Unit 1: Psychology's History and Approaches

René Descartes

Agreed with Socrates and Plato about the existence of innate ideas and mind's being "entirely distinct from the body" and able to survive its death. Descartes dissected animals and concluded that the fluid in the brain's cavities contained "animal spirits." These spirits, he surmised, flowed from the brain through what we call the nerves (which he thought were hollow) to the muscles, provoking movement. Memories formed as experiences opened pores in the brain into which the animal spirits also flowed. Descartes was right that nerve paths are important and that they enable reflexes.

Forensic pyschologist

Apply psychological principles to legal issues. They conduct research on the interface of law and psychology, help to create public policies related to mental health, help law-enforcement agencies in criminal investigations, or consult on jury selection and deliberation processes. They also provide assessment to assist the legal community.

Experimental Psychology

Are a diverse group of scientists who investigate a variety of basic behavioral processes in humans and other animals. Prominent areas of experimental research include comparative methods of science, motivation, learning, thought, attention, memory, perception, and language.

social pyschology

Are interested in our interactions with others. Social psychologists study how our beliefs, feelings, and behaviors are affected by and influence other people. They study topics such as attitudes, aggression, prejudice, interpersonal attraction, group behavior, and leadership.

educational psychologist

Are interested in the psychological processes involved in learning. They study the relationship between learning and physical and social environments, and they develop strategies for enhancing the learning process.

John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner

Dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as "the scientific study of observable behavior." After all, they said, science is rooted in observation. You cannot observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought, but you can observe and record people's behavior as they respond to different situations. They further suggested that our behavior is influenced by learned associations, through a process called conditioning. Many agreed, and the behaviorists were one of two major forces in psychology well into the 1960s.

Why is it important to approach psychology with different perspectives?

Each level provides a valuable vantage point for looking at a behavior or mental process, yet each by itself is incomplete.

Freudian psychology

Emphasized the ways our unconscious thought processes and our emotional responses to childhood experiences affect our behavior.

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882). Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species explained this diversity by proposing the evolutionary process of natural selection: From among chance variations, nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

Mary Whiton Calkins

First female president of the APA (1905); a student of William James; denied the PhD she earned from Harvard because of her sex (later, posthumously, it was granted to her)

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Found both Freudian psychology and behaviorism too limiting in the 60s. Rather than focusing on the meaning of early childhood memories or the learning of conditioned responses, the humanistic psychologists drew attention to ways that current environmental influences can nurture or limit our growth potential, and to the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

He wrote that "the human understanding, from its peculiar nature, easily supposes a greater degree of order and equality in things than it really finds." Called the father of empiricism, credited with developing the scientific method

counseling psychologist

Help people adjust to life transitions or make lifestyle changes. Although similar to clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists typically help people with adjustment problems rather than severe psychopathology. Like clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists conduct therapy and provide assessments to individuals and groups. As a counseling psychologist, you would emphasize your clients' strengths, helping them to use their own skills, interests, and abilities to cope during transitions.

Birth of Modern Psychology

In 1879, in a small, third-floor room at Germany's University of Leipzig. There, two young men were helping a professor, Wilhelm Wundt, create an experimental apparatus. Their machine measured the time lag between people's hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Wundt was seeking to measure "atoms of the mind"—the fastest and simplest mental processes. So began the first psychological laboratory, staffed by Wundt and by psychology's first graduate students. (In 1883, Wundt's American student G. Stanley Hall went on to establish the first formal U.S. psychology laboratory, at Johns Hopkins University.)

Psychology's foundation through human history

In India, Buddha pondered how sensations and perceptions combine to form ideas. In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and of an educated mind. In ancient Israel, Hebrew scholars anticipated today's psychology by linking mind and emotion to the body; people were said to think with their heart and feel with their bowels.

SPA (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)

In ancient Greece, the philosopher-teacher Socrates and his student Plato concluded that mind is separable from body and continues after the body dies and that knowledge is innate—born within us. Unlike Socrates and Plato, who derived principles by logic, Plato's student Aristotle had a love of data. An intellectual ancestor of today's scientists, Aristotle derived principles from careful observations. Moreover, he said knowledge is not preexisting (sorry, Socrates and Plato); instead, it grows from the experiences stored in our memories.

Neuropyschologists

Investigate the relationship between neurological processes (struc- ture and function of the nervous system) and behavior

John Locke (1632-1704)

Locke completed one of history's greatest late papers (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding), in which he argued that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa—a "blank slate"—on which experience writes. This idea, adding to Bacon's ideas, helped form modern empiricism, the idea that what we know comes from experience, and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge.

Edward Bradford Titchener

Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology- His method was to engage people in self-reflective introspection (looking inward), training them to report elements of their experience as they looked at a rose, listened to a metronome, smelled a scent, or tasted a substance.

Psychometric and Quantitative Psychologists

Study the methods and techniques used to acquire psychological knowledge. A psychometrician may update existing neuro-cognitive or personality tests or devise new tests for use in clinical and school settings or in business and industry. These psychologists also administer scores and interpret such tests. Quantitative psychologists collaborate with researchers to design, analyze, and interpret the results of research programs.

Industrial-organized (I/O) pyschologists

Study the relationship between people and their working environments. They may develop new ways to increase productivity, improve personnel selection, or promote job satisfaction in an organizational setting. Their interests include organizational structure and change, consumer behavior, and personnel selection and training.

cognitive revolution

The rebellion of a second group of psychologists during the 1960s is now known as the cognitive revolution, and it led the field back to its early interest in mental processes, such as the importance of how our mind processes and retains information. Scientifically explores the ways we perceive, process, and remember information. Cognitive neuroscience has enriched our understanding of the brain activity underlying mental activity.

health psychology

They are researchers and practitioners concerned with psychology's contribution to promoting health and preventing disease. As applied psychologists or clinicians, they may help individuals lead healthier lives by designing, conducting, and evaluating programs to stop smoking, lose weight, improve sleep, manage pain, prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections, or treat psychosocial problems associated with chronic and terminal illnesses.

William James

Under the influence of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, James assumed that thinking, like smelling, developed because it was adaptive—it contributed to our ancestors' survival. Consciousness serves a function. It enables us to consider our past, adjust to our present, and plan our future. As a functionalist, James encouraged explorations of down-to-earth emotions, memories, willpower, habits, and moment-to-moment streams of consciousness.

Margaret Floy Washburn

Wrote an influential book, The Animal Mind, and became the second female APA president in 1921. Although Washburn's thesis was the first foreign study Wundt published in his journal, her gender meant she was barred from joining the organization of experimental psychologists (who explore behavior and thinking with experiments)- the first woman to be granted a Ph.D. in psychology

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. (p. 15)

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. (p. 14)

community psychology

a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups. (p. 15)

psychodynamic psychology

a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders. (p. 12)

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. (p. 14)

clinical psychology

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. (p. 14)

humanistic psychology

a historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people. (p. 6)

SQ3R

a study method incorporating five steps: Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review. (p. 16)

human factors psychology

an I/O psychology subfield that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use. (p. 14)

biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis. (p. 11)

behavior

anything an organism does—any action we can observe and record

School Psychologist

are involved in the assessment of and intervention for children in educational settings. They diagnose and treat cognitive, social, and emotional problems that may negatively influence children's learning or overall functioning at school

Rehabilitation Psychologists

are researchers and practitioners who work with people who have lost optimal functioning after an accident, illness, or other event

Pyschology's approaches

behavioral, biological, cognitive, evolutionary, humanistic, social-cultural, psychodynamic

functionalism

early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function--how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish. (p. 4)

structuralism

early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind. (p. 4)

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning. (p. 16)

community psychologist

move beyond focusing on specific individuals or families and deal with broad problems of mental health in community settings. These psychologists believe that human behavior is powerfully influenced by the interaction between people and their physical, social, political, and economic environments. They seek to promote psychological health by enhancing environmental settings, focusing on preventive measures and crisis intervention, with special attention to the problems of underserved groups and ethnic minorities.

Clinical Pyschologist

promote psychological health in individuals, groups, and organizations. Some clinical psychologists specialize in specific psychological disorders. Others treat a range of disorders, from adjustment difficulties to severe psychopathology. Clinical psychologists might engage in research, teaching, assessment, and consultation

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base. (p. 14)

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. (p. 14)

Three schools of pyschology

structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism

Sport Psychologist

study the psychological factors that influence, and are influenced by, participation in sports and other physical activities. Their professional activities include coach education and athlete preparation, as well as research and teaching

industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces. (p. 14)

levels of analysis

the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon. (p. 11)

cognitive neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language). (p. 7)

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. (p. 9)

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. (p. 10)

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes. (p. 7)

Cognitive Pyschology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

cognitive psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (p. 12)

social psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. (p. 14)

positive psychology

the scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive. (p. 15)

behavioral psychology

the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning. (p. 12)

biological psychology

the scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes. (Some biological psychologists call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.) (p. 12)

psychometrics

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits. (p. 13)

personality psychology

the study of an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. (p. 14)

experimental psychology

the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method. (p. 5)

educational psychology

the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning. (p. 14)

social-cultural psychology

the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking. (p. 12)

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and mind, using principles of natural selection. (p. 12)

Mental processes

the thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly

empiricism

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation. (p. 3)

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). (p. 6)