Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Psychology

1. Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Psychology Lauren Ornelas Walter Neal Warren Ruis Lupita Espinoza Presented by :

2. Developing “Psychology” • Greek terms - ‘Psyche’: Soul, “logos’: Referring to the study of a subject • Stemmed from the studies of Philosophy and Physiology • Wilhelm Wundt (1879) • Established Psychology as its own field • 54,000 pages of books • “Father” or “Founder” of Psychology

3. Consciousness • Developed by Wundt • Developing the idea of consciousness • “Awareness of immediate experience.”

4. Structuralism V. Functionalism • Structuralism: • Edward Titchener (English Professor in America) • “Based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related.” • Recognizing Relationships • Breaking Down Barriers • Taking things Apart

5. Structuralism V. Functionalism • Functionalism • William James (American Scholar) • “Psychology should be based on the belied that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness [alone] rather than its structure.” • Seeing the psychological process as a whole

6. Natural Selection • William James (1842-1910) used this Darwin Theory • Characteristics that are beneficial and carry down through time and generations • Applied to the Functionalism model of psychology’s purpose

7. Women Pioneers in Psychology • Mary Calkins (1863-1930) Invented Techniques for studying memory • Margaret Washburn (1871-1939)  First female PhD in Psychology and was later very influential in behaviorism • Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939) Studied and wrote about adolescent development, retardation and focused on gender differences

8. Watson and Behaviorism • Behaviorism is a “theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.” • Watson wanted to abandon consciousness theories all together • Challengers: Gestalt Theorists, who through the Gestalt Principals focused on consciousness and its level of perceptual importance.

9. Freud and the Unconscious • Developed the innovative process, Psychoanalysis, the study of the mind through behavior • Unconscious, as he termed it, largely revolved around “thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.” • He later developed the Psychoanalytic Theory, which attempts to explain personality, motivation, mental disorders and focuses on unconscious determinants of behavior. • Sexual Urges play a large role

10. Behaviorism and B.F Skinner • All behavior is governed by external stimuli • Fundamental Principle: organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes • Actions are the results of unconscious decisions • Free will is an Illusion

11. Humanism: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow • Humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and potential for growth. • Humans are fundamentally different from other animals • Governed by sense of self or one's "self-concept" • Rogers and Maslow argued that human nature is governed by one's personal desire for growth.

12. Psychology as a Profession • Applied Psychology : everyday practical problems • WW1 produced tests to put soldiers into fields of their capabilities • Clinical Psychology: diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders • WW2 produced 40,000 veterans who returned from war seeking medical treatment

13. Returning to Its Roots • Renewed interest in cognition: mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge • Psychologists showed little interest in cognition because it was "unobservable" behavior. • Cognitive theorists argue that must study internal events to fully understand how the human mind works. • Focusing solely on observable behavior does not produce a full picture of what is really going on.

14. Culture • Psychologists used to study how their theories could be applied to western cultures • Theorists ignored how their theories could be applied to groups such as women and minorities in eastern cultures • New interest in culture can be attributed to two recent factors 1) world has "shrunk" 2) Multicultural nations are now becoming more and more prevalent in today's societies • Psychologists of today are now trying to understand how culture groups and minorities are affected by everyday topics such as discrimination, prejudice and racism.

15. Evolutionary Psychology • Evolutionary Psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations • Natural Selection favors behaviors that enhance organisms reproductive success. • Evolutionary Psychologists tend to look at things like differences between male and female visual-spatial ability. • William James and other functionalists were influenced by Darwin's concept of natural selection

16. Psychology Today: Vigorous and Diversified • Psychology: the science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie behavior, it is the profession that applies to accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems. • APA (American Psychological Association)- this is a national organization devoted to the advancement of psychology • -founded in 1892 • -today APA has over 80,000 members

17. Research Areas in Psychology Within psychology there are 7 major research areas • Developmental psychology- looks at human development across a life span • Social psychology- the focus of interpersonal behavior • Experimental psychology- the focus on sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation, and emotion • Physiological psychology- the influence of genetic factors on behavior • Cognitive psychology- the focus of higher mental processes Personality- involves describing individuals' consistency in behavior revealing their personality • Psychometrics- the use of test to determine the measurement of behavior and capacities

18. Professional Specialties in Psychology Four identified areas of specialization within psychology: • Clinical psychology- deals with people who have psychological disorders and their evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment • Counseling psychology- relates to clinical but deals with people who have everyday problems, often work with family, marital, or career counseling • Educational and school psychology- their goals are to improve the curriculum, testing, teacher training, and other things within a school and education • Industrial and organizational psychology- does several things in the business and industry world

19. Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes 3 Themes Related to Psychology as a Field of Study • Psychology is Empirical-Empiricism is the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. Psychologist’s conclusions are based according to their gathered observation, speculation, traditional beliefs, or their common sense. • Psychology is Theoretically Diverse-Theory a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. Because of the theoretical diversity within psychology, there are several opposing theories, views, etc. to explain several things. • Psychology Evolves in a Sociohistorical Context- psychology is both an influence and is influenced by several worldly things such as trends, issues, and values in a society. i.e. raising children, sexual urges, etc.

20. Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes 4 additional ideas • Behavior is Determined by Multiple Causes- behavior is a complex component of all people and is determined by several causes. This idea that behavior is governed by several factors is called multifactorial causation of behavior. • Our Behavior Is Shaped by Our Cultural Heritage-Culture- refers to the widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations. Culture carries an impact on ones thoughts, feelings, and behavior and is important to factor in when researching for any subject.

21. Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes • Hereditary and Environment Jointly Influence Behavior- many theorists argued over the fact that personal traits and abilities are governed completely by hereditary, or completely by environment. Today most psychologists believe that both environment and hereditary are important factors that govern people. • Our Experience of the World is Highly Subjective- people process incoming information very differently while ignoring some factors and focusing on others. People may see or what they choose to see or what they expect to see and this has been tested through experiments by researchers like Hastorf and Cantril.

22. Developing Sound Study Habits Siebert’s study habits program • Set up a schedule for studying • Important to allocate definite times to studying • Study breaks can revive sagging concentration • Write down study schedule • Cramming last minute is an ineffective study strategy • Strains memorization, tax energy level, and stoke the fires of test anxiety

23. Developing Sounds Study Habits • Find a place to study where you can concentrate • Find a place where distractions are minimal • Reward your studying • Systematic manipulation if rewards = behavior modification described by B.F Skinner

24. Improving your Reading • Majority of study time spent reading and absorbing information • Various strategies for actively reading, such as Robinson’s SQ3R method. • SQ3R: a study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: Survey, question, read, recite and review. • What makes SQ3R effective is that it breaks a reading assignment into manageable parts and requires understanding before you move on

25. SQ3R Steps Survey • Glance over topic headings • General overview of material Question • o Proceed through reading one section at a time • o Convert the heading of the first section into a reading Read • Read only the specific section, keeping in mind the question you formulated in the 2nd step • Reread section until you can answer the question

26. SQ3R Steps Recite • Recite the answer to your question out loud to yourself in your own words • Not until the main ideas of this section are understood can you move on to the next section Review • Go back over key points • Repeat questions and attempt to answer them without using book

27. Improving Test-Taking Strategies • Testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize ones scores • Changing your answers in a test, may ultimately pay off Tips for Multiple choice questions • Read each question completely • Eliminate options that are highly implausible • Options representing broad generalizations tend to be incorrect • Options representing carefully qualified statements tend to be correct.

28. Critical Thinking • Critical Thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome • A useful model of critical thinking has at least two components • cognitive component • emotional or affective component • Critical thinking skills include: • distinguishing among facts, opinions and reasoned judgements, working systematically toward a goal • Also called Transcontextual skills