History of Psychology: Aristotle, before 30 BC

1. History of Psychology: Aristotle, before 30 BC Greek naturalist and philosopher who theorized about learning, memory, motivation, emotion, perception, and personality.

2. René Descartes: 1596-1650 • Originated the concept of Dualism, viewed mind and body as interactive machines. • Stated that the mind could follow body and vice versa. • Proposed the idea of both voluntary and involuntary behavior. • Ruled out areas other than the brain for mental functioning.

3. John Locke: 1632-1704 • Knowledge should be acquired by careful observation. • No innate ideas: all knowledge comes from experience or reflection. • Mind is a blank slate written on by experience (tabula rasa).

4. Charles Darwin: 1850s • Studied the evolution of finches and expands his study to include humans. • Opposed religious teachings of the time by suggesting that man was a common ancestor to lower species.

5. Birth of PsychologyWilhelm Wundt: Father of Psychology • 1879: Leipzig, Germany. • Intended to make psychology a reputable science. • Many American psychologists eventually went on to study in Leipzeig in the 1st Psych Lab

6. Wilhelm Wundt: Father of Psychology • Most of his experiments on sensation and perception. • Did not think that high order mental processes could be studied experimentally. • Trained in medicine and philosophy. • Wrote many books about psychology, philosophy, ethics, and logic.

7. Can you read this? This is bcuseae the huammn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh?

8. Wilhelm Wundt • Wundt’s work led to the 1st school of thought in Psychology called STRUCTURALISM • Structuralism - focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. • Researchers tried to understand the basic elements of consciousness using a method known as introspection.

9. Introspection • Looking inward at one’s own mental processes.

10. E.B. Titchener • Wundt’s student. • Taught at Cornell University. • Structuralism: He furthered Wundt’s work and understanding of human thought process. • Titchener coined term “Structuralism”

11. Margaret Floy Washburn • Student of Edward B. Titchener at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University • There she was the first graduate student recommended by Titchener to the Ph.D. program, and became the first woman to obtain her Ph.D. in Psychology in 1894.  

12. Margaret Floy Washburn • Moved away from Titchener's structural psychology • Openly critical of its reduction of the mind into parts, and wrote a second book entitled Movement and Mental Imagery (1917) • 1903, she was ranked among the top 50 psychologists in America (when women were excluded from many academic programs)

13. William James: 1842-1910 • Claimed that searching for building blocks was a waste of time because brain and mind are constantly changing: focused on function. • Functionalism: the study of how a mental process operates • Expanded psychology to animal behavior. • Author of 1st widely used Psych textbook ”Principles of Psychology”

14. Structuralism to Functionalism(Wundt & Tichener to James and more) • A shift in early schools of though occurred in Psychology • the difference between stopping a train to tear it apart to study its parts (structuralism), and looking at how the systems interact while it is running (functionalism).

15. Mary Whiton Calkins1863-1930 • Studied under William James at Harvard. • Admitted to Harvard as a "guest." • 1895 - Presented Doctoral thesis to Harvard faculty (Despite unanimous approval from the thesis committee) • Harvard still refused to grant Calkins the degree she had earned because she was a ____________

16. Mary Whiton Calkins • At Harvard, Calkins invented the paired-associate task • which involved showing study participants a series of paired colors and numerals, then testing recollections of which number had been paired with which color. • The technique was used to study memory and was later published by Titchener, who claimed credit for its development.

17. Mary Whiton Calkins • Is famous in Psychology because: • First woman president of the American Psychological Association • Calkins wrote over a hundred professional papers of topics in psychology

18. American Psychological Association (APA) Founded in 1892: the governing body of all research not conducted by universities.

19. American Psychological Association • Largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. • More than 134,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students as its members. • Mission: is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.

20. APA • Promoting research in psychology • Improving the qualifications and usefulness of psychologists by establishing high standards of ethics, conduct, education and achievement.

21. Herman Ebbinghaus 1885 Published classic studies on memory, nonsense syllables, learning curve.

22. G. Stanley Hall • First president of the APA, established the first psychological lab in the U.S. in 1883, at Johns Hopkins University. • Started the American Psychological Journal (1887) now the American Journal of Psychology.

23. Psychology = Eclecticism • Utilizing of diverse theories and schools of thought. • Mosaic, no single approach can create the whole picture. • Unlikely for psychology to ever have a unifying paradigm.

24. Present Day PsychologyBehavioral Approach • All behavior is observable and measurable • Abandoned mentalism for behaviorism • All Behavior result of learning

25. Behaviorism • Ivan Pavlov, 1849-1936. • Russian experimenter who showed automatic/involuntary behavior in learned responses to specific stimuli in the environment. • Created “Classical Conditioning.”

26. Behaviorism • John Watson, 1913. • Psychology can never be as objective as chemistry or biology. Consciousness is not that easy. • “I can take a child and make him into anything, a beggar, a doctor, a thief.”

27. John. B. Watson • Baby Albert experiment • Used classical conditioning to teach baby to fear white fuzzy things (started with a rat)

28. Behaviorism • B.F. Skinner, 1950’s. • Dismissed importance of inherited traits and instincts about human behavior • Believed that all behavior is a result of rewards and punishments in the past. • Any undesired behavior can be modified via positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and/or punishment

29. B.F. Skinner • Used the famous “Skinner Box” as the center of his research • Used rats and pigeons to explore what he called OPERANT conditioning

30. SKINNER BOX

31. Another form of a SKINNER BOX

32. Videos • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Rb9n_sQDg • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtDTdDr8vs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfQlkGwE2U • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE

33. Albert Banduraborn 1925 • Social Learning Theory: How people acquire new behaviors by observing and imitating others (modeling). • Famous Bobo Doll Experiment • His criticisms of behaviorists: All behavior cannot be explained by rewards and punishments. Treats people like robots as if they have no free-will.

34. Psychoanalytic Theory • All behavior is meaningful, and much of it is controlled by digging below the surface to uncover the roots of personality. • Sigmund Freud!!! (Da MAN!)

35. Psychoanalytic Theory • Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939. • Studied neurology, but wanted to be a medical researcher, forced into being a private physician. • Became convinced that patients difficulties were due to mental rather than physical problems. • Proposed that distress due to problems that dated back to childhood.

36. Siggy Freud • Psychoanalysis: Freud’s method for treating people with emotional problems, free association. • Unconscious: Nearly all of our impulses are sexual and aggressive in nature. Because we cannot accept them in our conscious, thoughts find their expression in dreams, slips of the tongue that appear as accidents, and even jokes.

37. Psychoanalytic Theory • Interpretation of Dreams, 1900. Sold 600 copies in 8 years; today sells millions every year. • Aggressive energy: Basic human instinct lodged in unconscious; the duty of society is to get people to channel their aggressive energy into productive activity. If not, aggression is released and violent activities occur.

38. Psychoanalytic Theory • Hidden Desires: Freud stated that people are “cesspools of hidden desires.” • Unresolved Conflicts: If these occur in childhood, this will cause fixations in later life. (Stages)

39. Psychoanalytic Theory • Freud’s Stages: Oral (Birth - 1 yr.), anal (1 yr.), phallic (4 yrs. - separates males/females), latency (Puberty), genital (adult) • 3 Personalities: Id, Ego, Superego: • Id: Wants/Desires, Basic primal instincts. “Pleasure Principle” • Ego: “Reality Principle” • Superego: Conscious mind. “Do the right thing.”

40. Psychoanalytic Theory: Criticisms • Does not focus on observable behavior, negative viewpoint of mankind because actions are provoked by unconscious thoughts, cannot be scientifically proven or disproven. • Ignores political and social explanations of people’s problems. • Currently focuses on perceptions, memories, and thinking in our unconscious (Psychodynamic theory).

41. Humanistic Theory 1950’s-60’s: Emphasize free-will, people not completely ruled by environment or past experience, able to control one’s own choices and destinies to achieve full human potential. (Existentialism)

42. Carl Jung 1875-1961 • Jung worked with psychiatric patients at the University of Zürich asylum • Worked with Freud • Jung’s theories revolved around the unconscious mind • Eventually, Jung rejected Freud's emphasis on sex as the sole source of behavior motivation

43. Carl Jung 1875-1961 • Human psyche exists in three parts: the ego (the conscious mind), the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. • collective unconscious was a reservoir of all the experience and knowledge of the human species

44. Alfred Adler 1870 -1937 • Austrian, like Freud • Became president of Vienna Psychoanalytic Society • Adler eventually departed due in part to his disagreements with some of Freud's theories. • Adler had played a key role in the development of psychoanalysis

45. Alfred Adler 1870 -1937 • Believed that every person has a sense of inferiority • 'striving for superiority'and believed that this drive was the motivating force behind human behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. • From childhood people work toward overcoming this inferiority

46. Humanistic Theory (mid 1900s) • Strongly disagreed with both Behaviorists and psychoanalysts • Stress the importance of people’s feelings and free will • Believe humans are naturally positive and seek personal growth • People have the ability to heal themselves

47. Humanistic Theory • Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs: People’s struggle is to be the best they possibly can, known as self-actualization. • Carl Rogers: Former minister; believed all people strive for perfection; some interrupted by a bad environment.

48. Humanistic Theory • Criticisms: Believes all people are good and that people have the ability to heal themselves. Too vague, more of a philosophy for life than a psychology.

49. Biopsychology / Biological Approach • Seeks to understand the nervous system. All actions, feelings associated with the nervous system. • The anatomy and physiology explanation for human thinking & behavior • Wilhelm Wundt: Expected psychology to rest almost solely on Anatomy and Biology. Interested in how bodily events interact with events in the external environment to produce perceptions, memory and behavior.

50. Biopsychology • Roger Sperry won Nobel-Prize for his Split-Brain research. • Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz’s work on complex chemical and biological processes within nervous and endocrine system are related to behavior