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U1C1 What is Psychology?

Discover the diverse fields within psychology, from ancient roots to modern perspectives, including theories, goals, and influential figures. Uncover the evolution of psychological practices over time and the relevance of cognitive, behavioral, and humanistic perspectives.

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U1C1 What is Psychology?

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  1. U1C1 What is Psychology? Psychology

  2. Main Idea Originating in ancient times, psychology is a science consisting of many different fields that study human behavior and mental processes

  3. Essential Question • What is psychology? • What do psychologists do? • How have psychological theories and practices changed over time? • What are some contemporary perspectives on psychology?

  4. 1.1 Why Study Psychology? • Psychology is a science. Like other scientists, psychologists seek to explain and control behavior and mental processes and test their ideas through research methods • Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes • behavior is any action that people can observe or measure • cognitive activities are mental processes, including dreams, perceptions, thoughts, and memories • psychologists study people’s emotions, or feelings; emotions can affect both behavior and mental processes, for example, you might experience anxiety when you think about presenting a report in front of your class, your heart activity is an example behavior, but your thoughts about presenting the report are private mental processes

  5. Goals of Psychology • Like scientists, who seek to observe, describe, explain, predict and control the events they study, psychologists observe and describe behavior and mental processes to better understand them • Goals of Psychology: behavior, mental processes, research • behavior example: Alex Rodriquez performs poorly during baseball playoff games, sometimes loses his cool; sports psychologists explain the behavior in terms of feelings of anxiety and the distractions that hinder the athletes’ performance, in other words, too much anxiety is harmful • mental processes example: controlling behavior by using mental processes such as positive visualization (imagining themselves in a critical game situation • research example: steps including conducting surveys and experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing logical conclusions

  6. Psychology as a Science theory: a statement that attempts to explain why things are the way they are and why they happen the way they do; psychological theories discuss principles that govern behavior and mental processes; for example a theory about fatigue will help predict when people will or will not sleep principle: a basic truth or law, such as the assumption that you will get better grades if you study more

  7. 1.2 What Psychologists Do • Psychologists work in many different fields, but they all focus on studying and explaining behavior and mental processes

  8. 1.3 A History of Psychology

  9. 1.4 Contemporary Perspectives

  10. Psychology“Module 1: History and Perspectives in Psychological Science”

  11. Definition of Psychology • Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes • scientific study: scientific research methods are an essential key to unlocking psychology’s secrets • behavior: any directly observable thing you do • mental processes: things that cannot be observed directly-thoughts, feelings and dreams

  12. Modern Psychology’s Roots • Wilhelm Wundt (VOONT): 1879-studied human consciousness-birth year of psychology • Edward B. Titchener: Wundt’s student, introduced structuralism, the first major school of thought in psychology • Gestalt (gih-SHTALT, means “configuration” in German) psychology: the whole is different than the sum of its parts • William James: Harvard professor, first American psychologist, first textbook in 1890, functions of consciousness-functionalism

  13. Psychology in the Twentieth Century • Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): believer of psychodynamic theory-our unconscious thoughts, inner conflicts, and childhood experiences significantly affect our personality and behaviors • “Freudian slip”: a misstatement about what you’d like to say-“Do you want to study for tomorrow’s kizz?” • “anal retentive”: excessively neat, clean, and compulsive

  14. 20th Century Continued • Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner: behaviorism • Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers: humanistic psychology • Jean Piaget (pee-ah-ZHAY): child development • Kenneth Clark, Mamie Phipps Clark: educational psychologists (Brown v. Board of Education)

  15. 6 Psychological Perspectives • Cognitive: how we process information • Biological: how our biological structures underlie a given behavior, thought, or emotion • Social-Cultural: how thinking and behavior change depending on the situation • Behavioral: how we learn through rewards, punishments, and observation • Humanistic: how healthy people strive to reach their full potential • Psychodynamic: how we are affected by unconscious drives and conflicts

  16. Psychology in the 21st Century • developing areas are: • behavior genetics: how genes and environment influence our individual differences • evolutionary psychology: study of behaviors that helped our ancestors survive • positive psychology: scientific focus on wellness and on healthy people reaching their full potential

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