Psych 102 Week 1

Definition of psychology over time

1. “the science of mental life”

   • (William James, 1890)


2. “the study of human or animal behaviour”

   • (Webster’s Dictionary, 1988)

3. “Psychology is the science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.”

   • (Weiten & McCann, 2019)

four main goals of psychology

• Description

  • Description of what they observe

• Explanation

  • Explanation of why a mental process of behavior is occurring

• Prediction

  • Prediction of the circumstances that lead to a certain behavior or mental process

• Control

  • Provide advice on how to control behavior a mental processes

levels of psychological analysis

• When studying behaviours and mental processes, psychologists can study the influences of:

  • The brain

    • Neuronal activity, brain structure, genes

  • The person

    • Emotions, ideas, thoughts

  • The group

    • Friends, family, population, environment, culture

birth of psychology

• Wihelm Wundt (1832-1920)

  • Until the mid-1800's, psych-type questions were being investigated both by physiologists and philosophers

  • However, Wundt (trained as a physiologist) is considered to have created psychology as a unique and distinct field of inquiry.

Wilhelm Wundt

• studied consciousness (one’s awareness of immediate experience)

• established first independent psychology lab at University of Leipzig 1879

• established first psychology journal 1881

Birth of psychology in North America

• G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)

  • established first research lab in US at John Hopkins, 1883

  • established first US psychology journal, 1887

  • established APA, 1892

Structuralism

• task of psychology was to analyze consciousness into its basic elements/components and to investigate the relationship among these elements

Structuralism- Introspection

• the careful, systematic  observation of conscious experience

• Edward Titchener

Functionalism

• psychology should investigate the function of consciousness

• “stream of consciousness”

• Emphasized the functions of the mind adapting to a changing environment

• Functionalist scientists used empirical methods that focused on the causes and consequences of behavior

• Emphasis was also placed on studying animals, children, and individuals with mental disorders

Gestalt Psychology

• Arose in Germany during 1920’s

• Said consciousness CANNOT be broken down into elements

• What if we are always perceiving things whole perceptual units?

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• Learning is tied to what we perceive

Gestalt Psychology- Kanzia illusion

• This visual illusion causes your visual system to create a floating square that does not actually exist.

• To see this for yourself, cover all four circles and the square will disappear.

Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud

• Freud created a theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy known as psychoanalysis

• Emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts that influence behaviour

• Freud’s beliefs were loved by many, AND hated by many

• Mainstream momentum – Freud’s ideas had profound influence on psychology and beyond (medicine, art, literature, pop culture, etc.)

• Prominent followers: Carl Jung, Alfred Adler

• Much critique in academic circles due to poor scientific rigor and lack of supporting data

Behaviorism

• Psychological research should only focus on behaviour you can outwardly observe

  • Determinism

  • focus on stimulus

  • often referred to as S-R psychology  (i.e., stimulus-response)

positive/negative reinforcement-behaviourism

• increases and punishment decreases the likelihood of a behavior

people of behaviourism

• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

  • Classical conditioning:

    • Discovered dogs could learn to associate a bell with an automatic behaviour (e.g., salivating for food)

• John B. Watson (1878-1958)

  • Emphasized importance of “nurture” over “nature”

  • Conducted the “Little Albert” experiment, demonstrating that children (people) could be classically conditioned

• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

  • Developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour

  • Used reinforcement to change the frequency of the expression of a behaviour

• Albert bandura

  • Described learning by social observation in children

  • We now know that this type of learning can be observed in several species of primates

Humanistic Psychology

• A greater focus on the capacity for personal, positive growth

• Believe a person has the freedom to choose their destiny

• Our subjective perceptions of the world are unique and are more important than behaviour itself

People of Humanistic psychology

• Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

  • Developed “client-centred therapy”

  • The client is an equal, and a client’s thoughts and feelings should be mirrored

  • The atmosphere should have unconditional support and positive regard

• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

  • Developed a theory of motivation that consists of a hierarchy of needs (ranging from basic to more complex)

Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychologists compared the human mind to a computer, emphasizing cognitive development, problem-solving and mental processes

People of Cognitive Psychology

• Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

  • was interested in how children come to develop cognitive abilities

Contemporary psychology uses various approaches

• Cultural Psychology

  • The study of how cognitive processes vary across different populations due to socio-cultural environments

• Cross-Cultural psychology

  • The study of the cognitive processes that are universal regardless of culture

Relevance of historical perspective?

• Why bother learning about historical perspectives

  • Some ideas stand the test of time and are, therefore, still relevant

  • Some ideas are discarded or evolve, so understanding the origins helps us understand more fully where the field is now and where it might be heading

  • Learning about critiques of past events and approaches helps us be more critically-minded (and, hopefully, avoid the same mistakes!)

• Consider as you study psychology this semester:

  • Whose voices are missing from the discussion?

  • What perspectives are not being considered here?

  • Could there be biases in the conclusions and, if so, how does that impact the interpretation?