BPSY 50: Introduction to Psychology
Prepared by: Gideon Luke P. Ty, RPm
Goals of Psychology
1. Describe
2. Explain
3. Understand
4. Predict
5. Control/Change
Significant Persons in the History of Psychology and
their contributions
1. Aristotle – wrote budy and mind relationship in
his book De Anima
2. John Locke – ideas are acquired through
experience and interaction with the environment
3. Rene Descartes – innate ideas already exist at
birth
4. Wilhelm Wundt – established the first
psychological experimental laboratory at Liepzig,
Germany
5. G. Stanley Hall – established the first
psychological lab in the US
6. Raymond Cattell – designed the 16PF
Questionnaire
7. Sir Francis Galton – studied individual
differences; introduced intelligence test
8. E.B. Titchener – introduced structuralism;
introspection
9. William James – introduced functionalism
10. Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt
Koffka – introduced Gestalt Psychology
11. Sigmund Freud – used hypnosis to treat patients
suffering from hysteria
12. John Watson – introduced Behaviorism
13. B.F. Skinner – introduce operant conditioning
14. Edward Thorndike – introduced connectionism
15. Sinforoso Padilla – the first major in Psychology
from the undergraduate to the doctorate level
16. Angel de Blas – established the Experimental
Psychology laboratory in UST
17. Estefania Aldaba-Lim – first Filipino to receive
a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University
of Michigan
18. Alfredo Lagmay – chairman of UPDP for 22
years
19. Jaime Bulatao, S.J. – established the
Department of Psychology at Ateneo de Manila
University
Perspectives/Approaches in Psychology
1. Neurobiological Perspective
The nervous system and the endocrine system are
two body systems that have much impact on
behavior. The electrochemical activities in the
brain and the neural pathway and the chemical
secretions of the ductless glands biologically
affect behavior.
2. Behavioral Perspective
Behavior refers to all acts and activities of the
organism. According to John B. Watson who first
proposed behaviorism, strict objectivity should
be practiced when determining the cause of
behavior. External events can be modified and
also controlled to give rise to behavior that may
be desirable or undesirable. With so much belief
in his perspective of behavior, Watson challenged
skeptics to give him a dozen infants and boasted
that he will train the infants to be whatever he
would want them to be (doctors, lawyers,
politicians etc).
3. Cognitive Perspective
Cognition, particularly involves mental processes
or the internal workings of the individual such as
thinking, remembering, learning, perceiving,
imagining, analyzing and the like. These
processes cannot be directly observed or
measured and has been proposed to overcome the
shortcomings of the behavioral perspective.
4. Psychodynamic Perspective
Sigmund Freud seemed to have become so
engrossed in studying his patients’ behavior to
have established the workings of an unconscious
mind. According to his theory, undesirable
experiences of the individual are forced out of
awareness into the unconscious mind. These
“undesirables”, however, become manifested in
our dreams, slips of speech, mannerisms, and
may not turn out to be the cause of emotional
problems.
5. Humanistic Perspective
Also known as the Phenomenological Perspective
(the “third force” in Psychology) and was
developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers,
both were American psychologists. This
approach to behavior is subjective and considers
the person’s concept of himself and his
experience as basis for his behavior.
Phenomenology further elevates the status of man
from the animals.
6. Sociocultural Perspective
This is one of the two recent additions to
the perspectives in psychology and offers a new
angle to explaining behavior. The sociocultural
perspective is a combination of Social
Psychology, which focuses primarily on the study
of group dynamics, social roles, behavior as
affected by norms and interpersonal
relationships. The other is that of Cultural
Psychology which focuses on lifestyle as a
product of cultural norms, values, and
expectations.
 7. Evolutionary Perspective 12. Cultural Psychology - Studies the ways in which
This is the other new addition to the list of an thindividual’s culture, subculture, and ethnic
perspectives in psychology. The focus is on the group membership influence behavior.
biological basis of mental characteristics that all 13. Social Psychology - Investigates human social
living organisms share. Here, the mind is seen as behavior as it is affected by attitudes, conformity,
a set of information processing machines attraction, aggression, group dynamics, etc.
designed to function in the same way as Darwin’s
Natural Selection. Methods used in Psychological Research
1. Naturalistic Observation
Specializations in Psychology 2. Survey – Questionnaire
1. Clinical Psychology - Concentrates on the 3. Case Study
alleviation of the client’s condition by conducting 4. Archival Research
clinical investigation, assessment, and 5. Experimental Method
psychotherapy. 6. Correlation Method
2. Developmental Psychology - Studies and
conducts research on human development from Notes:
conception to adulthood, works with children
with special needs, consulting with their parents
and schools.
3. Educational Psychology - Investigates the
teaching-learning situation, develops appropriate
measurements, and evaluates educational
programs/curricula
4. Engineering Psychology - Conducts research on
human factors that will affect the design of
machineries, computers, airplanes, automobiles,
architectures, space shuttles for industry, business
and the military.
5. Sports Psychology - It involves the study of
how psychological factors affect performance
and how participation in sport and exercise
affect psychological and physical factors
6. Forensic Psychology - Studies the etiology of
crime, profiles criminal behavior, and acts as
consultant for rehabilitation programs and
prisons.
7. Industrial-Organizational Psychology - Do
selection, training, and evaluation of employees
on-the-job; improves human relations and work
environment organizations.
8. Consumer Psychology - Conducts research on
the characteristics of consumers and the proposed
techniques in advertising, marketing, packaging
goods based on the results
9. Counselling Psychology - Does one-on-one
counselling and psychotherapy and conducts
researches on the etiology of emotional
disturbances
10. Paranormal Psychology - Studies documents
and events which may be classified as
supernatural and provide possible explanations
for such.
11. Health Psychology - Studies the relationship
between the mind and the body and how behavior
affects health; applies psychological principles in
promoting health and preventing illness.