Psych 101

PSYCHOLOGY

Anthropology – study of human culture and origins.

Sociology – study of human social relationships.

History – helps us understand people through description and analysis of past events and artifacts.

Psychology – science of understanding individuals

Greek word: Psyche= mind

                    Logos = study

PSYCHOLOGY

American Psychological Association (APA)

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, according to the American Psychological Association. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.

CMO 34 s 2017

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. In general, the emphasis is on the individual person and how the person’s mental processes and behavior are affected by internal, relational and social factors.

SUB-DISCIPLINES – the field of psychology is subdivided into more than 25 distinct, but increasingly interrelated sub disciplines.

·       Cognitive psychology – the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak and solve problems.

·       Developmental psychology – the study of how thought and behavior changes and remain stable across the lifespan.

·       Biological psychology – the study of relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and how they influence behavior and thought.

·       Personality psychology – the study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations.

·       Social psychology – the study of how living among others influences thought, feeling and behavior.

·       Cross-cultural psychology – the study of how thought, emotion, personality, mental illness and behavior varies and is similar across different cultures around the world.

·       Clinical psychology – the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health.

·       Health psychology – the study of the role psychological factors plays regarding health and illness.

·       Educational psychology – the study of how students learn, the effectiveness of teaching techniques, the social psychology of schools, and the psychology of teaching.

·       Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychology – the application of psychological concepts and questions to work settings

·       Sports psychology – the study of psychological factors in sports and exercise

·       Forensic psychology - the field of blends psychology, law, and criminal justice.

Forensic psychologists develop criminal profiles of the type of person who might have committed a particular crime.

Origins of psychology – the practice of psychology has deeper roots in human history than does the science of psychology.

Pre-historic

·       Trephination – drilling a small hole in a person’s skull, usually less than a inch in diameter.

o    Attempt to heal brain injury.

o    To release the spirits and demons that possessed the afflicted.

Ancient views

·       Around 2600 BCE

·       Moved away from supernatural explanations of psychological disorders to natural and physiological explanations

·       Hippocrates, Greek physician, first to write about man suffering from a phobia of heights – acrophobia

Medieval to Early modern views

Medieval views

·       400 to 1400 CE

·       Physical disorders were again attributed to supernatural causes

·       Possessed by demons, spirits and the devil

o    Float test

o    Burned at the stake-witch

·       Asylums – hospital for the insane; patients were put to filthy rooms, chained.

·       Moral treatment – to provide a relaxing place where patients would be treated with dignity and care.

·       Philippe Pinel – French man, first major proponent of humane therapies

·       Dorothea Dix -pioneered moral treatment in the US.

Modern views

·       Last decades of 1800s

·       Medical model- a perspective in clinical psychology that saw the emergence of the idea that psychological disorders are simply one form of illness and should be treated as medical conditions, with appropriate therapy and treatment.

·       Emil Kraeplin, a German psychiatrist, classified and popularized the term dementia praecox – schizophrenia

Modern views

·       Sigmund Freud, developed psychoanalysis

·       Psychoanalysis - a clinical approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders

o    Believes much in the power of the unconscious.

o    Childhood as a powerful force in the development of adult personality

Brief history of Scientific Psychology

The Philosophy of Empiricism – view that all knowledge and thought come from experience

Philosophy – does not collect data and test their ideas

Psychology - uses scientific methods to examine and test human sensations and perceptions

Origins of Scientific Psychology

The psychophysics of Human Perception

·       Psychophysics – the study of how people experience physical stimuli such as light, sound, waves and touch.

o    the psychology of physical sensations

o    if the mind consists only of what se sense, then understanding the senses will lead a direct understanding of the mind

Wilhelm Wundt

·       founder of experimental psychology

o    set up a psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.

·       He is credited for giving Psychology its independence from Philosophy and physiology by applying the scientific methods of physiology and physics to question philosophy.

Psychological Perspectives: Explaining Human Behavior

7 Major perspectives that are distinct but can be and sometimes are integrated

1.      Psychoanalytic-psychodynamic

First 5 years life most shape personality unconscious forces are more powerful

Unconscious thought and motives

2.      Behavioral-learning

Focus on the observable behavior to understand behavior; learning occurs through association and consequences of behavior

Behavior, learning, and environmental conditions

3.      Cognitive

Thoughts and assumption are the primary forces of behavior.

Thoughts, assumptions, memory, and language

4.      Humanistic-positive

People strive to live meaningful lives people are motivated by growth and well-being

Meaningful life, psychological well-being growth

5.      Sociocultural

Thoughts behavior and personality and mostly products of social and cultural conditions.

Cultural and society

6.      Neuropsychology-behavioral genetic

The foundation for thought and behavior is biological and genetic forces.

Brain structures, neurotransmitters, genes

7.      Evolutionary

Human thought and behavior have been shaped by evolutionary fores

Adaptive mechanisms

Nature-only view

Inborn and innate qualities are the strongest determinants of thoughts and human behavior

Nurture-only view

We are all essentially the same at birth and that we are the product of our experiences.

To fully appreciate the human behavior, we must take a broader view.

Modern perspective - ”Nature through Nurture”