Psychology 1
What is psychology?
- One of the biggest misconceptions about psychology as a field is that it is just treating
mental illnesses.
- Just there to be a clinical word.. But its not!
- Not just about mental processes
- Psychology: scientific study of the mind and behavior
- What is important about this definition is that it centers psychology as a science,
which it most certainly is.
- Psychology itself employs rigorous methodology to predict and understand phenomenon
through the lens of theories and hypotheses
- Psychology translates into the study of the mind
- Psychology is based on scientific evidence.
- Non textbook definition of psychology: “The science that seeks to understand behavior
and mental processes, and to apply that understanding in the service of human welfare”
- The science that seeks to understand behavior and mental processes, and to apply that
understanding in the service of human welfare
- Science, behavior, mental processes, and apply are key terms in the definition of
psychology
Psychology today: Some major areas
- Biological psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Cognitive psychology
- Social and personality psychology
- Within social context “how does this influence us, in social context”
- Clinical psychology
- Depression, other disorders
Common Sense Psychology
- Wearing a seatbelt is good and for your safety
- A lot of people had pushback when laws were made
- Psychologists figure out exactly why an individual does or does not wear a seatbelt can
be answered through psychological research.
What Is Psychology? What Is It Not?
- Not analyzing people or “reading mind”
- It IS: A broad scientific field, a new & growing science, many sub-disciplines, social
Psych, Neuroscience, etc.
History of psychology
- Not known exactly when the time frame started
- Psychology does overlap and share several sentiments as philosophy which as we know
is quite old (pictured Plato, Aristotle, Socrates).
- Philosophy itself as a field is not very science-y, at least not in the way we typically think
about science and the scientific method.
When did the field of Psychology start?
- Around 1860, Fechner and Weber were interested in psychophysics – essentially, how
people perceive physical properties.
- Many consider the first psychology study to have taken place in 1879.
A Brief History of Psychology – Psychological Perspectives
- Structuralism
- Introspection
- Wilhelm Wundt: His focus was on determining “What is the mind?”
- Titchener (his student) was also interested in this question
- Utilized introspection to break experiences down into their smallest parts
(thoughts, emotions, sensations)
- Introspection
- Problems with introspection: Too subjective and hard to agree
- Don't always have access to what we are thinking because it is done
unconsciously
- Introspection died out in the early 1900s
- Functionalism
- Function of behavior
- 1890s and the rise of functionalism
- key component of functionalism is that it is all about adaptability to the
environment.
- a functionalist perspective would be interested in viewing mental
processes as strategies that guide people’s ability to make decisions.
- One Functionalist was William James
- Influenced by Darwin
- Structuralism vs. Functionalism
- Structuralism looks at breaking down thoughts and mental activities
(looking at structure)
- Functionalism looks at how our thoughts and mental activities help us
function in our lives
- Psychoanalysis
- Role of the unconscious & childhood experiences
- Freud’s first theory of personality and our first real understanding into
mental illness.
- Around the 1900s we have the rise of psychoanalysis which is often paired
with Sigmund Freud.
- Freud argued that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind
thought and behavior.
- Freud argued that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind
thought and behavior.
- Psychoanalysis is all about using therapy
- Bringing unconscious material into awareness
- Freud argued early childhood experiences greatly shape the rest of a
person’s life.
- Focus on early experiences
- Repress urges and desires
- Freud suggested that dreams have meaning and are the most direct route to
the unconscious mind.
- Some techniques used were dream analysis, hypnosis, and free
association
- Gestalt
- A conscious experience is greater than the sum of its parts
- Introduced by German psychologists (Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka).
- Mind imposes organization on what we perceive
- Influence on perception
- Behaviorism
- What if we stopped caring about thoughts and only looked at behaviors?
- Dominant through the 1970s
- Many different ways to study behaviorism
- Skinner box
- Bandura’s bobo
- Some individuals disliked psychoanalysis
Humanistic perspective helped recenter psychology to look at internal states.
Cognitive revolution
In-class activity
Answer questions
1. What is psychology? Broad or specific?
2. How does psychology influence life?
3. What is a question you hope to learn about psychology this semester?
What is psychology?
- It’s not just about treating mental illness/ clinical work/ therapy, but also the scientific
study of the mind and behavior. How you operate in the world and how it influences
your actions and thought patterns. Also, it can be used to understand the natural world
using various other methodologies as well like biology, chemistry, etc.
- Covers mental processes to behavior in and a large spectrum in between
- External and internal.
- Ex. Donating money
- Internal: Asking opinions on when people are more likely to donate
- External: Observing How much is donated by others
The science that seeks to understand, predict and explain mental processes and behavior.
What do psychologists do?
- Clinical, social work, public health, research, etc.
Areas
Biological: Different areas of life influencing the brain
Developmental: how we grow
Cognitive: Attention and bias
Social and personality: concept of self
Clinical: mental illness
Personal Bias and Differences on experiences
Seat Belt laws and shift in attitudes towards them as time progresses
History of Psychology
-Psychology is very new but the start is hard to exactly pinpoint
- Overlaps with philosophy, but not the start of this field
- Psychophysics: how people perceive p