GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Instructor: Mr. Mario Arroyo

2. Psychology- derived from the Greek words psyche and logos meaning soul and study. • to the Greeks, psychology is simply a study of the soul. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the behavior of living organisms with special attention to human behavior.

3. It is chiefly concerned with what makes people behave as they do. • It is a science because it is systematic and empirical and it is dependent upon measurement.

4. Observation of behavior may be UNAIDED or AIDED with instruments • BEHAVIOR- activities that can be observed objectively

5. Students’ First Responses/Impression about Psychology • Fear, because of coming in contact with something strange. • Indifference, because it is not practical or functional. • Hesitation or reluctance because of the hearsay that the subject is quite difficult.

6. Psychology is a very practical science • Man uses psychology without being conscious of doing so. • There is nothing much more interesting in this world than to study oneself and one’s fellowmen. • Whatever we say, whatever we feel- has a psychological element

7. WHY SHOULD PSYCHOLOGY BE CAREFULLY UNDERSTOOD AND APPRECIATED? • It tells a man what he is, what makes a man a man and not a plant or brute. • It paves the way for better relationships among men, because if a man fully understands himself, it will not be hard for him to understand people. • It tells him what powers he has; powers which if judiciously developed will perfect him.

8. INTERESTS OF PSYCHOLOGISTS • Difference between individuals • Heredity • Intelligence • Nature and development of personality • Group behavior • Learning • Emotion • Environment

9. HEREDITY- is defined as the transmission of the characteristics of parents to their offspring through the genes. ENVIRONMENT • internal (the lymph fluids) • external (air, tree) • social (including the other human beings)

10. GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY • Describe the behavior • Understand the behavior • Control the behavior • Prediction-desirable behavior

11. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

12. STRUCTURALISM • developed in Germany in the 19th century. • Structuralists were primarily concerned with discovering the structure of the mind. • Structuralists thought of psychology as a study of conscious experience.

13. Sought to discover the physiological bases of various types of conscious experience, with emphasis on the knowledge of body structures. • They believed that the mind is made up of building blocks in the forms of various types of sensation and perception, and that these building blocks could be discovered through introspection or looking into one’s own mind.

14. 2. FUNCTIONALISM • focused on the operations of conscious activity. (thinking, learning) • the functionalists redefined psychology as “the study of man’s adjustments to his environment. • as the center of psychological study shifted to the United States, anew school, known as functionalism arose. • The most important contribution of functionalism was changing the focus of psychology to learning, motivation, and thinking and veered away from the structuralists emphasis on individual perception and sensations.

15. 3. BEHAVIORISM • Watson resolved to make psychology a “respectable” science. To this end, he insisted that psychologists had to use objective methods and study observable behavior. • Defines psychology as the science of behavior and not of consciousness. • Denies the existence of instinct or of inborn tendencies, but insists on learned behavior. • The behaviorists believe that there can be no response without a stimulus.

16. 4. ASSOCIATIONISM • the theory that the mind learn by combining simple irreducible elements through association. • Concerned with the factors of learning such as remembering and thinking. • Starts with the philosophical concept that learning is the formation of bonds or connections in the nervous system. • “man is the greatest learner because he makes the greatest number of connections.”

17. 5. PRAGMATISM • philosophical movement that have had a major impact on American culture from the late 19th century. • Pragmatism calls for ideas and theories to be tested in practice, by assessing whether acting upon the idea or theory produces desirable or undesirable results.

18. 6. HUMANISTIC SCHOOL • a fairly recent development in psychology is a point of view known as humanism. • Humanism is sometimes called the “third force” in psychology

19. 7. GESTALT SCHOOL • Its fundamental principle states that the whole is more than the sum of all its parts. • They put more importance on the study of the over-all pattern of any experience than the specific elements which made it up. • Maintains that psychology should study the whole pattern of behavior or experience or the perception of organized configuration.

20. Its fundamental principle states that the whole is more than the sum of all its parts. • Gestalt psychologists contributed much to the understanding of learning, memory and problem-solving.

21. 8. PSYCHOANALYSIS • this school which Freud started exerted much influence on personality theory and on methods of treating personality disorders. • Method of treatment called “psychoanalysis” that emphasizes detecting an individual’s unconscious motivation.