Discovering Psychology (Chapter 1) PDF - Introduction and Research Methods

MYTH SCIENCE Is it true... That the field of psychology focuses...

MYTH SCIENCE Is it true... That the field of psychology focuses primarily on treating people with psychological problems and disorders? That Sigmund Freud was the first psychologist? That striking a “power pose” for just a few minutes can affect your hormones? That reading something over and over is the most effective way to prepare for a test? That when two behaviors are “linked,” “related,” or tend to occur together, it’s safe to assume that one behavior caused the other? That psychologists are not allowed to trick you into taking part in a study? Introduction and Research Methods by research. And yes, we’ll definitely have show called The Goop Lab if you want to Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. practice tests. Anyone else?” see it. The healer tries to release energy “I’m going to work on my test anxiety from a part of your body where your energy The First Exam in addition to studying,” Derek piped up. might be stuck. In my case, they’re trying “So let’s talk about the upcoming exam,” “I actually started doing energy healing to release it to reduce stress and anxiety. I your author Sandy began. “What are you to reduce my stress levels. My girlfriend figured it couldn’t hurt, so why not try it?” planning to do to prepare?” swears by it.” “I’m not aware of any research on Janelle started, “I like to study by test- “How does energy healing work, and energy healing for test anxiety,” Sandy said ing myself. Will we have the chance to take what’s it supposed to do?” Sandy asked. carefully. “But let’s look it up and see what practice tests?” “An energy healer moves their hands we find out.” Sandy responded, “Thanks, Janelle. around your body, mostly without touch- Later in the chapter, we’ll share what That’s a great technique, and one backed ing you,” Derek said. “It was on a Netflix we found out about energy healing. More 2 Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  CHAPTER 1 important, we’ll discuss what psychologists contemporary psychology as well as psy- Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. have discovered about the most effective chology’s historical origins. The common IN THIS CHAPTER: ways to study. You’ll also see how psy- theme connecting psychology’s varied top- INTRODUCTION: What Is chological research can help you critically ics is its reliance on a solid foundation of Psychology? evaluate new ideas and claims that you scientific evidence. By the end of the chap- Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images Contemporary Psychology encounter outside the classroom. ter, you’ll have a better appreciation of the The Scientific Method As you’ll discover, psychology has a lot scientific methods that psychologists use Descriptive Research to say about many of the questions that are to answer questions, big and small, about Experimental Research of interest to college students. In this intro- behavior and mental processes. ductory chapter, we’ll explore the scope of Welcome to psychology! Ethics in Psychological Research Closing Thoughts PSYCH FOR YOUR LIFE: Successful Study Techniques Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11. 3  4 CHAPTER 1 InTROduCTIOn And REsEARCH METHOds psychology The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Introduction: What Is Psychology? KEY THEME Psychology’s origins and history helped to shape its current status as the science of behavior and mental processes. KEY QUESTIONS What are the goals and scope of contemporary psychology? What roles did Wundt, Titchener, and James play in establishing psychology? What were the early schools of thought and approaches in psychology, and how did their views differ? Psychology is formally defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. But this definition is deceptively simple. As you’ll see in this chapter, the scope of con- temporary psychology is broad — ranging from the behavior of a single brain cell to the MY T H S CIEN C E behavior of a crowd of people or even entire cultures. Many people think that psychologists are primarily — or even exclusively — interested in Is it true that the field of psychology studying and treating psychological disorders and problems, but that’s a myth. Psycholo- focuses primarily on treating people with psychological problems and gists are just as interested in “normal,” everyday behaviors and mental processes — topics disorders? like learning and memory, emotions and motivation, relationships and loneliness. And, psychologists seek ways to use the knowledge that they discover through scientific research to optimize human performance and potential in many different fields, from classrooms to workplaces to the military. The four basic goals of psychology are to describe, predict, explain, and control or influence behavior and mental processes. To illustrate how these goals guide psycho- logical research, think about our chapter opening Prologue. Most people, like Derek, have an intuitive understanding of what the word stress refers to. Psychologists, however, seek to go beyond intuitive or “common sense” understandings of human experience. Here’s how psychology’s goals might help guide research on stress: 1. Describe: Trying to objectively describe the experience of stress, a psycholo- gist studies the sequence of emotional responses that occur during stressful experiences. 2. Predict: A psychologist investigates responses to different kinds of challenging events, hoping to be able to predict the kinds of events that are most likely to evoke a stress response. Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. 3. Explain: Seeking to explain why some people are more vulnerable to the effects of Carmine Marinelli/Newscom stress than others, a psychologist studies the different ways in which people respond to natural disasters. 4. Control, change, or influence: After studying the effectiveness of different coping strat- egies, a psychologist helps people use those coping strategies to better control their reactions to stressful events. What Do Psychologists Study? It’s How did psychology evolve into today’s diverse and rich science? We begin this International Pillow Fight Day, and these introductory chapter by stepping backward in time to describe the origins of psychology young members of a flash mob join the and its historical development. Indeed, the early history of psychology is the history of fun in Vancouver, British Columbia. What a field struggling to define itself as a separate and unique scientific discipline. The early motivated them to show up? What kind psychologists debated such fundamental issues as: of emotions might they be feeling? How does the presence of like-minded others What is the proper subject matter of psychology? affect their behavior? Whether studying What methods should be used to investigate psychological issues? the behavior of a crowd of people or a single brain cell, psychologists rely Should psychological findings be used to change or enhance human behavior? on the scientific method to guide their These debates helped set the tone of the new science, define its scope, and set its investigations. limits. Over the past century, the shifting focus of these debates has influenced the topics studied and the research methods used. Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  Introduction: What Is Psychology?  5 Psychology’s Origins: The Influence of Philosophy and Physiology The earliest origins of psychology can be traced back several centuries to the writings Multifocus/Shutterstock of the great philosophers. More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote about topics such as sleep, dreams, the senses, and memory. Many of Aristotle’s ideas remained influential until the beginnings of modern science in the seventeenth century (Kheriaty, 2007). At that time, the French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) proposed the idea that mind and body were separate entities that interact to produce sensations, emo- For an overview of psychology today, tions, and other conscious experiences. Today, psychologists continue to explore the go to Achieve and watch relationship between mental activity and the brain. Video: What Is Psychology? Philosophers also laid the groundwork for another issue that would become cen- tral to psychology, the nature–nurture issue. For centuries, philosophers debated which was more important: the inborn nature of the individual or the environmental influ- John Lund/Marc Romanelli/Blend Images/ ences that nurture the individual. This debate was sometimes framed as nature ­versus nurture. Today, however, psychologists understand that “nature” and “nurture” are impossible to unravel (Sameroff, 2010). So, while some psychologists do investigate the relative influences of heredity versus environmental factors on behavior, today’s researchers also focus on the dynamic interaction between environmental factors and genetic heritage (Dick et al., 2015; Norouzitallab et al., 2019; Szyf, 2013). The early philosophers could advance the understanding of human behavior only to Getty Images a certain point. Their methods were limited to intuition, observation, and logic. The eventual emergence of psychology as a science hinged on advances in other sciences, particularly physiology. Physiology is a branch of biology that studies the Nature and Nurture? Both father ­functions and parts of living organisms, including humans. In the 1600s, physiolo- and daughter are clearly enjoying the gists were becoming interested in the human brain and its relation to behavior. By experience of making music together. the early 1700s, it was discovered that damage to one side of the brain produced a The child’s interest in music is likely an loss of function in the opposite side of the body. By the early 1800s, the idea that dif- expression of her natural tendencies, as ferent brain areas were related to different behavioral functions was being vigorously well as the result of her father’s encour- agement and teaching. debated. Collectively, the early scientific discoveries made by physiologists helped to establish the foundation for an idea that was to prove critical to the emergence of psy- chology — namely, that ­scientific methods could be applied to answering questions about behavior and mental processes. Wilhelm Wundt: The Founder of Psychology By the second half of the 1800s, the stage had been set for the emergence of Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. ­psychology as a distinct scientific discipline. The leading proponent of this idea was a German physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt (Gentile & Miller, 2009). Wundt used scientific methods to study fundamental psychological processes, such as mental reaction times in response to visual or auditory stimuli. For example, Wundt tried to measure precisely how long it took a person to consciously detect the sight and sound of a bell being struck. A major turning point in psychology occurred in 1874, when Wundt outlined the connections between physiology and psychology in his landmark text, Principles of Physiological Psychology (Diamond, 2001). He argued that psychology should be estab- lished as a separate scientific discipline that would use experimental methods to study mental processes. Wundt achieved that goal in 1879, when he established the first psychology research laboratory at the University of Leipzig. Wundt’s experiments were simple by today’s standards but groundbreaking for the time. For example, participants might be asked to press a key when they saw a white circle but not a black circle, and trained students would measure the participants’ reaction times. The experiment would be repeated with Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) ­ more complex stimuli and the reaction times compared (Robinson, 2001). Many mark German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt is generally credited as being the founder the opening of Wundt’s psychology lab as the formal beginning of psychology as an of psychology as an experimental science. experimental science (Kohls & Benedikter, 2010). Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Research Methods Wundt defined psychology as the study of consciousness and emphasized the use of experimental methods to study and measure it. Until he died in 1920, Wundt exerted a strong influence on the development of psychology as a science (Wong, 2009). Edward B. Titchener: Structuralism One of Wundt’s most devoted students was a young Englishman named Edward B. Titchener. After earning his doctorate in Wundt’s laboratory, Titchener began teaching at Cornell University in New York. There he established a psychology laboratory that ultimately spanned 26 rooms. Titchener shared many of Wundt’s ideas about the nature of psychology. Eventu- ally, however, Titchener developed his own approach, which he called structuralism, and it became the first major school of thought in psychology. Structuralism held that even our most complex conscious experiences could be broken down into elemental “structures,” or component parts, of sensations and feelings. To identify these ­structures of conscious thought, Titchener trained research participants in a procedure called introspection. The participants viewed a simple stimulus, such as a book, and then Edward B. Titchener (1867–1927) In contrast to faculty at other psychology tried to reconstruct their sensations and feelings immediately after viewing it. (In programs, Edward Titchener welcomed psychology, a stimulus is anything perceptible to the senses, such as a sight, sound, women into his graduate program at smell, touch, or taste.) They might first report on the colors they saw, then the ­Cornell. In fact, more women com- smells, and so on, in the attempt to create a total description of their conscious pleted their psychology doctorates under experience (Titchener, 1896). ­Titchener’s direction than under any other In addition to being distinguished as the first school of thought in early psychol- male psychologist of his generation (Evans, ogy, Titchener’s structuralism holds the dubious distinction of being the first school to 1991). Despite this, Christine Ladd-Franklin, ­disappear. Titchener’s death in 1927 essentially marked the end of structuralism as an a prominent researcher of color vision, influential school of thought in psychology. But even before Titchener’s death, structur- pushed back against psychology organi- alism was often criticized for relying too heavily on introspection as a method. zations that excluded women. She fought As noted by Wundt and other scientists, introspection had significant limitations. Titchener with a ­letter-writing campaign to accept women to the all-male Society First, introspection was an unreliable method of investigation. Different participants of Experimentalists (Vaughn, 2010). Unfor- often provided very different introspective reports about the same stimulus. Even tunately, Titchener never gave in, and the ­participants well trained in introspection varied in their responses to the same stimulus first women were only admitted after his from trial to trial. death. Ladd-Franklin did, however, crash Second, introspection could not be used to study children or animals. Third, com- one meeting, having warned Titchener in plex topics, such as learning, development, mental disorders, and personality, could advance of her intentions. not be investigated using introspection. Ultimately, the methods and goals of struc- turalism were too limited to accommodate the rapidly expanding interests of the field of psychology. Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. William James: Functionalism By the time Titchener arrived at Cornell University, psychology was already well established in the United States. The main proponent of psychology in the United States was one of Harvard’s most outstanding teachers — William James. James had become intrigued by the emerging science of psychology after reading one of Wundt’s articles. But there were other influences on the development of James’s thinking. Like many other scientists and philosophers of his generation, James was fas- cinated by the idea that different species had evolved over time (Menand, 2001). Many ­nineteenth-century scientists in England, France, and the United States were evolutionists — that is, they believed that species had not been created all at once but rather had changed over time (Caton, 2007). Published in 1859, Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking work, On the Origin of Spe- cies, gathered evidence from different scientific fields to provide a compelling account structuralism Early school of psychology of evolution through natural selection. James and his fellow thinkers actively debated holding that even our most complex conscious experiences could be broken the notion of evolution, which came to have a profound influence on James’s ideas down into elemental “structures,” or ­( Richardson, 2006). Like Darwin, James stressed the importance of adaptation to component parts, of sensations and feelings. ­environmental challenges. Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  Introduction: What Is Psychology?  7 By the late 1870s, James was teaching psychology classes and writing a comprehen- sive textbook of psychology, a task that would take him more than a decade. James’s Principles of Psychology was finally published in 1890. Despite its length of more than 1,400 pages, Principles of Psychology quickly became the leading psychology textbook. In it, James discussed such diverse topics as brain function, habit, memory, sensation, perception, and emotion. James’s ideas became the basis for a new school of psychology called functional- ism. Functionalism emphasized studying the purpose, or function, of behavior and men- tal experiences. It stressed the importance of how behavior functions to allow people and animals to adapt to their environments. Unlike structuralists, functionalists did not limit their methods to introspection. They expanded the scope of psychological research to include direct observation of living creatures in natural settings. They also William James (1842–1910) examined how psychology could be applied to areas like education, child rearing, and Harvard professor William James was the work environment. instrumental in establishing psychology in Both the structuralists and the functionalists thought that psychology should the United States. James’s ideas became focus on the study of conscious experiences. But the functionalists had very the basis of another early school of ­d ifferent ideas about the nature of consciousness and how it should be studied. psychology, called functionalism, which Rather than trying to identify the essential structures of consciousness at a given stressed studying the adaptive and moment, James saw consciousness as an ongoing stream of mental activity that ­practical functions of human behavior. shifts and changes. Like structuralism, functionalism no longer exists as a distinct school of thought in contemporary psychology. Nevertheless, functionalism’s twin themes of the importance of the adaptive role of behavior and the application of psychology to enhance human behavior are still important in modern psychology. After James: Prominent Early Psychologists Historically, any list of prom- inent early psychologists consisted of primarily White men, with a few exceptions. But many other people made important contributions that were buried by history ­( Cramblet Alvarez et al., 2019). Among the overlooked are two people who tried ­valiantly, through their work, to call attention to important omissions — Robert V. Guthrie and Pauline Elizabeth Scarborough. In 1976, Robert V. Guthrie (1932– 2005), a Black American psychologist, wrote a book for which part of the title was Even the Rat Was White. Guthrie highlighted important contributions by early Black American psychologists and described the significant obstacles they faced. Pauline Elizabeth Scarborough (1935–2015), a Russian-born American psychol- ogist, championed the inclusion of women in the story of U.S. psychology. She and psychologist Laurel Furumoto documented the lives of the first 25 female psychologists in the United States. She also explored the way that women’s changing social status Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. affected the field of psychology (Scarborough, 2005). Throughout the book, we’ll do our best to highlight overlooked psychologists from underrepresented groups — those who are women, members of racial and ­e thnic minorities, or part of the LGBTQ community. In this section, you’ll learn about Kenneth and Mamie Clark. Mamie Clark’s story, in particular, has been hid- den for far too long (Aldridge & Christensen, 2013; Cramblet Alvarez et al., 2019). For now, back to James. Like Wundt, James profoundly influenced psychology through his many stu- dents. Two of James’s most notable students were G. Stanley Hall and Mary Whiton Calkins. In 1878, G. Stanley Hall received the first Ph.D. in psychology awarded in the United States. Hall founded the first psychology research laboratory in the United States at Johns Hopkins University in 1883. Most important, in 1892, Hall founded the American Psychological Association and was elected its first p ­ resident ­( Anderson, 2012). Today, the American Psychological Association (APA) is the functionalism Early school of psychology world’s largest professional organization of psychologists, with more than 120,000 that emphasized studying the purpose, members. (The Association for Psychological Science, founded in 1988, has more or function, of behavior and mental than 35,000 members.) experiences. Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Research Methods In 1890, Mary Whiton Calkins was assigned the task of teaching experimental psy- chology at a new women’s college in the United States — Wellesley College. Calkins studied with James at nearby Harvard University. She completed all the requirements for a Ph.D. in psychology. However, Harvard refused to grant her the Ph.D. degree because she was a woman, and at the time Harvard was not a coeducational institution (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). Although never awarded the degree she had earned, Calkins made several notable contributions to psychology. She conducted research in dreams, memory, and per- sonality. In 1891, she established a psychology laboratory at Wellesley College. At the turn of the twentieth century, she wrote a well-received textbook titled Introduction to ­Psychology. In 1905, Calkins was elected president of the American Psychological ­Association — the first woman, but far from the last, to hold that position. Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) For the record, the first U.S. woman to earn an official Ph.D. in psychology was Mary Whiton Calkins had a distinguished Margaret Floy Washburn, Edward Titchener’s first doctoral student at ­C ornell professional career. She established University. Washburn strongly advocated the scientific study of the mental pro- a psychology laboratory at Wellesley cesses of different animal species. In 1908, she published an influential text titled College and became the first woman The ­Animal Mind. Her book summarized research on sensation, perception, learn- president of the American Psychological Association. ing, and other “inner experiences” of different animal species. Like Mary Whiton Calkins, ­Washburn taught at a women’s college, Vassar College, which she also had attended as a student. One of G. Stanley Hall’s notable students was Francis C. Sumner. Sumner was the first Black American psychologist to receive a Ph.D. in psychology, awarded by Clark U ­ niversity in 1920. Later, at Howard University in ­Washington, D.C., Sumner chaired a psychology department that produced more Black ­A merican ­p sychologists than all other U.S. colleges and universities combined (­G uthrie, 2000, 2004). One of Sumner’s most famous students was Kenneth Bancroft Clark. ­Kenneth Clark, together with his wife, psychologist Mamie Phipps Clark, ­c onducted research on the negative effects of racial discrimination. Their work was instrumental in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision to end ­s egregation in schools (Jackson, 2006). Mamie Clark’s contributions were long overlooked, including the fact that the segregation research was initially her project, rather than Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Margaret Floy Washburn Francis C. Sumner Mamie Phipps Clark (1917–1983) and Kenneth Clark (1871–1939) After becoming (1895–1954) In 1920, (1914–2005) Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark met the first woman in the United Sumner became the first as students at Howard University. They were partners in States to earn an official Ph.D. Black ­American psychologist marriage and in research. They also applied their research in ­psychology, Washburn went to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. to the broader community. Together, the Clarks founded the on to a ­distinguished career in Sumner later joined Howard Northside ­Center for Childhood Development in the Harlem ­psychology, publishing more than University and helped neighborhood of New York City, which Mamie Clark directed 100 papers and an influential create a strong ­psychology for more than 30 years. Mamie Clark also contributed to the ­textbook on ­animal behavior. She program that led the country start of the Head Start program, part of the U.S. Department of was the second woman to be in training Black ­American Health and Human Services, which focuses on early childhood elected ­president of the American psychologists ­(Belgrave & education and health in lower-income communities (Karera & Psychological Association. Allison, 2010). Rutherford, 2017). Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  Introduction: What Is Psychology? 9 Kenneth’s ( Aldridge & Christensen, 2013 ; Cramblet Alvarez et al., 2019 ). In fact, psychoanalysis Personality theory and Kenneth Clark spoke out about Mamie Clark’s contributions to the research that form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of unconscious factors in determining the Supreme Court cited, noting: “The record should show that was Mamie’s pri- personality and behavior. mary project that I crashed. I sort of piggybacked on it” ( Nyman, 2010, p. 76 ). behaviorism School of psychology that In 1970, Kenneth became the first Black American president of the American emphasizes the study of observable Psychological Association ( Belgrave & Allison, 2010 ). behaviors, especially as they pertain to the process of learning. sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis Wundt, James, and other early psychologists emphasized the study of conscious experi- ences. But at the turn of the twentieth century, new approaches challenged the principles of both structuralism and functionalism. In Vienna, Austria, a physician named Sigmund Freud was developing an intrigu- M Y TH S C IE NC E ing theory of personality based on uncovering causes of behavior that were uncon- Is it true that Sigmund Freud was the scious, or hidden from the person’s conscious awareness. Freud’s school of thought, first psychologist? called psychoanalysis, is a personality theory and form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of unconscious factors in determining behavior and personality. Freud himself was a neurologist, not a psychologist. Nevertheless, psychoanalysis had a strong influence on psychological thinking in the early part of the century. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality and behavior was based largely on his work with his patients and on insights derived from self-analysis. Freud believed that human behavior was motivated by unconscious conflicts that were almost always sexual or aggressive in nature. Past experiences, especially child- hood experiences, were thought to be critical in the formation of adult personality Clark University Archives and behavior. According to Freud (1904) , glimpses of these unconscious impulses are revealed in everyday life in dreams, memory blocks, slips of the tongue, and spontaneous humor. Freud believed that when unconscious conflicts became extreme, psychological disorders could result. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality also provided the basis for a dis- tinct form of psychotherapy. Many of the fundamental ideas of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and G. such as the importance of unconscious influences and early childhood experi- Stanley Hall (1844–1924) In 1909, Freud ences, continue to influence psychologists and other professionals in the mental (front left) and several other psychoana- health field. We’ll explore Freud’s theory in more depth in the chapters on person- lysts were invited by G. Stanley Hall (front ality and therapies. center) to participate in Clark University’s twentieth-anniversary celebration (Hogan, Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. skinner: Behaviorism 2003). Hall helped organize psychology in the United States. He established the The course of psychology changed dramatically in the early 1900s, when another first psychology research laboratory in the approach emerged as a dominating force. Behaviorism emphasized the study of observ- Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. United States and also founded the Amer- able behaviors, especially as they pertain to the process of learning. It rejected the emphasis ican Psychological Association. Listening on consciousness promoted by structuralism and functionalism. It also flatly rejected in the audience was William James, who Freudian notions about unconscious influences, claiming that such ideas were unsci- later wrote to a friend that Freud struck entific and impossible to test. Instead, behaviorism contended that psychology should him as “a man obsessed with fixed ideas” focus its scientific investigations strictly on overt behavior — observable behaviors that (Rosenzweig, 1997). Carl Jung (front right), could be objectively measured and verified. who later developed his own theory of Behaviorism is another example of the influence of physiology on psychology. personality, also attended this historic conference. Behaviorism grew out of the pioneering work of a Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov demonstrated that dogs could learn to associate a neutral stimulus, such as the sound of a ticking metronome, with an automatic behavior, such as reflex- ively salivating to food. Once an association between the sound of the metronome and the food was formed, the sound of the metronome alone would trigger the salivation reflex in the dog. Pavlov enthusiastically believed he had discovered the mechanism by which all behaviors were learned. In the United States, a young, dynamic psychologist named John B. Watson shared Pavlov’s enthusiasm. Watson (1913) championed behaviorism as a new school of psychology. Structuralism was still an influential perspective, but Watson Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  10 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Research Methods strongly objected to both its method of introspection and its focus on conscious mental processes. As Watson (1924) wrote in his classic book, Behaviorism: Behaviorism, on the contrary, holds that the subject matter of human ­p sychology is the behavior of the human being. Behaviorism claims that ­c onsciousness is neither a definite nor a usable concept. The behaviorist, who has been trained always as an experimentalist, holds, further, that belief in the existence of consciousness goes back to the ancient days of superstition and magic. Behaviorism’s influence on U.S. psychology was enormous. Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) The goal of the behaviorists was to discover the fundamental principles of learning — how behavior is acquired and modified in response to environmental influences. For the most part, the behaviorists studied animal behavior under carefully controlled laboratory conditions. Although Watson left academic psychology in the early 1920s, behaviorism was later championed by an equally forceful ­p roponent — the famous U.S. psychologist B.F. Skinner. Like Watson, Skinner believed that psychology should restrict itself to studying outwardly observable behaviors that could be measured John B. Watson B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) and verified. In compelling experimental demonstrations, ­S kinner (1878–1958) systematically used reinforcement or punishment to shape the Three Key Scientists in the ­Development of behavior of rats and pigeons. ­Behaviorism Building on the pioneering research of Between Watson and Skinner, behaviorism dominated p ­ sychology ­Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, U.S. psychologist John B. in the United States for almost half a century. During that time, the Watson founded the school of behaviorism. ­Behaviorism study of conscious experiences was largely ignored as a topic in psy- advocated that psychology should study observable chology (Baars, 2005). In the chapter on learning, we’ll look at the lives behaviors, not mental processes. Following Watson, B.F. and contributions of Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner in greater detail. Skinner continued to champion the ideas of behaviorism. Skinner became one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow: Humanistic Psychology For several decades, behaviorism and psychoanalysis were the ­perspectives that most influenced the thinking of U.S. ­psychologists. In the 1950s, a new school of thought emerged, called humanis- tic psychology, that emphasized each person’s unique potential for ­psychological growth and self-direction. Because humanistic psychol- ogy was distinctly different from both psychoanalysis and behav- Copyright © 2021. Worth Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. iorism, it was sometimes referred to as the “third force” in U.S. psychology (Waterman, 2013; Watson et al., 2011). Humanistic psychology was largely founded by U.S. psychologist Carl Rogers (Elliott & Farber, 2010). Like Freud, Rogers was influ- enced by his experiences with his psychotherapy clients. H ­ owever, rather than emphasizing unconscious conflicts, ­Rogers emphasized the conscious experiences of his c­ lients, including each p ­ erson’s unique potential for psychological growth and s­ elf-­d irection. In Carl Rogers (1902–1987) Abraham Maslow contrast to the behaviorists, who saw human behavior as being (1908–1970) shaped and maintained by external causes, ­Rogers emphasized self-­ Two Leaders in the Development of Humanistic determination, free will, and the importance of choice in human ­Psychology Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were key behavior (Elliott & ­Farber, 2010; Kirschenbaum & ­Jourdan, 2005). figures in establishing humanistic psychology. Humanistic Abraham Maslow was another advocate of humanistic ­psychology emphasized the importance of self-determination, ­psychology. Maslow developed a theory of motivation that empha- creativity, and human potential (Serlin, 2012). The ideas of sized psychological growth, which we’ll discuss in the motivation Carl Rogers have been particularly influential in modern and emotion chapter. Like psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology ­psychotherapy. Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation included not only influential theories of personality but also a form emphasized the importance of psychological growth. of psychotherapy. Nolan, Susan, and Sandra Hockenbury. Discovering Psychology, Worth Publishers, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/detail.action?docID=6787725. Created from jmu on 2025-01-25 14:40:11.  Contemporary Psychology  11 The debates among the key thinkers in psychology’s history shaped the devel- humanistic psychology School of opment of psychology as a whole. Each of the schools had an impact on the topics psychology that emphasizes each person’s unique potential for psychological growth and methods of psychological research. That impact has been a lasting one. In the and self-direction. next sections, we’ll touch on some of the more recent developments in psychol- ogy’s evolution. We’ll also explore the diversity that characterizes contemporary neuroscience The study of the nervous system, especially the brain. psychology. Contemporary Psychology KEY THEME As psychology has developed as a scientific discipline, the topics it investigates have become progressively more diverse. KEY QUESTIONS How do the perspectives in contemporary psychology differ in emphasis and approach? How do psychiatry and psychology differ, and what are psychology’s major specialty areas? Over the past decades, the range of topics in psychology has become progressively more diverse. And, as psychology’s knowledge base has increased, psychology itself has become more specialized. Rather than being dominated by a particular approach or school of thought, today’s psychologists tend to identify themselves according to: (1) the perspective they emphasize in investigating psychological topics and (2) the specialty area in which they have been trained and practice. Major Perspectives in Psychology Any given topic in contemporary psychology can be approached from a variety of perspectives (see photo on next page). Each perspective discussed here represents a different emphasis or point of view that can be taken in studying a particu- lar behavior, topic, or issue. As you’ll see in this section, the influence of the early schools of psychology is apparent in the first four perspectives that characterize contemporary psychology.