A History of Psychology

1. A History of Psychology

2. How prevalent are psychological disorders? • Out of every 100 people: • 13 have significant anxiety disorders • 6 have profound depression • 5 display a personality disorder • 1 is schizophrenic • 1 has Alzheimer’s disease • 10 significantly abuse alcohol or other drugs

3. Is Our Society Crazy? • Things to consider: • Americans have fewer “safety nets” and support systems than ever before • fewer stable families • Fewer religious groups • Fewer clubs • Fewer social organizations • BUT • Some psychological disorders occur at the same rate in every society • Societies throughout history have documented abnormal behavior • What we consider abnormal may be perfectly normal in another culture, past or present

4. Ancient Times

5. Explanation of Behavior • Prehistoric people probably believed abnormal behavior was caused by evil spirits • The body and the mind was constantly at battle with both good and sinister beings • Good beings produced good behavior, evil beings produced bad behavior

6. Treatment • Force the evil spirits to leave the body • Trephination – a stone instrument was used to cut a circular hole in the skull • Evil spirits would leave through the hole • Shamans also performed exorcisms to expel evil spirits

7. Ancient Greece and Rome

8. Explanation of Behavior • All behavior had natural causes • Abnormal behavior was caused by an internal medical problem • Most abnormal behavior could be explained as an imbalance of bodily fluids • 4 main bodily fluids caused most problems: yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm

9. Treatment • Make changes to your lifestyle to get rid of abnormal behavior • Change diet, exercise patterns, limit alcohol and sex, listen to soothing music • If this does not work, the excess fluids would be removed (ex: bleeding)

10. The Middle Ages

11. Explanation of Behavior • Good and bad behavior was the result of superstition and demonology • Abnormal behavior was the work of Satan • People could also be possessed by animals like spiders and wolves • The moon could also control human behavior

12. Treatment • More superstitions • Exorcism, prayer, chanting, dancing • In more severe cases, people displaying abnormal behavior would be burned, starved, tortured, scalded, whipped, or stretched • Hospitals were first used at the end of the Middle Ages

13. The Renaissance

14. Explanation of Behavior • Doctors began to believe that the mind could be sick even when the body was not • The mind and the body were separate

15. Treatment • People with abnormal behavior were often kept at home and cared for by their family • Some people visited psychic healers and created colonies of mental patients • Eventually people with mental disorders were put into asylums • Asylums were initially like hospitals, but over time they turned into virtual prisons • Filthy conditions and cruel tortures were used • Tourists would pay to gawk at those in the asylum

16. The Nineteenth Century

17. Explanation of Behavior • Phrenology- different parts of the brain were responsible for various behaviors • Psychological function was caused by physical conditions • Viruses and micro-organisms were responsible for many mental disorders

18. Phrenology

19. Treatment • Doctors returned to treating the mentally ill humanely • Medicines prescribed • Hypnotism was widely used • “Snake oil” treatments became more popular • Freud introduced psychoanalysis

20. The Early 20th Century

21. Structuralism • Created by Wilhelm Wundt • Believed consciousness could be divided into 2 categories of elements • Objective sensations (sight, taste, etc.) that accurately reflect the outside world • Subjective feelings – our emotional responses and mental images • Structuralists believe the human mind works by combining these elements to experience the world

22. Functionalism • Created by William James • Focused on how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment • They ask “what are the purposes of behavior and mental processes? What do certain behaviors or processes accomplish for a person?” • Successful actions are repeated and become habits

23. Behaviorism • Created by John Watson • Treats psychology like a natural science, focuses on actions, not on states of consciousness or thinking processes • Limited study to observable, measurable events - behavior

24. Reinforcement • Studied by B.F. Skinner • When an animal is rewarded for an action or behavior, it is more likely to repeat it • Skinner believed people learned in the same way animals do • They learn to behave in certain ways because they have been reinforced to do so

25. The Gestalt School • Gestalt means “shape” or “form” • Perceptions are more than the sums of their parts – how we perceive of the whole gives meaning to the individual parts • Gestalt psychologists believe learning is active and purposeful • You can’t break learning into individual parts like the structuralists • Learning is not mechanical like the behaviorists argue

26. Freud and Psychoanalysis • Emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts on human behavior • Freud conducted research through consultations with his patients, not in a laboratory • Most of what exists in an individual’s mind is unconscious and consists of conflicting impulses, urges, and wishes • When people are made aware of their unconscious thoughts, they can find socially acceptable ways of expressing their wishes and meeting their needs