PSYCHOLOGY

Historical Perspective

Psychology: Defined
The scientific study of behavior and
mental processes

Key components of this definition:
Science
Behavior
Mental Processes
Predict what will happen
Systematically observe events
Do events support predictions
Life Before Psychology
Ren Descartes
(1596-1650)
Philosophy asks questions about the mind:
Does perception accurately reflect reality?
How is sensation turned into perception?
Problem - No scientific way
of studying problems
Physiology asks similar questions about the mind
SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
Psychology Is Born
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920)
First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)
Focuses on the scientific study of the mind.
WW insists that Psych methods be as rigorous
as the methods of chemistry & physics.
University of Leipzig
Harvard University
Yale University
Columbia University
Catholic University
Univ of Pennsylvania
Cornell University
Stanford University
Wundts students start labs
across USA (1880-1900)
Women of Psychology
Mary Calkins - student of William James at
Harvard but was not awarded a Ph.D.
Founded psych lab at Wellesley College (1891)
Maragaret Washburn - first woman to receive
Ph.D. in Psychology. Wrote The Animal Mind,
which helped begin the Behaviorist movement.
Leta Hollingworth - Debunked popular theories
that suggested women were inferior to men.
Did pioneering work on adolescent development,
mental retardation & gifted children.
Psychology (pre-1920)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Physiologist & Perceptual Psychologist
Founder of Psychology as a Science
Experiments
Edward Titchner (1867-1927)
Student of Wundt
Formed Y at Cornell
Introspection
William James (1842-1910)
Philosopher & Psychologist
Formed Y at Harvard
Psychology
Understanding
Mental Processes
Structuralism vs Functionalism
William James
(1842-1910)
Analyze consciousness into basic elements
and study how they are related
Introspection - self-observation
of ones own conscious experiences
Investigate the function, or purpose
of consciousness rather than its structure
Leaned toward applied work
(natural surroundings)
Structuralism
Functionalism
Wilhelm Wundt
Thoughts, memories & desires
exist below conscious awareness
and exert an influence on our
behavior
Unconscious expressed in
dreams & slips of the tongue
Freud & Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS
Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explain
personality, mental disorders & motivation in
terms of unconscious determinants of behavior
Behaviorism
Scientific Psychology should focus on
observable behavior.
John Watson
(1878-1958)
Ivan Pavlov
Psych the Science of Behavior
Stimulus
Response
Psychology
Mental Processes cannot
be studied directly
Skinner Box
Psychology (1920s-1960s)
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Behavior without Reference to Thought
The RAT & S-R Psychology
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Behaviorism with a Twist
The PIDGEON & The Skinner Box
Psychology
Science of Observable
Behavior
Behaviorism
Gestalt Psychology
Max Wertheimer
(1880-1943)
The whole is different than
the sum of its parts.
Phi Phenomenon
Illusion of movement created by
presenting visual stimuli in rapid
succession.
A reaction against Structuralism
An attempt to focus attention back
onto conscious experience
(i.e., the mind)
Cognitive Psychology
Noam Chomsky
Language
Cognitive Psychology
The study of how people perceive, learn,
remember, and think.
Examples
How people perceive various shapes
Why they remember some facts and forget others
How they learn language
Cognition (Ashcraft, 2002)
The collection of mental processes and activities
used in perceiving, learning, remembering,
thinking, and understanding, and the act of using
those processes
Different Perspectives in
Psychology
Biological Psychology
Behavioral/Clinical Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Social-Cultural Psychology
Biological Perspective
Focus
How the body and brain create emotions, memories,
and sensory experiences.
Sample I ssues
How do evolution and heredity influence behavior?
How are messages transmitted within the body?
How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
Behavioral/Clinical Perspective
Focus
How we learn from observable responses.
How to best study, assess and treat troubled people.
Sample I ssues
How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations?
What is the most effective way to alter certain behaviors?
What are the underlying causes of:
Anxiety Disorders
Phobic Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
Cognitive Perspective
Focus
How we process, store and retrieve information.
Sample I ssues
How do we use info in remembering and reasoning?
How do our senses govern the nature of perception?
(Is what you see really what you get?)
How much do infants know when they are born?
Social-Cultural Perspective
Focus
How behavior and thinking vary across situations
and cultures.
Sample I ssues
How are we, as members of different races and
nationalities, alike as members of one human family?
How do we differ, as products of different social contexts?
Why do people sometimes act differently in groups than
when alone?
Psychologists must be skeptical
and think critically
What is the evidence?
How was it collected?
Psychology is Empirical
Psych conclusions based on research
NOT tradition or common sense
Knowledge acquired through observation

Lots of different areas and fields
When Psychology uses scientific principles, it has no
problems.
When Psychology does not use scientific models, gets many
problems.
In some areas has a good reputation
In other areas has a very poor reputation
Inserts a lot of psychobabble with no positive result.
We will concentrate on the scientific aspects.
Where Are We Now?
Work in the history of psychology have an important place in our
educations: By looking at things from the big, historical
perspective, and from the aspect of eternity one get by studying
psychology, perhaps we will have progress in psychology sooner
rather than later.

THANK YOU