Introduction to Psychology

1. Introduction to Psychology

2. The scientific study of the human mind and human behavior • Scientific method: orderly steps to analyze and solve problems • Behavior: Ways in which organisms adjust and adapt in their environment

3. “The study of the soul” • Greek derived • First used in the book Psichiologia de rationeanimaehumanaeby Marko Marulic

4. Goals • Describe what happens • Explain what happens • Predict what will happen • Control what happens

5. How would you describe this painting?

6. Key figures in Psychology’s History • Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle – Ancient Greek philosophers who questioned free will, consciousness, the connection between individuals to society • Hermann Ebbinghaus – Late 19th Century, German philosopher, studied memory, learning and forgetting.

7. Hermann Ebbinghaus experiment Bah Doof Carn Sut Jert Kif Pert Tut Foon Shing

8. Ebbinghaus Illusion

9. Wilhelm Wundt • German physician, philosopher, psychologist • First formal lab for studying psychology • Father of experimental psychology • Trained first grad students for psychology

10. Structuralism • Study of the structure of the mind and behavior • Studying the elements of consciousness by breaking down the psychological processes • How would you describe this in the simplest language possible:

11. William James • Harvard philosopher, wrote one of the most influential books on psychology: The Principles of Psychology (1890)

12. Functionalism • The overall functions of the mind are more important than specifics contents of the mind • Asked what was the purpose of consciousness and behavior. • Valued introspection over hard data and formal experimentation • “My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery - always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?” -Virginia Woolf