher and APA’s first female president

Margaret Floy Washburn (Early 1900s)

First female psychology PHd

Wrote the book “the Animal mind” which emphasized the use of evidence

Second female APA president

Experimental psychology

The study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method (promoted by Margaret)

Sigmund Freud (Late 1800s - Early 1900s) → Freudian psychology

Emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconsciousness affect our behavior

John Watson and B. F. Skinner

Dismissed introspection in favor of observable behavior (influenced by learned associations)

Behaviorism

Believe that psychology should be an observable science that focuses on behavior *without reference to mental processes* (2nd half no longer agreed with)

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

found Freudian psychology and behaviorism to be too limiting

Humanistic psychology

Drawing attention to how current environmental influences nurture or limit our growth potential rather than early childhood responses and conditioned responses → importance of being loved and accepted

Cognitive neuroscience

Interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition → perception, thinking, memory, and language

Psychology

the science of behaviors (observable) and mental processes (thoughts, beliefs, feelings, sensations, etc…)

Dorothea Dix

Challenged the idea that mentally ill could not be cured or helped

Founded and/or expanded more than 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill

G. Stanley Hall

Developed concept of “genetic psychology”

Founded American journal of psychology

Elected first president of the APA