History of Psychology Student Notes PDF 2020-2021

Pack: A3 Module 1 – History of Psychology Dr. Olivia Galea Seychell Dott. Mireille Vila Dr. Miriam Geraldi Gauci Ms. Stephanie Bugeja Year: 2020-2021 IMPORTANT:...

Pack: A3 Module 1 – History of Psychology Dr. Olivia Galea Seychell Dott. Mireille Vila Dr. Miriam Geraldi Gauci Ms. Stephanie Bugeja Year: 2020-2021 IMPORTANT: Additional recommended reading Chapter title: The Story of Psychology Book: Psychology (9th ed.) Author: D. G. Myers Cohort 2020-2021 1  Pack: A3 Why do we study the history of Psychology? By exploring its origins and studying its development we can see clearly the nature of psychology today. Knowledge of history brings order to disorder and meaning to what appears to be chaos, putting the past into perspective to explain the present (Schultz, 2008). The origins of Psychology Psychology evolved out of philosophy and biology/physiology. Discussions of these two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers including Aristotle and Socrates. The word psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning 'soul' or 'mind.' Cohort 2020-2021 2  Pack: A3 Dominant schools of thought in psychology The establishment of psychology as a discipline was born out of the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behaviour. There are different schools or models of psychology which represent the major theories within psychology today. These schools offer different perspectives of ideas and concepts used to understand different phenomena Some of these schools have been discarded whilst others have evolved and are still used nowadays (Feldman,1996). Major perspectives in the History of Psychology Structuralism Focuses on: Conscious Mental Processes 1880s-1920s Key People: Wilhelm Wundt & Edward B. Titchener Functionalism Focuses on: Conscious Mental Processes 1890s-1920s Key Person: William James Psychoanalysis Focuses on: Unconscious Mental Processes 1890s-Present Key Person: Sigmund Freud Behaviourism Focuses on: Observable behaviour 1900s-Present Key People: Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner Humanism Focuses on: Conscious Mental Processes 1950s-Present Key People: Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers Cohort 2020-2021 3  Pack: A3 Structuralism The building blocks of the mind The focus of STRUCTURALISM Structuralism supported the idea that psychology was the science of conscious experience and that trained observers could accurately describe thoughts, feelings, and emotions. ‘Its main focus was the fundamental elements that form the foundation of thinking, consciousness, emotions and other kinds of mental states or activities’ (Feldman, 1996, p. 17) Stressed the importance of basic sensory and perceptual processes To study conscious experience, psychologists started measuring how long people take to react and how long they take to be conscious of their awareness. Cohort 2020-2021 4  Pack: A3 Key people in Structuralism Wilhelm Wundt is regarded as the father of Psychology/Experimental Psychology He was interested in the measuring ‘atoms of the mind’ by applying laboratory techniques He established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 In his experiment, Wundt concentrated on three areas of mental functioning: - thoughts, - images, & - feelings. One of his students was Edward B. Titchener Key people in Structuralism cont… Edward B. Titchener, who is considered the father of Structuralism, was one of Wundt’s students in the US. He tried to focus on the structure of the mind Titchener and the structuralists advocated the use of a technique called introspection (looking inward): ‘training people to report elements of their experience as they looked at a rose[…], smelled a scent or tasted a substance. What were their immediate sensations, their images, their feelings? And how did these relate to one another?’ (Myers, 2013; p. 3) Introspection, however, proved unreliable Cohort 2020-2021 5  Pack: A3 Structuralism: Legacy & Limitations The importance of Structuralism First school of thought; Paved the way for experimental and cognitive psychology. Limitation Subjective ‘it required smart, verbal people and its results varied from person to person’ (Myers 2013; p.3); Functionalism How consciousness functions in adapting to the environment… Cohort 2020-2021 6