1.1 History and Perspective

AP Psychology 1.1

What is psychology?

• Def. - Scientific study of behavior and mental processes

• Behavior - any action or reaction that can be directly observed

• Mental Processes (cognition) – internal processes (thinking, feeling, desiring) that can only be indirectly observed

Goals of psychology

• Describe a behavior by naming, classifying and measuring them

• Explain why a behavior or mental process occurred

• Predict the conditions under which a future behavior or mental process is likely to occur

• Apply (Control) psychological knowledge to promote desired goals and prevent unwanted behaviors

Early Roots• Long past but short history and a science.• Hippocrates – dualism (mind/soul in brain, but

not physical)• Plato – dualist, introspection, behaviors innate

(nature)• Aristotle – monism (mind/soul results from

anatomy), behaviors from experience (nurture)• Rene Descartes – dualism (“I think, therefore I

am”, nature• John Locke – monism, nature (“Tabula Rasa”)

Early Approaches“Wave 1”

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)*first psychology research laboratory*first person to call himself a “psychologist”*wrote a landmark text similar to your textbook

• studied “elements of consciousness” (sensation, perception, emotion)

• Introspection – research method / subjects report detailed descriptions of their own conscious mental experiences

Early Approaches“Wave 1”

• Edward Titchener (1867-1927)• Structuralism• Used introspection to identify the most basic

components, or structures, of conscious experience

• Unreliable method – subjects reported different introspective findings to same stimulus

• Could not study children, animals, mental disorders

Early Approaches“Wave 1”

• William James (1842-1910)• Functionalism• Emphasized studying the purpose, or function,

of behavior and mental experiences • Rejected introspection• Used direct observation of human and

nonhuman animals

Early Approaches“Wave 2”

• Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)• Gestalt• How we construct our perceptual wholes• “the sum is whole of the parts”

Early Approaches“Wave 3”

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)• Psychoanalysis• Emphasized the role of the unconscious conflicts in

determining behavior and personality• Internal conflicts between accepted norms of behavior

and unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses• Dreams, “slips of the tongue” (Freudian Slip), memory

block (repressed) – All provide glimpses into unconscious

Early Approaches“Wave Four”

• John B Watson (1878-1958)• BF Skinner (1904-1990) OC• Ivan Pavlov (1849-1958) CC• Behaviorism• Psychology must be observable and

measurable

Early Approaches“Wave Five”

• Eclectric• View multiple perspectives• Most are this today!

Modern Perspectives• Behavioral (Learning) (from Behaviorism)• Humanistic• Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytic) (from

Psychoanalysis• Biological (Biopsychology, Neuroscience,

Neurobiological)• Cognitive• Evolutionary (Darwinism)• Sociocultural• **Social Cognitive

Behavioral Perspective

• Focus on observable behaviors that can be objectively measured (conscious and unconscious mental processes are unobservable

• Believe human behavior is learned and can be controlled though the presence or absence of rewards and punishments

Behavioral cont.• Pavlov – experiments demonstrated that much

behavior among animals is learned rather than instinctive (Classical Conditioning)

• Watson – applied Pavlov’s reasoning to humans / believed humans could be socialized in any direction through learning

• Skinner – organisms repeat responses that lead to positive responses and do not repeat behaviors that lead to neutral or negative responses (reinforcement - Operant Conditioning)

John B Watson• “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed,

and my own specified 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 chief, and, yes, even a beggar and thief…”

Humanistic Perspective

• Emphasizes the importance of self-esteem, free will, and choice in human behavior

• Humans have the ability to self-actualize or reach their full potential

• Evolved from work of Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Client-Centered Therapies

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Psychodynamic Perspective

• Evolved from Freud’s theories of unconscious conflicts in determing behavior and personality, but place less emphasis on sexual instincts

• Repressed memories, dream interpretation, analysis of transference (apply from childhood to today), free association (comes to mind)

Free Association

Transference

Biological Perspective• Physical basis of human and animal behavior• Roles of various parts of brain / nerve cells

Cognitive Perspective

• Focus on the way humans gather, store, and process sensory information

• One theory - (like a computer) information-processing model

• Language, thinking and reasoning

Sociocultural Perspective

• Focuses on how culture and social situations effect the way people think, feel, and behave

Evolutionary Perspective

• Use the principle of evolution to explain the psychological processes and phenomena

• Natural selection plays a key role in determining human behavior– Example…• Natural selection explains…• male preference for attractive, youthful spouses• Female preference for mates who possess high social

status and financial resources

Social Cognitive Perspective

• how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations.

A Broad Discipline• Psychology embraces a wide range of specialty

areas

Degrees

• ALL diagnose and treat mental disorders

• Psychologist (Ph.D.)• Pyschistrist (M.D.)• Licensed Professional Counselor (M.A. or M.S.)

Careers / Subfields

• Clinical – evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of mental and behavioral disorders

• Counseling – help people adapt to change or make changes in their lifestyle

• Developmental – study psychological development throughout the life span

• Educational – use knowledge of how people learn to help develop instructional methods and materials

Clinical Psychologists

Counseling Psychologists

Careers / Subfields

• Engineering – do research on how people function best with machines

• Forensic – applies the principles of psychology to the legal profession (jury selection, psychological profiling)

• Health – concentrate on biological, psychological and social factors involved in health and illness

Forensic Psychology

Careers / Subfields

• Industrial/Organizational – apply the principles of psychology to the workplace (employee motivation, job satisfaction, personnel selection, leadership styles)

• Neuropsychologists – explore the relationship between the brain/nervous systems and behavior (aka biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, behavioral neuroscientists)

Career / Subfields

• Psychometricians – focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing psychological data

• Rehabilitation – help clients with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and disabilities resulting from stroke or accidents adapt to their situations

• School – assess and counsel students, consult with educators and parents, and perform behavioral intervention when necessary

School Psychologist

Careers / Subfields

• Social – focus on how a person’s mental life and behavior is shaped by interactions with other people

• Sports – help athletes refine their focus on competition goals, increase motivation, and deal with anxiety and fear of failure

Sports Psychology