The history of psychology

Some slides borrowed from:

Caroline M. Clements, Ph.D.The University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Department of Psychology

What topics and issues should psychology be concerned with?

What research methods should be used to study psychology?

Should psychologists use research to influence public policy, education, and other aspects of human behavior?

Is psychology really a science?

Should psychology focus on observable behaviors, or on internal mental processes?

Historically there has been debate about these questions in

psychology:

Started thinking of life beyond the physical…

explaining things beyond the religious explanation

Plato and the Theory of the Forms Plato’s ideas on learning?

already there in our soul, just have to bring it out

Ancient Greeks

In the dialogue, Socrates describes a group of people

who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. (from wikipedia)

Allegory of the Cave

17th century French philosopher Idea that the body and soul act as two

separate entities that interact to give us our daily experiences

“Dualism”

Rene Descartes

Pseudoscience

No scientific proof…just an idea

Since we think brain is organ of thinking (this really is psychology), then if we measure the bumps on people’s heads, we can infer what they are like mentally (this is NOT psychology…no proof that this is true)

Support to racism

Phrenology

father of experimental psychology

first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, 1879

Wundt was also notable in the field of psycholinguistics. For example, the influential Leonard Bloomfield based his linguistics textbook, published in 1914, on Wundtian psychology. Wundt hypothesized that the mental sentence, or "inner psychological construction", determines the unfolding sentence, and should therefore be regarded as a unit of speech. (from wikipedia)

Wilhelm Wundt

first important textbook: The Principles of

Psychology the mind is a stream of consciousness

William James

The Early Era and Roots of Psychology

Women in PsychologyIn the early days of psychology, opportunities for women were limited.

Mary Calkins was one of the pioneering women in the field.

She never received the Ph.D. that she earned from Harvard

She went on to do research, study the function of memory, and serve as the president of the American Psychological Association 1905.

Gilbert Jones - 1901, First black male

Ph.D. Inez Possner - 1933, First black female

Ph.D. Kenneth Clark – 1971, First Black

president APA Norman Anderson – 2002, First Black CEO

APA

Ethnic Minorities in Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior

and mental processes. • Psychology values:– empirical evidence– critical thinking– systematic research methods

• Goals of psychology include: description of behavior using careful observations explanation identifying the cause(s) of behavior prediction allows for specification of the conditions

under which a behavior will or will not occur facilitating changes in behavior (e.g., therapy)

Study of Psychology Today

Psychology Degrees By Area

Clinical work – e.g., psychotherapist*^ Academic – e.g., professor/researcher* Business – e.g., industrial psychologist*^ Journalism – e.g., science writer* Technology – e.g., software developer

*requires graduate degree ^requires license

Careers in Psychology

Why people believe:

People like excitement People are prone to wishful thinking People are naïve and trusting People remember hits, ignore misses

Pseudo-science