History of Psych

History

Egyptians: curious about the brain

  • Held 1st psych experiment: a king believed that the Egyptians were superior + their language. Ordered that a group of babies wouldn’t be talked to; would see what language they would start talking first. Would grow up mute (wrong outcome)

Ancient Greece:

  • Aristotle: associationism

  • Past experiences reflect current feeling

Middle Ages: related disorders to religion

  • Documented that people had strange behaviors due to something about religion (God talked to him, etc.) Now we know these behaviors as mental disorders

  • Back then, they would cut people with these behaviors heads open to release the “demon”

Historical Perspectives

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt: 

  • the first psychologist; father of psychology

  • First to document psychological stuff

  • Wanted to create a class to teach psychology

  • Introspection: to look within

  • Proposed that the mind was a neutral event that could be studied scientifically

Functionalism

William James: 

  • Looked up to Wundt; brought ideas to Americas

  • Wrote first psychology textbook

  • Was more interested in behavior than how the mind works

  • Adapted evolutionary theory to behavior proposing that adaptive behavior patterns are learned and become habits

Behaviorism

John Watson & B.F. Skinner:

  • Cared much about the behavior of people, not about the mind

  • Measureable Behavior: Not only look at behaviors but can TEACH behaviors

  • Studied ways to make people behave how they want to

    • Watson believed that he could make a baby do what he wanted; followed heavily on this experiment as the baby grew

  • Ads (Watson) - studied how they can affect your mind; consumer behavior

  • Reward structures (Skinner) - 

  • Argued if psych were to be a natural science, it must limit itself to observable behavior

  • Proposed that psych addressed the learning of measurable responses to stimuli

Gestalt

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kolher:

  • Perceptions: whole is greater than the sum of its parts; the brain makes things up

  • Optical illusions

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud:

  • Disorders: the unconscious mind

  • Father of “modern” psychology, father of therapy

  • Argued unconscious processes are more influential than conscious thoughts in determining human behavior

  • Developed methods of mental detective work and psychotherapy called psychoanalysis

Modern Psych

Contemporary Perspectives - Contemporary means modern 

Biological/Neuroscience:

  • Nervous system, hormones, brain scans

  • Predictions: 

    • Will we get Alzheimer’s?

    • Will a criminal commit a crime again?

  • Reading Minds: 

    • “Talking” to people in comas or quadriplegics

    • Better lie detector tests

    • Use in court cases

  • Treatments:

    • Finding cures for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's

    • Helping with drug addiction

  • Performance enhancement

    • Drugs that help do better in school/work

Evolution Perspective

  • Adaption, physical traits, social behaviors

  • Behavioral tendencies are a result of natural selection - traits that help us survive are passed on

  • Charles Darwin

  • Ex: why are men more likely to be promiscuous?

    • The more females impregnated, the better the chances that offspring will live on

Behavioral/Learning Perspective

  • Environmental influences, shaping behavior, observable behaviors

  • Personal experience and reinforcement guide individual development

  • People: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura

Cognitive Psych

  • Mental images, information processing, thinking, language

  • Thoughts and perceptions influence our behavior

Psychodynamic Perspective

  • The unconscious, early childhood experiences

  • Unconscious thoughts and desires influence behaviors

  • Freud, Jung, Erikson

Humanistic Perspective

  • self-concept, self-actualization, personality, therapy

  • Individuals have great potential for personal growth and self-fulfillment (self-actualization); we’re in control of our destiny and can reach our full potential (1960s)

  • Maslov & Rogers

Sociocultural

  • Focuses on ethnicity, gender, culture, socioeconomic status, situational influences

  • Behavior and thinking are influenced by our environment (situation and culture) 

  • Hall Zimbardo, Milgram, Asche