The Old World’s Fascination with Abnormality: Trephining/Trepanning

• drilling holes into the brain to release “something” – evil spirits, etc•Used to “cure” mental illness

Evidence of trephining found all over the ancient world:•Ancient Egypt•Far and Middle East•India•Aztecs, Inca•Brazilian tribes•South Seas•North and Equatorial Africa

1880’s-1950’s

Age of the LobotomyAge of the Lobotomy

Medieval thru Renaissance

• Emergence of science

• Emergence of humanism– Thinking transitioned from god/spirit centered

to human centered

• Grünewald’s The Temptation of St. Anthony

• Human qualities of temptation and evil

John Locke 1632-1704

• Empiricism

• Knowledge based on sensations and reflection

• Tabula Rasa argues NURTURE over nature

Max Wertheimer 1842-1910

• Gestalt Psychology (gestalt =German for a form or a whole)

– Emphasizes human tendency to integrate pieces of information to meaningful wholes

William James 1842-1943

Add to your notes his famous work:

Principles of Psychology

Names and Famous Milestones to Know

• Galileo – method of inquiry (transition to human-centered)

• Broca – French, discovers left area of frontal lobe in charge of language (called Broca’s area)

• G Stanley Hall – adolescence• Hermann Ebbinghaus – forgetting curve/memory• Titchener – structuralism (introspection)• Sigmund Freud – psychoanalysis• Wertheimer and Koffka – Gestalists• Galen – first biochemist in the field• Ivan Pavlov – conditioning (dog drool)• Watson - behaviorist

Approaches to Psychology:The Big 5

Psych

odynamic

Hum

anis

t

Cognit

iveBiolo

gica

l

Beh

avio

ral

Approaches to Psychology

• Why do people do that?

• Why do people behave that way?

These are the 2 questions we are going to be answering per approach… keep them in mind!

BIOLOGICAL/NEUROBIOLOGICAL

• Brain, body, genetics

Answer: People do it because their brain/body chemicals, or lack thereof, cause them to do it

GENETIC-BEHAVIORAL

• Within groups, what is nature and what is nurture

Answer: People do it because their genetic predispositions cause them to do it

EVOLUTIONARY/SOCIOBIOLOGICAL

• Which behaviors evolved to get genes to the next generation

Answer: People do it because their internal drive to survive/pass on their DNA makes them do it

SOCIOCULTURAL

• Which behaviors derive from group membership

Answer: People do it because their culture/ethnic group/country/religion/peer group/family/society taught them that this is the way you do it

HUMANISTIC/HUMANISM

• Free will, human growth and potential

Answer: People ALL have the ability to do it – everyone can choose to do it (agency in its pure form)

PSYCHOANALYTICAL/PSYCHODYNAMIC

• Behavior is driven by unconscious impulses (sex and aggression)

Answer: People do IT (fight, have sex) because it is all they ever unconsciously think about doing

COGNITIVE

• Thinking – how the brain acquires, stores, processes, and retrieves information

• Answer: Anyone can do it if they THINK they can do it; whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right

DEVELOPMENTAL

• Predictable patterns of change throughout life

• Answer: People do it when their age/stage of development allows them to be able to do it

TRAIT• Individual differences

result from differences in patterns of stable characteristics (i.e. personality traits – introverted vs. extroverted)

• Answer: People do it because that is simply WHO they are

So what do we do with all this mess?

• We evaluate the three biggest issues in the field today –

• NATURE VS NURTURE

• STABILITY VS CHANGE

• RATIONAL VS IRRATIONAL

Oh it gets better…

• You can break down these fields into subfields depending on where your specialty/interests lie

– Industrial– Personality– School: test admin, severe cases– Clinical: diagnose and treat severe disorders– Counseling: less sever disorders, low level depression, phobias– Research5– Sports– Psychometric: test designers, statistics– Forensic: CSI, military operations

Test Subjects