Chapter 1- Psychology

Rene Descartes (1595-1650)

-Agreed with Socrates and Plato about the existence of innate ideas and mind being distinct from the body and able to survive its death -dissected animals & concluded that the fluid in brain's cavities contained "animal spirits" -these spirits flowed from the brain through the nerves to the muscles, provoking movement -memories formed as experiences opened pores in the brain into which the animal spirits flowed

Socrates and Plato

-Concluded that mind is separable from body & continues after the body dies -Knowledge is innate (born within us) -Derived principles by logic

Aristotle

-Derived principles from careful observations -Knowledge is not preexisting and instead grows from the experiences stores in our memories

Cognitive Revolution

-In 1960s, it began to recapture interest in mental processes -supported ideas developed by earlier psychologists, such as the importance of how our mind processes and retains info -cognitive psych & neuroscience has expanded upon those ideas and has helped in developing new ways to understand and treat disorders such as depression

Psychology's Roots

-India: Buddha pondered how sensations & perceptions combine to form ideas -China: Confucius stressed the power of ideas & of an educated mind -Ancient Israel: Linked mind and emotion to the body

From 1920s-1960s, psychology was redefined as the scientific study of observable behavior

-John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner dismissed introspection -they said science is rooted in observation -you can't observe sensations + feelings but you can observe & record people's behavior as they respond to different situations

Psychology was defined as the "science of mental life" until 1920s

-Wundt and Titchener focus on inner sensations, images, feelings -James engaged in introspective examination of the stream of consciousness and of emotion -Freud emphasized ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior

Edward Bradford Titchener

-Wundt's student and introduced structuralism Aimed to discover the structural elements of mind -his method was to engage people in introspection (looking inward) and train them to report elements of their experience they looked at a rose, smelled a scent, etc -introspection required smart, verbal people & was somewhat unreliable bc results varied from person to person & experience to experience

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

-approach centered on experiment, experience, & common-sense judgement one of the founders of modern science -wrote that human mind recognizes patterns even in random events -people notice and remember events that confirm one's beliefs

William James

-considered the evolved functions of our thoughts & feelings -assumed that thinking, like smelling developed bc it was adaptive (contributed to our ancestor's survival) -was a functionalist that encouraged exploration of memories, willpower, emotions, and streams of consciousness -Taught at Harvard and tutored Mary Calkins -Wrote the Principles of Psychology

Sigmund Freud

-developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality -emphasized ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior

Applied research

-scientific study that aims to solve practical problems -psychologists conduct applied research

Mary Calkins

-tutored by William james -finished requirements for Harvard Ph.D but was denied degree -a distinguished memory researcher & first female president of American Psychological Association

Margaret Floy Washburn

-wrote the influential book, The Animal Mind -2nd female APA president in 1921 -her gender barred her from joining the organization of experimental psychologists

Wilhelm Wundt

Conducted psychology's first experiment -measured time lag between people hearing a ball hit a platform & their pressing of a telegraph key -seeking to measure the fasted & simplest mental processes Launched 1st psychological laboratory

Biological Psychologists

Explore links between brain and mind

Psychology's perspectives

Each of psych's perspectives are helpful, but each by itself fails to reveal the whole picture

Nature-Nurture Debates

Plato assumed that character & intelligence are largely inherited & that certain ideas are also inborn. While, Aristotle said that there is nothing in the mind that does not come in first from the external world through the senses Locke rejected the notion of inborn ideas & said mind is blank state on which experience writes. Descartes disagreed and believed that some ideas are innate

John Locke (1632-1704)

Wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding -Argued that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (blank slate on which experience writes) -This idea added to Bacon's ideas helped form modern empiricism

Charles Darwin

Wrote On the Origin of Species which explained the diversity of life by promoting the evolutionary process of natural selection (nature selects the traits that best enable an organism to survive & reproduce in a particular environment) Believed his theory explained animal behaviors + animal structures

psychiatry

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy psychiatrists also study, assess, and treat people w/ disorders, but they are also medical doctors that can prescribe drugs in addition to psychotherapy

counseling psychology

a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being

psychodynamic perspective

a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders Ex: View an outburst as an outlet for unconscious hostility

biological psychology

a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes Ex: Someone might study brain circuits that cause us to be red in the face

clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

Similarity between counseling and clinical psychologists

both administer and interpret tests, provide counseling & therapy, and sometimes conduct basic & applied research

cognitive psychologists

experimenting with how we perceive, think, and solve problems

humanistic psychology

historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth During 1960s and beyond + it rebelled against Freudian psych and behaviorism Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow found behaviorism's focus on learned behaviors too mechanic Humanistic psychologists emphasized importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential & the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied

Jean Piaget

most influential observer of children in 1800s

Basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base -includes biological, developmental, educational, personality, social psychologists

How can psychological principles help you as a student?

research has shown that learning & memory are enhanced by active study SQ3R study method (survey, question, rehearse, and review) applies the principles derived from this research

Humanist Perspective

stresses individual choice and free will. Believed we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs. Ex: how angry feelings affect a person's potential for growth & personal fulfillment

developmental psychologists

studies our changing abilities from womb to tomb

industrial-organizational psychology

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces help organizations/companies selects & train employees, boost morale and productivity, design products, and implement systems

Levels of analysis

the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon

cognitive neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)

Nature-Nurture Issue

the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture do human traits develop through experience or are we born w/ them Nurture works on what nature endows -our species is biologically endowed w/ an huge capacity to learn & adapt -every psychological event (though, emotion) is also a biological event -thus, depression can be both a brain & thought disorder

Natural Selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

cognitive perspective

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating Ex: How our interpretation of a situation affects our anger and how our anger affects our thinking

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes -Behavior: any action that we can observe and record (yelling, smiling, talking) -Mental processes: internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior (sensations, perceptions, dreams, feelings, thoughts)

social psychologists

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Behavioral Perspective

the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning -Ex: Determine which external stimuli triggers angry responses

Psychometrics

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits

personality psychology

the study of an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting (basically investigates our persistent traits)

Experimental Psychology

the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method

human factors psychologists

the study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments

Educational psychologists

the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning

social-cultural perspective

the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking -Ex: Explore how expressions of anger vary across cultural contexts

evolutionary psychology

the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection Ex: Analyze how anger facilitated the survival of our ancestors' genes

Empiricism

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

Behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).