What is Psychology?Chapter 1

What is Psychology?•Psychology is the scientific study of behavior that is observed through research

Tell me, how does that make you feel?

Psychology defined…•It’s important to

remember, that psychology requires scientific/systematic observation

•Scientific study = Use of the Scientific Method

•MUST be observable

Roots of Psych

•Psychology primarily stems from 2 fields:

▫Physiology: the study of the body and it’s processes

▫Philosophy: the study of knowledge (how and what we think)

The Stone ages

•Originally, behavior was thought to be caused by supernatural forces

•Trephining : the stone age practice of chipping a hole into the head of someone to “let the demons escape”

•Egyptians believed in 7 kas that determined behavior. Proof of the existence of the ka was reflected in the behavior

Examples of trephining

The Greeks• First group of people to truly

begin studying human behavior• People thought behavior was

controlled by gods, instead of their own minds▫Their conclusion was that people

were rational (could think for themselves)

• They changed the game and set the stage for the sciences to develop because of their reliance on observation as a means of understanding the world around them

The Middle Ages

•Mid-1500’s, Nicolaus Copernicus said the Earth was heliocentric▫Revolving around the sun

His research was shot down for a long time•Later, Galileo used a telescope for the

first time to confirm Copernicus’s work▫Galileo was ex-communicated, or kicked

out of the church, because he defied church teaching (thought for himself)

The Middle Ages

•Leonardo Da Vinci, like Galileo, was not content to ask the priest for answers about the world around them▫He relied on himself to find answers▫Practiced to principles of empiricism

Understanding by experimentation

Da Vinci

•Dualism is the idea that the mind and the body are separate from each other▫Philosopher Rene

Descartes disagreed, proposing a link between the two

The Middle Ages

•Strange behavior was thought to be caused by the supernatural▫The sole authority in the Middle Ages was

the church•Examples of cures:

▫Stoning▫Drowning▫Starvation

The Middle Ages•Hippocrates:

▫Known as the “father of medicine”

▫First to say that behavior had natural causes The first two cultures

to agree with this statement were the: Greeks Romans

The Middle Ages• John Locke:

▫ Influential English philosopher

▫ Ideas helped shape the principles that led to the formation of the USA

▫Believed people were a blank slate, or a tabula rasa, and that it is our experiences that “write” on it to make us who we are

Colonial Times

•USA: Salem Witchcraft Trials▫Again the emphasis was on supernatural

forces

Colonial Times

•USA: 1800’s▫The study of phrenology attempted to

explain behavior by interpreting the lumps and bumps pf people’s heads

▫This pseudoscience was significant in the development of psychology It sought natural causes as an explanation

to behavior

Phrenology

Used as a tool for determining a person’s intelligence, along with measuring the size of a skull

Hitler had this scientists use these practices to show Aryan superiority despite it’s inaccuracy

Major figures in Psychology

•Wilhelm Wundt•William James•Francis Galton•Sigmund Freud•Ivan Pavlov•John Watson and B.F. Skinner•Jean Piaget

Wilhelm Wundt• Known as the “Father of

Psychology”• He founded the first

Psych lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879

• Trained in the study of Physiology▫Physiology has to do with

the study of how the body works

▫He was always more interested in understanding the human brain

Wilhelm Wundt• Was a structuralist

▫Psychologist who studied the basic elements that make up conscious mental experiences

• He developed the model of self-observation known as introspection▫A method of self-

obstruction in which participants report their thoughts and feelings

Man, this guy is doing some serious deep thinking... Introspection at it’s finest. Thinking face, check. Wise old man, check. Sick nasty beard, check check!

William James•Known as the “Father of American

Psychology”•Taught the 1st Psychology class in the US

at Harvard University in 1875•Wrote the first Psych textbook

Harvard

Is it just me, or does Harvard look a lot like Hogwarts?

William James• Proposed activities of the mind such as:

▫Thinking▫Feeling▫Learning▫Remembering

• These activities serve one major function:▫Help us survive

• Whereas Wundt focused on the structure of the mind, James was more concerned about the function▫Functionalist: study of the function)rather than the

structure) consciousness

Francis Galton

•English mathematician that wanted to understand how heredity might influence a person’s ability, character and behavior▫Traits and properties passed along

biologically from parent to childhood•Concluded that genetics was the driving

force behind everything that makes us up

Sir Francis Galton

Sweet Chops bro…

Francis Galton

•Believed genius was hereditary▫Failed to acknowledge environmental

factors▫Encouraged “good” marriages to makes

sure the world had talented offspring

•Is of great importance to us because he was one of the first to have procedures to test his ideas▫Came up with the first personality tests

Sigmund Freud

•Many of the first psychologists were interested in understanding the conscious mind, but Freud was more interested in the unconscious mind

•Believed conscious experiences were only the “tip of the iceberg”

Sigmund Freud•Believed that beneath the surface, biological

conflicted with societal ideas of morality▫Attributed this as the reason for many of the

unexplainable physical symptoms that troubled his patients

•Developed two new methods for studying the unconscious processes of the mind▫Free association: to say whatever comes to

mind in any given prompt▫Dream analysis: extension of free association,

applied to dreams

Sigmund Freud

•Saw himself as a psychoanalyst that was supposed to be objective and simply listen to his patients and interpret their responses

•Freud’s beliefs and practices are controversial and debated by a number of experts▫However, his theories are still impactful

today▫He also developed to case study

Analysis of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, experiences, behaviors and problems of an individual

Ivan Pavlov

•Was a physiologist whose famous experiment with dogs developed the understanding of classical conditioning and association.▫Experiment:

Rang a bell before feeding his dogs Noticed that when he rang the bell, the dog

salivated because it knew food came next After doing this over and over, he would ring

the bell and the dog would still salivated It had been conditioned to do so

Pavlov’s Dogs

Sorry for cutting off the top of your head Mr. Pavlov

Guess all psychologists have great beards

John Watson and B.F. Skinner• Belonged to the psychological school of

thought known as Behaviorists▫Define: psychologist who analyzes how people

learn or modify their behavior based on response to their environment

• Watson believed that all behavior, even instinctive, was the result of some type of environmental stimulus

• Watson was the pioneer of behaviorism, but it was BF Skinner that introduced the concept of reinforcement

B.F. Skinner•Mid – late 1900s.

American•Conditioning can be

applied to entire societies▫Reward for behavior results

in that behavior being done again in the future Though he did not feel the

opposite worked (punishment does not change behavior – just covers it up)

▫Entire basis for “Walden II” – a utopian society based on rewarding good behavior

Reinforcement

•A response to a behavior that increases the likelihood the behavior will be repeated

Jean Piaget• A type of psychologist known as a cognitivist• Cognitivists focus on how we do 3 things with

information we receive and perceive▫Process▫Store▫Use Information

• This information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity

• Piaget and other cognitivists believe that behavior is more than just a response to a stimulus

New Age Psychology

•Biological Psychology emphasizes the impact of biology on behavior▫Psychobiologists study how the brain,

nervous system, hormones and genetics influence our behavior

▫It is more holistic in the sense that it accounts for both the mind and the body simultaneously instead of looking at each individually

New Age Psychology

•Sociocultural Psychology is the newest approach for both cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and functioning

•This idea believes that everything we think, feel and how we behave is determined by the societal factors around us

Structuralism vs. Functionalism

•Structuralism – looks at the parts that make up the whole▫A way of perceiving things that looks at

each piece that makes it what it is and what it does

▫https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_2ADWBZgS8

Structuralism vs. Functionalism

•Functionalism – more concerned with the product that the thing creates▫What is perceived is not the parts that

make up the whole, but rather the result that the whole itself produces

▫https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piYOpluZchg