PSYCHOLOGY 106 Psychological Principles for Nursing

1. PSYCHOLOGY 106Psychological Principles for Nursing Liam Ennis, Ph.D. liame@ualberta.ca

2. Prologue • Cover the basics of psychological principles and show explain how these principles can be applied to solve human problems (and wherever possible, nursing-related human problems. • Introductory course – Cover lot’s of ground, but in a primarily cursory fashion • If you have questions… ask them.

3. Psychology & Science • Psychology is the science of the mind and behaviour • Psychological data are always based on observed behaviour - inferences made re: mind • Behaviour: Any process or activity that is directly observable • Mind: Can’t be observed directly (e.g., thought processes, motivation, etc.) • Black Box

4. History of Psychology • First ‘psychologists’ were philosophers (e.g., Aristotle, Socrates, Plato) • Speculation about the source of human knowledge, nature of mind and soul, mind-body relationship, whether these constructs could be studied objectively • Determinism vs. Free Will

5. History of Psychology • Descartes - French philosopher • Dualism - man consists of 2 distinct but conjoined entities: Material body and immaterial soul • Body is part of natural world and can be studied scientifically • Soul - not bound by natural law - “unstudy-able”

6. History of Psychology • Descartes cont’d: • concerned with mechanical processes of behaviour which he felt were unrelated to soul • Animals don’t have souls, yet engage in many basic physiological behaviours that humans do • Any activity performed by humans that is qualitatively no different from what animals can do, occurs without the soul • role of senses, organs, reflexes

7. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) • British - struggle between church and state • tutor to King Charles II • Believed soul to be a meaningless concept • Materialism: nothing exists but matter & energy • All human behaviour can be understood re: physical processes • Thought = product of brain-body machinery, subject to natural law

8. Empiricism • John Locke – philosopher in the early 1600’s • Empiricism: Knowledge is gained through our senses and experience, not through speculation • British Empiricists: all human knowledge and thought derive from sensory experience • Thought subject to natural law and may be studied scientifically

9. Psychophysiology • 19th century - emphasis on machinery of behaviour • Central nervous system, sensation and perception • Reflexology - every human behaviour understood as a reflex, initiated by environmental stimuli • localization of function - Broca

10. Ivan Pavlov • 1905 Nobel Prize for dog salivation research • Conditioned reflexes • Reliance on precise measurement of behaviour and presentation of stimuli

11. Charles Darwin • Consistent with theory of evolution, traits and behaviours can be examined for the function it serves in allowing the organism to survive and reproduce in natural environment • Helped convince intellectual world that humans are part of nature, just like animals, and can be understood through the methods of science

12. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) • Commonly viewed as the father of psychological science • Wrote first psych text ever • Founded the first psych lab at University of Leipzig (Germany) in 1879 • Utilized introspection to study consciousness • To look inward to examine one’s own conscious experience • examination of the simplest mental processes - sensations, memories, etc. • Fast occurring processes = simplest

13. Edward Titchner • Student of Wundt’s • Laboratory at Cornell University • Pioneered the Structuralist view of psychology • The proper goal of psychology was the identification of the elements/structures of the mind and determine how they combine with one another • Wundt correctly warned of limitations of introspection

14. William James • First psychological lab & text in America – Harvard University (1890) • Rejected structuralism - can’t understand a house by looking at the bricks • Influenced by Darwin – natural selection and adaptive behaviour • Functionalism: the study of the function of behaviour, and how people behave in order to adapt to their environments.

15. Sigmund Freud • Pioneered psychoanalysis  in order to understand how the unconscious influences human behavior. • Conceptualized the mind as having three components; • the Id, responsible for our drives to meet our physiological needs and desires; • the Superego, incorporates the rules and morals of the society we live in • the Ego, the conscious part of our minds that mediates between the Id and Superego so that we may get our needs met in a socially acceptable way.

16. John B. Watson • Mental constructs were of no value in explaining human behaviour, and only obscured psychological investigation and theory • All behaviour reflexive – all behavior can be understood as reactions/responses to events in the environment • Spent latter part of his career in advertising

17. B.F. Skinner • Behaviorist – Operant Learning & Conditioning • Disagreed with emphasis on reflexes • Focused on consequences of behaviour • Behaviour contingent on influence of reinforcers in one’s environment • Behaviourism dominated psychology from 1920’s – 1980’s

18. Albert Bandura • Social Learning Theory • Observational learning • Aggression/Bo-Bo Doll • Modelling

19. Carl Rogers • Felt psychoanalysis and behaviourism devalued the conscious human mind • Humanistic or Client-Centered Psychology (Maslow) • Theory based on assumption that we all have an inherent actualizing tendency - beyond basic needs • tendency stunted by others who criticize and inhibit • Unconditional, positive regard

20. Cognitive Psychology • Increasingly popular since 1970’s • emphasizes how people take in, organize and make mental representations and store information. Also study how these processes effect behavior • thought mediates behaviour • How we think about things influences emotion, decision making, behaviour

21. Biology & the Brain • Role of brain functioning as it relates to behaviour and psychological processes • Heredity and behavioural genetics • neurochemical processes of memory & thought • magnetic fields • technologically based