Introduction to Psychology

What is Psychology?

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• The definition of psychology conceals ongoing debates about its scope
• Psychology includes not just human actions but also thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning, memories, and biological activities that maintain bodily functions
• Psychologists aim to describe, predict, explain and change human behavior and to improve lives

Study of Experience:

• Psychologists examine personal and private human experiences such as dreams and conscious experiences at various life stages

Mental Process:

• Psychology studies mental processes by investigating brain activities that are primarily non-physiological Mental processes include perception, learning, remembering, and thinking

Study of Behavior:

• The behaviors studied in psychology include simple reflexes, responses like talking to friends, and verbal reports about feelings and internal states

Defining Behavior

• Old Definition of behavior: limited to observable and measurable gestures and speech
• New Definition of behavior: the way a person, organism, or group responds to a specific condition, divided into overt and covert behavior

Overt vs Covert

• Overt Behavior: Responses or activities directly observable by another, e.g., crying, shouting, smiling
• Covert Behavior: Responses or activities not directly observable by others, e.g., thoughts, feelings, emotions

Psychology as a Science

• Psychology follows a systematic approach to gathering knowledge

Characteristics of Psychology as a Science:

• Maintains objectivity
• Follows explicit procedures
• Disseminates research findings

Scientific Method Steps:

• Recognize the Problem
• Define the Problem
• Develop a hypothesis
• Develop techniques and measuring instruments to get data relating to the hypothesis
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Draw conclusions based upon the data relative to the hypothesis

Goals of Psychology:

• Describe behavior
• Identify factors to predict behavior
• Understand or explain behavior by identifying causes and effects
• Control or change behavior

Approaches to Psychology:

Neurobiological Approach aims to:

• Relate behavior to internal bodily events, focusing on the brain and nervous system

Behavioral Approach studies an:

• Individual by looking at observable and measurable behavior

Cognitive Approach:

• Conduct experiments and develop theories about the organization/function of mental processes

Psychoanalytic Approach attempts to show:

• How early experiences affect adults, believing childhood events significantly impact adult behavior

Phenomenological Approach seeks to:

• Understand events as individuals experience them, without preconceptions or theoretical ideas

Challenges in Psychology:

• Human behavior is difficult to predict because actions have many determining factors

• Be skeptical of single-variable explanations of behavior

• Psychological influences are rarely independent

• It is difficult to determine which cause(s) are operating

• People differ in thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

Individual Differences:

• Variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

• Explains different responses to objective situations, making universal behavior explanations difficult

• People influence each other mutually

Reciprocal Determinism:

• Mutually influencing each other's behavior

• Behavior is shaped by culture

• Cultural differences limit generalizations about human nature

Historical Periods of Psychology:

• Greek Period
• Middle Ages (Christian & Muslim Period)
• Renaissance
• Modern Age

Greek Period (1200 B.C.):

• Psychology progressed with philosophy, logic, astrology, physics, and chemistry
• Psychology was studied as the science of the soul
• Philosophers explored the Psyche-Body relationship

Greek Philosophers:

Hippocrates:

• Believed temperament is divided into four types based on the elements of fire, water, clay, and air found in human beings in liquid form

Socrates:

• Taught to 'Know Thyself'
• First used 'Psyche' for 'soul'
• Psyche, or self-consciousness, can be attained through truth and knowledge

Plato:

• Socrates' student
• Presented Mind-Body Dualism theory affirming body and mind are separate
• Believed in individual differences and divided people into three vocations based on God-given potentials

Aristotle:

• Plato's student
• Authored 'De Anima' ('On the Soul'), the first psychology book
• Opposed Mind-Body Dualism, stating the soul is inseparable from the body
• Known for Social psychology: "Man is a social animal"
• Acknowledged by many psychologists as the First Psychologist

Middle Ages:

• From the third to 14th century, spanning Christian and Muslim periods

Christian Period:

• Science and philosophy were influenced by religion in Europe
• Observation, reasoning, and experimentation were restricted; the Father Pope and Bible were the only permitted sources
• Western thinkers struggled to innovate

Muslim Period:

• Began in the 6th century A.D. with Prophet Muhammad
• Considered the Golden Period (6th-12th century A.D.) while Europe experienced a dark age
• Muslim thinkers advanced Islamic views and economics, political science, fine arts, science, and philosophy

Muslim Philosophers:

Ibn-e-Miskawayh:

• Proposed a theory of evolution, resembling Darwin's later theory, stating the soul passes through three stages:
  • Nafs-e-Ammara: the soul's lowest stage with bad impulses and sins
  • Nafs-e-Lawwama: intermediate stage criticizing evil and encouraging good
  • Nafs-e-Mutmainnah: the highest civilized stage, ensuring mental satisfaction when abiding by social norms

Ibn-e-Sina:

• Influenced by Plato and Aristotle, known for work in Medicine
• Theorized mind's influence on body in two ways: directing movement and activating willpower to treat illness without medicine
• Discovered Suggestion and Hypnotism for therapeutic use

Al-Ghazali:

• Great philosopher and scholar who believed in the important role of soul and body in growth and development
• The human Nafs (soul) has four powers: knowledge, aggression, lust/sex, and justice

Renaissance Period:

• Characterized by revolution, invention, and machine use
• After the decline of Umayyads and Abbasids, Christians and Jews migrated to Europe with Muslim books
• Science emerged from philosophy and religion, with observation/experimentation progressing in science and psych

Figures of the Renaissance:

Gallilio:

• Considered the father of modern science
• Invented telescope and thermometer
• Revolutionized physics with the law of motion

Descartes:

• Resolved the mind-body problem
• Introduced the radical theory of mind-body interaction
• Believed the mind influences the body, and the body influences the mind, which focused attention on Physical-Psychological duality

Thomas Hobbes:

• Refused to admit the soul
• Proposed that simple behavior occurred because of environmental changes and higher mental behavior from brain activation

John Locke:

• Said human mind is a blank slate at birth
• Said the mind receives stimuli from the environment, gives meaning to sensations, and forms perceptions
• Said sensational experiences and perceptions form and organize ideas into memory, building knowledge

Modern Age (19th-20th Century):

• Psychology as a science, emphasized objective observation

Figures of the Modern Age:

Weber:

• Explained the relationship between external stimuli and experiences and formulated the Law of Weber
• The change in stimulus quantity is sensed

Charles Darwin:

• Explained that humans have animal ancestors in 'The Origin of Species' (1859)
• Said the monkey is man's cousin and inherits mental attributes
• Darwin's evolutionary theory guided comparative psychology experiments on humans and animals

Post Renaissance Figures:

Sir Francis Galton:

• Researched intelligence and measurement and presented a theory on individual differences

Hermann Helmholtz:

• Presented the theory of color vision and hearing and explained musical tone perception

Paul Broca:

• French physician identified a speech control center in the brain named 'Broca's area'

Wilhelm Wundt:

• Established Psychology as a separate science, founded the first psychological laboratory at Leipzig University, Germany, in 1879
• His laboratory became the center for psychology and is known as the 'Father of Psychology'