History of Psychology

The 1st Psychologists?

• Odysseus “saw the cities of many peoples and he knew their minds”

• Psamtick I performed the first controlled psychological experiment and he accepted the results!

Darwin

• What does Darwin have to do with psychology?– Natural selection - how nature determines

which species survive - influencing both physical characteristics and behavior

– Influenced early psychologists like James– The evolutionary perspective (coming soon)– Do you have to believe in evolution to be a

psychologist?

Wilhelm Wundt - 1879

• German physiologist studied perception, the “atoms of the mind” - the simplest mental processes

• Structuralism - break down complex tasks into simpler steps

• Trained G. Stanley Hall who opened the 1st American psy laboratory

Herman Ebbinghaus - 1880’s

• Studied memory in Germany

• Found that when learning a list of words, we forget much of it very soon, but a percentage is retained in long-term memory

• After studying a foreign language, you will forget much of the vocabulary after a year or two, but will retain 30 - 40% for decades

William James - 1890’s

• Philosopher and MD

• Principles of Psychology

• Functionalism - influenced by Darwin

• Consciousness as a stream

Salt

• What’s the difference between structuralism and functionalism?

• Try using salt as a metaphor….

E.L Thorndike - 1890’s

• American who studied learning - cats trapped in a puzzle box (cats learn gradually, by repetition, not in sudden flashes of insight)

• Law of Effect - we tend to learn those things that have satisfying outcomes

• Remains influential today

Sigmund Freud

S. Freud - 1900’s

• Medical doctor in Vienna

• How to treat patients with “hysterical” illnesses?

• Studied with Charcot, the hypnotist

• 1900 - Interpretation of Dreams

• Unconscious, defense mechanism, growth in stages, psychodynamics

Freud extended

• Jung - collective unconscious

• Adler - personality - inferiority complex

• Anna Freud, Karen Horney on women

• Cultural effects

• Good science?

Behaviorists - 1910’s

• Pavlov, a physiologist, studied animals

• Watson, a PhD psychologist, saw no value in studying the “mind”

• Classical conditioning

• Skinner and operant conditioning

• Very influential even today

Humanists - 1930’s, ‘40’s, ‘50’s

• Maslow, Rogers, May

• Less interested in illness

• More interested in improving the lives of “normal” people

• Self-actualization: openness to experience, living in the moment, trusting oneself, a “good life”

Watson and Crick - 1950’s

• Description of DNA

• Boom in genetics

• How do genes affect our behavior? How come one identical twin is alcoholic and one isn’t?

1960’s and later

• Cognitive psychology - how do we think, plan, remember, judge, learn?

• Bandura - social learning• Socio-cultural psychology - how do people

around the world differ? How are they similar?

• Social psych - Milgram, Zimbardo - why do we behave in groups the way we do?

Neuroscience

• New methods of brain research allow us to watch our brain in action.

• How do we process memories?

• How do we learn to shoot a basketball?

• What’s the brain chemistry of mental illness?

PerspectivesWhy different perspectives?

• Lots of different influences on behavior

• We need theories to organize information, explain facts, predict behavior

Perspectives

• Neuroscience• Evolutionary• Behavioral genetics• Psychodynamics• Humanist• Behavioral• Cognitive• Socio-cultural

• Neuroscience – What areas of the brain are active when

swimming?– What brain chemicals are important in

depression?

• Evolutionary– How does natural selection influence

personality?– Is there an advantage to extroversion?– Why haven’t left-handers died out?– Why haven’t gays died out?

• Behavioral genetics– Are children of alcoholics likely to be alcoholic

as well?

• Psychodynamics– How would Freud explain love?– Do your childhood experiences determine your

adult personality?– Do we do things unconsciously?

• Humanist– What counts as a good life? How do we achieve

satisfaction?

• Behavioral– How do we learn to be kind? Why are boys

more aggressive than girls?

• Cognitive– How do we plan parties? Solve puzzles? How

do we judge a defendant when we sit on juries? How do we remember the days of the week?

• Socio-cultural– Why are Japanese schools different from

American schools? Why do some Asian parents arrange marriages for their children?

Big questions?

• Nature vs. nurture?

• Change vs stability?

• Rational vs irrational?

• Big picture or little picture?

Some conclusions

• Psychology is still growing as a science

• Do we have all the “right” answers?

• Genetics and brain science are the major driving forces today

• Plenty of big questions remain unanswered - what’s a good life? Is this love? What is a memory?