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THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY From Aristotle to Austria to America
THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
From Aristotle to Austria to America
PERHAPS THE MOST FASCINATING AND MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE OF ALL IS THE
ONE WITHIN US.
PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED
P
sychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes.
A
professional practitioner or researchers is called a psychologist.
T
he term psychology literally means the study of the soul. It derives
from the Greek word psyche meaning “breath”, “spirit”, or “soul”
and logia, meaning the “study of.”
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
P
hilosophical interest in the mind and behavior dates back to
the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China and India.
G
reek philosophers like Thales, Socrates, and Aristotle dealt
with questions of nature versus nurture. They debated the
nature pleasure and pain, motivation, desire, free will, memory
and our perception of the world.
I
n the 8th century, Islamic physicians in Fez, Morocco, used
practices that resembled psychotherapy to treat mental
patients. That was 1000 years before Sigmund Freud
“established” the practice. Aristotle
PLATO 387 B.C.
PLATO – GREEK PHILOSOPHER
Innate ideas – Suggests
the brain is the seat of
mental processes.
EPISTEMOLOGY
W
hat is knowledge?
H
ow do we get knowledge?
W
hat justifies a belief and makes it knowledge?
W
hat is realism?
W
hat is idealism?
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
ARISTOTLE 335 B.C.FATHER OF PSYCHOLOGY
ARISTOTLE – GREEK PHILOSOPHER
Denied Innate ideas – Suggests that
the heart is the seat of mental
processes
MONISM VS. DUALISM
M
onism – A Greek idea that held that all things are linked and
inseparable, including the body and mind.
D
ualism – The body and the mind are separate. Rene Descartes, the
French philosopher, surmised that the body and the soul were separate
entities only somewhat dependent on each other.
W
hat is the nature of the soul? Descartes: “The sense perceptions and
physical passions of humans depends on the body, but awareness of
them is the job for the soul.”
1600
M
onism- Brain and Nervous System
D
ualism (Descartes)-
Body(Physical) Mind(Spiritual)
Pineal Gland
FRANCIS BACON
O
ne of the founders of modern science
H
uman mind and its failings
T
heories centered on experiment, experience, and
common sense judgment
NATIVISTS VS. EMPIRICISTS
N
ativists – Innate Truth (nature) - Descartes
E
mpiricists – Blank Slate learned through sensory
experiences (nurture) – John Locke
T
ABULA RASA
MY HEAD IS BIGGER SO I’M A BETTER PERSON THAN YOU…
T
he German physician Franz Joseph Gall introduced the
theory of Phrenology in 1808.
P
hrenology holds that traits and abilities reside in certain
parts of the brain, and
C
an be measured by bumps and indentations in the skull.
PHRENOLOGY
1859 – CHARLES DARWIN
E
volutionary process of natural selection
U
sing animals in psychological research
1879: BIRTH OF PSYCHOLOGY
W
ilhelm WundtU
niversity of Leipzig, Germany
E
stablished first Psychology Laboratory in 1879.
D
efined psychology as the study of consciousness.
He used scientific methods to study fundamental
psychological processes, such as mental reaction
times in response to visual or auditory stimuli.
TITCHENER AND STRUCTURALISM
E
dward B. TitchenerA
student of Wundt
S
tructuralism, the first major school of
thought in psychology, maintains that complex
conscious experiences can be broken down
into elemental structures or parts of
sensations and feelings.
I
ntrospection
1880: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY
W
illiam JamesF
unctionalism emphasized studying the
purpose behaviors and mental
experiences.
O
ffered the first course in Experimental
Psychology at Harvard University.
1883: FIRST AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY
G
. Stanley Hall, a student of James,
became the first Ph.D. in psychology in the
United States in 1878.
F
ounded the first psychology research
laboratory in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
F
ounded the American Psychological
Association (APA).
W
ellesley College – Teacher of
experimental psychology
H
arvard University refused to award her a
Ph.D. in psychology
R
esearched dreams, memory and
personality
1st female president of APA
T
itchener’s first doctoral student at Cornell
University
F
emale to earn the first official Ph.D. in psychology
M
ental processes in different animals
T
he Animal Mind
2nd female president of APA
STUDENTS OF WILLIAM JAMES
MARY WHITON CALKINS MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN
A TIMELINE OF PSYCHOLOGY
1889: SIGMUND FREUD
T
heory of Psychoanalysis
T
he Interpretation of Dreams.
F
reud believed glimpses of the
unconscious could be revealed
in dreams, memory blocks, slips
of the tongue and humor.
WATSON AND BEHAVIORISM1913/1920
B
ehaviorism focused on overt, observable
behaviors that could be measured and
verified.
T
he goal of Behaviorism is to discover the
fundamental principles of learning – how
behavior is acquired and modified in
response to environmental influences.
W
atson & Rosalie Raynor – Little Albert
R
ussian physiologist
C
onditioned Responses
P
avlovian dogs
O
perant conditioning
R
einforcement & Punishment
R
ats and pigeons
S
kinner Box
BEHAVIORAL THEORY
Ivan Pavlov - 1905 B.F. Skinner - 1938
ERIK ERIKSON - 1950
S
tages of Psychosocial Development
HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
C
arl Rogers - 1951H
umanistic Psychology emphasizes each
person's unique potential for psychological
growth and self-direction.
S
elf-determination, free will and the
importance of choice are important in
psychological growth.
ABRAHAM MASLOW - 1954
M
otivation & Personality
P
sychological Motives• Physiological Needs• Self-actualization
H
ierarchy of Needs
COGNITIVE REVOLUTION
H
ow does the mind process and retain information?
H
uman Vision
P
hantom Limbs
E
volution of Language
M
irror Neurons
T
heories of Autism
C
ognitive Neuroscience
WHICH SCHOOL
Psychology should study how behavior and
mental processes allows organisms to
adapt to their environment.
School/Approach?
Founder?
WHICH SCHOOL
Psychology should emphasize each
person’s unique potential for psychological
growth and self-directedness.
School/Approach?
Founder?
WHICH SCHOOL
Psychology should focus on elements of
conscious experiences, using the method
of introspection.
School/Approach?
Founder?
WHICH SCHOOL
Human Behavior is strong influenced by
unconscious sexual and aggressive
conflicts.
School/Approach?
Founder?
WHICH SCHOOL
Psychology should scientifically investigate
observable behaviors that can be measured
objectively and should not study consciousness
or mental processes.
School/Approach?
Founder?
LESSON #2
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY
B
ASIC
T
he quest for knowledge for
knowledge
L
aboratories/Natural Experiments
RESEARCH
A
PPLIED
D
esigned to solve specific,
practical problems
U
ses principles discovered
through basic research
GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
T
o describe how people and other species behave
T
o understand the causes of these behaviors
T
o predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions
T
o influence behavior through the control of its causes
T
o apply psychological knowledge in ways that enhance human welfare
NATURE – NURTURE ISSUE
BIOLOGY VS. EXPERIENCE
APPROACHESTO
PSYCHOLOGY
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH
B
IOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS – Analyze behavior in terms of brain
functioning, hormones, genetics, and evolution
P
SYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS – Cognitive, psychodynamic, and
humanistic examination of human behavior
S
OCIAL-CULTURAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS – Behavioral and Socio-cultural
examination of stimuli in physical and social environment shape human behavior
P
sychodynamic
B
ehavioral
H
umanistic
C
ognitive (Gestalt Psychology)
S
ocio-Cultural
B
iological
E
volutionary
PERSPECTIVES
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
T
he study of physical bases of human and animal
behavior including the nervous system, endocrine
system, immune system, and genetics.
R
elevant to the study of Psychology in 3 ways:• Comparative method:• Physiology• Inheritance
B
iological Psychologists believe factors such as
chromosomes, hormones and the brain have a
significant influence on human behavior.
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Adva
ncements in technology, such as the PET scan and MRIs, have allowed
researchers to investigate the structure and activity of the brain.• Neuroscientists-scientists who specialize in the study of the brain and
nervous system.
A
criticism of Biological Psychology: has a strong tendency to reductionism. • Reductionism: theories sometimes oversimplify systems that are
actually very complex.
NEUROBIOLOGICAL
B
iological processes influence behaviors
G
enetic factors influence behaviors
B
rain chemistry, nervous system, and hormones
L
ocalization of Function – Phineas Gage
EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
Applying the principles of evolution to explain psychological processes and phenomena
Charles Darwin• Wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection, his first book on evolution, in 1859.
• The Theory of Evolution -proposes the idea that individuals fight for survival• Species change over time and space. • All organisms share common ancestors with other
organisms. • Evolutionary change is gradual and slow
EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
Charles Darwin (cont.)
• In The Voyage of the Beagle Darwin formed his theory of natural selection by observing animals while traveling the world.
• Natural selection -The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring (four main components)
1.Variation 2.Inheritance3.High rate of population growth4.Differential survival and reproduction
“TREE OF LIFE”
Evolutionary Psychologists believe that all of the similarities and dissimilarities among groups of organisms are the result of the branching process creating the great “tree of life”.
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Emphasizes the importance of unconscious influences, early life experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain behavior or in treating people with psychological problems
Sigmund Freud
• Psychosexual development: psychological development in childhood takes place in 6 psychosexual stages, and each stage represents the fixation of libido (sexual drives or instincts)
• Unconscious mind: contains our eros and thanatos • Psyche: the id, the ego and the super-ego • Defense mechanisms: operate at an unconscious level
to get rid of unpleasant feelings or make good things feel better for the individual.
PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH
Erik Erikson
• Psychosocial Development: describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan
Carl Jung
• Collective Unconscious: The part of the unconscious mind that is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual's unconscious
CARL JUNG
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Psychologists using this approach believe..
• All behavior has a cause which is usually unconscious• Example: slips of the tongue
• Personality is made up of three parts: the id, ego, and super-ego.
• Behavior is motivated by two instinctual drives which come from the id:
• Eros- the sex drive and life instinct • Thanatos-the aggressive drive and death instinct
• The unconscious mind (the id and superego) are always in conflict with the conscious part of the mind (the ego)
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Methodology of a Psychodynamic Psychologist:
• Case Study: in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.
• Freud’s Little Hans• Dream Analysis: dream interpretation• Free Association: mental process by which one word or image
may spontaneously suggest another without any apparent connection
• Projective Tests: TAT, Rorschach• Slips of the Tongue (Freudian slip): an error in speech,
memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious wish, conflict, or train of thought
• Hypnosis: An artificially induced altered state of consciousness
BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVEView people and animals as controlled by their environment ,
and that they are a result of what they have learned
from the environment.
Concerned with how stimuli affects response• Stimuli-environmental factors• Response-observable behaviors
Uses two main processes1. Classical conditioning-learning by associationIvan Pavlov’s experiment where dogs learned to associate food
with the ring of a bell, eventually leading to the dogs producing saliva just at the sound of the bell.
IVAN PAVLOV
LITTLE ALBERT
Watson and Little Albert
Brave New World
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING ACTIVITY
BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY2. Operant conditioning- learning from the consequences of
behavior. Studied by B.F. Skinner.• Reinforcement- a consequence that causes a behavior to
occur with greater frequency. (can be positive of negative)• Positive reinforcement: learning to do something in order to
receive a reward• Negative reinforcement: a specific action stopping a negative
consequence • B.F. Skinner was first to conduct research in this area
• Punishment-a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less frequency. (can be positive or negative)
• Extinction-the lack of any consequence following a behavior.
Operant Conditioning Activity
COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
Focuses on the mental processes in how people process and
remember information, develop language, solve problems, and
think.
Deals with “mental” functions such as memory, perception,
attention, intelligence, etc.
Memory is compromised of 3 stages1. Encoding-information is received and attended to 2. Storage-where the information is retained3. Retrieval-information is recalled
STROOP EFFECT
Messing with your mind since 1935
Red Green Blue
Yellow
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Blue Orange Red Yellow
Purple Green Blue
Orange
Red Green Blue
Yellow
Orange Purple Yellow
Green
Blue Orange Red Yellow
Purple Green Blue
Orange
Orange Purple Yellow
Green
Blue Orange Red Yellow
Red Green Blue Yellow
Orange Purple Yellow Green
Blue Orange RedYellow
Purple Green Blue Orange
Red Green Blue Yellow
Orange Purple Yellow Green
Blue Orange RedYellow
Purple Green Blue Orange
Orange Purple Yellow Green
Blue Orange RedYellow
QUESTIONS?
D
o we read words faster than we name colors?
D
o you think children who haven’t learned to read
yet would have an easier time with this test?
What about older people? What about ESL or non-
native English speakers?
CONCLUSIONS?
R
eading is automatic… a skill we learn and becomes more
and more ingrained in us as we get older.
C
olor naming is a control process, something we must use
directed attention to accomplish.
O
ther conclusions?
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVEF
ocuses on the motivation of people to grow psychologically, the influence of interpersonal relationships on a person’s self-concept, and the importance of choice and self-direction in striving to reach self-actualization
Humanistic theories
Carl Rogers• Self actualization: our desire to achieve our highest potential
as people• each person operates from a unique frame of reference in
terms of building their self concept (one’s own beliefs about themselves)
• psychologically healthy people enjoy life to the fullest, hence, they are seen as fully functioning people
• Fully functioning person= an individual who is continually moving toward self-actualization. This type of person is open to life's experiences, has trust in himself, and is able to express his feelings and act independently.
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
A
braham Maslow• individuals
have certain needs that must be met in an hierarchical fashion from the lowest to highest.
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
T
he humanistic Perspective says that the self is
composed of concepts unique to ourselves. The self-
concept includes three components:
-Self worth (or self-esteem)
-Self-image
-Ideal self
SOCIAL-CULTURALPERSPECTIVE
Focuses on how cultural factors influence patterns of behavior
Culture=characteristics of a group of people, including attitudes, behaviors, customs and values
Major Topics in Cross-Cultural Psychology
• Emotions • Language acquisition • Child development • Personality • Social behavior • Family and social relationship
Social-cultural psychologists usually take one of two approaches
• etic approach-emphasizes similarities of cultures• emic approach-emphasizes differences between cultures
IS VIOLENCE HISTORY?
After reading the book review (Singer,
2011) of The Better Angels of our Nature
(Pinker, 2011), discuss an eclectic model to
evaluate Pinker’s thesis that “our era is less
violent, less cruel, and more peaceful than
any previous period of human existence.”
