Psychology: Critical Thinking and Key Figures

• Psychology students enhance critical thinking skills and are trained to use the scientific method.
• Critical thinking involves actively applying skills to understand and evaluate information.
• Evaluating information means assessing its reliability and usefulness.
• Psychology students improve communication skills during undergraduate coursework.
• These factors boost scientific literacy and prepare students to critically evaluate information sources.
• Psychology students understand complex factors shaping behavior and appreciate the influence of biology, environment, and experiences.
• Students learn principles guiding thoughts and behavior, recognizing diversity across individuals and cultures.

History of Psychology - Key Figures

• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), a German scientist, was the first person called a psychologist.

• Wundt's book, Principles of Physiological Psychology, was published in 1873.

• Wundt saw psychology as the scientific study of conscious experience.

• His goal was to identify consciousness components and how they combine into conscious experience.

• Wundt used introspection, (aka "internal perception") to objectively examine one's conscious experience.

• Wundt believed in voluntarism and that people have free will and should know the intentions of psychological experiments.

• Wundt used instruments measuring reaction time and suggested that psychology includes studying culture in his 1904 Volkerpsychologie.

• Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, developed structuralism and focused on mental process contents.

• Wundt founded his psychology lab at the University of Leipzig in 1879.

• Wundt's lab conducted experiments such as examining reaction times where subjects received stimuli like light or sound in a room.

• Subjects reacted by pushing a button, and an apparatus recorded the reaction time.

• Wundt measured reaction time to one-thousandth of a second. Despite efforts to train individuals, introspection remained subjective without agreement between individuals.

• William James, John Dewey, and Charles Sanders Peirce helped establish functional psychology.

• They embraced Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection which explains that natural selection adapts organisms to their environment.

• Adaptation is when a trait of an organism has a purpose for survival and reproduction.

• James saw that psychology's purpose was to study the function of behavior, known as functionalism.

• Functionalism focuses on how mental activities help one adapt to their environment.

• Functionalists studied the mind’s operation, rather than individual parts (structuralism).

• James used introspection and objective measurements, plus examinations of concrete activities, anatomy, and physiology.

Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist.
• Freud studied patients with "hysteria" and neurosis.
• Hysteria was an old diagnosis mainly for women and included physical, and emotional disturbances, without visible physical cause.
• Freud theorized his patients’ issues came from unconscious mind
• He considered the the unconscious mind a source of feelings, ideas and urges we are unaware of.
• Gaining access to the unconscious would help resolve that patient's issues.
• The unconscious mind could be accessed through dream analysis, free thought, and slips of the tongue.
• Psychoanalytic theory focuses on a person's unconscious, and early childhood experiences.
• Psychoanalytic theory dominated clinical psychology for decades.
• Psychoanalysis involves a patient talking about their experiences and selves.
• Many criticize Freud’s ideas as misplaced attacks on his older ideas that dont acknowledge later work.
• It doesn't consider the success of ideas he introduced like childhood importance of unconscious motivations.
• Freud noted that motivations cause conflicts that affect behavior, the representation of self and others influences interactions, personality develops over time.

Gestalt Psychology

• Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) were German psychologists who immigrated to the U.S.
• They introduced Gestalt principles noting Gestalt roughly translates to "whole".
• The focus of Gestalt psychology deals with how individual sensory parts relate to each other as a whole in perception.
• For example, a song's combinations of notes, melody, rhythm, and harmony, perceived as a whole, is the real nature, not the individual components.
• Gestalt principles contradicted Wundt's structuralism. The rise of behaviorism in the U.S, stopped Gestalt psychology from being as influential as it was in Germany
• Despite that, some Gestalt principles remain influential where considering humans as a whole rather than measured part sums is a foundation for a late century humanistic theory.
• The ideas of Gestalt influenced research on sensation and perception.
• Structuralism, Freud, and Gestalt psychologists were concerned with describing and understanding inner experience.
• Other researchers chose to only study behavior, which is an objectively observable outcome of mental processes.

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and Behaviorism

• Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), a Russian physiologist, studied learning behavior.
• Pavlov studied conditioned reflexes where an animal or human produces an unconscious response to a stimulus, and over time, produces the response to a different stimulus by the experimenter.
• Pavlov studied salivation in response to food.
• Pavlov's "classical conditioning" is an example of learning studied by behaviorists.
• John B. Watson (1878–1958) was an influential American psychologist who thought that the study of consciousness was flawed and favored studying observable behavior instead.
• Behaviorism involves observing and controlling behavior.
• A main interest of Watson was to study learned behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities using animal models, applicable to human behavior.
• B. F. Skinner (1904–1990): He concentrated on how consequences affect behavior. Reinforcement, punishment are major factors in driving behavior Skinner used a chamber to study behavior modification through reinforcement and punishment.
• The operant conditioning chamber (Skinner box) is a tool for studying behavior.
• Skinner's work on reinforcement of learned behavior had a strong influence, but has declined somewhat since research in cognitive psychology has grown
• Conditioned learning remains in human behavioral modification.

Maslow, Rogers, and Humanism

• Early 20th century American psychology was dominated by behaviorism and psychoanalysis, but some psychologists were uncomfortable with what they viewed as limited perspectives.
• They disliked the pessimism/determinism of Freud and the reductionism and simplifying behaviorism.
• These psychologists emphasized "good" in self-concept.
• Humanism emphasizes the potential for good that is innate.
• Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) and Carl Rogers were proponents of humanistic psychology.
• Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior, from basic needs to self-actualization.
• Humanistic psychologists rejected the traditional research approach of physical and biological sciences, because the research approach missed the complete human being.
• Humanistic insists on a research program that is largely qualitative for studying happiness, self-concept, meditation, and humanistic psychotherapy effects.
• Carl Rogers emphasized the potential for good within people using client-centered therapy.
• Rogers believed a therapist should have unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy.
• Roger believed with these factors, people would deal with their own issues.
• Humanism influenced psychology. Furthermore, Rogers' client-centered approach is still common in therapy.

The Cognitive Revolution

• Behaviorism's objectivity pulled psychologist away from the mind for a long time.
• Early humanistic redirected attention to conscious beings.
• By the 1950's Linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were reviving mind interest.
• In 1967, Ulric Neisser published Cognitive Psychology, a core text.
• Noam Chomsky, an American linguist influenced the cognitive revolution.
• Chomsky believed psychology had to re-incorporate mental functioning to understand behavior.
• European psychology had a stronger influence.
• Psychologists worked with scientists in fields like anthropology, linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience.
• This interdisciplinary approach is now called cognitive sciences which resonate in modern day psychology

Feminist Psychology

• Dominant Western, White, and male academics in early psychology meant psychology developed with inherent biases with negative consequences for non-White or male individuals.
• Women, ethnic minorities in the U.S. and elsewhere, and non-straight individuals struggled to enter the field to influence development.
• They suffered from non-scientific White male attitudes
• Until the 1960s, science of psychology was largely a "womanless"
• Few women could practice psychology, and had little research influence
• Psychology’s test subjects mainly being Men assumed no gender influence, and women were of little to no study.
• Article by Naomi Weisstein, critiqued psychology as a science and stimulated a feminist revolution
• Psychologist created female psychology only out of bias and no verification.
• Weisstein referred to comments by prominent 1960 psychologists such as Bruno Bettleheim:"As much as women want science/engineering they want primarily companionship/motherhood"
• Weisstein founded feminist psychology to be free of such issues.

Multicultural And Cross-Cultural Psychology

-Certain populations have been over studied and those studies results have been applied to other populations

• WEIRD Stands or western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic.
• Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan discovered differences that occur depending on urban environments between WEIRD people and less industrialized people.
• These differences vary in perception, cooperation, and moral reasoning and depend on the culture and environment of people
• Multicultural psychologists develop theories/conduct with diverse populations.typically within a country. cross-cultural-compare these populations across countries.
• In 1920, Francis Cecil Sumner was 1st African American with a PhD in psychology in the US.
• George I. Sanchez contested testing with Mexican American children, given language and culture and to give opportunity.
• Mamie Phipps Clark worked on desegregation case.
• Kenneth Clark, her husband, did preference/doll studies in African research Americans to aid their research, and also to open guidance center open Harlem, Ny.
• Listen to the podcast describing the Clarks' research and impact on the Supreme Court decision.APA has several ethnically based for psychologists that promotes interaction among members. Psychologists are interested in the study of the interaction between behavior and psychology, and the various organizations allow for growth in both the psychological and the cultural aspect

Women in Psychology

• Margaret Washburn was the first woman who received a doctoral degree woman, she was the first standard for 20 years.
• Mary Calkins completed requirements for PhD in psychology, but was denied the degree due to being a woman.
• James tried Harvard to award the doctoral degree to her/but was eventually rejected
• Inez Prosser first African-American woman to a doctorate in 1933 at the University education, Henry, etc
• Martha Bernal the first women- ethnic Latina to contribute to the studies on education as well.

Contemporary Psychology

• Contemporary psychology is influenced by historical perspectives.
• The American Psychological Association (APA), has a mission to disseminate psychological knowledge for benefits.
• The APA has 54 divisions which represent a diversity of specialties and include educational settings criminal sports, and military settings.
• Stanley Hall was President of APA, earned his doctorate, served at Antioch under the William before ultimately becoming President of Clark diversity
• The APS was founded and the intention of advancement it resulted disagreements with scientific APA.
• Other organizations also provide to network like NLPA, AAPA, and ABPSI. etc these groups are dedicated to to the members, etc.
• This section is an is an overview it the textbooks provides insight into the areas

Biopsychology and Evolutionary Psychology:

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Explore psychology's role in enhancing critical thinking and scientific literacy. Students learn to evaluate information, improve communication skills, and understand the complex factors shaping behavior. Discover key figures like Wilhelm Wundt and their impact on the field.