Introduction to Psychology

Overview

What is Psychology?

Psyche/logos: study of the mind

Scientific study of mental and behavioral processes

Scientific observation; data collection; drawing conclusions

More than intuition....

Need for empirical testing

Evaluating the quality of evidence

“Expertise” should not be blindly accepted

Role of critical thinking

Goals of Psychology

To understand, describe, explore, predict, and control behavior

Basic and applied research

Social policy implications

Central Questions/Issues

Nature vs. Nurture Free will vs. determinism The role of culture The role of context The effectiveness of intervention

Subfields in Psychology

Developmental Educational Personality Social Comparative Biopsychology Cognitive Cultural

Evolutionary Gender Sports Environmental Forensic Industrial organizational Positive/peace

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Sigmund Freud: (1856-1939) “Father of Psychology”

Role of the unconscious Repressed conflicts

Id/ego/superego psychoanalysis

Behaviorism (1913)

John Watson & B.F. Skinner Study of observable behavior only

Thought/cognition not studied- “unscientific”

Associations between stimuli Reinforcements and punishments

Behaviorism

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, and yes- beggar man and thief” --John Watson

Gestalt (early 1900s)

Gestalt: German for whole; pattern; form Max Wertheimer

Study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not individual parts or pieces

Example: holistic view of personality

“the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Humanistic

Abraham Maslow; Carl Rogers Subjective experience

Human potential

Innate goodness

Self-actualization

Existential

Rollo-May; Frankl Search for meaning Questions of existence; what it means to be

human Free will Universal human themes- death, isolation, love,

etc. Humans nature: neutral

Eclectic

Merging ideas from several approaches