Study Notes on Applied Psychology and Its Historical Development

Applied Psychology

  • Overview

    • The study and application of psychological principles in various fields.

Historical Context

  • 1909 FDA Drug Raid

    • On October 20, U.S. federal agents seized a truck outside of Chattanooga.

      • Target: 40 barrels and 20 kegs of a substance claimed to be poisonous and habit-forming.

FDA vs. Coca-Cola

  • Government Claims on Caffeine

    • Caffeine in Coca-Cola associated with "immoralities" among youth.

  • Legal Actions

    • Coca-Cola hired lawyers who engaged psychologist Harry Hollingworth.

      • Hollingworth asserted high ethical standards in research.

      • Collected data from 64,000 individuals regarding caffeine's effects on sensory, motor, and mental skills.

      • Findings: no harmful effects of caffeine on the aforementioned abilities.

Toward a Practical Psychology

  • Cultural Context

    • American Zeitgeist emphasized utility over pure scientific inquiry.

  • Rapid Growth

    • Institution of psychology flourished: +41 labs established between 1880 and 1900.

    • 1913: America led globally in prominent psychologists.

  • Job Market Challenges

    • Increasing number of psychology PhDs with fewer university job opportunities led graduates to seek roles beyond academia.

    • State universities pressured to demonstrate psychology's value to legislative bodies.

    • Growth in public school enrollment and governmental educational spending created opportunities for psychologists.

Mental Tests in Psychology

  • Definition and Origin

    • The term "mental tests" originated with James McKeen Cattell in 1890, though initial tests were failures.

  • Research by Binet and Simon

    • Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon were appointed to study learning abilities of struggling schoolchildren.

    • Developed an intelligence test with tasks ordered by difficulty (judgment, comprehension, reasoning).

  • Significant Contributions

    • Henry Goddard translated this test into English, introducing the term "moron."

    • Lewis Terman adopted and standardized the intelligence test, along with the concept of IQ.

Testing in Post-War Society

  • Consequences of War

    • Following World War I, employees, schoolchildren, and college applicants faced rigorous testing regimens.

    • The U.S. public education system began restructuring around IQ scores, making them critical for student placement and progression.

  • Standardized Tests

    • The SAT was introduced in 1926, with over 1.5 million tests taken annually and <500 perfect scores recorded.

Ellis Island Testing

  • Purpose and Impact of Standardized Tests

    • Standardized tests predict meaningful outcomes (e.g., first-year GPA, job performance) better than most alternatives, also reducing biases.

    • Tests are transparent, auditable, and can be influenced by various environmental inputs.

    • Issues include stereotype threat (performance anxiety based on perceived social judgments), and teaching to the test, which can lead to a narrow curriculum focus.

Clinical Psychology Overview

  • Foundations

    • Lightner Witmer (1867-1956) established clinical psychology as a field and opened the first psychology clinic in 1896.

    • The aim was to assess and treat learning and behavioral issues in children.

  • Child Evaluation Clinics

    • Services catered to a variety of issues, acknowledging that cognitive and emotional functioning could be influenced by physical problems, such as poor nutrition or hearing issues.

Growth of Clinical Psychology

  • Post-War Demand

    • The Department of Veterans Affairs became the largest employer of psychologists due to the mental health needs following WWII.

      • Psychologists were needed for direct treatment of psychiatric issues, vocational counseling, and assistance with new disabilities.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology

  • Historical Background

    • Walter Dill Scott (1869-1955) brought psychology to advertising by enhancing the effectiveness of advertisements.

      • He focused on personnel selection, emphasizing human suggestibility to optimize ad impact through emotional appeal and direct commands.

  • Hawthorne Studies

    • Investigated how physical working conditions affected employee efficiency but concluded that social factors and management attention were more influential.

Key Figures in Specified Fields

  • Hugo Munsterberg

    • Respected professor at Harvard, associated with major figures, and voiced strong opinions on various social topics.

    • His critiques on alcohol prohibition and involvement in WWI led to controversies and eventual ostracism from the academic community.

The National Mania of Applied Psychology

  • Cultural Reception

    • Psychology's popularity surged post-WWI, as many believed psychologists could solve social problems.

    • The Great Depression diminished this belief due to unmet expectations.

    • Resurgence occurred after WWII, as psychologists provided practical advice to military personnel.

Modern Applications of Psychology

  • Diverse Specializations

    • Fields of applied psychology include educational and school psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, forensic psychology, community and consumer psychology, health and rehabilitation, sports psychology, military psychology, and media psychology.

    • Issues consider addictive behaviors, and cultural and minority group concerns.

Behavioralism Movement

  • Foundational Concepts

    • John B. Watson advocated for an objective, scientific psychology that focused solely on observable behavior rather than introspective methods.

    • His views portrayed humans as machines that respond to stimuli without requiring consciousness or internal states for explanation.

  • Jacques Loeb's Perspective

    • Proposed that animal responses to stimuli are automatic and do not require mental comprehension.

  • Connectionism (Edward Lee Thorndike)

    • Introduced the idea that animal behavior is governed by stimulus-response relationships rather than mental states, emphasizing trial-and-error learning through practical experimentation (e.g., Thorndike's puzzle box).

Changing Directions in Psychology

  • Intellectual Shift

    • By 1911, the movement toward objective psychology gained momentum; proponents suggested that human beings could be studied like any physical phenomenon.

    • Figures like Knight Dunlap proposed the exclusion of introspective methods in favor of purely behavioral studies.

  • Conditioned Reflexes

    • Discovered by Pavlov during digestion studies, showing dogs salivating before food presence, illustrating that learning can be scientifically approached without mentioning consciousness.