Unit 2 - Psychology

1. Unit 2 - Psychology Day 1-2: History of Psychology Association and Memory

2. Association: History of a Concept • Begin with the Greeks: • Classical Greek philosophers were also excellent observers, and some of their ideas about human behaviour lasted for millennia • Types of personalities: They thought that the different patterns could be explained by which of the four ‘humours’ (body fluids) were dominant. • We will also look at Aristotle’s ideas about the ways the mind links ideas and sensations together i.e. ASSOCIATION

3. The Four Temperaments: Sanguine • I am usually self-composed, not given to worry [SD – D – A – SA] • You tend to follow rather than lead • I am usually cordial/polite • I can be described as talkative • I adjust easily to change • I tend to prefer informality • I can be impulsive • I’m pretty aware of my surroundings • When things get more difficult, I have trouble finishing • I have trouble taking initiative * For each statement, strongly disagree (SD), disagree (D), agree (A) or strongly agree (SA).

4. The Four Temperaments: Choleric • I am self-composed, not given to worry • I can be persuasive [SD – D – A – SA] • I am pretty independent • I rarely show embarrassment • I tend to lead rather than follow • I am persistent • I can be insistent • I am usually decisive • I can be touchy • I am prone to anger

5. The Four Temperaments: Melancholic • I can be sensitive • I am pretty intuitive • I am self-conscious • I am easily embarrassed • I can be easily hurt or offended • I am pretty introspective [SD – D – A – SA] • I like to be alone • I am empathetic • I am prone to depression • I am often fussy and perfectionist

6. The Four Temperaments: Phlegmatic • I can be described as peaceful • I am pretty easy-going [SD – D – A – SA] • I am reliable • I am steady • I am not prone to worry • I am fairly reserved • I am deliberative   • I am faithful   • I am relatively unaffected by my environment • I might be described as distant

7. What’s Your ‘Blend’? • Which temperaments BESTrepresent your personality? • For each category, derive a score • Is there a dominant type/combination for the class?

8. Aristotle’s Laws of Association • Aristotle counted four laws of association when he examined the processes of remembrance and recall: 1. The law of CONTIGUITY.Things or events that occur close to each other in space or time tend to get linked together in the mind.  If you think of a cup, you may think of a saucer;  if you think of making coffee, you may then think of drinking that coffee. 2. The law of FREQUENCY.The more often two things or events are linked, the more powerful will be that association.  If you have an éclair with your coffee every day, and have done so for the last twenty years, the association will be strong indeed. 3. The law of SIMILARITY.If two things are similar, the thought of one will tend to trigger the thought of the other.  If you think of one twin, it is hard not to think of the other.  If you recollect one birthday, you may find yourself thinking about others as well. 4. The law of CONTRAST.  On the other hand, seeing or recalling something may also trigger the recollection of something completely opposite.  If you think of the tallest person you know, you may suddenly recall the shortest one as well. 

9. Association Activity • Build a thought web/mind map around the term RECESS • Then, work with a partner to add to the web • What ideas, emotions, experiences have been linked with your experience of RECESS? • Share your results with the class…

10. Recess & Its Associations *_fresh air • _drama *_food/Tim’s *_freedom/restricted *_games RECESS *_excitements/happiness *_friends *_play ground *_relief/relaxed/anxious *_swearing

11. Some Ideas Never Die... • Remember the idea of ‘boo!’ and ‘hurray!’ words – a dense web of association make homework or recess ‘boo’ or ‘hurray words’ • Long after Aristotle, philosophers continued building on the Laws of Association: • John Locke (1632-1704)– a system dependent on association of sensations into simple ideas; association could also yield complex ideas and emotions • David Hume (1711-1776)– Added Law of Cause & Effect– responsible for the apparent coherence of the world

12. ...like the Idea of Association... • James Mill (1773-1836)– Added the Law of ‘Vividness’, "stamping in" the association • John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) - adds that associations can be more than the simple sum of their parts • Give an example to illustrate how powerful are the associations built up around the school-day lunch period. Why are they so powerful? • Thomas Brown (1778-1820) - added a set of secondary laws -- duration, liveliness, frequency, and recency-- that strengthened suggestions; association as an active process of an active, holistic mind (vs. Association as a passive process)

13. ...Thanks to the Greeks... • Alexander Bain (1818-1903)– added: • The Law of Compound Association, which says that most associations are among whole clusters of other associations • The Law of Constructive Association, which says that we can also actively, creatively, add to our associations ourselves • Connected association to physiology (neurology) • Whole branches of psychology have developed their specific kinds of association...

15. Unit 2 - Psychology History of Psychology Branches/Schools of Psychology

16. Branches of Psychology Structuralism • Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) - defined psychology as the study of the structure of conscious experience • Since an outside observer cannot gather information on subjective experience, used introspection to gather data. • Researchers were trained with specific criteria for becoming skilledintrospectors • 1873 - first book on psychology: Principles of Physiological Psychology • psychology = a unique branch of science. • He was the first one in history to be called a 'psychologist‘ – Called the “father of psychology”

17. Test Case • A high school student is having difficulty cooperating with a teacher • As a result, the student has had a few opportunities to chat with the V.P. • Assume the V.P. is a Structuralist • Think – of the kinds of questions the V.P. might ask the student • Pair – your ideas with a partner • Share – your ideas with the class

18. Branches of Psychology Functionalism • William James (1842-1910)- emphasis on cause and effect, prediction and control, and observation of environment and behaviour, (vs. the careful introspection of the Structuralists). • a mental state is determined by its causal relations to sensory stimulations, other mental states, and behaviour • Emotion is nothing without the body • Emotion has evolutionary purpose • E.g. sit all day in a moping posture, sigh, and your melancholy lingers; whistle in the face of adversity, and your disposition improves

19. Questions to Consider • Can we research our psyche ‘from the inside’ (like the Structuralists)? • Is our only data what can be observed ‘on the outside’ (behaviourists)? • Is there any evidence for the existence of an ‘inside’? How can it be explored?

20. Branches of Psychology PsychoanalysisFounder- Sigmund Freud • Freud & Breuer’s theory re.Hysteria • The Case of Anna O. - 21 - nursing her ailing father, developed a bad cough that had no physical basis - speech difficulties, became mute, then began speaking only in English, rather than her usual German • Breuer & Freud, wrote a book on hysteria – theory = hysteria is the result of a traumatic experience that cannot be integrated into the person's understanding of the world; resulting emotions are not expressed directly, but express themselves in behaviours that in a weak, vague way offer a response to the trauma Structure of the Mind • The Unconscious -source of our motivations (food, sex, art compulsions, etc.), of which we are often not aware • Id - translates the organism's needs into motivational forces (drives, wishes); primary process = translation from need to wish • Ego - the consciousness, hooked up to the world through the senses secondary process; searches for objects to satisfy the wishesthat id creates (called the secondary process)

21. Branches of Psychology • Id– pleasure principle; Ego – reality principle • Egokeeps a record of things to avoid and strategies to take (from parents), which becomes the superego • Superego • Conscience - an internalization of punishments and warnings • Ego ideal – develops from rewards and positive models presented to the child • *As you watch the video, make a chart of what ID, EGO and Superego consist of*

22. Branches of Psychology Psychoanalysis – cont’d Psychosexual Stages of Development: • Oral - birth - 18 months; focus of pleasure is the mouth: sucking and biting are favourite activities • Anal - 18 months – 3/4 years: focus of pleasure is the anus: holding it in and letting it go • Phallic – 3/4 - 5/7 years; focus of pleasure is the genitalia: masturbation is common • Latent – 5/7 – puberty(around 12): here Freud believed that the sexual impulse was suppressedin the service of learning • Genital - begins at puberty; represents the resurgence of the sex drive in adolescence

23. Test Case • A high school student is having difficulty cooperating with a teacher • As a result, the student has had a few opportunities to chat with the V.P. • Assume the V.P. takes a Freudian approach • Think – of the kinds of information the V.P. might what to know about the student • Pair – your ideas with a partner • Share – your ideas with the class

24. Branches of Psychology Behaviourism • John Watson (1878-1958) • Psychology = is basically the science of stimuli and responses • We begin with natural reflexes • By conditioning, we acquire learned responses • Brain processes = unimportant; Emotions =bodily responses to stimuli; Thought = sub-vocal speech • Consciousness = nothingat all • B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) • Operant Conditioning- behaviour is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behaviourin the future – Experiment: “Skinner Box” • Builds on Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning • – Experiment – “Pavlov’s Dog”

25. Branches of Psychology Behaviourism – cont’d • Behaviour Modification- therapy technique based on Skinner’s work  • Extinguish an undesirable behaviour (by removing the reinforcer) and replace it with a desirable behaviour by reinforcement… CAN YOU THINK OF A REAL LIFE USE FOR THIS? • (Dog Training! Or Child Rearing!) • There is no true freedom or dignity -The bad do bad because the bad is rewarded; the good do good because the good is rewarded • Freedom and dignity are examples of what Skinner calls MentalisticConstructs- unobservable and so useless for a scientific psychology • Popular during the 1960's and even into the 70's • Novel that uses/reflects on Skinnerian conditioning: A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

26. Test Case • A high school student is having difficulty cooperating with a teacher • As a result, the student has had a few opportunities to chat with the V.P. • Assume the V.P. is a behaviourist • Think – of the kinds measures the V.P. might put in place to deal with the student • Pair – your ideas with a partner • Share – your ideas with the class

27. Branches of Psychology Humanistic Psychology • Alfred Adler (1870-1937) – (yay… another Austrian…) • The “Father of Individual Psychology” Stages of Psychological Importance: • Striving for perfection- single "drive" or motivating force behind all our behaviour and experience • Social interest – second most important drive = caring for family, community, society, humanity • Self-interest = problem – hinders self-fulfillment • Inferiority complex– Explains our self-interest: we become shy and timid, insecure, indecisive etc. • Superiority complex - covering up inferiority by pretending to be superior; bullies, show-offs • Compensation - by becoming good at what we feel inferior about; or by becoming good at something else 

28. Test Case • A high school student is having difficulty cooperating with a teacher • As a result, the student has had a few opportunities to chat with the V.P. • Assume the V.P. is a humanist • Think – of what the V.P. might say and do to address the problem • Pair – your ideas with a partner • Share – your ideas with the class

29. Branches of Psychology Humanistic Psychology • Carl Rogers (1902-1987)… WOO! Not an Austrian…Murika! • Self-actualization - Rogers uses the term to refer to the drive every creature has to become "all that it can be" • Organismic valuing- organisms naturally know what is good for them • Positive regard- instinctively valued: umbrella term for things like love, affection, attention, nurturance • Positive self-regard - self-esteem, self-worth, a positive self-image • Conditional positive regard – social conditions for receiving positive regard – Leads to: • Conditional positive self-regard - we begin to like ourselves only if we meet up with the standards others have applied to us • THERAPY!= is to help the client approach a stronger and more healthy sense of self

30. Branches of Psychology Cognitive Psychology • Jean Piaget (1896-1980)– major contributor to creation of cognitive psychology; studied the development of thinking, esp. in children • Adaptation (learning) takes place through assimilation and accommodation • An infant can grab his rattle and thrust it into his mouth (=schema) – same for daddy’s watch, he applies his “grab and thrust” schema (assimilation) • Another object - a beach ball – the new scheme: “squeeze and drool” (accommodation) • Stages of Development!: • Sensorimotor stage- birth - 2 yrs - infant uses senses and motor abilities to understand the world

31. Branches of Psychology Cognitive Psychology • Preoperational Stage– 2-7 yrs - now child has mental representations and is able to pretend • Concrete Operations Stage– 7-11 yrs. - the child not only uses logic and symbols (e.g. lump of clay) • Formal operations stage– from 12 yrs. – increasingly adult-style thinking; uses abstract logical operations • George A. Miller (b.1920) • Behaviourist tradition unable to explain language • Famous paper (1956) - short-term memory could only hold about seven pieces -- called chunks -- of information… (TRY IT!!!) • Computer = model of human learning: information processing, encoding, and retrieval - psychology = study of the mind, vs. behaviourist redefinition of psychology as the study of behaviour!