Chapter 1 - Study of Psychology

Powers of Observation

• Psychology emphasizes learning about people by observation

Key elements of scientific attitude:

1. Curiosity
2. Skepticism
3. Humility

First psychologist - Wilhelm Wundt

• Started first psychology laboratory in 1879
  • “what makes us perceive reality in a certain way”
• William James (American Philosopher)
  • Began American Pragmatism
  • Faculty member for Harvard
  • Wrote 1st intro to psych text (late 1800s)
• Mary Whiton Calkins
  • classes under James (undergrad, not allowed grad @ Harvard because she was female)
  • 1st woman president of main psychology professional organization (APA)
  • American Psychological Association
• Sigmund Freud (Austria)
  • Founder of psychotherapy/counseling
  • trained as a physician (neurologist)
  • Started as a psychiatrist)
  • Worked with women with hysteria:
  • uterus detaching and moving around body (thought by other scientist)

Brief History Highlights

Trajectory of psychology

Early researchers

• Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytic) approach - Freud (late 1890s-1930s) -- internal (determinalistic)
• Behavioral approach - John Watson & BF Skinner (1930s-1950s) -- external (determinalistic)
• Humanistic approach - Carl Rogers (1960s-1970s) -- free will (choice)
• Cognitive approach - Aaron Beck (1980s-1990s) -- how we think
• Cognitive neuroscience -- how we think and how the brain is structured

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