The people, ideas, and developments that helped shape psychology as we know it.

PSYCHOLOGY’S PAST

IT ALL STARTED WITH PHILOSOPHY…

THE ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS• Plato – in the 4th century B.C., he explored the way

government can influence individual behavior in The Republic. • Believed that knowledge came from reflection and thinking

(the brain, “nature”).• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) – Plato’s student. Believed that

knowledge came from experience (the heart, “nurture”). • Discussed the nature of sensory perception in his Poetics.

• They were the first Europeans to reason that human beings have, in addition to a physical body, some kind of apparatus used for thinking, which they called the “psyche” (mind).

FAST FORWARD THROUGH TIME…• René Descartes (1637) – French philosopher

who believed in: • Dualism humans have a dual nature – one

part mental and the other physical• He also believed that we are born with

innate ideas • Supports Nature or Nurture?_____• Descartes also studied brains relationship

with nerves and muscles that provoked movement (reflexes)

• Francis Bacon: 1561-1626, one of the founders of modern science

• Focused on experiment, experience, and common-sense judgment

FAST FORWARD THROUGH TIME…

• John Locke (1690) – British philosopher who rejected Descartes’ notion of innate ideas

• Insisted that the mind at birth is a “blank slate” (tabula rasa)

• Supports Nature or Nurture? ________

PRESCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Empiricism: view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

AND FINALLY… PSYCHOLOGY BECOMES A SCIENCE

• Before we go any further, you need to understand that the science of psychology has gone through about 6 different waves since it started.

• “Waves” are different ways of thinking over time.

WAVE 1: STRUCTURALISM AND INTROSPECTION

• In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany.

• Finally, Wundt succeeded in separating psychology from philosophy by evaluating the way the mind worked through scientific investigation, not simply by way of argument.

• Wundt believed that the science of psychology should study the conscious mind. – first psychology experiment• Wundt single-handedly trained 180 students in his

laboratory

STRUCTURALISM

• Edward Bradford Titchener: (Wundt’s student) wished to discover the structural elements of the mind.• Going to use introspection to explore mind

INTROSPECTION• Experimental method where participants reported

the content of their own minds as objectively as possible, usually in connection with stimuli such as light, sound, or odors.

• The participants’ verbal reports were analyzed to see the number and types of mental elements they contained.

• Although Wundt specially trained his participants in introspection methods, many people questioned the reliability of subjective reports of the mind’s activities because they are easily manipulated by both the participant and the experimenter.

• Also sometimes we just don’t know why we feel what we feel and what we do

WAVE 2: FUNCTIONALISM• William James

• Considered the founder of psychology in the U.S.

• Wrote the first psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology

He thought that psychology should include the He thought that psychology should include the functionfunction of of consciousnessconsciousness, not just its , not just its structurestructure. .

• In other words, In other words, why why does the mind work the does the mind work the way it does?way it does?

This new way of thinking about consciousness was This new way of thinking about consciousness was called, called, appropriately enough, appropriately enough, functionalismfunctionalism..

FUNCTIONALISM• James assumed that thinking, like smelling, developed

because it was adaptive – it contributed to our ancestors’ survival• Consciousness serves a function enables us to

consider our past, adjust to our present circumstances and plan our future

• Because of this, James found _______________ ideas much more interesting than Wundt’s.

WAVE 4: PSYCHOANALYSIS• This wave of thinking started with Sigmund Freud

(in the early 1900’s).

• In a nutshell, during this time period people believed that most of your feelings come from a hidden place in your mind called the _________________.

• We protect ourselves from our real feeling by using defense mechanisms.

WAVE 5: BEHAVIORISM – ELIMINATE THE MIND AND FOCUS ON BEHAVIOR• They said consciousness should not be a part of psychology at all, and

they rejected introspection completely.• Behaviorism asserts that psychology can be a true science only if it

examines observable behavior not ideas, thoughts, feelings or motives since they cannot be directly measured.

• They cared nothing about what people were thinking; instead, they wanted to know how people would act (or behave). They believed that true science couldn’t be about how you feel; all that mattered was how you acted, because that can be observed and measured.

• Behaviorists believe that all behavior comes from experience (back to John Locke’s ideas about the blank slate).

THE TWO MOST FAMOUS BEHAVIORISTS

• John B. Watson – in 1913, he was the leader of the behavioral movement.

• He argued that we should study the science of behavior – not of the mind. • Observed stimuli from the environment and the

organism’s responses.

THE TWO MOST FAMOUS BEHAVIORISTS

• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) – largely responsible for making behaviorism the major approach in experimental psychology, a position it held for nearly 50 years. • Skinner modified Watson’s ideas and argued

that consequences shape behavior.

SO WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY NOW?

• Early on, when psychology only focused on consciousness, it was defined as “the science of mental life.”

• Since the 1920’s and the behaviorists, however, it began to also include “the scientific study of observable behavior.”

• Today, psychology is defined as “the scientific study of behavior and mental processes,” and the various approaches have continued to expand.

WAVE 6: ECLECTICISM• We are now in wave six….which is about variety.

• Psychologists pick and choose what theories to use depending on the situation and the client.

• Eclecticism: is defined as the process of making your own system by borrowing from two or more other systems.

WAVE SIX IS MADE UP OF ABOUT 7 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.

• In other words, psychologists today pick and choose from about 7 schools of thought to help you with your problems.

• Though each approach is based on principles that seem to contradict the other approaches, they all offer “intelligent guesses” to the nature of human behavior.

• While many psychologists will identify with a single approach, others prefer to pick and choose from each approach… they are eclectic.

Thus we have:

THE SEVEN SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL

• Sometimes also referred to as biopsychological or the neuroscience approach.

• Emphasizes how our physical makeup and the operation of our brains influence our personality, preferences, behavior patterns, and abilities.

• In other words, all of our feelings and behaviors have an organic root.

• Search for the causes of behavior in heredity, the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system, and disease.

• Advantages? Disadvantages?

EVOLUTIONARY

• A variation on the biological view that draws on Darwin’s ideas.

• Suggests that many human traits arise from hereditary characteristics established in our remote ancestral past.

• Our genetic makeup – including our most deeply ingrained behaviors – were shaped by the conditions our ancestors faced thousands of years ago.

• In other words, we behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors; thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors’ survival.

• Advantages? Disadvantages?

COGNITIVE

• Our thoughts and actions arise from the way we interpret our experiences.

• Concerned with the processes of thinking and memory, attention, imagery, creativity, problem solving, and language use.

• Discuss the mental processes which determine what humans can perceive, or communicate, as well as how they think.

• Cognitive therapists attempt to change the way you think.

• Advantages? Disadvantages?

PSYCHODYNAMIC• We are motivated primarily by the energy of

irrational desires generated in our unconscious minds.

• We repress many of our true feelings in our unconscious mind and are not aware of them. In order to get better, we must bring forward the feelings we have in our unconscious so that they can be dealt with.

• The mind is a sort of mental boiler that holds the rising pressure of unconscious sexual and destructive desires, along with memories of traumatic events.

• Stressed early childhood experiences determine later behavior

• Advantages? Disadvantages?

If a man has intimacy issues and cannot form relationships with

others, what do you think someone from this perspective may think?

Perhaps they may delve into the man’s unconscious and discover that he was bullied when he was younger. The bullying may have

caused an unconscious fear in getting close to others.

HUMANISTIC

• Carl Rogers founder, Abraham Maslow also a big name

• Our actions are hugely influenced by our self-concept and by our need for personal growth and fulfillment. We have to strive to be the best we can be (“self-actualization”).

• Humanists emphasize the positive side of our nature: human ability, growth, and potential.

• Believe in the inherent goodness of human beings• Emphasize the free will people have to make choices affecting their

lives, and press psychology to take a greater interest in feelings and the self-concept.

• Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self-concept” and our “ideal self”.

BEHAVIORAL• We should look for the causes of our behavior in our

environment rather than in our biology or in our minds.

• They have made their greatest contribution by giving us a detailed understanding of how the environment affects learning – especially through rewards and punishments.

• They only care about behaviors that impair our living, and attempt to change them.

• To change behaviors, we have to recondition the client.

• This was the approach started by John Watson and B.F. Skinner.

• Advantages? Disadvantages?

If you bit your fingernails when you

were nervous, a behaviorist would not focus on calming you

down, but rather focus on how to stop you

from biting your nails.

SOCIOCULTURAL

• Focus on the idea of social influence.• As a complex blend of human language, beliefs, customs,

values, and traditions, culture exerts powerful influences on all of us.

• Much of our behavior and our feelings are dictated by the culture we live in.• Might look at how expressions of anger vary across

cultures.• Advantages? Disadvantages?

REVIEW

• What event defined the founding of modern scientific psychology?