What is Psychology?

6 Major theoretical perspectives

“Theoretical Perspective” General orienting assumptions about psychology

Can be grouped into 6 very general ones

They differ in terms ofGeneral value commitments of researchers

Level of analysis (micro / macro)

Types of research data

Types of procedures / methods

6 Broad Theoretical Perspectives

Psychodynamic Perspective

Sigmund Freud:

“Parapraxes”

Free association

Talking cure

Famous case studies: Anna O

Sigmund Freud

• 1856-1939 Austria• Neurologist • Specialized in hysteric patients

• Conflicts of the unconscious mind • Founded psychodynamic perspective

• focuses on unconscious dynamic processes that govern behavior

Psychodynamic Perspective

• Behaviour determined by unconscious forces

• Esp. conflicts about sexuality

• Very controversial ideas

• “Psychoanalytic theory”

– Theory explaining personality, motives and disorders via “dynamic unconscious processes”

2. Behavioral Perspective

Ivan Pavlov John Watson

E.L. ThorndikeB.F. Skinner

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

2. Behavioral Perspective

Central assumption:

Focus on observables, ignore invisible “mind” stuff

Behavior is observable. Therefore, psychology is and should only be science of behavior

Influenced by logical positivism, a early 20th

century school of philosophy

“all knowledge is grounded in observable facts”

Behaviourism

• John B. Watson (1878-1958)

• Landmark 1919 critique of “schools”: structuralism, functionalism, gestalt, Freud, in Psychological Review: Behaviorist Manifesto

• Psychology should be science of “behaviour”.

• Behaviour = observable responses or activities– Radical reorientation of scientific psychology toward

a science only of observable behaviour

– Study of consciousness abandoned– Cognitive psychology topics abandoned until 1950s

John Watson and the Nature-Nurture Debate • Radical “environmentalism”

“give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special 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 beggar-man and thief…”

• Pioneered application of classical conditioning to understanding of disorders, especially phobias.

• Re-oriented psychology toward “stimulus-response relationships”

• Behaviorism became known as “S-R psychology”

Behaviourism of B. F. Skinner

• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

– Principles of operant conditioning• Responses followed by desired

outcomes increase in frequency

– Controversy1. There is no free will

2. Innate differences are unimportant

3. Cognitive psychology is pointless – Radical environmentalist– Best-selling author

• Beyond Freedom and Dignity• Walden II

3. The Cognitive Perspective

Behav focus too limited, restrictive(but Skinner disagrees always)

What about…. attention, memory, reasoning, problem-solving, concept formation…???

Putting the Psyche Back in Psychology: The Return of Cognition

• Cognition = mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge

• 1950’s and 60’s – Piaget, Chomsky, and Simon– Application of scientific

methods to studying internal mental events

– Cognitive psychology: the new dominant perspective?

3. The Cognitive PerspectiveWhy then? (1950s)

1) Cognitive development theory e.g., Jean Piaget, 1950s

2) Rise of “Information theory”, digital processors, computers e.g., Herbert Simon, 1950s

3) Language development theory e.g., Noam Chomsky, 1950s

3. The Cognitive Perspective

e.g. importing information-theory concepts into psychology

memory: “encode, store, retrieve”

thinking: “parallel distributed processing”

perception: “computation models

of vision”

4. Humanistic Psychology

Existentialism, Phenomenology

Rebellion against “ratomorphic-robotic” psychology

Main assumption:>we are not slaves to conditioning

>subjectivity IS important to behavior

• Prev perspectives are all dehumanizing.

• New perspective needed: “Humanistic”

• Rise of humanistic psychology (“Third Force”)• 1961 Journal of Humanistic Psychology• 1963 Association for Humanistic Psychology• 1971 APA Division 32

Focus on what is uniquely human: conscious awareness freedom of choice desire for individual growth

Humanistic values freedom & growth

Humanistic therapy freedom..to..grow

Carl Rogers Client-Centered therapy

Abraham Maslow “Self-actualization”

“Be All You Can Be”

self-actualization slogan adopted by US Army

SEPT 9 - OCT 2 Wide range of psychology questionnaires (traits, social attitudes, life goals).

1 hour of credit.

Find it here

SONA

Annual online survey for 1 hour of creditFall Mass Testing

Introductory psychology students

5. Biological Perspectives

Behavioral Genetics

Are behavior differences (at least partly) due to gene differences?

Which genes?

How do genes & environments interact developmentally?

Twins Cover Story

5. Biological Perspectives

Behavioral Neuroscience

where in the brain?

how does the brain do it?

eg: pleasure center

eg: God Spot

Physiological Psychology: The Biological Basis of Behaviour

Biological perspective - behaviour explained in terms of physiological processes• James Olds (1956)

–Electrical stimulation of the brain evokes emotional responses in animals

• Roger Sperry (1981)–Left and right brain specialization

• Donald Hebb (1949)–Cell-assemblies describe neural

networks

6. Evolutionary Perspective

Assumption Body’s are piles of physical

modules laid down by evolution Brains are piles of information-

processing modules laid down by evolution

6. Evolutionary Perspective

e.g., David Buss mate preferences jealousy

Evol Psych Example (title)

example of researchby David Buss

Scenario 1

you discover that your partner is having sex with someone else

Scenario 2

you discover that your partner is in love with someone else

Possible explanations

1) Cultural learning of patriarchal norms

2) Innate evolutionary mechanisms that differ between M and W

parental investment paternity

certainty

Positive Psychology Movement

• Martin Seligman has a eureka moment:• 1975 depression role of “pessimistic attitude” • 1990 “Dad, why are you always so grumpy?” (daughter)• 1997 psychology itself is far too grumpy• 1998 elected to of APA

• Humanistic Perspective 2.0

• Where is our research on human happiness?

• We need a science of.. Positive experiences Positive traits Positive institutions Positive communities

Contemporary Psychology: Cultural Diversity

• Ethnocentrism – viewing one’s own group as superior and as the standard for judging

• Historically: middle and upper class white males studying middle and upper class white males

• 1980’s – increased interest in how cultural factors influence behaviour

• growing global interdependence• increased cultural diversity

Cross-Cultural Research• comparing and contrasting

people of different cultures (e.g., human values)

• test generalizability of psyc theory

Multicultural Research• Ethnic group phenomena within

societies

• Acculturation, immigration, language

Feminist Psychology• Psychological approach analyzing the

influence of social inequities on gender relations and on the behaviour of the two sexes

History of Psychology in Canada• James Mark Baldwin

Worked in Wundt’s lab, 1880s PhD from Princeton UofT in 1891: 1st Psy laboratory in Canada Co-founder of APA, 1892

• Donald Hebb (McGill) 1940s-70s Founder of neuroscience of learning Hebbian learning: the cellular level of learning Hebb’s Law: "Neurons that fire together wire together.“ Cell assembly theory of learning

• Brenda Milner (McGill) 1950s, present Student of Donald Hebb Founder of the neuroscience of memory Landmark studies of patient “HM”

Canadian Psychological Association www.cpa.ca

• CPA formed in 1939 – to ensure psychologists contributed to war effort.

• Now serves to advance psychological research, promote and regulate psychological education, and support the practice of psychology in Canada.

• CPA promotes research: Scientific journals

• Canadian Psychology • Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology

Scientific conferences

• Regulates psychological training by accreditating graduate programs in clinical psychology

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CPA Divisions

©2001 Prentice Hall

Psychology Today

Research Disciplines

Professional Specialties

1. Physiological

2. Experimental

3. Cognitive

4. Developmental

Research Disciplines

Research Disciplines

5. Social

6. Personality

7. Abnormal

8. Quantitative

Professional Psychology• 1st clinic in 1896 (U. of Pennsylvania)

• 1937 only 1/5 APA members reported any interest in clinical work.

• WWII … rapid rise of clinical psychology

• Professionalization spreads to other areas Counseling Psychology

School Psychology

Forensic Psychology (Courts, Prisons)

Interdisciplinary• Growing movement to combine strengths

of different fields• Recent trend is towards interdisciplinary

research questions

What Will Happen Next?• The future is up to your generation of

critical thinkers.

Table 1.2 Overview of Six Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology

Psychology Today: A Thriving Science and Profession

• Psychology is the science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it and

• and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.

• Research: Seven major areas- Personality, Psychometrics, Social, Cognitive, Physiological, Developmental, and Experimental

• Applied Psychology: Four major areas- Clinical, Counselling, Educational and School, and Industrial Organization

SEPT 9 - OCT 2 Wide range of psychology questionnaires (traits, social attitudes, life goals).

1 hour of credit.

Find it here

SONA

Annual online survey for 1 hour of creditFall Mass Testing

Introductory psychology students

Clinical Psychologists are not: • Psychotherapists

– Anyone who does any type of psychotherapy• Psychoanalysts

– Individuals who receive training in psychoanalysis

• Psychiatrists– Medical doctors who diagnose and treat

mental disorders

CPA Accredited Clinical Programs

• Concordia University• Dalhousie University• Lakehead University• McGill University• Queen’s University• Simon Fraser University• Université de Montréal• Université Laval• University of British

Columbia• University of Calgary

• University of Manitoba• University of New

Brunswick• University of Ottawa• University of Regina• University of Saskatchewan• University of Victoria• University of Waterloo• University of Western

Ontario• University of Windsor• York University

What Areas do Psychology Undergraduates Pursue?

• Psychology• Other• Counseling• Education• Social work• Medicine• Law • Health Sciences• Business• Sociology

What Psychologists Do• Three categories of activities for psychologists:

– Teaching and doing research in universities and college

– Providing health or mental-health services (psychological practice)

– Conducting research or applying its findings in non- academic settings such as business, sports, government, law, and the military.

Studying Psychology: Seven Organizing Themes

• Themes related to psychology as a field of study:Psychology is empirical (Theme 1)Psychology is theoretically diverse (Theme 2)Psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context (Theme 3).

• Themes related to psychology’s subject matter:– Behaviour is determined by multiple causes (Theme 4)– Behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage (Theme 5)– Behaviour is influenced jointly by heredity and

environment (Theme 6). • Finally, people’s experience of the world is highly subjective

(Theme 7).

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

Psychology is a broad field, with

many specialties, but fundamentally,

it is a science of behavior and mental

processes

Professional Psychology

1. Clinical Psych

2. Counseling Psych

3. Educational Psych

4. Industrial/Organizational (I/O) [business psyc]

Some I/O sub-disciplines

a. Personnel Psyc

b. Organizational Psyc

c. Engineering Psyc

" Human Factors Psychology "

e.g., human-computer interaction

e.g., human-robot interaction

Some I/O sub-disciplines

Psychology as a Profession

©2001 Prentice Hall

Next time…

Psychology as a

Science