Overview of Psychology: History and Scope

Psychology Is a Science (part 1)

  • Psychology employs an empirical approach to explore behavior and mental processes.
  • Goals: understand without misleading; maintain a scientific attitude: curiosity, skepticism, humility.
  • Scientific attitude supports inquiry in both research and everyday thinking.

Thinking Critically About: The Scientific Attitude

  • Critical thinking: examine assumptions, appraise sources, discern hidden biases, evaluate evidence, assess conclusions.

Psychological Science Is Born (parts 1–3)

  • Psychology's first laboratory: Wilhelm Wundt sought to measure the "atoms of the mind".
  • Structuralism (Titchener): used introspection to study underlying mental structures.
  • Functionalism (William James): emphasized adaptive thinking and stream of consciousness; Principles of Psychology (1890).
  • Early women in psychology: Whiton Calkins (pioneering memory researcher; APA president) and Floy Washburn (first woman with Ph.D.; The Animal Mind, 1908).
  • Do today’s psychological sciences embrace diversity? Consider ongoing progress and evidence.

Diversity in Psychology

  • Increasing diversity over time; Eleanor Gibson highlighted at a 1964 meeting among mostly male, White members.
  • Contemporary: women comprise a large share of APS members and affiliates; significant contributions from people of color.

Psychology Matures (parts 1–3)

  • Major forces (1920s–1960s): Behaviorism; introspection as scientific study; behavior defined, conditioned, observed, and measured.
  • Watson and Rayner: fear can be learned.
  • Freudian (psychoanalytic) psychology: unconscious mind and childhood experiences influence behavior.
  • Skinner: behaviorism; rejected introspection.
  • Humanistic psychology (1960s): rejected limitations of behaviorism and Freudian psychology; emphasized growth potential; Rogers and Maslow highlighted love, acceptance, and nurturing environments.

Contemporary Psychology (part 1)

  • The cognitive revolution (1960s): study of mental processes (perception, memory, thinking, problem solving, language).
  • Cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience: brain activity linked to cognition; roots in multiple disciplines and global perspectives.

Contemporary Psychology (part 2)

  • Evolutionary psychology: evolution of behavior and mind using natural selection principles.
  • Nature–nurture issue: are traits innate or developed through experience?
  • Natural selection (Darwin): inherited traits that help survival and reproduction tend to be passed on.
  • Behavior genetics: relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

And so… (part 1)

  • Nurture works on what nature endows.

Contemporary Psychology (part 3)

  • Cross-cultural and gender psychology:
    • Culture: shared ideas and behaviors passed across generations; shapes behaviors.
    • Gender identity: sense of being male, female, neither, or a combination; defined by social, biological factors.
    • Why study culture and gender differences? To understand variation in behavior and mind.

Contemporary Psychology (part 4)

  • Positive psychology:
    • Focuses on happiness as a by-product of a pleasant, engaged, and meaningful life.
    • Uses scientific methods to support development of a good life; Seligman and colleagues emphasize human flourishing.

Contemporary Psychology (part 5)

  • Biopsychosocial approach integrates three levels of analysis:
    • Biological
    • Psychological
    • Social-cultural

Contemporary Psychology (part 6–7)

  • Psychology’s main subfields:
    • Basic research vs. Applied research
    • Professional roles: Counseling psychologists, Clinical psychologists, Psychiatrists, Community psychologists
    • Describing and explaining behavior and mind remains the common quest