The Story of Psychology

1. The Story of Psychology Chapter 1

2. What’s in this Chapter? • Where did psychology come from anyway? • Schools of thought • Why do we need psychology? • applications of psychological knowledge • So what’s the big deal? • major issues

3. What is Psychology? Psychology The science of behavior (what we do) and mental processes (sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, feelings)

4. 4 Broad Divisions of Psychology • Physical characteristics • Cognitive activities • Emotional states • Environmental factors

5. Psychological Research • Majority of research is performed on animals • Animals make useful subjects for the following reasons: • Longer periods of study • Shorter life spans • The “good subject” unaware of experiment • Cats often used for neurophysiology experiments • Unfortunately, they have been used unethically (guidelines created to protect) • Remarkable similarities in human processes • Explains hunger, thirst, reproduction,/ Provides info on vision, taste, hearing, and pain perception/Understanding of genetic vulnerability to drug dependence

6. General Purpose of Psychology • To acquire basic knowledge about behavior • To apply to specific situations • To apply to clinical situations • To apply to society at large

7. Psychological Perspectives • Biological (neuroscience): • Study of the physiological mechanisms in the brain and nervous system that organize and control behavior • Interest in BEHAVIOR distinguishes from many other biological sciences • Focus may range from individual neurons, areas of the brain, or specific fxns like eating, emotion, or learning

8. Psychological Perspectives • Evolutionary (ethology): • The study of animal behavior in the natural environment rather than in a lab setting • Focuses on how the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes • Influenced by Darwin and the emphasis on innate, adaptive, behavior patterns • European approach to studying behavior founded by animal researchers, Lorenz & Tinbergen

9. Psychological Perspectives • Behavioral Perspective: • How we learn from observable behavior • Involves what comes before behavior • What comes after the behavior to reinforce it OR punish it • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Observation learning

10. Psychological Perspectives • Behavior genetics: • How much our genesand our environmentinfluence our individual difference • To what extent are personality traits, intelligence, sexual orientation, mental disorders, etc. attributable to our genes or environment? • Nature vs. Nurture field of study!!!!!! 

11. Psychological Perspectives • Psychodynamic(Sigmund Freud): • how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts • Both a method of treatment and a theory of the mind • Behavior reflects combinations of conscious and unconscious influences • Drives & urges within the unconscious component of the mind influence thought and behavior • Early childhood experiences shape unconscious motivations

12. Psychological Perspectives • Cognitive: • How knowledge is encoded, processed, stored, and retrieved…and used to guide behavior • Influences Include: • Piaget- studied intellectual development • Chomsky- studied language • Cybernetics- science of information processing

13. Psychological Perspectives • Social-cultural/cross-cultural: • How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures • Studies differences among people living in different cultural groups • How are people’s thoughts, feelings and behavior influenced by their culture? • What are common elements across culture? • Uses cross-cultural studies to find cultural universals and relativism

14. Psychological Perspectives • Humanistic: • View of behavior based on experience in treating patients • Humanistic Approach • Dev. By Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers • Behavior reflects innate needs: to be loved, to mate, etc. • Focus on conscious thinking and self-perception • More positive view than Freud’s • Self-awareness & free will are emphasized

15. Discussion • Describe the expressed emotion/behavior according to each of the current psychological perspectives: “ I am depressed.”

16. “All Hands on DECK” • Current Psychological Perspectives • Turn to page 11 in your textbook • Get your index cards out & make flash cards of theses terms and use Triggers

17. History of Psychology • Stone ages: mental illness was caused by evil spirits, practice known as Trephining was used to treat mental illnesses • Ancient World (4000BC-500AD): • Greeks & Romans believed evil spirits were • the cause or the gods were punishing people • Hippocrates: Father of Modern Science • believed mental illness had natural causes • Some traits were inherited; • others by injury to the head

18. History of Psychology • The Middle Ages (500-1500 AD): Mental Illness was caused by: • Demonic possession • Witchcraft • Heresy Treatment included: • Imprisonment, torture, death • Blood letting, leaching • Scientific study was forbidden by the church

19. History of Psychology • Scientic Revolution (17th Century): • Attempts to find physical causes for psychological traits • Brought about search for natural causes of biological processes • The scientific method was born

20. Prescientific Psychology • Gave rise to questions such as: • Is the mind connected to the body or distinct? • Are ideas inborn or is the mind a blank slate filled with experience? • Socrates & Plato: • viewed the mind as separate from the body and continuing after death

21. Prescientific Psychology • Rene Descartes (1596-1650): • Agreed with Socrates & Plato • Led to this conclusion with his study of animals and reflexes • However, thought “animal spirits” were in the brain fluid flowing through nerves…creating movement/reflexes • John Locke (1632-1704): • Wrote essay stating that the mind is a Tabula Rasa: “blank slate” • Rejected Descartes and helped form modern empiricism,which the idea that knowledge comes through experience thru senses & science based on observation and experimentation

22. Nature Vs. Nurture • Nativism: elementary idea that ideas are innate (nature) inborn, inherited, instinctive Thus, there is a debate between Nativism and Empiricism, which in psychology is the age long debate of NATURE Vs. NURTURE Hint: some blend together in the Behavior Genetics perspective Ex. Is intelligence determined by our genes or our experiences? personality?

23. Psychology as a Science • Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920): • Est. the 1st psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany • Applied lab techniques to study of the mind • Study of reaction time to hearing a ball hit a platform (sensory stimulation) and pressing a telegraph key • Wrote the 1st psychology textbook • Father of Psychology

24. Psychology as a Science • Edward Titchener: • Wundt’s student who brought the study of psychology to the United States • Due to his techniques of studying the mind, he is linked to Structuralism: the practice of using introspection (looking inward) to explore the elemental structure of the human mind • Charles Darwin: -evolutionary theorist whose big idea was natural selectionor the idea that nature selects those organisms best able to survive and reproduce in an environment

25. Psychology as a Science • William James: • Thought it was most beneficial to consider the evolved functions of thoughts and feelings • Philosophical basis in pragmatism- testing the truth by practical consequences • Associated with functionalism: school of psychology focused on how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

26. Contemporary Psychology Subfields of Psychology: • Basic Research: pure science aimed to increase knowledge base 1. Biological psychologists explore the links between brain and mind 2. Developmental psychologistsstudy the changing abilities from womb to tomb 3. Cognitive psychologistsstudy how we perceive, think, and solve problems 4. Personality psychologistsinvestigate our persistent traits 5. Social psychologists explore how we view and affect one another

27. Contemporary Psychology Subfields of Psychology: • Applied Research: scientific study aimed to solve practical problems 1. Industrial/organizational psychologists study and advise on behavior in the workplace 2. Clinical psychologistsstudy ,assess, and treat people with psychological disorders 3. Psychiatristsare medical doctors who also perform psychotherapy and are licensed to prescribe drugs with treatment; part of branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders

28. 4.2%Elementary and Secondary Schools 6.3%Business and Government 8.5%Other 19.4%Hospitals and Clinics 28.0%Colleges and Universities 33.6% Private Practice Where Are Psychologists Employed

29. 9.5%Physiological 10.3% Other 8.2%Experimental 10.6% Health 6.7%Cognitive 13.7% Educational 3.8%Psychometrics 16.1% Social 3.0%Personality 19.3% Developmental Research Areas in Psychology

30. 0.5%Forensic 0.6%Other 0.9%Clinical Neuropsychology 5.2% School 6.1%Industrial/Organizational 14.7% Counseling 72.1% Clinical Professional Specialties

31. Themes in Psychology • Psychology is • Empirical • Theoretically Diverse • Sociohistorical Context • Behavior is • Determined by Multiple Causes • Shaped by Cultural Heritage • Influenced by Heredity & Environment • Experience is • Highly Subjective

32. Practice Test • For which of the following is Wilhelm Wundt primarily known? • The establishment of the first formal laboratory for research in psychology • The distinction between mind and body as two separate entities • The discovery of how signals are conducted along nerves in the body • The development of the first formal program for training in psychotherapy

33. Practice Test 2. G. stanley Hall is noteworthy in the history of psychology because he: a. established the first American research laboratory in psychology b. launched America’s first psychological journal c. was the driving force behind the establishment of the American Psychological Association d. did all of the above

34. Practice Test 3. Which of the following approaches might William James criticize for examining a movie frame by frame instead of seeing the motion in the motion picture? a. structuralism b. functionalism c. dualism d. humanism

35. Practice Test 4. Which of the following approaches might suggest that forgetting to pick his mother up at the airport was Henry’s unconscious way of saying that he did not welcome her visit? a. psychoanalytic b. behavioral c. humanistic d. cognitive

36. Practice Test 5. Fred, a tennis coach, insists that he can make any reasonably healthy individual into an internationally competitive tennis player. Fred is echoing the thoughts of: a. Sigmund Freud b. John B. Watson c. Abraham Maslow d. William James

37. Practice Test 6. Which of the following is a statement with which Skinner’s followers would agree? • Most behavior is controlled by unconscious forces • The goal of behavior is self-actualization • Nature is more influential than nurture • Free will is an illusion

38. Practice Test 7. Which of the following approaches has the most optimistic view of human nature a. humanism b. behaviorism c. psychoanalysis d. structuralism

39. Practice Test 8. Which of the following historical events created a demand for clinicians that was far greater than the supply? a. World War I b. the Depression c. World War II d. the Korean War

40. Practice Test 9. Which of the following is not an important interest of the positive psychology movement? a. positive institutions and communities b. positive symptoms in mental disorders c. positive subjective experiences d. positive individual traits

41. Practice Test 10. The study of the endocrine system and genetic mechanisms would most likely be undertaken by a: a. clinical psychologist b. physiological psychologist c. social psychologist d. educational psychologist

42. Practice Test 11. The fact that psychologists do not all agree about the nature and development of personality demonstrates: • that there are many ways of looking at the same phenomenon • The fundamental inability of psychologists t work together in developing a single theory • The failure of psychologists to communicate with one another • The possibility that personality may simply be incomprehensible

43. Practice Test 12. A multifactorial causation approach to behavior suggests that a. most behaviors can be explained best by single-cause explanations b. Most behavior is governed by a complex network of interrelated factors c. Data must be subjected to rigorous statistical analysis in order to make sense d. Explanations of behavior tend to build up from the simple to the complex in a hierarchical manner

44. Practice Test 13. Psychology’s answer to the question of whether we are born or made tends to be: a. we are born b. we are made c. we are both born and made d. neither

45. Practice Test 14. In regard to changing answers on multiple-choice tests, research indicates that _____ changes tend to be more common than other types of changes. • Wrong to right • Right to wrong • Wrong to wrong

46. Practice Test 15. Critical thinking skills: a. are abstract abilities that cannot be identified b. usually develop spontaneously without any instruction c. usually develop spontaneously without any instruction d. need to be deliberately taught, because they often do not develop by themselves with standard content instruction

47. Chapter 2: The Research Enterprise of Psychology

48. Example of Hindsight Bias Psychologists have found that separation weakens attraction “out of sight-out of mind” • Fact: Psychologists have found that separation strengthens romantic attraction “absence makes the heart grow fonder”

49. What we strive for is: • Science:A process that combines rationalism and empiricism. • Rationalism:uses existing ideas and the principles of logic to develop new valid ideas. • How we develop a theory. • Empiricism:Gaining knowledge by observing events.  • How we test the validity of the theory.

50. The Need for Psychological Science • Critical Thinking • thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions • examines assumptions • discerns hidden values • evaluates evidence • assesses conclusions The Amazing Randi—Skeptic