Introduction to Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology
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Life Before Psychology

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

Problem - No scientific way of studying problems
René Descartes (1596-1650)
Physiology asks similar questions about the mind
Predict what will happen Systematically observe
events Do events support predictions
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
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Psychology Is Born
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.
Wundts students start labs across USA (1880-1900)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
University of Leipzig Harvard University Yale
University Columbia University Catholic
University Univ of Pennsylvania Cornell
University Stanford University
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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.
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Psychology (pre-1920)
William James (1842-1910) Philosopher
Psychologist Formed Y at Harvard
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Behaviorism
Scientific Psychology should focus on observable
behavior.
Mental Processes cannot be studied directly
John Watson (1878-1958)
Stimulus Response Psychology
Ivan Pavlov
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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
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Structuralism vs Functionalism
Structuralism
Analyze consciousness into basic elements and
study how they are related
Introspection - self-observation of ones own
conscious experiences
Wilhelm Wundt
Functionalism
Investigate the function, or purpose of
consciousness rather than its structure
Leaned toward applied work (natural surroundings)
William James (1842-1910)
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Gestalt Psychology
The whole is different than the sum of its
parts.
Phi Phenomenon Illusion of movement created
by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession.
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)
A reaction against Structuralism An attempt to
focus attention back onto conscious
experience (i.e., the mind)
WHY?
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Freud Psychoanalysis
Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS
Thoughts, memories desires exist below
conscious awareness and exert an influence on
our behavior
Unconscious expressed in dreams slips of the
tongue
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Psychoanalytic Theory attempts to
explain personality, mental disorders
motivation in terms of unconscious determinants
of behavior
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Cognitive Psychology
Cognition the mental processes involved in
acquiring, processing, storing using information
Cognitive Psychologists return to the study of
learning, memory, perception, language, developmen
t problem solving
Noam Chomsky Language
Advent of computers (late 1950s) provides a new
model for thinking about the mind
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Psychology (1960s-1990s)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) The Dynamic Unconscious
Mind Psychoanalysis
Computers as Metaphor for Mind Study Mind through
Inferences Drawn From Observable Behavior
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Different Perspectives in Psychology
Biological Psychology
Behavioral/Clinical Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Social-Cultural Psychology
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Biological Perspective
Focus How 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?
• How is blood chemistry linked with moods and
  motives?

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Behavioral/Clinical Perspective
Focus How we learn from observable responses. How
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

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Cognitive Perspective
Focus How 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?
• (Is what you see really what you get?)
• How much do infants know when they are born?

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Social-Cultural Perspective
Focus How 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?

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The War of the Ghosts
One night two young men from Egulac went down
to the river to hunt seals, and while they were
there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard
war cries, and they thought Maybe this is a war
party. They escaped to the shore, and hid
behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard
the noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up
to them. There were five men in the canoe, and
they said What do you think? We wish to
take you along. We are going up the river to
make war on the people. One of the young men
said, I have no arrows. Arrows are in the
canoe, they said. I will not go along. I
might be killed. My relatives do not know where
I have gone. But you, he said turning to the
other, may go with them. So one of the young
men went but the other returned home. And the
warriors went on up the river to a town on the
other side of Kalama. The people came down to
the water, and they began to fight, and many were
killed. But presently the young man heard one of
the warriors say, Quick, let us go home, that
indian has been hit. Now he thought, Oh, they
are ghosts. He did not feel sick, but they said
he had been shot. So the canoes went back to
Egulac, and the young man went ashore to his
house and made a fire. And he told everybody and
said, Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we
went to fight. Many of our fellows were killed,
and many of those who attacked us were killed.
They said I was hit and I did not feel sick.
He told it all, and then became quiet. When the
sun rose he fell down. Something black came out
of his mouth. His face became contorted. The
people jumped up and cried. He was dead.
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Psychology is Empirical
Knowledge acquired through observation
Psych conclusions based on research NOT tradition
or common sense
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Psych Is Theoretically Diverse
A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a
set of observations
Theory
Biological Psychology Perspective
Clinical Psychoanalytic Perspective
Dreams
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Psych Sociohistorical Context
Trends Issues In Society
Advances In Psychology
Psychology develops in both a social historical
context
Early Psychology Affected by physics physiology
Society Today Affected by psychological
testing (IQ, SAT, GRE)
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What Causes Behavior?
Behavior
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Behavior is Shaped by Culture
Personal Space
Value of Education
Punctuality
Social Norms
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Influence of Heredity Environment
Nature versus Nurture
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Perception Is Subjective
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Work In Psychology (?)
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Specialties In Psychology
General/Quantitative 3.6
Cognitive/Physio 5.2
Clinical, Community Counseling 51.1
I/O 5.7
Social/ Developmental 6.4
Other 8.6
Ed School 19.4