stangor ppt-ch01-2

The Evolution of PsychologyHistory, Approaches, and Questions

The Evolution of Psychology

• Learning Objectives:1. Explain how psychology changed from a philosophical to a scientific discipline.2. List the most important questions that concern psychologists.3. Outline the basic schools of psychology and describe how each school has

contributed to psychology.


• Psychology has changed dramatically over its history.– The field has moved from speculation about behavior to a more objective,

scientific approach.– There has been an increasing influx of women into the field.

• Most psychologists are now women.• However, the basic questions of psychology have remained constant.

The Evolution of Psychology:The First Psychologists Were Philosophers


• Greek Philosophers– Plato (428 BC – 347 BC) – “nature:” certain types of knowledge are inborn– Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – “nurture:” children are born a blank slate;

knowledge is acquired through experience• European Renaissance Philosophers

– Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650 BC) – believed in: free will – the mind controls the body; nature – innate natural abilities; dualism – the mind and body and fundamentally different

– Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau


• These philosophers did not conduct research to support their arguments. The transition from philosophy to psychology occurred in the 1800s.– Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) – developed psychology laboratory in Leipzig,

Germany– William James (1842-1910) – founded laboratory at Harvard University

The Evolution of Psychology:Structuralism

• Structuralism – a school of psychology aimed at identifying the basic elements of conscious experience

• Structuralists used introspection to map the elements of consciousness.– introspection – involves asking participants to describe exactly what they

experience during mental tasks

The Evolution of Psychology:Structuralism

The Evolution of Psychology:Functionalism

• Functionalism – the goal is to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects they currently possess– Associated with William James and influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural

selection• Functionalism’s principles have been absorbed into psychology.

– Functionalism’s legacy is most apparent in the field of evolutionary psychology.

The Evolution of Psychology:Evolutionary Psychology

• Evolutionary psychology – branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior– Fitness – the extent to which a characteristic helps the individual organism

survive and reproduce

The Evolution of Psychology:Evolutionary Psychology

The Evolution of Psychology:Psychodynamic Psychology

• Psychodynamic psychology – an approach focusing on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories

• Unconscious processes may be revealed through talk therapy and dream analysis, components of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.

The Evolution of Psychology:Psychodynamic Psychology

The Evolution of Psychology:Behaviorism

• Behaviorism – approach based on the idea that consciousness cannot be studied objectively– proposed that psychologists should limit their attention to behavior itself

The Evolution of Psychology:Behaviorism

The Evolution of Psychology:Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychology – field that studies mental processes, such as perception, memory, and judgment– achieved prominence in the 1960s, with the advent of computer technology– argues that understanding mental processes is necessary to understand

behavior


• Studied memory for lists under different conditions

• Studied the cognitive and social processes of remembering

• Found that our knowledge and expectations influence our memory

Hermann Ebbinghaus Sir Frederic Bartlett


• The cognitive approach remains highly influential in many areas of psychology.• Cognitive psychology has benefited from advances in neuroimaging.

– neuroimaging – the use of techniques to provide pictures of the structure and function of the living brain

The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology

• Psychology is not a single discipline, but a collection of many subdisciplines.– The subdisciplines share common approaches and exchange knowledge

The Evolution of Psychology:The Many Disciplines of Psychology


• Key Takeaways– The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more objective

as more sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed.– Some basic questions asked by psychologists include those of nature versus

nurture, free-will versus determinism, accuracy versus inaccuracy, and conscious versus unconscious processing.

– The Structuralists attempted to analyze the nature of consciousness using introspection.

– The Functionalists based their ideas on the work of Darwin and their approaches led to the field of evolutionary psychology.


• Key Takeaways, continued– The Behaviorists explained behavior in terms of stimulus, response and

reinforcement, while denying the presence of free will.– Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, process, and remember

information.– Psychodynamic psychology focuses on unconscious drives and the potential to

improve lives through psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.– The social-cultural approach focuses on the social situation, including how

cultures and social norms influence our behavior.

stangor ppt-ch01-2

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