Intro. to PsychologyBy:

Muhammad Bilal Younas0323-6168636

Psychology as the study of Conscious ExperiencesThe science of psychology had its formal

beginning in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), a German psychologist set up a laboratory at the University of Leipzig to study mind/mental activities. He studied the conscious experience of mind through introspection.

Cont.Earlier he devoted attention on studying the

building blocks of the mind. Later he defined psychology as the study of conscious experiences, he found the system of psychology known as “ Structuralism”.

Psychology as the study of Conscious ExperiencesFormally defining psychology as the study of

Conscious experience ,he developed a model that came to be known as Structuralism.

Structuralism: An early approach to psychology which focused on the fundamental elements that form the foundation of thinking , consciousness, emotions , and other kinds of mental states and activities.

Using introspection , Wundt presented his trained subjects with a stimulus such as bright green object and asked them to describe it in their own words.

He thought that we can understand the structure of mind through the reports of subjects.

Functionalism:William James was the founder of this School

of thought. He was influenced by Darwin’s work and he believed that psychology should explain the functions of consciousness as it influences behavior.

Functionalist used not only introspection to study behavior but also used tests, surveys and experimental techniques to study functions of psychology as science of consciousness.

Psychology as the study of unconscious processesSigmund Freud(1856-1939), an Austrian

physician was the founder of psychoanalytical school.

He specialized in the disorders of the nervous system.

He observed that some of his patients had nothing physically wrong with them, even though they had symptoms of physical illness

Psychology as the study of unconscious processes( headaches, exhaustion, insomnia and so

forth). He suspected that mental conflicts lay behind these symptoms_ conflicts that had been pushed out of normal awareness and into a part of mind called “ unconscious”.

He believed that if unconscious conflicts could be brought into patient’s consciousness , they would

Psychology as the study of unconscious processeslose their power to control the patient’s life.He used psychoanalytic technique to uncover

unconscious conflicts of his patients. Freud helped his patients to interpret and

understand their mental problems.He called his approach to treatment as

Psychoanalysis.

Psychology as the study of unconscious processesFreud believed that early past experiences of

which a person is unaware significantly influence his current behavior.

He treated people with psychological problems.

Criticism:Freud laid strong emphasis on sex and

aggression but did not fully explain consciousness and human behavior.

Psychology as the study of Individual Differences:Individual psychology is a term used

specifically to refer to the psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychologist Alfred Adler.

The term individual psychology can also be used more generally to refer to what is more commonly known as differential psychology or the psychology of individual differences ,which study the ways in which individual people differ in their behavior.

Cont.Adler was among the co-founders of the

psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

The concept of 'individual psychology' was formulated in the process in which Adler broke away from the psychoanalytic school of Sigmund Freud.

Cont.Adler called his theory Individual Psychology

because he felt that each person was unique and no previous theory can be applied to all people.

He also emphasized the training of parents, teachers, social workers and so on to allow a child to exercise their power through reasoned decision making whilst co-operating with others.

Psychology as the study of Observable Behavior:In 1913, another American psychologist John

Watson (1878-1958) because the founder of the School of thought known as Behaviorism.

He believed that psychology should be the Science of Overt Behavior. He rejected the ideas of structuralists and Functionalists.

Cont.He called psychology as the Science of overt

behavior that can be observed and studied through objective measurement.

He believed that psychology should be hard science, like physics and chemistry.