chapter 1

Copyright Information

  • Copyright © 2023 by Macmillan Learning. All rights reserved.

Introduction to PSYCHOLOGY: Schacter | Gilbert | Nock | Johnsrude Canadian Sixth Edition

  • Course focus: PSYCHOLOGY 105: Individual and Social Behavior

Instructor Information

  • Instructor: Arturo I. Pérez, PhD

  • Contact: aiperez@ualberta.ca

  • Background:

    • Started undergraduate studies in 2010

    • Research interests: Artificial Neural Networks and Music Cognition

    • Nationality: Chilean

    • Personal interests: Loves stationery

Learning Expectations in Psychology

Understanding Psychological Concepts

  • Objectives:

    • Learning definitions: Understanding specific terminology within psychology.

    • Contextual understanding: Applying definitions within the framework of psychology; differentiating between everyday language and psychological terminology.

    • Example: Distinction between "Perception" as layman's terms and its specialized use in psychology.

  • Identifying Theoretical Principles:

    • Ability to recognize and articulate principles from various psychological theories regardless of personal agreement with the theories.

    • Understanding the intensional (internal meaning) versus extensional (external application) aspects of a concept or statement.

Understanding Psychology as a Field

  • Distilling what psychology represents:

    • As a discipline: Study of mind and behavior from various approaches.

    • As a career: Professional applications and potential job roles in psychology.

    • Sources of knowledge: how psychological insights evolve.

    • Underlying philosophical principles: Theoretical frameworks that guide psychological research and practice.

  • Spoiler: Recognize that psychology is heterogeneous with diverse epistemologies and methodological approaches.

Defining Psychology

  • Quotation from William James (1890):

    • Definition: "Psychology is the science of mental life, both its phenomena and their conditions. The phenomena are such things as we call feelings, desires, cognitions, reasonings, decisions and the like; and, superficially considered, their variety and complexity is such as to leave a chaotic impression to the observer."

Chapter 1: The Evolution of Psychological Science

Chapter Outline

  • Key topics include:

    • Psychology's Philosophical Roots

    • The Late 1800s: Moving Towards a Science of the Mind

    • Early 1900s: Diverging Paths of Psychoanalysis and Behaviourism

    • Resistance to Behaviourism

    • Late 1900s: The Cognitive Revolution

    • Early 2000s: Emerging Frontiers

    • Pathway to Becoming a Psychologist.

Psychology’s Philosophical Roots

  • Definition of Psychology: Scientific study of the mind and behavior.

  • Mind: Refers to private events occurring within an individual, not observable by others.

  • Behaviour: Observable events that can be seen and recorded.

  • Questions: Is brain activity classified as behavior?

Historical Context of Psychology

  • Notable concerns regarding representation within psychology's history.

  • Acknowledgment that early psychology predominantly recorded contributions from white men, while access for women and people of color was significantly restricted.

Philosophical Dualism and Materialism

Dualism

  • René Descartes (1596–1650): Advocated for the dualistic separation of mind and body.

    • Assertion: The physical body serves as a vessel for an immaterial mind.

    • Philosophical position: Mind and body are fundamentally distinct.

Materialism

  • Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): Countered Descartes’ dualism.

    • Argues: The mind is what the brain does; supports philosophical materialism, positing that all mental phenomena arise from physical interactions.

The Dualism vs. Materialism Debate

  • Inquiry posed: Which philosophical stance holds the most validity?

Realism and Idealism

Philosophical Realism

  • John Locke (1632–1704): Proposed the existence of a real world, suggesting perceptions act as photographic representations.

    • Advocates that knowledge arises exclusively from sensory information.

Philosophical Idealism

  • Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): Critiqued Locke's view as overly simplistic.

    • Suggested innate frameworks that allow humans to acquire new knowledge.

    • Proposed idealism posits that perceptions manifest as interpretative functions of sensory input.

Empiricism and Nativism

Empiricism

  • Definition: All knowledge stems from experience.

Nativism

  • Definition: Some knowledge is hardwired, present from birth rather than acquired.

    • Recognition that contemporary psychology often melds both perspectives, with evidence suggesting inherent capacities co-exist with learning.

Ethical Considerations Regarding Historical Figures

Viewing Historical Figures Through a Contemporary Lens

  • Examining intellectual contributions against personal ethical failures (e.g., Kant's sexism and racism).

  • Engaging with presentism: An uncritical application of modern values to historical figures.

Questions Raised

  • How should society address controversial historical monuments and legacies?

  • Can justification for preserving or removing such legacies be communicated?

The Late 1800s: Psychophysics

Pioneering Figure: William James

  • William James: Emphasized the emerging recognition of psychology's rigorous scientific potential during his Berlin visit in 1867.

Key Individual: Hermann Helmholtz (1821–1894)

  • Investigated human reaction times and estimated nerve impulse transmission durations.

  • Stimulus: Defined as sensory input derived from the environmental context.

  • Reaction Time: The interval from stimulus onset to an individual's reaction.

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920)

  • Established the first psychological laboratory to investigate consciousness and analyze mental structure.

  • Primary goal: Discover laws governing consciousness' presence and interactions.

  • Structuralism: An analytical approach to isolate the mind's foundations.

Contributions of Edward Titchener (1867–1927)

  • Advanced introspection: Systematic self-assessment to analyze subjective experiences.

  • Noted limitations led to the decline of structuralism.

Functionalism: The Purpose of Mind

Key Proponents

  • William James, alongside contemporaries like John Dewey, emphasized the adaptive function of mental processes.

  • Inspired by Charles Darwin (1809–1882): His work on natural selection influenced psychological perspectives on the function of consciousness.

    • Natural Selection: The evolutionary process where advantageous traits bolster survival and reproduction, hence appearing more prevalently in populations over time.

Psychoanalysis and Behaviorism in the Early 1900s

Key Contributors in Psychoanalysis

  • Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) and Pierre Janet (1859–1947): Their studies on hysteric patients through hypnosis laid groundwork for Freud.

    • Hysteria: Defined as function loss without evident physical causes, influencing Freud's theories.

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

  • Asserted that hysteria was rooted in unresolved unconscious experiences.

  • Developed Psychoanalytic Theory: Explores the unconscious mind.

Freud’s Impact and Controversy

  • Psychoanalytic theories sparked significant controversy, with minimal traction among experimental psychologists.

  • Influential figures: Carl Jung (1875–1961), Alfred Adler (1870–1937), consider Freud among the most significant thinkers of the 20th century.

Behaviorism: Mind Matters Not

Pioneers of Behaviorism

  • Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936): Founded classical conditioning through studies on digestion physiology.

    • Defined Stimulus: Objects/events provoking responses from organisms.

    • Defined Response: Actions or physiological changes in reaction to stimuli.

John B. Watson (1878–1958)

  • Advocated for behaviorism focusing exclusively on observable behavior to predict/control conduct.

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)

  • Innovator of the conditioning chamber (Skinner box).

  • Principle of Reinforcement: Reinforced behaviors are likely to recur, while unreinforced ones fade.

Late 1900s: Resistance to Behaviorism

Max Wertheimer (1880–1943)

  • Introduced concepts of perceptual illusion and induced-motion phenomena.

  • Gestalt Psychology: Emphasizes holistic perception—greater than sum of individual parts.

Genesis of Cognitive Psychology

Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886–1969)

  • Proposed memory perception entails theoretical frameworks influencing retention and recollection.

Insights from Jean Piaget (1896–1980)

  • Introduced concepts of child cognition differing from adults, shaping developmental psychology in collaboration with Lev Vygotsky.

Formation of Social Psychology

Key Figures

  • Kurt Lewin (1890–1947): Proposed subjective perception shapes behavior rather than solely environmental contexts.

  • Solomon Asch (1907–1996): Researched social inference processes and introduced the "primacy effect".

  • Gordon Allport (1897–1967): Investigated stereotypes and prejudices.

Memory Dynamics

Contributions of Sir Frederic Bartlett to Real-World Memory

  • Applied Psychology Unit at Cambridge aided military objectives; notable memory studies assisted in locating warship Sydney.

The Cognitive Revolution’s Challenges to Behaviorism

Noam Chomsky's Critique

  • Argued traditional behaviorist perspectives fail to explain language acquisition, noting children's ability to generate novel sentences.

Cognitive Psychology’s Evolution

  • As computers evolved, they illuminated cognitive psychology's landscape, contributing to understanding human cognition and information processing dynamics (e.g., attention allocation).

Significant Theorists

  • Edward Tolman (1886-1959) demonstrated cognitive mapping through animal behavior studies.

  • George Miller (1920–2012) addressed human memory limits, while Jerome Bruner (1915–2016) examined perception shaping.

Evolutionary Psychology

Overview

  • Investigates the influence of evolution on cognitive processes.

  • Notable Researchers:

    • John Garcia (1919–2012): Specific stimulus responses are evolutionarily ingrained.

    • E. O. Wilson (1929–2021): Social behaviors molded by natural selection.

    • Gender-specific sexual behaviors were examined through specialists like Donald Symons (b. 1942) and David Buss (b. 1953).

New Frontiers in the Early 2000s

Neuroscience Contributions

  • Paul Broca (1824–1880): Highlighted the mind-brain connection through localized dysfunctions affecting mental capabilities.

  • Karl Lashley (1890–1958): Discovered learning is not confined to specific brain locations.

Technological Innovations in Neuroscience

  • Development of new imaging technologies, particularly fMRI, enhancing cognitive neuroscience's reach and understanding of the brain's functional areas.

Montreal's Contribution

  • Donald Olding Hebb (1904–1985): Acknowledged for foundational contributions to cognitive neuroscience.

  • Brenda Milner (1918–): Key discoveries about the hippocampus's role in memory.

The Emergence of Cultural Psychology

Exploration of Culture in Psychology

  • Cultural Psychology: Studies how culturally shared values and beliefs shape mental processes.

Socioeconomic Influences on Behavior

Social Class Insights

  • Research on how behaviors differ across higher and lower social classes and its implications on psychology.

The Path to Becoming a Psychologist

Relevant Professional Organizations

  • United States: American Psychological Association (APA), Association for Psychological Science (APS)

  • Canada: Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS), Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN-ACN)

Educational Pathways

  • To practice as a psychologist, an advanced degree is mandatory, opening gateways to diverse professional fields.