MODULE 2: HISTORY AND PERSPECTIVES

LEARNING GOALS:

1. Describe the first psychologists and the origins of psychology as a science

2. Explain how twentieth Century psychologists changed the way psychology was studied

3. Discuss how some of psychology’s groundbreakers helped advance gender and race equality.

4. Explain the six contemporary psychological perspectives.

5. Discuss 3 recentareas of psychological study.

MODERN PSYCHOLOGICAL NINTEENTH-CENTURY ROOTS

Thinking critically: How did the study of psychology of science get started?

Earliest pioneers shared an interest in understanding mental proce3sses and behavior.

Wilhelm Wundt(VOONT)- German philosopher and physiologist.

Became a doctor but wanted to understand human consciousness.

Introspection-describe own concious experiences in systematic way.

Experiment-given similar sound or visual experience and each person asked to give full details of what they felt.

WUNDT….CONTINUED…..BORING

Used details as foundation for understanding consciousness

More examples of consciousness: BUTTON EXPERIMENT. Time it took to react

Time it took to press button and left green right red button

Task one- perception of light Task 2-perception of light, decision of color,

decision of button to press.

EDWARD TITCHENER AND STRUCTURALISM

Wundt’s student Structuralism- Theory that the structure of

conscious experience could be understood by analyzing the basic elements of thoughts and sensations.

Understand conscious experience through intensity, clarity and quality of its basic parts.

Example tree Intensity-height clairity-texture quality of

leavesBuilding blocks of consciousnessTitchener steered psychology to use descriptive

titles

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

German word meaning configuration Emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces

of information into meaningful wholes. Not just use consciousness, but to use

individual elements of the experience. Example song

WILLIAM JAMES AND FUNCTIONALISM

William James(1842-1910)First American psychologist

Needed to study the functions of consciousness or how consciousness helps people adapt to their environment.

Functionalism-STUDY OF HOW conciousness helps adapt to their environment

Analysis of basic thoughts and sensations in lab

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 20TH CENTURY

People didn’t really hear of structualisma nd functualism

1900 Sigmund Freud(1856-1939) introduced psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis-Theory of personality and therapeutic technique that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconcous motives and conflicts

Focused on abnormal behavior- Freud linked to unconscious drives and conflicts stemming from childhood.

Example:potty training cleaniliness later in life.

FREUD CONTINUED

Psychoanalysis relied on personal observation and reflection instead of controlled laboratory experimentation as its means of discovery.

Cons- Freud claimed his work was scientific, but relied on self reported reflections and not scientific method.

Freud’s original theory still is being used as a basis till today.

IVAN PAVLOV, JOHN WATSON, AND BEHAVIORISM

Ivan Pavlov(1849-1936) studied of animal behavior prompted interest in observable behaviors from the self-examination of inner ideas and experiences.

Focused on things that are visual not mental John Watson(1878-1958) Made article to

dismiss the idea of consciousness Used fact that the study of structuralism and

functionalism where non-scie3ntific and so you should not even consider theories.

Wanted psychology to move to more experimental

WATSON CONRTINUED… \

Developed the idea of behaviorism Behaviorism- the theory that

psychology should only study observable behaviors not mental processes

Utilized scientific methods BREAK-WHAT ARE THE SCIENTIFIC

METHODS??? Watson’s ideas where most dominant

thought in schools. Promoted the study of learned reflexes

orignially developed by Pavlov

WATSON

Developed experimentation on human reactions to stimuli in their environment

Famous presentation of white furry object paired with a loud noise

Fear of furry white object similar to Pavlov’s dog

BF SKINNER AND ALBERT BANDURA

BF Skinner(1904-1990) American Psychologist whose brand of

behaviorism focused on the role of responses in learning

Utilized operant conditioning(will cover in later chapters)

Albert Bandura(1925-) Utilized idea that people learned by watching

others

ABRAHAM MASLOW, CARL ROGERS AND HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

Behaviorism and psychoanalysis was strong in the field of psychology till the 1960’s\

Humanistic psychology- school of thought that focuses on the study of consncious experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and the capacity for personal growth

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers rejected the idea thaqt humans are controlled by a series of rewards and reinforcements they instead emphasized conscious experience and “ FREE WILL”

HUMANISTIC CONT.

Gestalt theory was idea based on humanistic experience

CON-did not have enough scientific research to back up ideas

RULE: IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA… SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MUST BACK IT UP…

JEAN PIAGET AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Jean Piaget(1896-1980)Swiss biologist and psycholigist.

Pioneer for children devleopment on their thinking abilities

Worked at a school that administered intelligence testing and noticed that younger kids made mistakes that on tests that older children did not make

PIAGETS WORK

PSYCHOLOGY’S AMERICAN GROUNDBREAKERS

G. Stanley Hall was student of Wundt and first american to receive Ph.D.

First American to open up laboratory at John Hopkins and first APA president in 1895

Women in psychology was unheard of due to discrimination.

Mary Whiton Calkins first women to get Ph.D from Harvard but they did not give it to her.

APA president in 1905 Margaret Floy Washburn was Titchener’s first

grad student at Cornell and wrote first textbook in 1908 about animal behavior

AMERIKAN

Francis Cecil Sumner was the first African American in 1920 to receive Ph.D.

Wrote many articles about racism, prejudice and nature nurture issues.

Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark were deucational psychologists whose research was presented as evidence to the US Supereme Court during the landmark case of desegregating schools Brown V board of education.

Lead to separate but equal clause

AMERIKAN CONT.

Inez Beverly Prosser first AA woman to receive Ph.d in 1933 studided development of AA in segregated and integrated schools

SIX CONTEPORARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Thinking critically: how do current psychological theories explain thinking and behavior?

Perspectives have come and go People view one way look that way:

behaviorist looks at behavioral perspectives Review Behavioral perspective-observable responses

to rewards and punishments Humanistic-how people strive to reach full

potential Psychodynamic perspective-behavior springs

from unconcious drives and conflicts

CONT

Cognitive perspective-thought that focuses on how people think

Structuralism fuctionalism and gestalt psychology follow this style

Biological perspective-thought that focuses on physical structures and substances underlying a particular behavior

Chemical responses in the branSocial-cultural perspective:thought that

focuses on how thinking or behavior changes in situations.

Psychologists today focus on all 6 perspectives

PSYCHOLOGY IN 21ST CENTURY

Thinking critically: what are the basic ideas behind the 3 of psychology’s developing areas?

Psychology continues to grow Developing areas Genetics, evolutionary psychology and

positive psychology