History and Approaches to Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• Key terms include "psyche," "psycho," and "psychology."

Psyche

• The Greek word "psyche" means 'mind' and 'logos' translates to 'study.'
• Ancient Greeks believed the soul or "psyche" was responsible for behavior.
• Psyche was also the Greek goddess of the soul.

Psycho

• Means a mentally ill person

Historical Origins of Psychology

• Rooted in the great ancient philosophers of Greece
• Key figures are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
• Socrates was known for questioning people to expose inconsistencies in their opinions and actions through the Socratic Method.
• Plato, the second ancient Greek philosopher, was a friend and pupil of Socrates.
• Aristotle, the third greatest philosopher, studied under Plato at the Academy in Athens until age thirty-seven, learning physics, biology, and mathematics.
• Aristotle tutored Alexander-the Great.
• Western culture was Aristotelian until the end of the 17th century.

Hippocrates

• He was the Father of Medicine
• Lived around the same time as Socrates
• He freed medicine from magic, superstition, and the supernatural.
• Disease was a natural process with signs and symptoms caused by the body's reactions.
• He was interested in Physiology
• Hippocrates' observations of the brain's control over organs contributed to the biological perspective of psychology.

Nature-Nurture Debate

• Centers around whether human capabilities are inborn (nature) or acquired through experience (nurture).
• Nature view asserts knowledge is innate, present from birth, allowing understanding of reality.
• Nurture view suggests knowledge is acquired via experiences and interactions.
• Rene Descartes, a 17th-century philosopher, supported the nature view, stating that some ideas such as God and self are innate.
• Descartes theorized that the body can be studied like a machine.
• John Locke advocated the nurture view.
• Locke sees the human mind as a "tabula rasa" or blank state at birth, with knowledge gained through experience.
• Associationist psychology, emerged from this debate, denying innate knowledge, and saying the mind is filled with ideas from senses, associating them through similarity and contrast.
• Current psychology shifts the focus from whether nature or nurture shapes psychology to how they interact.

Schools of Thought

• Include Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, and Psychoanalysis

The Beginning of Scientific Psychology

• Began in the late 19th century.
• Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany, in 1879.

Structuralism

• Focuses on mental structures by breaking them down into their simplest forms to understand how they form complex processes and relate to physical events.
• Methods involve introspection and self-reporting sensations, views, feelings, and emotions.
• Wilhelm Wundt conceived the idea for an independent and experimental field of psychology through his physiology research.
• Wundt is considered the founder of structuralism.
• Structuralism uses introspection or "looking within" to observe and record one's perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.
• Wundt's goals for introspection were to analyze conscious processes into basic elements, discover how these elements are synthesized or organized, and determine the laws of connection governing that organization.
• Fechner presented his ideas of structuralism in his book ‘Elements of Psychophysics’ in 1860.
• Titchener's structuralism system deals with conscious experience dependent on the experiencing person.
• The purpose of psychology was to discover the facts or structure of the mind, not to cure society or sick minds.
• Introspection involved trained observers describing their conscious state.
• The method of introspection was criticized due to a lack of agreement and differing opinions on self-analysis.
• William James opposed structuralism

Functionalism

• Functionalism stresses empirical, or sensory experience and knowledge, and rational thought over experimental, trial-and-error philosophy.
• Focuses on how the mind works to enable an individual to adapt to and function in their environment.
• Functionalism studies how and what mental states do, rather than what they are made up of.
• Functionalists believe observing actual behavior is essential to understanding how a person adapts.
• Influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, stating that well fitted beings survive and reproduce, while those that do not adapt will die.
• Both Functionalism and Structuralism played a role in the development of 20th-century psychology.
• These schools of thought were later replaced by Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, and Psychoanalysis.
• Structuralism focuses on basic parts of person's thoughts and feelings, senses & perception.
• Functionalism focuses on how consciousness helps to function or adapt to environment.

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism aims to shape behavior by reinforcing habits via learned interaction within environments.
• John B. Watson was the founder of behaviorism.
• It is believed behavior is public, while consciousness is private.
• The approach relies on stimulus-response (S-R) psychology.
• Two types of behaviorism exist: operant and classical conditioning.
• B.F. Skinner, an American, advanced the concept of operant conditioning.
• Operant conditioning is behavior modification or shaping through reinforcement (increase) and punishment (decrease).
• Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, introduced classical or respondent conditioning.
• Learning through association and linking stimuli for a new learned response.

Classical Conditioning

• Two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal

Gestalt Psychology

• In German, “gestalt” means ‘form’ or ‘configuration.’
• Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler were the founders.
• Gestalt Psychology views the human mind and behavior as a whole.
• Gestalt psychologists are interested in the totality of the mind and behavior.
• Gestalt psychologists believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Psychoanalysis

• Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis in the 20th century.
• A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy.
• Emphasizing the study of unconscious thoughts, attitudes, impulses, wishes, motivations, and emotions that exist outside our awareness.
• Unconscious thoughts are expressed through dreams, slips of the tongue, and physical mannerisms.
• Free association was Freud’s method during therapy.
• It involves instructing a person to vocalize whatever comes to mind as a way of bringing unconscious wishes into awareness.
• Motivation behind unconscious wishes are sex and aggression.
• Freud's theories had limited acceptance initially, but concept of unconscious goals, ideas, and motives gained agreement.
• People who followed Freud's unconscious theory are known as Neo-Freudians.
• Neo-Freudians include Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Erik Erikson, and Karen Horney

Humanistic Psychology

• Humanistic psychology believes people are innately good and strive for personal growth and achievement.
• This psychology suggests morality, ethical values, and good intentions are drivers of behavior
• Carl Rogers' therapy is known as "Person-Centered Therapy."
• Humanistic psychology was strong in the 70s and 80s.
• Abraham Maslow stated people are motivated to achieve certain needs and some needs take precedence over others.
• Basic physical survival needs need to be met, which then motivates our behavior, followed by each subsequent level.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Self-actualisation
• Esteem needs
• Belongingness and love needs
• Safety needs
• Physiological needs

Cognitive Psychology

• It is the branch of psychology that studies how people acquire, process, and store information.
• Areas of study include perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking.
• The term was first used by Ulric Neisser in 1967, the regarded father of cognitive psychology.

Areas in Cognitive Psychology

• Human Intelligence
• Perception
• Language
• Attention
• Thinking & problem solving
• Memory

Biological Psychology

• Biological psychology is the area of psychology that studies the genetics and physiology of human.
• The following topics are covered:
  • How the nervous system and hormones operate
  • How the brain functions
  • How structural or functional changes impact behavior
  • How genetics impact a given trait or behavior

Psychological Perspectives

• A psychological perspective is an approach or way of looking at topics within psychology.
• Any topic can be approached with different perspectives
• 5 contemporary perspectives of psychology are: neuroscience, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic.

Contemporary Perspectives of Psychology

• Neuroscience - views behavior from biological functioning
• Psychodynamic - believes behavior is motivated by inner, unconscious forces
• Behavioral - focuses on observable behavior
• Cognitive - examines how people understand and think about the world
• Humanistic - contends people can control their behavior and that they naturally try to reach their full potential

Explore philosophical perspectives on the human mind, including the 'tabula rasa' concept. Learn about historical figures like Descartes, Socrates, Plato and the nature vs nurture debate. Understand the foundations of psychology and its focus.