Introduction to Psychology-

Psychology is…

  • The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

  • Science: use of systematic methods to observe the natural world and to draw conclusions

-Empirical methods

  • Behavior: everything we do that can be directly observed

  • Mental processes: thoughts, feelings, and motives that cannot be directly observed


Scope of psychology

  • Attempts to answer BIG questions of life

  • Roots in psychology

  • Descartes & mind / body problems

  • consider all aspects of human experience


The nature & nurture question

  • Extent to which traits/abilities/behaviors are set in place at birth (“Nature”)

  • Extent to which they develop in response to environment/experiences (“Nurture”)


Early experimental psychology

Wilhelm Wundt

  • Opened first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany (1879)

  • The purpose of the laboratory was to identify the basic parts, or structures, of the conscious mind

  • Reaction time experiments: mental processes take time


Historical perspectives in psychology

  • Structuralism (Wundt)

  • Functionalism

  • Psychoanalysis

  • Behaviorism

  • Humanism

  • Cognitive psychology


Structuralism (Edward Titchener)

  • Structuralism

-Classify components of consciousness

-Feelings, thoughts, perceptions

-Broken down into underlying parts

  • Introspection: reporting on sensations and other elements of experience

-Self-reports can be unreliable

-Too much variability


Functionalism (William James)

  • Psychological processes have a function

-Utility of the conscious mind

-Influenced by work of Charles Darwin

-How does the mind enable people to adapt, survive and flourish?

-Explore emotions, memories, habits


Psychoanalysis

  • Founded by Sigmund Freud

  • thoughts and actions are influenced by unconscious mental forces

-E.g Conflicts between unconscious thoughts and acceptable behavior

  • Emphasized the effects of early childhood experiences


Behaviorism

  • Behaviorism: emphasizes the role of environmental forces in producing behavior

  • Focus on observable actions rather than mental events that could not be observed directly

  • Stimulus in environment → response

-Observe & document responses

-Conditioning (reinforcement & punishment)


Humanism (Carl Rogers)

  • Developed theories and treatments to help people feel accepted and to reach their full potential

-Client centered therapy

  • Focused on how people are free to choose activities that make them happy and bring them fulfillment

  • Positive psychology

-Focus on one’s strengths and ability to flourish


Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology: the study of unobservable mental information and processes (mental activity)

  • how we think, learn and remember

Cognitive Revolution (1950s-70s)

  • Learning is not as simple as the behaviorists proposed

  • Focus on internal processes (e.g. beliefs, expectations ect.)

  • Information processing (computers)


Important figures in history

Dr. Martha Bernal

  • First Latina to earn PhD in the US

  • Crucial work in child clinical psychology

Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark & Dr. Kenneth Clark

  • Kenneth Clark- first Black president of the APA

  • Mamie Clark- Self-identification of young Black children (doll studies)



Subfields of psychology

  • Clinical psychology

-Focuses on the diagnoses, treatments, and causes of psychological disorders

-Counseling psychology: improving lives of those even without diagnosed disorders

  • Forensic psychology

-Psychology in the context of the judicial system; determining if a defendant is fit to stand trial, consult on custody cases, eyewitness testimony

  • Industrial-organizational psychology

-Considers issues of personnel management, organizational structures, and workplace environments


Psychology as a science

  • Empirical methods: tied to measurement and observation

  • How can psychologists explore “invisible” phenomena?

-Make inferences about what causes observable behaviors

  • Cumulative: “stand on the shoulders of giants”


Goals of psychology research

  • Description

-What happens?

  • Prediction

-When does it happen? Under what circumstances?

  • Explain

-Why does it happen? Cause-and-effect