Foundation

What is Psychology?

The scientific study of the mind and
behavior

Levels of Analysis

Level of the Brain- focus on the brain,
the neurons, hormones, genes

Level of the Person- focus on mental
events, the contents (knowledge, ideas,
feelings, desires) and mental processes
(inclucing attention, perception, and
memory)

Level of the Group- focus on how
interactions with others may shape the
mind and behavior

Schools of
Psychological
Thought

Click on each school of thought, and
read the cards describing key facts.
Click on the four-arrow box to read
more.

Think about

• What- is the focus of each school of
  thought?

• Who- is the founder of each school of
  thought?

Structuralism

• focuses on the building
  blocks of consciousness

• founded by Wilhelm Wundt;
  advanced by Titchener

Functionalism

• focuses on how the mind
  and behavior help people
  adapt in their world

• founded by William James in
  the United States

• influenced by Darwin's theory
  of evolution.

Gestalt

• focuses on how the
  mind makes sense of
  what it experiences

• the whole is
  greater than the
  sum of its parts

• Founder is Max
  Wertheimer

Behaviorism

• focus on observable
  behavior only

• Founders include BF Skinner (Operant
  conditioning) Pavlov (Classical
  conditioning)Thorndike

Psychodynamic
theory
(Psychoanalysis

• Focus on:Unconscious (feelings,
  urges we are not aware of)

• conflicting parts
  of our personality

• Sigmund Freud
  is the founder

Humanistic

• the potential of humans

• humans have free will, positive
  value

• self-
  actualization

• Founders: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers