Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 The Evolution of Psychology

2. The Development of Psychology: From Speculation to Science • Prior to 1879 • Physiology and philosophy scholars studying questions about the mind • Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) University of Leipzig, Germany • Campaigned to make psychology an independent discipline • Established the first laboratory for the study of psychology in 1879 • Psychology was born

3. Wilhelm Wundt’s International Influence • Leipzig, the place to study psychology • Graduates of Wundt’s program set up new labs across Europe and North America • G.Stanley Hall (1846-1924), Johns Hopkins University • Established the first psychology laboratory in the U.S. in 1883 • Between 1883 and 1893, 24 new laboratories in North America

5. The Battle of the “Schools” in the U.S.: Structuralism vs. Functionalism • Two intellectual schools of thought regarding the science of psychology • Structrualism – led by Edward Titchener • Focused on analyzing consciousness into basic elements • Introspection – careful, systematic observations of one’s own conscious experience • Functionalism – led by William James • Focused on investigating the function or purpose of consciousness • Led to investigation of mental testing, developmental patterns, and sex differences • May have attracted the first women into the field of psychology

7. Who Won the Battle? • Most historians give the edge to James and the functionalists • Today, psychologists are not really categorized as structuralists or functionalists • Applied psychology and Behaviorism - descendants of functionalism • Behaviorism - early 1900’s • The next major school of thought to influence the development of psychology

8. Behaviorism: Redefining Psychology • John B. Watson (1878-1958): United States • Founder of Behaviorism • Psychology = scientific study of behavior • B.F. Skinner – No freewill • Behavior = overt or observable responses or activities • Radical reorientation of psychology as a science of observable behavior • Study of consciousness abandoned

9. BEHAVIORAL • We should look for the causes of our behavior in our environment rather than in our biology or in our minds. • They have made their greatest contribution by giving us a detailed understanding of how the environment affects learning – especially through rewards and punishments. • They only care about behaviors that impair our living, and attempt to change them. • To change behaviors, we have to recondition the client. • This was the approach started by John Watson and B.F. Skinner. • Advantages? Disadvantages? If you bit your fingernails when you were nervous, a behaviorist would not focus on calming you down, but rather focus on how to stop you from biting your nails.

10. Sigmund Freud and the Concept of the Unconscious Mind • Sigmund Freud(1856-1939): Austria • Founded Psychoanalytic (Psychodynamic) school of thought • Emphasis on unconscious processes influencing behavior • Unconscious = thoughts, memories, and desires that are outside conscious awareness

11. PSYCHODYNAMIC • The term psychodynamic comes from the belief that the mind (psyche) is a reservoir of energy (dynamics). • We are motivated primarily by the energy of irrational desires generated in our unconscious minds. • We repress many of our true feelings in our unconscious mind and are not aware of them. In order to get better, we must bring forward the feelings we have in our unconscious so that they can be dealt with. • Sigmund Freud is the best known representative of this approach. • The mind is a sort of mental boiler that holds the rising pressure of unconscious sexual and destructive desires, along with memories of traumatic events. • Stressed early childhood experiences determine later behavior • Negative view of humanity (aggression, sex) • Use dreams, hypnosis, inkblots, Freudian slips to access the unconscious If a man has intimacy issues and cannot form relationships with others, what do you think someone from this perspective may think? Perhaps they may delve into the man’s unconscious and discover that he was bullied when he were younger. The bullying may have caused fear in getting close to others.

12. Freud’s Ideas: Controversy and Influence • Behavior is influenced by the unconscious • Unconscious conflict related to sexuality plays a central role in behavior • Controversial notions caused debate/resistance • Significant influence on the field of psychology

14. REVIEW: • WHO WAS THE FOUNDER OF PSYCHOLOGY? • WUNDT • WHO STARTED THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE? • JAMES • WHAT EARLY PERSPECTIVE DID TITCHENER START? • STRUCTURALISM

15. REVIEW: • WHO STARTED THE BEHAVIORIST PERSPECTIVE? • WATSON • WHAT IS THE MAJOR THEME OF THE BEHAVIORIST PERPECTIVE? • THE ENVIRONMENT CONTROLS YOU • NAME ANOTHER MAJOR FIGURE IN THE BEHAVIORIST PERSPECTIVE? • B.F. SKINNER • WHAT IS THE MAJOR THEME OF THE PSYCHOANALITIC PERSPECTIVE? • UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVATION

16. HUMANISTIC • Carl Rogers founder, Abraham Maslow also a big name • Emerged as a revolt against behaviorism and psychoanalytic approaches • This perspective peaked in the late 1960s and ’70s, so it focused on spirituality and free will. • Our actions are hugely influenced by our self-concept and by our need for personal growth and fulfillment. We have to strive to be the best we can be (“self-actualization”). • Humanists emphasize the positive side of our nature: human ability, growth, and potential. • Believe in the inherent goodness of human beings • Emphasize the free will people have to make choices affecting their lives, and press psychology to take a greater interest in feelings and the self-concept. • Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self-concept” and our “ideal self”. • Unconditional Positive Regard

18. COGNITIVE • CHANGE THOUGHTS FIRST, BEHAVIOR WILL FOLLOW • You are what you think • Our thoughts and actions arise from the way we interpret our experiences. • Concerned with the processes of thinking and memory, attention, imagery, creativity, problem solving, and language use. • Discuss the mental processes which determine what humans can perceive, or communicate, as well as how they think. • Your mind is like a computer

19. BIOLOGICAL • Sometimes also referred to as biopsychological or the neuroscience approach. • Emphasizes how our physical makeup and the operation of our brains influence our personality, preferences, behavior patterns, and abilities. In other words, all of our feelings and behaviors have an organic root. • Search for the causes of behavior in heredity, the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system, and disease. • More likely than other views to recommend medication

20. Evolutionary • A variation on the biological view that draws on Darwin’s ideas. • Suggests that many human traits arise from hereditary characteristics established in our remote ancestral past. • Our genetic makeup – including our most deeply ingrained behaviors – were shaped by the conditions our ancestors faced thousands of years ago. • In other words, we behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors; thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors’ survival. • Advantages? Disadvantages?

21. SOCIOCULTURAL • Focus on the idea of social influence. • As a complex blend of human language, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions, culture exerts powerful influences on all of us. • Much of our behavior and our feelings are dictated by the culture we live in. Even in the same high school, behaviors can change in accordance to the various subcultures.

22. Contemporary Psychology: Cultural Diversity • Ethnocentrism – viewing one’s own group as superior and as the standard for judging • Historically: middle and upper class white males studying middle and upper class white males • 1980’s – increased interest in how cultural factors influence behavior • growing global interdependence • increased cultural diversity

24. Psychology Today: A Thriving Science and Profession • Psychology is the science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems. • Research: Seven major areas - developmental, social, experimental, physiological, cognitive, personality, and psychometrics. • Applied Psychology: Four major areas - clinical, counseling, educational/school, and industrial/organizational.