Introduction to Psychology Chapter 1 PDF

1 By the end of this section, you will be able to: } Define psychology } Understand the merits of an education in psychology 2 1  } Psychology refers to the scientific study of the mind and be...

1 By the end of this section, you will be able to: } Define psychology } Understand the merits of an education in psychology 2 1  } Psychology refers to the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. } Scientific method – objectively establishes fact through empirical testing } Hypothesis versus theory? } Results of studies are then published or presented at research conferences so that others can replicate or build on the results. 3 } An education in psychology is valuable for a number of reasons } Psychology students hone critical thinking skills and are trained in the use of the scientific method. } Critical thinking is the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information. ◦ The evaluation of information—assessing its reliability and usefulness— is an important skill in a world full of competing “facts,” many of which are designed to be misleading. 4 2  The History of Psychology 5 By the end of this section, you will be able to: } Understand the importance of Wundt and James in the development of psychology } Appreciate Freud’s influence on psychology } Understand the basic tenets of Gestalt psychology } Appreciate the important role that behaviourism played in psychology’s history } Understand basic tenets of humanism } Understand how the cognitive revolution shifted psychology’s focus back to the mind 6 3  Socrates (469-399 BCE) and Plato (428-348 BCE) Socrates Plato Socrates and his student Plato believed that the mind was separate from the body, that it continued to exist after death, and that ideas were innate. ______________ 8 Prescientific Psychology Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Aristotle, a naturalist and http://faculty.washington.edu philosopher, theorized about psychology’s concepts. He suggested that the soul and body are not separate and that knowledge grows from experience. 9 4  Prescientific Psychology } Philosopher } ‘I think, therefore I am’ } Mind and body (brain) function separately Dualism 10 Prescientific Psychology John Locke (1632-1704) Blank Slate Locke held that the mind is a tabula rasa at birth and experience writes on it. ______________ 11 5  How are ideas formed? Blank Slate Some ideas are The mind is a inborn blank slate Socrates Aristotle Plato Locke ______________ 12 1) Structuralism 2) Functionalism 3) Psychoanalysis 4) Gestalt 5) Behaviourism 13 6  Wilhelm Wundt (Leipzig, Germany) First psychology laboratory (1879) Psychology is 145 years old this year! Studied: 1. Reaction times 2. Introspection (internal perception) 14 E.B. Titchener (1867-1927) Cornell University Renamed Wundt’s approach (“trained” introspection) Analyzed sensations, feelings, images ______________ 15 7  1) Structuralism 2) Functionalism 3) Psychoanalysis 4) Gestalt 5) Behaviourism 16 William James in Brazil in William James (1842-1910) 1865 The “how” and “why” instead of the “what” of behaviour Causes and consequences of behaviour First American psychologist Inspired by Darwin’s theories of evolution- how is behaviour adaptive Charles Darwin ______________ 17 8  William James in Brazil in William James (1842-1910) 1865 Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and accepted it as an explanation of an organism’s characteristics. Adaptation means that a trait of an organism has a function for the survival and reproduction of the individual, because it has been naturally selected. James saw that psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behaviour in the world, and as such, his perspective was known as functionalism Charles Darwin ______________ 18 1) Structuralism 2) Functionalism 3) Psychoanalysis 4) Gestalt 5) Behaviourism 19 9  The Unconscious Mind Freud (1856-1939) Jung (1875-1961) Sigmund Freud and his followers emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior. 20 } Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis. } Freud thought their illnesses were due to problems in the ‘unconscious mind’ Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences, and this particular perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decade 21 10  1) Structuralism 2) Functionalism 3) Psychoanalysis 4) Gestalt 5) Behaviourism 22 Gestalt roughly translates to “whole” “Although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler individual responds to in Immigrated to the US to escape Nazi perception.” Germany 23 11  Gestalt roughly translates to “whole” The whole is equal to more than the sum of its parts Sensation and perception 24 1) Structuralism 2) Functionalism 3) Psychoanalysis 4) Gestalt 5) Behaviourism 25 12  } Behaviourism is largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and especially experimentation. } In addition, it is used in behavioural and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Ivan Pavlov James Watson BF Skinner 26 } Pavlov studied a form of learning behaviour called a conditioned reflex } The reflex Pavlov worked with was salivation in response to the presence of food. } “Classical conditioning” 27 13  Watson (1913) and later Skinner 1920s…. through present emphasized the study of overt behaviour as the subject matter of scientific psychology. Watson was a major proponent of Skinner (1904-1990) Watson (1878-1958) shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behaviour, and this approach of observing and controlling behaviour came to be known as behaviourism. 28 } Watson was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behaviour, and this approach of observing and controlling behaviour came to be known as behaviourism. Watson and Baby Albert 29 14  } Skinner spoke of reinforcement and punishment as major factors in driving behaviour. As a part of his research, } Skinner developed a chamber that allowed the careful study of the principles of modifying behaviour through reinforcement and punishment. 30 31 15  Mary Whiton Calkins The first female student (James) in 1890 § Psychology § Harvard Offered PhD from Radcliffe (declined) First female president of APA in 1905 32 First female awarded a PhD in Psychology ◦ Studied under Titchener (structuralist) } Contribution: ‘The Animal Mind’ ______________ 33 16  } Ethnic minority women contributing to the field of psychology include Martha Bernal and Inez Beverly Prosser; their studies were related to education. } Bernal, the first Latina to earn her doctoral degree in psychology (1962) conducted much of her research with Mexican American children. Martha E Bernal 1931-2001 34 } Prosser was the first African American woman awarded the PhD in 1933 at the University of Cincinnati } Unfortunate car accident claimed her life Inez Beverly Prosser 1895-1934 35 17