THE HISTORY OF

PSYCHOLOGY
From Aristotle to Austria to America
 P E R H A P S T H E M O S T FA S C I N AT I N G
AND MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE OF ALL
I S T H E O N E W I T H I N U S.
 PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental

processes.

A professional practitioner or researchers is called a psychologist.

The term psychology literally means the study of the soul. It

derives from the Greek word psyche meaning breath, spirit, or
soul and logia, meaning the study of.
 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Philosophical interest in the mind and behavior dates back to

the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China and India.
Greek philosophers like Thales, Socrates, and Aristotle dealt
with questions of nature versus nurture. They debated the nature
pleasure and pain, motivation, desire, free will, memory and our
perception of the world.
In the 8th century, Islamic physicians in Fez, Morocco, used
practices that resembled psychotherapy to treat mental patients.
That was 1000 years before Sigmund Freud established the
practice.
Aristotle
PLATO 387 B.C.
Innate ideas Suggests the brain
is the seat of mental processes.

PLATO GREEK
PHILOSOPHER
 EPISTEMOLOGY

What is knowledge?

How do we get knowledge?

What justifies a belief and makes it knowledge?

What is realism?

What is idealism?
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
 A R I S T O T L E 335 B. C.
FAT H E R O F P S YC H O L OG Y
 Denied Innate ideas Suggests
that the heart is the seat of mental
processes

ARISTOTLE GREEK
PHILOSOPHER
 MONISM VS. DUALISM

Monism A Greek idea that held that all things are linked and
inseparable, including the body and mind.
Dualism The body and the mind are separate. Rene Descartes, the
French philosopher, surmised that the body and the soul were separate
entities only somewhat dependent on each other.
What is the nature of the soul? Descartes: The sense perceptions and
physical passions of humans depends on the body, but awareness of them
is the job for the soul.
 1600
Monism- Brain and Nervous System
Dualism (Descartes)-
Body(Physical) Mind(Spiritual)

Pineal Gland
 FRANCIS BACON

One of the founders of modern science

Human mind and its failings

Theories centered on experiment, experience, and common sense

judgment
NATIVISTS VS. EMPIRICISTS

Nativists Innate Truth (nature) - Descartes

Empiricists Blank Slate learned through sensory

experiences (nurture) John Locke

TABULA RASA
 MY HEAD IS BIGGER SO IM A BETTER
PE RSON T HAN YOU

The German physician Franz Joseph Gall introduced the theory of

Phrenology in 1808.

Phrenology holds that traits and abilities reside in certain parts of

the brain, and

Can be measured by bumps and indentations in the skull.

PHRENOLOGY
1859 CHARLES DARWIN

Evolutionary process of natural selection

Using animals in psychological research

 1 8 7 9 : B I RT H O F P S YC H O L O G Y

Wilhelm Wundt
University of Leipzig, Germany
Established first Psychology Laboratory in 1879.
Defined psychology as the study of consciousness.
He used scientific methods to study fundamental
psychological processes, such as mental reaction times
in response to visual or auditory stimuli.
 TITCHENER AND STRUCTURALISM

Edward B. Titchener
A student of Wundt
Structuralism, the first major school
of thought in psychology, maintains that
complex conscious experiences can be
broken down into elemental structures or
parts of sensations and feelings.
Introspection
1 8 8 0 : A M E R I C A N P S YC H O L O G Y

William James
Functionalism emphasized studying
the purpose behaviors and mental
experiences.
Offered the first course in
Experimental Psychology at Harvard
University.
 1883: FIRST AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY
L A B O R A T O RY

G. Stanley Hall, a student of

James, became the first Ph.D. in
psychology in the United States in 1878.
Founded the first psychology research
laboratory in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
Founded the American Psychological
Association (APA).
 STUDENTS OF
W I L L I A M JA M E S
MARY WHITON CALKINS MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN

Wellesley College Teacher of Titcheners first doctoral student at

experimental psychology
Harvard University refused to
award her a Ph.D. in psychology
Researched dreams, memory and
personality
1st female president of APA
Cornell University
Female to earn the first official Ph.D.
in psychology
Mental processes in different animals
The Animal Mind
2nd female president of APA
A M E R I C A N P S YC H O L O G I C A L
ASSOCIATION

http://www.apa.org/
A TIMELINE OF
PSYCHOLOGY
 1889: SIGMUND FREUD

Theory of Psychoanalysis

The Interpretation of Dreams.

Freud believed glimpses of the

unconscious could be revealed in
dreams, memory blocks, slips of
the tongue and humor.
W A T S O N A N D B E H AV I O R I S M
1913/1920

Behaviorism focused on overt,

observable behaviors that could be measured
and verified.
The goal of Behaviorism is to discover the
fundamental principles of learning how
behavior is acquired and modified in response
to environmental influences.
Watson & Rosalie Raynor Little Albert
 BEHAVIORAL THEORY
Ivan Pavlov - 1905 B.F. Skinner - 1938

Russian physiologist Operant conditioning

Conditioned Responses Reinforcement & Punishment

Pavlovian dogs Rats and pigeons

Skinner Box
ERIK ERIKSON - 1950

Stages of Psychosocial Development

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

Carl Rogers - 1951

Humanistic Psychology emphasizes each
person's unique potential for psychological
growth and self-direction.

Self-determination, free will and the

importance of choice are important in
psychological growth.
ABRAHAM MASLOW - 1954

Motivation & Personality

Psychological Motives
Physiological Needs
Self-actualization
Hierarchy of Needs
 COGNITIVE REVOLUTION

How does the mind process and retain information?

Human Vision

Phantom Limbs

Evolution of Language

Mirror Neurons

Theories of Autism

Cognitive Neuroscience
 WHICH SCHOOL

Psychology should study how behavior and mental

processes allows organisms to adapt to their environment.

School/Approach?

Founder?
 WHICH SCHOOL

Psychology should emphasize each persons unique

potential for psychological growth and self-directedness.

School/Approach?

Founder?
 WHICH SCHOOL

Psychology should focus on elements of conscious

experiences, using the method of introspection.

School/Approach?

Founder?
 WHICH SCHOOL

Human Behavior is strong influenced by unconscious

sexual and aggressive conflicts.

School/Approach?

Founder?
 WHICH SCHOOL

Psychology should scientifically investigate observable

behaviors that can be measured objectively and should
not study consciousness or mental processes.

School/Approach?

Founder?
 LESSON #2
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY
A M E R I C A N P S YC H O L O G I C A L
ASSOCIATION

http://www.apa.org/
 RESEARCH

BASIC APPLIED

The quest for knowledge for Designed to solve specific,

knowledge practical problems
Laboratories/Natural Experiments Uses principles discovered
through basic research
 GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

To describe how people and other species behave

To understand the causes of these behaviors

To predict how people and animals will behave under certain

conditions

To influence behavior through the control of its causes

To apply psychological knowledge in ways that enhance human

welfare
NATURE NURTURE
ISSUE

BIOLOGY VS. EXPERIENCE

APPROACHES
TO
PSYCHOLOGY
 BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL
APPROACH

BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Analyze behavior in terms of

brain functioning, hormones, genetics, and evolution

PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Cognitive,

psychodynamic, and humanistic examination of human behavior

SOCIAL-CULTURAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Behavioral and Socio-

cultural examination of stimuli in physical and social environment shape
human behavior
 PERSPECTIVES

Psychodynamic

Behavioral

Humanistic

Cognitive (Gestalt Psychology)

Socio-Cultural

Biological

Evolutionary
 BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The study of physical bases of human and animal behavior including the
nervous system, endocrine system, immune system, and genetics.

Relevant to the study of Psychology in 3 ways:

Comparative method:
Physiology
Inheritance
Biological Psychologists believe factors such as chromosomes, hormones and
the brain have a significant influence on human behavior.
 BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Advancements in technology, such as the PET scan and MRIs, have allowed
researchers to investigate the structure and activity of the brain.
Neuroscientists-scientists who specialize in the study of the brain
and nervous system.
A criticism of Biological Psychology: has a strong tendency to reductionism.
Reductionism: theories sometimes oversimplify systems that are
actually very complex.
 NEUROBIOLOGICAL

Biological processes influence behaviors

Genetic factors influence behaviors

Brain chemistry, nervous system, and hormones

Localization of Function Phineas Gage

 EVOLUTIONARY
PERSPECTIVE
Applying the principles of evolution to explain psychological
processes and phenomena
Charles Darwin
Wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, his
first book on evolution, in 1859.
The Theory of Evolution -proposes the idea that individuals
fight for survival
Species change over time and space.
All organisms share common ancestors with other organisms.
Evolutionary change is gradual and slow
 EVOLUTIONARY
PERSPECTIVE
Charles Darwin (cont.)
In The Voyage of the Beagle Darwin formed his theory of natural
selection by observing animals while traveling the world.
Natural selection -The process whereby organisms better adapted
to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring
(four main components)
1. Variation
2. Inheritance
3. High rate of population growth
4. Differential survival and reproduction
TREE OF LIFE

Evolutionary Psychologists
believe that all of the similarities
and dissimilarities among groups
of organisms are the result of the
branching process creating the
great tree of life.
 P S YC H O DY N A M I C P E R S P E C T I V E
Emphasizes the importance of unconscious influences, early life experiences,
and interpersonal relationships to explain behavior or in treating people
with psychological problems
Sigmund Freud
Psychosexual development: psychological development in childhood
takes place in 6 psychosexual stages, and each stage represents the fixation of
libido (sexual drives or instincts)
Unconscious mind: contains our eros and thanatos
Psyche: the id, the ego and the super-ego
Defense mechanisms: operate at an unconscious level to get rid of
unpleasant feelings or make good things feel better for the individual.
 PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

Erik Erikson
Psychosocial Development: describes the impact of social
experience across the whole lifespan
Carl Jung
Collective Unconscious: The part of the unconscious mind
that is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is
common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual's
unconscious
CARL JUNG
 P S YC H O DY N A M I C P E R S P E C T I V E

Psychologists using this approach believe..

All behavior has a cause which is usually unconscious
Example: slips of the tongue
Personality is made up of three parts: the id, ego, and super-ego.
Behavior is motivated by two instinctual drives which come from
the id:
Eros- the sex drive and life instinct
Thanatos-the aggressive drive and death instinct
The unconscious mind (the id and superego) are always in conflict
with the conscious part of the mind (the ego)
 P S YC H O DY N A M I C P E R S P E C T I V E
Methodology of a Psychodynamic Psychologist:
Case Study: in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or
community.
Freuds Little Hans
Dream Analysis: dream interpretation
Free Association: mental process by which one word or image may
spontaneously suggest another without any apparent connection
Projective Tests: TAT, Rorschach
Slips of the Tongue (Freudian slip): an error in speech, memory, or
physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of
some unconscious wish, conflict, or train of thought
Hypnosis: An artificially induced altered state of consciousness
 BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE
View people and animals as controlled by their environment , and that they
are a result of what they have learned from the environment.

Concerned with how stimuli affects response

Stimuli-environmental factors
Response-observable behaviors
Uses two main processes
1. Classical conditioning-learning by association
Ivan Pavlovs experiment where dogs learned to associate food with the ring of a
bell, eventually leading to the dogs producing saliva just at the sound of the
bell.
IVAN PAVLOV
 LITTLE ALBERT

Watson and Little Albert

Brave New World

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
ACTIVITY
 BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY
2. Operantconditioning- learning from the consequences of behavior.
Studied by B.F. Skinner.
Reinforcement- a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with
greater frequency. (can be positive of negative)
Positive reinforcement: learning to do something in order to receive a
reward
Negative reinforcement: a specific action stopping a negative consequence
B.F. Skinner was first to conduct research in this area
Punishment-a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less
frequency. (can be positive or negative)
Extinction-the lack of any consequence following a behavior.
Operant Conditioning Activity
 COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
Focuses on the mental processes in how people process and
remember information, develop language, solve problems, and think.

Deals with mental functions such as memory, perception, attention,

intelligence, etc.

Memory is compromised of 3 stages

1. Encoding-information is received and attended to
2. Storage-where the information is retained
3. Retrieval-information is recalled
STROOP
EFFECT
Messing with your mind since 1935
Red Green Blue Yellow

Orange Purple Yellow Green

Blue Orange Red Yellow

Purple Green Blue Orange

Red Green Blue Yellow

Orange Purple Yellow Green

Blue Orange Red Yellow

Purple Green Blue Orange

Orange Purple Yellow Green

Red Green Blue Yellow

Orange Purple Yellow Green

Blue Orange Red Yellow

Purple Green Blue Orange

Red Green Blue Yellow

Orange Purple Yellow Green

Blue Orange Red Yellow

 QUESTIONS?

Do we read words faster than we name colors?

Do you think children who havent learned to read yet would

have an easier time with this test? What about older people? What
about ESL or non-native English speakers?
 CONCLUSIONS?

Reading is automatic a skill we learn and becomes more and

more ingrained in us as we get older.

Color naming is a control process, something we must use

directed attention to accomplish.

Other conclusions?
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
Focuses on the motivation of people to grow psychologically, the influence of
interpersonal relationships on a persons self-concept, and the importance of
choice and self-direction in striving to reach self-actualization
Humanistic theories
Carl Rogers
Self actualization: our desire to achieve our highest potential as people
each person operates from a unique frame of reference in terms of building their
self concept (ones own beliefs about themselves)
psychologically healthy people enjoy life to the fullest, hence, they are seen as fully
functioning people
Fully functioning person= an individual who is continually moving toward self-
actualization. This type of person is open to life's experiences, has trust in himself, and
is able to express his feelings and act independently.
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
Abraham Maslow
individuals
have certain
needs that
must be met
in an
hierarchical
fashion from
the lowest to
highest.
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
The humanistic Perspective says that the self is composed of
concepts unique to ourselves. The self-concept includes three
components:
-Self worth (or self-esteem)
-Self-image
-Ideal self
 SOCIAL-CULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
Focuses on how cultural factors influence patterns of behavior
Culture=characteristics of a group of people, including attitudes, behaviors,
customs and values
Major Topics in Cross-Cultural Psychology
Emotions
Language acquisition
Child development
Personality
Social behavior
Family and social relationship
Social-cultural psychologists usually take one of two approaches
etic approach-emphasizes similarities of cultures
emic approach-emphasizes differences between cultures
 IS VIOLENCE HISTORY?

After reading the book review (Singer, 2011) of

The Better Angels of our Nature (Pinker, 2011),
discuss an eclectic model to evaluate Pinkers
thesis that our era is less violent, less cruel,
and more peaceful than any previous period of
human existence.