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PSY 190: General Psychology Chapter 1: What is Psychology? Person vs. Situation

PSY 190: General Psychology Chapter 1: What is Psychology? Person vs. Situation Perspectives of Psychology. What is Psychology?. Psychology The science (or study) of behavior and mental processes How we try to explain behavior A systematic study Having a method or a plan.

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PSY 190: General Psychology Chapter 1: What is Psychology? Person vs. Situation

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  1. PSY 190: General Psychology Chapter 1: What is Psychology? Person vs. Situation Perspectives of Psychology

  2. What is Psychology? • Psychology • The science (or study) of behavior and mental processes • How we try to explain behavior • A systematic study • Having a method or a plan

  3. Relatively speaking, it’s a new field… • Philosophy’s been around “forever”… • Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc. since 400 B.C. • In contrast, psychology’s first laboratory was established in Germany in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt

  4. Is it the Person or is it the Situation? • Internal and External influences: • Internal • Inner personality • External • Specific situational factors • What's more influential insofar as prediction of a person’s behavior is concerned?

  5. Or Both??? • To address this issue, we will be analyzing real-life and experimental examples all semester • Today’s example: • Kitty Genovese tragedy

  6. “I didn’t want to get involved…” • Kitty Genovese Tragedy (March 13, 1964) • Kew Gardens apartment in Queens, NYC where Kitty lived 

  7. 38 “Silent Witnesses”

  8. Winston Moseley , mugshot

  9. Diffusion of Responsibility • “Bystander Effect” • Tendency for each group member to dilute personal responsibility for acting by spreading it among all other group members

  10. Life Before Psychology Philosophy asks questions about the mind: • Does perception accurately reflect reality? • How is sensation turned into perception? Problem - No “scientific” way of studying problems René Descartes (1596-1650) Physiology asks similar questions about the mind Predict what will happen Systematically observe events Do events support predictions SCIENTIFIC METHOD

  11. First Experimental Psych Lab (1879) Psychology Is Born Focuses on the scientific study of the mind. WW insists that Psych methods be as rigorous as the methods of chemistry & physics. Wundt’s students start labs across USA (1880-1900) Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) University of Leipzig Harvard University Yale University Columbia University Catholic University Univ of Pennsylvania Cornell University Stanford University

  12. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) Physiologist & Perceptual Psychologist Founder of Psychology as a Science Experiments Edward Titchner (1867-1927) Student of Wundt Formed Y at Cornell Introspection Psychology Understanding Mental Processes Psychology (pre-1920) William James (1842-1910) Philosopher & Psychologist Formed Y at Harvard

  13. Structuralism vs Functionalism Structuralism Analyze consciousness into basic elements and study how they are related Introspection - self-observation of one’s own conscious experiences Edward Titchener (1867-1927) Functionalism Investigate the function, or purpose of consciousness rather than its structure Leaned toward applied work (natural surroundings) William James (1842-1910)

  14. Freud & Psychoanalysis Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS Thoughts, memories & desires exist below conscious awareness and exert an influence on our behavior Unconscious expressed in dreams & “slips of the tongue” Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explain personality, mental disorders & motivation in terms of unconscious determinants of behavior

  15. Psych the Science of Behavior Behaviorism Scientific Psychology should focus on observable behavior. Mental Processes cannot be studied directly John Watson (1878-1958) Stimulus Response Psychology Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936

  16. Gestalt Psychology “The whole is different than the sum of its parts.” A reaction against Structuralism An attempt to focus attention back onto conscious experience (i.e., the mind) Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)

  17. Cognitive Psychology Cognition the mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, storing & using information Cognitive Psychologists return to the study of learning, memory, perception, language, development & problem solving Noam Chomsky “Language” Advent of computers (late 1950s) provides a new model for thinking about the mind

  18. Elementary/ Secondary Schools 4.2% Universities & Colleges 27.2% Independent Practice 33.1% Hospitals, Counseling, Clinics, etc. 22.3% Business, Government or Consulting 12.1% Work In Psychology

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