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Where does Psychology Come From?. A Brief History. Psychology is as old as history and as modern as today. Aristotle : Greek philosopher Peri Psyches (About the Psyche) -nature of mind behavior People are basically motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain (modern view).
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Where does Psychology Come From? A Brief History
Psychology is as old as history and as modern as today • Aristotle: Greek philosopher • Peri Psyches (About the Psyche)-nature of mind behavior • People are basically motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain (modern view)
Psychology is as old as history and as modern as today • Democritus: behavior as body and a mind • Behavior influenced by external stimulation • First to raise issue of free will or choice
Psychology is as old as history and as modern as today • If we are influenced by external forces, can we be said to control our own behavior? • Question: where do the influences of others end and our “real selves” begin?
Structuralism • Willhelm Wundt: debut of modern psych • 1897: established first psychological laboratory in Leipzig,Germany • Claimed that the mind was a natural event and could be studied scientifically (light, heat, flow of blood)
Structuralism • Define makeup of conscious experience, breaking it down into objective sensations (light and taste) and subjective feelings (emotional responses, will, mental images) • Believe that mind functions by creatively combining the elements of experience
Functionalism • Emphasizes the uses or functions of the MIND rather than the elements of experience • Deals with overt behavior as well as consciousness
Functionalism • William James (1842-1910): Wrote first modern psychology textbook, The Principles of Psychology
Functionalism • Influenced by Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory • The “fittest” behavior patterns survive • Adaptive actions tend to be repeated and become habits
Behaviorism • John Watson (1878-1958): Founder of behaviorism • Psychology must limit itself to observable, measurable events-to behavior
Behaviorism Examples: • Pressing a lever, turning left or right, eating and mating, heart rate, dilation of the pupils
Behaviorism • Psychology address the learning of measurable responses to environmental stimuli • Pavlov’s salivating dogs (conditioning not mental processes)
Behaviorism • B.F Skinner (1904-1990): • Reinforcement: organisms learn to behave in certain ways because they have been reinforced for doing so
Gestalt Focused on perception and on how perception influences thinking and problem solving
Gestalt • Perceptions more than the sum of its parts • Wholes that give meaning to parts
Gestalt • Learning to solve problems, is accomplished by insight, not by mechanical repetition • “Aha moment” flash of insight
Psychoanalysis Emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior
Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): • Believed that unconscious thought , especially sexual and aggressive impulses, were more influential than conscious thought in determining human behavior.
Psychoanalysis • Thought mind was unconscious, consisting of conflicting impulses, urges, and wishes. • People motivated to gratify these impulses and urges
Psychoanalysis • Freud: gained his understanding of people through clinical interviews with patients • Gain insight into deep-seated conflicts and find socially acceptable ways of expressing wishes and gratifying needs
Perspectives • Biological • Cognitive • Humanistic-Existential • Psychodynamic • Learning • Socialcultural