Psychology: Unit 1-Psychology's History and Approaches

Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior: Anything that you do that can be observed.

Mental Processes: Internal experiences such as thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions.

Systematic Study: Systematic collection and examinations of data (empirical evidence) to support or disprove hypothesis (predictions) rather than depending on common sense.

Key Players in the History of Psychology

-Roots of psychology can be traced back 2000 years ago to the early philosophers, biologists, and physiologists of ancient Greece.

-Hippocrates: Greek physiologists that thought the mind or soul resided in the brain.

• He believed that it was not composed of physical substance.
• This is called mind-body-dualism---seeing the mind and body as 2 different things that interact.

-Plato (350 BC): Greek philosopher that believed that who we are and what we know are innate  (inborn)

-Aristotle: Plato's student believed that who we are and what we know are acquired from experience.

• Believed in monism (seeing mind and body as different aspects of the sane thing)

-John Locke: Believed that knowledge comes from observation and what we know comes from experience.

• Coined the term "tabularasa"-blank slate
• "The mind is like a blank slate in which the environment writes upon."

-Rene Descartes: Believed that what we know is innate.

• "I think therefore I am."

Nature: Certain elementary ideas are innate to the human mind; not gained through experience

• "Men are born, not made."

Nurture: Anything that we know, we have learned through experience.

The Birth of Psychology

-Wilhelm Wundt (1789; University of Leipzig)

• Psychology's first experiment, birth of science
• Established first psychological lab
• Introspection (looking inward)

-Edward Titchenen

Structuralism

-Wubdt, Titchener, hall (founder and first president of APA)

-Uses introspection to explore the structural elements of the mind

-Break down mental processes into most basic parts

Functionalism

-A reaction to structuralism

-Sought to explore the structural elements of the mind

• How do they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish?
• Focused on purpose of behavior

-William James influenced by Darwin

• First professor of psych at Harvard
• Whats the purpose of behavior?

The 7 Perspectives

-Biological

• The interaction between anatomy and behavior
• What affects your body affects your behavior

-Behavioral

• Behavior is determined by your environment and experience, not genetics
• The mind and mental events are not important because they cannot be observed (feelings do not matter)
• Everything is trained and learned, nothing is born
• Key People: Watson, Skinner, Pavlov

-Cognitive (thinking)

• Key People: Jean Proget

-Evolutionary

• Behavior can be best explained in terms of how adaptive that behavior is to our survival
• We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors
• Thus, those behavior must have helped ensure our ancestral survival
• Natural Selection: we have evolved over long periods of time into what we are today
• key person: Charles Darwin

-Humanistic

• Argue that humans have unique qualities of behavior different from other animals.
• Free will and potential for personal growth guide behavior and mental processes.
• Emphasize the importance of feelings, love, and acceptance.
• View human nature as positive.
• Focus on how our environment influences our growth potential and need for love and acceptance.
• Key People: Abraham Naslow and Carl Rogers

-Socio Cultural

• Says that much of your behavior and your feelings are dictated by the culture you live in

-Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic

• The interaction between the conscious and unconscious mental process that we do not normally have access to but are influenced by) shape behavior. 

If you need further help, use this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QvnvRtjSZQ