introduction to psychology

Introduction to Psychology

Trephining – early form of “therapy”

Salem witch trials - 1692

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html

•Predict what will happen•Systematically observe events

•Do events support predictions?

Life Before Psychology

René Descartes(1596-1650)

Philosophy asks questions about the mind: Does perception accurately reflect reality? How is sensation turned into perception?

Problem - No “scientific” wayof studying problems

Physiology asks similar questions about the mind – but with a biological perspective (ie chemicals, etc)

SCIENTIFICMETHOD

Descartes believed that there was a link between the mind and body

Psychology Is Born

Wilhelm Wundt(1832-1920)

First Experimental Psych Lab First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)(1879)• Focuses on the scientific study of the mind.•Wundt insists that Psych methods be as rigorous as the methods of other sciences.• Wundt began to study humans in a lab.

University of LeipzigHarvard UniversityYale UniversityColumbia UniversityCatholic UniversityUniv of PennsylvaniaCornell UniversityStanford University

Wundt’s students start labsacross USA (1880-1900)

Women of PsychologyMary CalkinsMary Calkins - student of William James at

Harvard but was not awarded a Ph.D.Founded psych lab at Wellesley College (1891)

Maragaret WashburnMaragaret Washburn - first woman to receivePh.D. in Psychology. Wrote The Animal Mind,

which helped begin the Behaviorist movement.

Leta HollingworthLeta Hollingworth - Debunked popular theoriesthat 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 PsychologistFounder of Psychology as a Science

Experiments

Edward Titchner (1867-1927)Student of Wundt

Formed at CornellIntrospection

William James (1842-1910)Philosopher & Psychologist

Formed at Harvard

PsychologyUnderstanding

Mental Processes

Structuralism vs Functionalism

William James(1842-1910)

Analyze consciousness into basic elementsand study how they are related

Introspection - self-observationof one’s own conscious experiences

Investigate the function, or purposeof consciousness rather than its structure

Leaned toward applied work(natural surroundings)

StructuralismStructuralism

FunctionalismFunctionalism

Wilhelm Wundt

BehaviorismScientific Psychology should focus on

observable behavior.

John Watson(1878-1958)

Ivan Pavlov

Psych the Science of Behavior

Stimulus-Stimulus-ResponseResponse

PsychologyPsychology

Mental Processes cannotbe studied directly

Psychology (1920s-1960s)

John B. Watson (1878-1958)Watson believed that a person’s behaviour

was a product of his/her experiences as opposed to their internal mental state

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.” John B. Watson - 1930

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.” John B. Watson - 1930

PsychologyScience of Observable

BehaviorBehaviorism

Unconscious expressed indreams & “slips of the tongue”

Freud & Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)

Proposes the idea of the Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUSUNCONSCIOUS

Thoughts, memories & desiresexist below conscious awareness

and exert an influence on ourbehavior

Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to explainpersonality, mental disorders & motivation in

terms of unconscious determinants of behavior

Freud believed that our minds were divided into conscious, subconscious and unconscious behaviours. He believed these behaviours looked like an iceberg – with only a small part of our conscious self exposed to the world – and a large component of our minds buried or hidden beneath – filled with conflicts and desires which would bubble up to the surface and cause us anxiety and guilt.

Psychoanalysis – is a treatment method that involves bringing unconscious conflicts and unresolved issues to the surface to be dealt with and “put to rest”.

Freud’s techniquesFree association – is a technique used to bring unconscious thoughts, emotions, feelings, etc to the surface - The traditional method is to have the patient lie on a couch and respond to random words without using the conscious mind to “think”- The idea is that the unconscious thoughts rise above the conscious mind

Freud’s couch

The following exercise is a FREE ASSOCIATION test that you are going

to take…

When you see the word on the screen – simply write down the FIRST word that comes into your head – try NOT to think about it!!

There are 20 words in total… READY?

white

death

house

holiday

child

water

dog

boat

blue

shoes

sea

stars

head

sad

black

eat

flower

moon

love

mother

What to look for in your free association test ….

-Freud would have looked for numerous words relating to sexual images, violence, dark images, seemingly unrelated images (eg: holiday = machete)- most of the time our minds associate words together, and link common themes- unless there is something dark and unresolved brewing in the unconscious, the words should be fairly benign – usually opposites or related words.- Try this next activity: you will be given a word to start with – write down words one after another as they come to you (don’t “think” about them!) - you will have one minute – here is the word…..

school

Behaviouristic Psychology

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) - was a Russian physiologist who was trying to study the effects of salivation on digestion in dogs. He inadvertently discovered something else – that the dogs would salivate even without food present – just the sight of the experimenter would cause the dog to salivate! Pavlov began to study this phenomenon and called it “classical conditioning”.

Behaviourist PsychologyB.F. Skinner (1904-1990) – Skinner believed that reinforcements were needed in order for the subject to stay motivated to complete the task. He coined the term “operant conditioning” which is based on the theory of positive and negative reinforcements to shape behaviours.

Cognitive Psychology

Noam Chomsky“Language”

Advent of computers (late 1950s) providesAdvent of computers (late 1950s) providesa new model for thinking about the minda new model for thinking about the mind

Cognitive Psychologists returnto the study of learning,

memory, perception, language,development & problem solving

Cognition the mental processesinvolved in acquiring, processing,

storing & using information

Humanistic Psychology

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) – was the founder of humanistic psychology• according to Rogers, we value positive self-regard, that is, self-esteem or self-regard. Without this self-regard, we feel small and helpless, and we can fail to become all that we can be!

Different Perspectives in Psychology

Humanistic Psychology

Behavioral Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Social-Cultural Psychology

Biological Psychology

Biological Perspective

FocusHow the body and brain create emotions, memories,and sensory experiences.

FocusHow the body and brain create emotions, memories,and sensory experiences.

Sample Issues• How do evolution and heredity influence behavior?• How are messages transmitted within the body? (hormones)• How is brain and blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Behavioral Perspective

FocusWe are a product of our experiences and our environmentHow to best study, assess and treat troubled people.

FocusWe are a product of our experiences and our environmentHow to best study, assess and treat troubled people.

Sample Issues• 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

Humanistic Perspective

Focus• People are inherently good and strive to be the bestthat we can be. You are in control of your own destiny.

Focus• People are inherently good and strive to be the bestthat we can be. You are in control of your own destiny.

Sample Issues• people with mild depression can relook at their past and future path• encouraged to take control of one’s own life and set a new course for recovery• you are in control of your own destiny and future

Cognitive Perspective

FocusHow we process, store and retrieve information.

FocusHow we process, store and retrieve information.

Sample Issues• How do we use info in remembering and reasoning?• How do our senses govern the nature of perception?• How can we analyze our thought and behavioural processes?

Social-Cultural Perspective

FocusHow behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.

FocusHow behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.

Sample Issues• 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 skepticaland think critically

What is the evidence?How was it collected?

Psychology is Empirical

Psychology conclusions are based on Psychology conclusions are based on research NOT tradition or common senseresearch NOT tradition or common sense

Knowledge acquired through observation

Influence of Heredity & Environment

NATURENATURE versus NURTURE

Identical twins = identical DNA

These identical twins lived in different environments – evidence for environmental influence?

Perception Is SubjectiveInternal Information

Current mental stateMemories from previous

experiences

External InformationActions/behaviours

from others

Both DetermineBoth DetermineOur ExperienceOur Experience

of the Worldof the World

Work In Psychology (?)

Universities &Colleges27.2%

Elementary/Secondary

Schools4.2%

Hospitals,Counseling,Clinics, etc.

22.3%

Business,Government or

Consulting12.1%

IndependentPractice33.1%

Specialties In Psychology

Clinical,Community

& Counseling51.1%

Research/university3.6%

Cognitive5.2%

Industrial5.7%

Social/Developmental

6.4%Other8.6% School

19.4%