WHS AP Psychology

1. WHSAP Psychology Growth of Psychology

2. Psych Immersions? (Connections to something else in psychology, another text, or your world.) • Critical questions from the reading?

3. EQ 1-2 • Trace the growth of psychology.

4. Psychology’s Roots Are in Philosophy Prescientific Psychology • Do you have a soul? • Is the mind connected to the body or distinct? • Are ideas inborn or is the mind a blank slate filled by experience?

5. Prologue: Psychology’s Roots

6. Psychology’s Roots • Psychological Science Is Born • Empiricism – Thank you Enlightenment • Knowledge comes from experience via the senses • Science flourishes through observation and experiment

7. Psychology’s Roots • Wilhelm Wundt (vil´helm voont) opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Liepzig (c. 1879)

8. Psychology’s Roots • Selective Attention • Wundt’s significance? • By insisting on measurement and experimentation he moves Psych from Philosophy to Science

9. Psychology As Science • Psychologists use the scientific method • Steps to the scientific method • Collect data • Generate a theory to explain the data • Produce a testable hypothesis • Systematically test the hypothesis

10. Psychology’s Roots • Bradford Titchener (tich´unur) • Emulates the analysis of compounds by looking at atoms • Structuralism used introspection (looking in) to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

11. What is this?

12. What is this?

13. What is this?

14. Psychology’s Roots • Structuralism – • School of psychology that stressed the basic units of experience (physical sensation, feelings, and memories) and the combinations in which they occur. • Study these ‘atoms of experience’ to get the structure of the mind

15. Prologue: Psychology’s Roots • William James • Rejects Structuralism • Influenced by Darwin • Functionalism –theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its enviroment.

17. Prologue: Psychology’s Roots Figure 1- British Psychological Society membership

18. The Growth of Psychology • Sigmund Freud: Psychodynamic psychology • Behavior results from forces at work within the individual, often at an unconscious level • Late 1800s • Hard to prove or disprove scientifically

19. Return to the observable in the early 1900s • John B. Watson: Behaviorism • Studied only observable behaviors • Expanded upon the work of Pavlov • B.F. Skinner: Behaviorism revisited • Expanded behaviorism • Viewed the mind as a “black box” that was irrelevant

20. The Cognitive Revolution • The precursors to cognitive psychology: • Gestalt psychology • Study of how we perceive objects as whole patterns • Therapy that wishes to treat the whole person • Humanistic psychology • Emphasizes realization of full potential • Recognizes importance of love, self esteem, belonging, and self-actualization

21. The Cognitive Revolution of the 1960s • Study of mental processes • Thinking • Learning • Feeling • Remembering • Decision making

22. New Directions in Psychology • Evolutionary psychology • Studies the adaptive value of behaviors and mental processes • Positive psychology • Study of the subjective feelings of happiness and well-being • Focus is on positive attitude

23. Multiple Perspectives • There is no single right answer • Several perspectives can provide insight into behavior

24. Psychology’s Big Issues • Nature-nurture controversy • Are we a product of innate, inborn tendencies controlled by our genetic make-up? • Are we a reflection of experiences and upbringing? • Person–Situation • Is behavior caused by factors inside the person or outside? • Stability–Change • Are behavior patterns learned in childhood permanent or do people change over time? • Diversity-Universality • How am I like every person, like some people, and like no one else? • Mind–Body • What is the relationship between the mind and the body?

25. EQ 1-2 • Trace the growth of psychology.