Chapter 1 The Evolution of Psychology

1
Chapter 1 The Evolution of Psychology
2
Psychology Birth of a New Science

• Prior to 1879
• Physiology Philosophy Psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) University of Leipzig,
  Germany
• Established the first laboratory for the study of
  psychology in 1879
• Psychology was born

Launch Video
3
Psychology Goes International

• Leipzig, the place to study psychology
• Graduates of Wundts program set up new labs
  across Europe and North America
• G.Stanley Hall (1846-1924) Johns Hopkins
  University
• Established the first psychology laboratory in
  the U.S. in 1883
• Between 1883 and 1893, 24 new laboratories in
  North America

4
The Battle of the Schools in the U.S.
Titchener vs. James

• Two intellectual schools of thought regarding the
  science of psychology
• Structrualism led by Edward Titchener
• Functionalism led by William James
• Structuralists focused on analyzing consciousness
  into basic elements
• Introspection careful, systematic observations
  of ones own conscious experience
• Functionalists focused on investigating the
  function or purpose of consciousness

5
Who Won the Battle?

• Most historians give the edge to James and the
  functionalists
• Today, psychologists are not really categorized
  as structuralists or functionalists
• Applied psychology and Behaviorism - descendants
  of functionalism
• Behaviorism - early 1900s
• The next major school of thought to influence the
  development of psychology

6
Behaviorism Goodbye to Consciousness

• John B. Watson (1878-1958) United States of
  America
• Founder of Behaviorism
• Psychology scientific study of behavior
• Behavior overt or observable responses or
  activities
• Radical reorientation of psychology as a science
  of observable behavior

7
Doctor, Lawyer, Beggar-man, Thief Watson and the
Nature-Nurture Debate

• Watsons famous quote
• Nurture, not nature
• Behaviorist school of thought emphasized the
  environment (nurture)
• Focus on stimulus-response relationships
• S-R psychology

8
Freud the Unconscious Mind

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Austria
• Founded Psychoanalytic school of thought
• Emphasis on unconscious processes influencing
  behavior
• Unconscious outside awareness

9
Freuds Ideas Controversy and Influence

• Behavior is influenced by the unconscious
• Unconscious conflict related to sexuality plays a
  central role in behavior
• Controversial notions caused debate/resistance
• Significant influence on the field of psychology

10
Behaviorism Revisited B.F. Skinner

• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) United States of
  America
• Environmental factors determine behavior
• Responses that lead to positive outcomes are
  repeated
• Responses that lead to negative outcomes are not
  repeated
• Beyond Freedom and Dignity
• More controversy regarding free will

11
The 1950s Opposition to Psychoanalytic Theory
and Behaviorism Develops

• Charges that both were dehumanizing
• Diverse opposition groups got together to form a
  loose alliance
• Humanism was born
• Led by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers
  (1902-1987)
• Emphasis on the unique qualities of humans
  freedom and personal growth

12
Putting the Psyche Back in Psychology The Return
of Cognition

• Cognition mental processes involved in
  acquiring knowledge
• 1950s and 60s Piaget, Chomsky, and Simon
• Application of scientific methods to studying
  internal mental events
• Cognitive psychology the new dominant
  perspective?

13
Figure 1.3 The relative prominence of three major
schools of thought in psychology. To estimate the
relative influence of various theoretical
orientations in recent decades, Robins, Gosling,
and Craik (1999) analyzed the subject matter of
four prestigious flagship publications in
psychology, measuring the percentage of articles
relevant to each school of thought. Obviously,
their approach is just one of many ways one might
guage the prominence of various theoretical
orientations. Nonetheless, the data are thought
provoking. They suggest that the cognitive
perspective surpassed the behavioral perspective
in influence sometime around 1970. As you can
see, the psychoanalytic perspective has always
had a modest impact on the mainstream of
psychology. (Adapted from Robins, Gosling, and
Craik, 1999)
14
Biological Psychology The Biological Basis of
Behavior

• James Olds (1956)
• Electrical stimulation of the brain evokes
  emotional responses in animals
• Roger Sperry (1981)
• Left and right brain specialization
• Biological Perspective behavior explained in
  terms of physiological processes

15
Evolutionary Psychology Functionalism Revisited

• Central premise natural selection occurs for
  behavioral, as well as physical, characteristics
• Buss, Daly Wilson, Cosmides Tooby 80s and
  90s
• Studied natural selection of mating preferences,
  jealousy, aggression, sexual behavior, language,
  decision making, personality, and development
• Thought provoking perspective gaining in
  influence, but not without criticism

16
Contemporary Psychology Cultural Diversity

• Ethnocentrism viewing ones own group as
  superior and as the standard for judging
• Historically middle and upper class white males
  studying middle and upper class white males
• 1980s increased interest in how cultural
  factors influence behavior
• growing global interdependence
• increased cultural diversity

17
Psychology Today A Multifaceted Field

• Psychology - the science that studies behavior
  and the physiological and cognitive processes
  that underlie it, and it is the profession that
  applies the accumulated knowledge of this science
  to practical problems.
• Research Seven major areas
• Applied Psychology Four major areas

18
(No Transcript)
19
Studying Psychology Seven Organizing Themes

• Themes related to psychology as a field of study
• Psychology is empirical (Theme 1), theoretically
  diverse (Theme 2), and it evolves in a
  sociohistorical context (Theme 3).
• Themes related to psychologys subject matter
• Behavior is determined by multiple causes (Theme
  4), shaped by cultural heritage (Theme 5), and
  influenced jointly by heredity and environment
  (Theme 6).
• Finally, peoples experience of the world is
  highly subjective (Theme 7).

20
Figure 1.6 Leading college majors. This list
shows the ten most popular undergraduate majors
in the United States, based on the number of
bachelors degrees awarded in 19921993. As you
can see, psychology ranked second only to
business administration and management in the
number of degrees awarded. (Data from U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics, 1995)
21
Figure 1.7 Employment of psychologists by
setting. The work settings in which psychologists
are employed have become quite diverse. Survey
data on the primary employment setting of APA
members indicate that one-third are in private
practice (compared to 12 in 1976) and only 27
work in colleges and universities (compared to
47 in 1976). These data may slightly
underestimate the percentage of psychologists in
academia, given the new competition between APA
and APS to represent research psychologists.
(Data based on 1997 APA)
22
Figure 1.8 Major research areas in contemporary
psychology. Most research psychologists
specialize in one of the seven broad areas
described here. The figures in the pie chart
reflect the percentage of academic and research
psychologists belonging to APA who identify each
area as their primary interest. (Data based on
1997 APA Directory Survey)
23
Figure 1.9 Principal professional specialties in
contemporary psychology. Most psychologists who
deliver professional services to the public
specialize in one of the four areas described
here. The figures in the pie chart reflect the
percentage APA members delivering professional
services who identify each area as their chief
specialty. (Data based on 1997 APA Directory
Survey)
24
Figure 1.16 An example of a spatial task
involving mental rotation. Studies indicate that
males perform slightly better than females on
most, but not all, spatial tasks. The tasks on
which males are superior often involve mentally
rotating objects, such as in the problem shown
here. In this problem, the person has to figure
out which object on the right (A through E) could
be a rotation of the object at the left.
25
(No Transcript)