Introduction to Psychology

1. Introduction to Psychology Chapter 1 Dr. Kerris Dillon

2. What is psychology? http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/349_fall07/final5/Interest_Theory/analysis.htm PARTNER DISCUSSION/CLASSROOM DISCUSSION What does this cartoon say about psychology? What is the emotion of this cartoon? What do you think is the broader message?

3. AristotleThe Beginnings… • The earliest forms of psychology are found in the writings of the Greeks, specifically Aristotle. • Aristotle was born in 384 B.C.E. • Aristotle was very interested in plants and animals and how their systems (organ) worked. He wanted to know how these systems reproduced. • Aristotle watched human beings interact and took note of their reasoning, memory, how they learned, and their communications. http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/

4. AristotleThe Beginnings • In Greek, the word “psyche” means “mind”. The word “logos” means “the study of”. • Aristotle believed that if a human being was going to learn and know the essence of something, they would need to understand it using all of their senses. • Aristotle believed that observation was the most important component of knowing something. • Later, psychological studies will use this idea of observation as part of experimentation and learning concepts using the scientific method. *Play video of Aristotle*

5. The Definition of Psychology Which three words from the definition of psychology do you feel are the most important. Why?

6. What are the goals of Psychology? • Pair/Share Discussion • Why do psychologists devote their professional • lives to the study of behavior and mental processes? • What are they trying to accomplish?

7. What are the goals of psychologists? If you thought there was an emergency, would you help? • Describe – when a psychologist conducts/reads a study, they are able to gather information that helps human beings understand their behavior and their mental processes. • Predict – in some circumstances, psychologists are able to predict how human beings are going to act in the future. • Understand – all sciences (social, natural, and physical) are essentially theories concerning different phenomenon. What we (psychologists) know might change given time. • Influence – psychologists want to make a difference in the betterment of human life. Video

8. Founding the Science of Psychology WilhelmWundt • Wilhelm Wundt was the first psychologist to launch a separate field of psychology away from other scientific fields: physics, biology, anatomy, etc. • Wilhelm Wundt launched the first laboratory of psychology in Leipzig, Germany. • Many scientists worked together to found the science of psychology. • The next section will detail most of the early psychologists that helped to make psychology what it is, today. Wundt’s Laboratory

9. The early psychologists attempted to study conscious experiences • Most scientists wanted to study the basic structure of the human mind and the consciousness. • Wundt and Edward Titchener wanted to figure out the simple ideas about consciousness. Not only did they want to understand consciousness better, but they wanted to organize their data. This system of identification became known as structuralism. • Wundt and Edward Titchener used the method of introspection to help them find how human beings were categorizing their own stimulus. We are going to go around the room and I want you to give me a word that you could associate with this cat.

10. Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Psychology • Max Wertheimer was also interested in consciousness. His ideas were much different from the Structuralists. Max Wertheimer decided to lead a group known as Gestalt psychologists. Gestalt is a German word that means “whole”. • The Gestalt psychologists did not feel that consciousness could be broken down into parts. The famous saying of the Gestalt psychologists was, “The whole is different from the sum of its parts.” • Examples are provided in the textbook, pages 6-7.

11. Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Psychology • The phi phenomenon is used quite a bit in psychology to show that the whole of something is very different from the some of its parts. Movies will often try to trick viewers by using still images and move them slightly to give the character a look like he or she is walking.

12. William James and Functionalism • William James was the first person to teach a psychology course in 1875. He also wrote the first psychology textbook. • William James was a huge fan of Charles Darwin and his work. Darwin believed that all species adapt to their environment. James wanted to see if this was true of the human mind. • James believed that everything was mind was capable of doing (thinking, learning, memory, imagining, etc.) was an adaptation for humans to survive. This is why his theories are part of functionalism. • James thought the mind should be studied as a whole and thought of human consciousness as a “flowing stream”.

13. Studies of Memory: Hermann Ebbinghaus and Mary Whiton Calkins • Hermann Ebbinghause created his own studies in 1885, in which he was the subject. He was fascinated by the concept of memory and created studies on himself. He constructed meaningless letter combinations so he was not being influenced by prior knowledge. • Ebbinghause concluded that he lost 50% of anything he tried to learn within 20 minutes. If any more loss of knowledge was going to happen, it was going to occur within the next 9 hours. • Ebbinghaus recognized that personal memories were different than useless syllables. Hermann Ebbinghaus CLASSROOM EXPERIMENT: HTUV SPTX IWSH PRTA

14. Studies of Memory: Hermann Ebbinghaus and Mary Whiton Calkins • Mary Whiton Calkins was a student of Ebbinghaus. • Calkins decided to study colored numbers and participant’s recall of the numbers. Once the participants had looked at the colored numbers, the numbers were pulled away and the colors remained. • She called this method the “paired associates” method and this was studied by many researchers after she had passed.

15. Cognitive Psychology • Psychologists tend not to use the word “functions” anymore, but use the word “cognition”. • Cognition – refers to all intellectual processes such as perceiving, believing, thinking, remembering, knowing, etc. • Cognitive psychology is influenced by functionalism and Gestalt psychology. • There will be many times in this class that cognitive psychology is discussed. The way human beings think is important.

16. Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory • In the late 1980’s, a group of scientists influenced by Charles Darwin wanted to study how “survival instincts” are useful to human beings. • These scientists were known as Behaviorists. • Behaviorism – it is not possible to study conscious experience scientifically. These scientists believe that learning is from experience within the environment.

17. Ivan Pavlov - Behaviorism • Ivan Pavlov kind of “fell into” behaviorism. He was studying the digestion of dogs when he noticed something strange. Him and other scientists had implanted tubes into the mouths of dogs to study the reflexive processes of saliva. • Pavlov noticed that the dogs not only salivated when they were presented with food, but when the feeders entered the door. The dogs had learned to associate a neutral stimulus (the feeder) with the food. • Pavlov wanted to make sure that his theory was correct. He first used a clicking metronome and then rewarded the dogs with food. Eventually, he could present them with just the metronome and the dogs would salivate.

18. Ivan Pavlov - Behaviorism • Ivan Pavlov had discovered “conditioning” without even realizing it. • In this case, an inherited reflex (salivation) can be triggered by a neutral stimulus (feeder – or metronome). “Conditioning” became very important to Pavlov and he won a Nobel Prize due to his work.

19. John B. Watson and Margaret Floy Washburn • In the 1920’s-30’s, behaviorists Margaret Floy Washburn and John B. Watson began reading the studies of Pavlov. • Washburn and Pavlov knew that conditioning could affect many other elements in human history. • They believed that human behavior was a formation of classical conditioning. They went beyond physiological reflexes and wanted to show that human behavior could be conditioned.

20. Social Learning Theory • Albert Bandura is considered another behaviorist. He came up with the concept of the Social Learning Theory. • He said that what we (as human beings learn), is learned from other people in society, including family, friends, and culture.

21. Nature of the “Un-concious Mind”Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis • While many scientists were focusing on direct behaviors that could be studied in a laboratory, a few scientists began looking at the mental processes that human beings are UNAWARE of. These scientists wanted to know about the unconscious mind. • Sigmund Freud was an Austrian doctor who looked at neurology (the study of the nervous system). He was in charge of many patients and began noticing that many of their ailments seemed to be psychological versus physical.

22. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis • Freud also began important work in the 1890’s in which he emphasized the “unconscious” mind. • He believed that psychological problems stem from motives that were created early in childhood and were generally of a sexual/aggressive nature. Generally, a person would not be aware of these “hidden” motives of the unconscious. • Freud’s theory is known as psychoanalysis. Many scientists do credit Freud with looking beyond observable behaviors into the part of the mind that is unconscious.

23. Humanistic Psychology and the Unconscious Mind • In the 1950’s, another movement came about in psychology that began looking at the “unconscious” part of the human mind. This was called humanistic psychology. • Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Viktor Frankl said that there were unconscious and conscious at force within the human being. These individuals believed that human beings could determine their own fate through conscious decisions that they make. The humanists believed that the unconscious often defeated the human being in making good and conscious decisions for ourselves. Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers

24. Humanistic Psychology and the Unconscious Mind • The Humanists believe that the self-concept is very important for human beings. It helps us to make good decisions. • Humanists think that society often pushes against us in order to have a healthy self-concept. • Media often portrays beautiful, witty, athletic, and intelligent people as worth loving. Mostly people are clumsy, not great with all academic areas, an average looking. • Humanists think that consciousness is often bombarded with messages that we are not good enough. This means that most people do not have an accurate self-concept. This often makes us anxious and unable to make decisions. This is why the conscious and the unconscious are both important to look at. Viktor Frankl

25. Psychometrics: Alfred Binet • In the 1890’s, the Ministry of Education in Paris wanted to be able to separate intellectually gifted children from average students and separate them into different schools. They wanted to make this decision when the children were young, but still be fair. • Alfred Binet was a professor at the University of Sorbonne and took a set of test questions (memory tasks, math problems, definitions, etc.) that could be answered by most children and adapted them for younger children. This was the first intelligence test created and later this test was translated and used in the U.S. • Today, this test is known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Binet’s work now has a branch of psychology that works with measuring intelligence, career direction, and personality. This was known as psychometrics. • Psychometrics – measuring mental functions.

26. Neuroscience Perspective • In 1894 – a man by the name of Santiago Ramon y Cajal was the first to give a description about neurons – the cells that are part of the nervous system as well as the brain. He won a Nobel Prize in 1906. • He believed that the brain was made up of a bunch of neurons that interacted with one another in order to communicate and affect human behavior. • Neuroscience perspective – studies the structures of the human brain and their role in emotion, speaking, reasoning, etc. These scientists also want to determine what the role of the brain is in intelligence, personality, emotions, temperament, and so forth. • Neuroscientists generally study biology and psychology as they are generally influenced by the work of Charles Darwin.

27. Sociocultural Perspective • This psychological perspective gained momentum in the 1980’s. This perspective is derived from social anthropology. • Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict visited various traditions and cultures in the 1930’s. They described the similarities and differences of these cultures. • The sociocultural approach to psychology believes that our personalities come from attitudes, beliefs, and skills learned from others. This approach talks about the differences between human beings as much of psychology talks about the similarities. They look at the differences based on gender, age, ethnicity, and physical disabilities. Margaret Mead Ruth Benedict

28. Cultural Relativity • The sociocultural perspective promotes cultural relativity. This means that instead of judging other cultures as inferior, this perspective encourages us to open our minds to various cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and ethnic groups. • The sociocultural perspective reminds us that not all members of a given culture, ethnic group, or gender are alike. Example – not all Asians are short. • There are psychologists that work in international business and need to understand the differences given culture. Small gestures in the U.S. can be insulting in another country. • In 1989, 20% of all youth were members of a minority group. • By 2000, the percentage increased to 33% and is still on the rise.

29. Sociocultural Factors in the History of Psychology • Sociocultural factors often influence the beliefs of psychologists. This study was founded by white western males. • The prejudices of the 19th century were a sociocultural factor that played an important role in the thinking of early psychologists. • In 1882, Christine Ladd-Franklin completed the her doctorate in psychology from John Hopkins University. John Hopkins University did not give her an actual degree because at the time it was an all-male institution. Most women found it very difficult to gain admission to a graduate program. If they did go, they were rarely given a teaching job.

30. Sociocultural Factors in the History of Psychology • Mary Whiton Calkins also earned a doctorate from Harvard University, but was never given a degree because she was a woman. • The first African American professor of psychology in the U.S. was Gilbert Jones. He obtained a degree from Germany in 1901 at the University of Jena. • Inez Prosser was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in the U.S. • Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark conducted research on African American children and their self-concepts and was given to the Supreme Court to help decide the Brown v. Board of Education. The research proved that segregation made minorities feel inferior to the majority. Because of his work, Kenneth Clark in 1971 was elected president of the American Psychological Association. • Women now outnumber men that are graduating with psychology degrees, but men still have advanced professional ranks and are in advanced positions of authority. Clark & Clark

31. Basic and Applied Areas in Modern Psychology • Contemporary psychologists are divided into basically two groups: those who study basic topics and those that work in applied areas. • About 20% of psychologists work in the basic areas of psychology. Most of these individuals follow a specific type of psychology. These individuals tend to work in universities and colleges where they do research and teach. These individuals also work in research, government institutions, as well as other relevant places.

32. The Basic Experimental areas of Psychology • Biological psychology – research and experiment on human organs, the nervous system, and other bodily functions. They also study animals in order to understand people better. • Sensation and Perception – looks at how organs deal with sensations and how these sensations are interpreted. • Learning and Memory – look at learning and memory in order to improve these aspects. • Cognition (cognitive psychologists) – study perceiving, creating, imagining, problem solving, listening, planning, etc. • Developmental psychology – look at how humans change within the lifespan. • Motivation and emotion – look at extreme human behavior like hunger, sex, the need for achievement, and the need for love and relationships. • Personality – looks at how humans behave in order to create their own personalities. • Social Psychology – study how individuals can influence others’ behaviors. They also study prejudice given others as well as the effect of relationships. • Sociocultural Psychology – look at ethnicity, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.

33. Applied Areas of Modern Psychology • Clinical psychology – these individuals try to treat serious emotional and behavioral problems. • Counseling psychology – deal with individuals that are struggling in their marriages, family, or career choices. • Educational and school psychologists – look at how children learn and test students given I.Q. or personality. They also work with teachers in order to help advocate for the student. • Industrial and organizational psychology – looks at matching people to a career, training workers, relating to coworkers, and training. • Health psychology – look at the effects of stress given human health. They attempt to teach people how to relax, stop bad habits, eat healthy, and exercise.

34. Relationship between Psychology and Psychiatry • Psychiatrists have completed medical school and have completed residency training in psychiatry. They will prescribe medications to help people. • Clinical psychology is most similar to psychiatry. These psychologists have attended graduate school in psychology rather than medical school and have obtained their Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy) or Psy.D. (doctor of psychology) and have completed an internship in clinical psychology. These psychologists cannot prescribe drugs, but there has been a movement to change this.

35. What We Know about Human Behavior: Some Starting Places • This is a list that most psychologists would, agree on given human behavior. • 1) Human beings are biological creatures – humans tend not to understand the effects of biology on human behavior. All humans are given certain abilities, but can be stretched and strengthened depending upon a person’s motivations. • 2) Every person is different, yet all people are much the same – psychologists study the ways that people are different, but human beings are more alike than we know. • 3) People can be understood fully only in the context of their cultures and other social influences – we are often the product of our environments. It is impossible to fully understand someone without understanding their culture.

36. What We Know about Human Behavior: Some Starting Places • 4) Human lives are a continuous process of change – we move from helpless infants to maturation into old age. Every single time we learn something new, our lives change. • 5) Behavior is motivated – human beings want to meet their needs. Not all motives are selfish, though. Some of us do things to help ourselves feel as though we are accomplishing something. • 6) Humans are social animals – as they like to gather and experience each other in groups. Humans have been able to adapt and reproduce because we get along. Most people need to have relationships with one another. • 7) People play an active part in creating their experiences – most psychologists believe that human beings play a role in their own choices. Some people seem to like stress whereas others do not. • 8) Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive – sometimes humans behave in ways that are not positive to ourselves and others. Some humans are too aggressive whereas others are too timid. These behaviors can be changed for the better.