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1-1a Psychology Is the Scientific Study of Mental Processes and Behavior. Derived from the Greek words psyche, meaning
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2. 1-1a Psychology Is the Scientific Study of Mental Processes and Behavior Derived from the Greek words psyche, meaning “mind,” and logos, meaning “the study of.”
Scientific methods are used to understand how humans and other living creatures think, feel, and act.
People often confuse psychology with psychiatry.
Psychiatry is a branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. The specialty area in psychology that is similar is known as clinical psychology.
3. 1-1b Most Psychologists Believe That There Are Lawful Patterns of Behavior The Greek philosopher Democritus was a proponent of determinism.
In contrast, the seventeenth-century French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes rejected determinism and argued instead that people have free will.
Most psychologists believe in what could be called probabilistic determinism (Gillett, 2001).
Psychological phenomena occur with a regularity that is not random and can be reasonably understood using scientific methods.
4. 1-2a Wilhelm Wundt and Structuralism Sought to Identify the Components of the Conscious Mind Wundt is considered the “world’s first psychologist.”
Wundt’s method for studying the mind was known as introspection.
Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener, later named Wundt’s model of consciousness structuralism.
Structuralism sought to identify the components of the conscious mind.
5. 1-2b William James and Functionalism Analyzed How the Conscious Mind Helps Us Adapt to Our Environment William James was among the first American students to visit Wundt in Leipzig.
His approach to psychology came to be called functionalism.
Functionalism was the study of how the conscious mind helps humans survive and successfully adapt to their environment.
In 1890, James published Principles of Psychology.
6. 1-2c Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis Examined How the Unconscious Mind Shapes Behavior Freud was a medical doctor, so he is considered a psychiatrist and not a psychologist.
The unconscious mind is inaccessible to a person’s conscious awareness.
Freud’s emphasis on the unconscious mind stood in sharp contrast to Wundt and James’s studies of conscious experience.
Psychoanalysis is an approach used to study how the unconscious mind shapes behavior.
7. 1-2d John Watson and Behaviorism Investigated Observable Behavior Watson founded the school of psychology known as behaviorism.
His research caused him to question the three current schools of psychology that analyzed the structure, content, and function of the mind.
Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that studies observable behavior, rather than hidden mental processes.
Underlying behaviorism was a philosophy known as logical positivism.
8. 1-2e Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Psychology Studied How the Mind Organizes Stimuli into Coherent Wholes Wertheimer and his colleagues founded the Gestalt School of Psychology as an alternative to structuralism.
Gestalt psychology is an approach to psychology that studies how the mind actively organizes stimuli into coherent wholes.
Kurt Lewin and his students were instrumental in shaping the development of a new area of specialization—social psychology.
9. Figure 1-1 Gestalt Psychology Stressed That Perception Strives toward a Complete Form (a) These four dots are likely to be perceived as a square. (b) However, if three of the dots become twice as big while the fourth remains the same size, the four dots are likely to be perceived as a triangle (of larger dots) and a single dot.
10. 1-2f Despite Discrimination, Many Women and Ethnic Minorities Were Pioneers in Psychology Mary Calkins was the first female president of the American Psychological Association.
Margaret Washburn was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology (Furomoto, 1992).
Gilbert Jones was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology (Guthrie, 1976).
Inez Prosser was the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology.
11. 1-2f Despite Discrimination, Many Women and Ethnic Minorities Were Pioneers in Psychology (cont.) Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s research was instrumental in shaping the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Brown v. Board of Education.
George Sanchez, an Hispanic psychologist, was an early critic of using culturally biased psychological tests in assessing Mexican-American children.
John Garcia pioneered research on taste aversion in the 1960s.
12. 1-3 Contemporary Perspectives and Areas of Specialization Of the five early schools of psychology:
Only psychoanalysis and behaviorism have survived as contemporary perspectives. However, each approach has been altered from its original form.
The influence of Gestalt psychology can be found in the areas of cognitive and social psychology.
Contemporary perspectives of psychology can be organized into one of seven different perspectives:
Psychoanalytic
Behaviorist
Humanistic
Cognitive
Neuroscience
Evolutionary
Sociocultural
13. 1-3a The Psychoanalytic and Behaviorist Perspectives Still Influence Theory and Research Early psychological perspectives–psychoanalysis and behaviorism–still exist today.
The unconscious mind and early childhood experiences continue to be central to the psychoanalytic perspective.
Contemporary psychoanalysts place less emphasis on sexual drives and more emphasis on cultural experiences than Freud.
Contemporary psychoanalysts emphasize Erik Erikson’s (1980) life-span focus on personality development.
14. 1-3a The Psychoanalytic and Behaviorist Perspectives Still Influence Theory and Research (cont.) Contemporary behaviorism was shaped by the work of B. F. Skinner, who stressed the consequences of rewards and punishment on behavior.
Rewards tend to increase the likelihood of behavior.
Punishment tends to decrease the likelihood of behavior.
15. 1-3b The Humanistic Perspective Highlights Personal Growth and Conscious Decision Making Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were the primary architects of the humanistic perspective.
Like William James, both Rogers and Maslow contended that psychology should study people’s subjective mental experiences.
The humanistic perspective stresses people’s innate capacity for personal growth and their ability to make conscious choices.
16. 1-3b The Humanistic Perspective Highlights Personal Growth and Conscious Decision Making (cont.) Positive psychology has emerged in the past 10 years and is a direct descendant of the humanistic perspective.
Positive psychology is a scientific approach to studying optimal human functioning and asserts that the normal functioning of human beings cannot be accounted for within purely negative frames of reference.
Goals of positive psychology include teaching people to avoid harmful self-deceptions while still maintaining a sense of realistic optimism about life.
17. 1-3c The Cognitive Perspective Analyzes How the Mind Organizes and Interprets Experiences The cognitive perspective attempts to understand behavior by studying how the mind organizes perceptions, processes information, and interprets experiences.
Principal leaders of this “cognitive revolution” in psychology were George A. Miller and Ulric Neisser.
Cognitive psychologists contend that the computer is a useful metaphor for the human mind (Harnish, 2002).
18. 1-3d The Neuroscience Perspective Focuses on the Nervous System The neuroscience perspective attempts to understand behavior by examining the nervous system.
Neuroscientists conduct a good deal of research on animals with simpler brains.
The nature-nurture debate has been a classic controversy in psychology.
19. 1-3e The Evolutionary Perspective Studies How Behavior Can Be Explained by Natural Selection The evolutionary perspective is partly based on the writings of Charles Darwin and the principle of natural selection.
Natural selection is the process by which organisms with inherited traits best suited to the environment reproduce more successfully than less well-adapted organisms.
The slow genetic changes that occur in a species due to natural selection result in the evolution of the species.
20. 1-3e The Evolutionary Perspective Studies How Behavior Can Be Explained by Natural Selection (cont.) The best-known documented example of natural selection is the peppered moth Biston betularia, a common insect in Britain.
The key feature of the evolutionary process involves the degree to which an organism’s inborn traits help it adapt to its current environment.
Individuals play a role in evolution by interacting with the environment and having their genes screened by natural selection.
21. Figure 1-2 How Natural Selection Works
22. 1-3f The Sociocultural Perspective Studies How Behavior Is Shaped by Social and Cultural Forces The sociocultural perspective emphasizes social and cultural influences on behavior (Gripps, 2002; Haight, 2002).
Culture refers to the total lifestyle of a particular social group, including the ideas, symbols, preferences, and material objects that culture members share.
Individualism and collectivism
Individualism is a philosophy of life that stresses the priority of personal goals over group goals.
Collectivism is a philosophy of life that stresses the priority of group needs over individual needs.
23. 1-3f The Sociocultural Perspective Studies How Behavior Is Shaped by Social and Cultural Forces (cont.) Are the sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives compatible?
The sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives offer different explanations for human behavior.
A growing number of psychologists believe that cultural and evolutionary forces operate simultaneously in shaping thought and action (Plomin & McClearn, 1993).
24. 1-3g Psychology’s Subfields Can Be Distinguished by Their Emphasis on Research versus Application The goals of research psychologists are to acquire psychological knowledge primarily through use of the scientific method and to teach this knowledge to students.
Applied psychologists use existing psychological knowledge to solve and prevent problems.
25. 1-3g Psychology’s Subfields Can Be Distinguished by Their Emphasis on Research versus Application (cont.) Psychobiology examines physiological processes, especially in the brain.
Developmental psychology studies the physical, cognitive, and social changes that occur throughout the lifespan.
Experimental psychology studies basic psychological processes, such as sensation, perception, learning, motivation, emotion, and states of consciousness.
26. 1-3g Psychology’s Subfields Can Be Distinguished by Their Emphasis on Research versus Application (cont.) Comparative psychology studies the similarities and differences in physiology, behavior, and abilities of different species.
Cognitive psychology studies all aspects of thinking, including problem solving, decision making, memory, reasoning, and language.
Personality psychology studies how people are influenced by relatively stable internal traits.
Social psychology studies how people are influenced by others.
27. 1-3g Psychology’s Subfields Can Be Distinguished by Their Emphasis on Research versus Application (cont.) Clinical psychology diagnoses and treats people with psychological disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia.
Counseling psychology diagnoses and treats people with personal problems that do not involve psychological disorders, such as marriage counseling and career planning.
28. 1-3g Psychology’s Subfields Can Be Distinguished by Their Emphasis on Research versus Application (cont.) Industrial/organizational psychology focuses on ways to select, motivate, and evaluate employees, as well as to improve management structure and working conditions.
Educational and school psychology assesses and treats both students and the educational environment in order to facilitate children’s learning and adjustment in school.
29. Figure 1-3 The Percentage of Ph.Ds Awarded in Psychology by Specialty Area
