Part 1: A brief look at the roots of Psychology. A quote… “Psychology has a long past, but a...
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Transcript of Part 1: A brief look at the roots of Psychology. A quote… “Psychology has a long past, but a...
Part 1: A brief look at the roots of Psychology
A quote…
• “Psychology has a long past, but a short history.”• -Hermann Ebbinghaus
• What do you think this statement means?
Ancient roots• Buddha, Confucius, ancient Hebrews, etc.• Ancient Greece
• Socrates/Plato: relied on logic to determine that the mind is separate from the body
• Aristotle: human behavior governed by patterns and rules; i.e. seeking pleasure, avoiding pain; used observation and data
• Hippocrates: strange behavior caused by brain abnormalities, not the gods; four “humors” or fluids determined personality
1600s
• Rene DeCartes, France
• “I think, therefore I am.”
• People used their inborn knowledge to reason
• Theorized about brain fluids causing movement by flowing through nerves to our muscles
• Francis Bacon, Great Britain
• Focused on experiments and common sense over superstition; responsible for the scientific method
• John Locke
• “Tabula rasa:” blank slate
Birth of Modern Psychological Science
• Bacon and Locke’s insights lead to modern empiricism- that knowledge comes from experience and science relies on observation, experimentation, evidence.
• Important note: the first people who did psychology came from different fields of study (“Magellans of the mind”)!
• December, 1879: 1st psychology lab established in Germany at University of Leipzig by Wilhelm Wundt• The 1st ever psychology experiment on reaction time and
perception:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6nm69Z_IE
The first two perspectives/theories
Edward Titchener (Wundt’s student)
• Founded structuralism (1892): used self-reflective introspection used to discover the elements of the mind.
William James
• Created functionalism: how do our thoughts and behaviors help us adapt to our environments?
• Wrote the first psychology textbook (1890)
• Admitted the first female Psychology Ph.D at Harvard (Mary Calkins)
Other early landmarks• Hermann Ebbinghaus: first experiments on memory (1885)• 1st Psychology Ph.D awarded (1886)• 1st American Professor of Psychology (1888)• APA (American Psychological Association) founded in 1892• Edward Thorndike: first experiments on animal learning (1898)• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Psychoanalysis• Alfred Binet: first intelligence test (1905)• John B. Watson (1878-1958): Behaviorism
• In order to be a reputable science, psychology should limit itself to observable, measurable behaviors (1913)
• Gestalt Psychology (Wertheimer, Koffka, etc) (1920s): "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts;” learning comes from insight, not only from repetition and rewards
• For more details, watch this video:• http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/
history_flash.html
Part 2: The Six Modern Theoretical Approaches to Psychology
1. Psychoanalytic approach
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)• Human beings are driven by
unconscious fears, sexual and violent desires, conflicts
• The psyche is a “tea kettle”• Id, ego, superego• Early childhood experiences
and relationships with parents are important
• An essentially negative and deterministic view: the die is cast by age 5
2. Behaviorist approach
• John Watson (1878-1958)• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)• Emphasis on observable
behaviors• People are controlled by
outside forces, influenced mainly by environment, rewards and punishments
• Skinner quote:• “Give me a child and I‘ll
shape him into anything.”
3. Humanistic approach• The late 1950s and 1960s• A reaction against behaviorism
and psychoanalysis.• People are inherently good.• Each individual has great
freedom to direct his/her own future and achieve personal growth.
• Your personal choices and decisions make you who you are!
• We invent and reinvent ourselves throughout life.
4. Cognitive approach• Cognition=Thinking• The mind is like a computer:
we receive input, manipulate it, store and retrieve it.
• Our own way of thinking shapes who we are.
• Our world grows more sophisticated as we grow up, experience new things, and change.
• Problems can come from flawed patterns of thinking.
5. Biological approach• How do the following
impact an individual’s mental processes and behavior:
• Brain function
• Nervous system
• Glands and hormones
• General physical health
• Genes
6. Sociocultural approach• How do the following forces
impact a person’s behavior and mental processes?• Ethnicity, gender, culture,
language, socioeconomic status, nationality, religion, and region
• Does your language shape the way you think? Check these out:
• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine
• http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/Misc/eskimo-snow-words.html
Final thoughts
• There are many approaches, therefore there are many possible answers.
• Think of each of the six perspectives as a “lens” onto each individual.• Human beings have free will; as a result, human behavior does not
follow set laws, like physics.• However, there are still patterns and tendencies that can be
discovered using the scientific method.
• For Monday: think of a favorite celebrity or well-known individual (or a few) who you pay attention to whose behavior in recent times has been interesting, problematic, or positive in any way you find compelling.