Module One: The Scientific Attitude

Core traits: Curiosity (Does it work?), Skepticism (How do we know?), Humility.
This style, called Critical thinking, examines, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Critical thinkers wince when people make factual claims based on gut feeling like "I feel like…" but are open to the possibility that they might be wrong.

Francis Bacon ( $1561-1626$ ) became one of the founders of modern science.
- Bacon was fascinated by the mind and its failings: the human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and equality in things than it really finds.
- This critique helped shape empiricism, the idea that what we know comes from experience and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge.
John Locke's ideas and Bacon's empiricism helped form modern empiricism: knowledge arises from experience; observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge.

Wilhelm Wundt, at the University of Leipzig in Germany, and two young collaborators created an experimental apparatus to measure mental processes.
- Their machine measured how long it took for people to press a telegraph key after hearing a ball hit a platform.
In 1883, Wundt's American student G. Stanley Hall established the first formal U.S. psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.
Psychology quickly organized into branches and schools:
- Structuralism
- Functionalism
- Behaviorism
- Freudian (Psychoanalytic) psychology

Introduced by Edward Bradford Titchener, who joined the Cornell University faculty.
Aim: classify and understand the elements of the mind's structure.
Method: self-reflective introspection (participants report their own conscious experiences).

Influenced by Charles Darwin; functionalists asked how mental processes function and adapt.
William James perceived thinking as adaptive and studied practical, down-to-earth aspects of psychology.
Topics included emotions, memories, willpower, habits, and moment-to-moment streams of consciousness.

Mary Whiton Calkins was admitted by William James into his graduate seminar amid objections from Harvard's president.
Harvard denied her the degree she earned; she received a degree from Radcliffe College instead.
Calkins went on to become the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA).

John B. Watson, followed by B. F. Skinner, dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as "the scientific study of observable behavior."
Behaviorism remained one of the two major forces in psychology well into the 1960s.
The other major force at the time was Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic psychology.

(Mentioned here as the other major early influence alongside behaviorism.)
Emphasized unconscious processes, childhood experiences, and the dynamics of personality.

Emerged as a reaction against the limitations of the early 1900s emphasis on behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory.
Humanistic psychologists emphasized growth potential, self-actualization, and the importance of free will and personal experience.
Key figures: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who stressed the human capacity for growth and the importance of a supportive environment.
They challenged the narrow definitions of psychology and offered a third force that focused on conscious experience and human potential.

Critical thinking and the scientific attitude underpin the discipline: constantly question, test, and refine knowledge.
Empiricism underlies the scientific method: knowledge derived from experience, observation, and experimentation.
The shift from introspection (Structuralism) to observable behavior (Behaviorism) reflects a move toward verifiable, external data.
The shift from behaviorism to humanistic psychology marks a broader aim: understanding human potential, growth, and self-actualization rather than only external actions.
Gender and access to science: Mary Whiton Calkins illustrates early barriers for women in psychology and the broader profession; her achievements highlight ethical and societal implications regarding equality in science.
Real-world relevance: critical thinkers evaluate claims in everyday life, including media and public discourse; empirical methods and humility reduce bias and error in conclusions.

Francis Bacon: $1561-1626$
Locke and empiricism: knowledge from experience; observation and experimentation grow scientific knowledge
Wilhelm Wundt: established experimental psychology; reaction-time apparatus
G. Stanley Hall: first American psychology lab in the USA (Johns Hopkins, $1883$ )
Structuralism: Edward Bradford Titchener; introspection
Functionalism: William James; emphasis on function, adaptation, streams of consciousness
Mary Whiton Calkins: first female APA president; faced Harvard degree denial
Behaviorism: John B. Watson; B. F. Skinner; observable behavior as the focus
Freudian psychoanalytic psychology: focus on unconscious mind and early experiences
Humanistic psychology: Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow; growth and self-actualization

The scientific attitude supports critical evaluation of claims in science and everyday life.
The evolution of psychology's schools reflects changing views on mental life: from inner elements, to functions, to observable behavior, to human potential.
Gender equality in science remains a central ethical and professional concern; representation and recognition matter for progress in the discipline.
The emphasis on observable data in behaviorism raised questions about the study of mental life and paved the way for later cognitive approaches that still value rigorous measurement.