AP Psychology - Unit 0.1A Overview, History, and Psychological Perspectives

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Perspective

• created by Sigmund Freud

• focuses on how the unconscious mind and past experiences shape an individual’s mentality and behavior

Cognitive Perspective

• Jean Piaget created theories based on cognitive development 

• focuses on how individuals perceive, process, interpret, and remember information 

• emphasizes the influence individual’s internal thoughts and perception can have on their behavior 

Free Association

• psychoanalysis method that explores a patient’s unconscious mind

• patients must state whatever comes to their mind, no matter how insignificant or embarrassing it is

Biological Perspective

• focuses on the influence our genetics and body processes have on our behaviors 

Behavioral Perspective

• focuses on the visible behaviors of patients rather than their inner thoughts

• emphasizes the importance of positive and negative reinforcement

• studied and developed by John Watson, B.F Skinner, Edward Thorndike, and Ivan Pavlov

Biopsychosocial Perspective

• focuses on the interconnected relationship between biological, psychological, and social factors when understanding an individual’s behavior and thoughts

Social-Cultural Perspective

• focuses on how an individual’s culture, experiences, and societal norms affect their behavior and thoughts

Evolutionary Perspective

• based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution

• focuses on the connections between how the mind works and evolution phenomena

• belief that every mental process exists in order to aid human survival

Humanistic Perspective

• emphasizes a person’s potential to grow as an individual

• focuses on how the role of motivation plays on our thoughts and behavior

• helps improve someone’s self-esteem

• based on Abraham Maslow’s and Carl Roger’s theories

Natural Selection

• evolutionary process discovered by Charles Darwin 

• genetic traits that enable organisms to survive and produce will most likely be passed on to future generations in comparison to other variations

Self-Actualization

• the motivation to fulfill one’s fullest potential

• proposed by Abraham Maslow along with his hierarchy of needs

• once basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved, self-actualization rises as the ultimate psychological need

Psychology

study of the mind and individual’s behavior

Empiricism 

• what is observable

• most sciences are based on empiricism 

Pseudopsychology

• “false psychology”

• the belief that common sense can replace empiricism

• harmful effect: people begin to distrust actual science

The Skeptical Psychologist

important for psychologists to question scientific beliefs before supporting it

Where Does Western Thought Derive From?

Ancient Greece/Ancient Rome

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

popular Greek philosophers who provided a foundation for psychology

Nature vs. Nurture

• basis question of psychology

• early philosophers discussed about this term

The Middle Ages

The Roman Catholic Church controlled the thoughts and beliefs of citizens

Renaisaance

• beginning of new thought

• people challenged traditional beliefs

Descartes and Bacon

developed the scientific method

John Locke

• enlightenment thinker

• believed that everyone’s behavior was a reflection of the environment they lived in

Tabula Rasa

• “blank slate”

• aligns with John Locke’s theories

Structuralism 

• scientists look at the structure of the human mind in order to define human consciousness 

• breaks down mental processes into basic components 

• includes thinking, feeling, and judgement 

Wilhelm Wundt

• “father of psychology”

• first scientist to start a psych lab which established psychology as an actual science

Edward Titchener

• brought psychology to America

• created the term “structuralism” 

Dorthea Dix

• brought reforms to hospitals and mental asylums 

• worked with soldiers who had PTSD

Functionalism

• focuses on the purpose and function of mental processes and behaviors rather than underlying structure

William James

• founder of functionalism

Mary Whiton Calkins

• first female president of the APA (American Psychological Association)

• student of William James

Margaret Floy Washburn

• got the first PhD in psychology

• second female president of the APA

• student of William James

Gestalt Psychology

• focused on how various stimuli/sensations create one perception → perceptual wholes

• rejected structuralism; looked at the totality of the mind and behavior

Introspection

self-evaluation

The Necker Cube

visual example of Gestalt psychology

Behaviorism

• branch of psychology that focuses on observable behavior/events

• focuses on an organism’s response to environmental stimuli 

John B. Watson

• founder of behaviorism

• denied the theories of structuralism, functionalism, and gestalt psychology

• believed science has to always be measurable 

Sigmund Freud

• founder of psychoanalysis 

• tried to get his patients to verbalize the unconscious by free association