Chapter 1 History & Approaches.ppt
- 1. Chapter 1 History & Approaches
- 2. Overview Overview: What is psychology? History/Philosophy Schools of Thought Summary Warm up with Crash Course’s Introduction
- 3. What is Psychology? Psychology is the study of the brain, mental processes, observable behavior, human and animal development, and social interactions.
- 4. History of Psychology Psychology was once a part of philosophy. Philosophers such as Rene Descartes, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes speculated on human nature. Philosopher Ideas (simplified) Rene Descartes Universe and world can be describe in physical laws; but humans have a mind and therefore cannot be explained fully by physical laws. John Locke Humans born blank slate, “tabula rasa.” All skills and knowledge are learned. Thomas Hobbes Consciousness or our awareness is a by- product of the brain.
- 5. History of Psychology Rene Descartes believed that the physical world follows a set of observable laws or rules. He believed creatures are similar to machines, in that they are governed by laws and behave in predictable ways. Descartes believe that humans are the exception to this rule because they possess minds. He makes a distinction between the body and the mind. The mind is not observable and is not subject to the natural laws. He thought the mind and body interact through the pineal gland.
- 6. History of Psychology John Locke believed that even the mind is under the control of rules or laws. Locke believed that the world could be understood through empiricism – gathering knowledge and understanding the world through observation and experience. Locke thought that humans are born as a tabula rasa, meaning a blank slate, and that everything we know must be learned.
- 7. History of Psychology Thomas Hobbes believed that everything could be understood in terms of materialism. This is the belief that the only things that exist are matter and energy. According to Hobbes, there is no spirit or soul. What we experience as consciousness is, in Hobbes’ view, the by-product of the machinery of the brain.
- 8. Schools of Thought One way to organize all the ideas in psychology is by categorizing psychological theories and ideas into various schools of thought. Each school of thought has a certain way of describing some aspect of behavior, mental process, or social interaction.
- 9. Schools of Thought/Subfields Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis** Behavioral** Cognitive** Humanistic** Biological/Biomedical/Biopsychology/Neuroscience** Evolutionary psychology Sociocultural Biopsychosocial
- 10. Structuralism William Wundt & Structuralism Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. Wilhelm Wundt championed the school of thought in psychology called Structuralism, “father of structuralism.” Structuralism is an attempt to breakdown the ‘elements’ of perception into smaller understandable units – similar to how a chemist breaks down a compound into its elements. The sensation of ‘red’ or ‘sharp’ or ‘hard’ is understood as an ‘element’ of consciousness.
- 11. Structuralism Trained subjects in introspection. Introspection is the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes. He asked trained subjects to record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli. Describe this ______, and tell me your sensation of it.
- 12. Structuralism A trained subject in an experiment is presented with an object, such as an apple. The subject would report the physical characteristics of the apple (e.g., color, length, density, smell, taste, etc.). Subject told not to report name of object because that does not describe sensory data of experience.
- 13. Structuralism Describe this object without referring to its name.
- 14. Structuralism Structuralism is not an active area of study in psychology anymore.
- 15. Functionalism & James Functionalism & William James James published The Principles of Psychology, psychology’s first official textbook. James championed the school of thought called Functionalism.
- 16. Functionalism Functional psychology or Functionalism refers to a psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behaviour in terms of adaptation to the person's environment; it was influenced by Darwin and evolutionary theory. For example, an explanation for why a baby cries is that it helps the baby survive. It is not an active area of psychology anymore.
- 17. Schools of Thought: Gestalt Psychology Max Wertheimer & Gestalt Psychology Wertheimer argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete subjects; that is, he did not like structuralism. Gestalt theorists argue and demonstrate that the “the whole is something else than the sum of its parts.”
- 18. Gestalt Psychology How many triangles are there?
- 19. Gestalt Psychology Gestalt psychology is not an active area of research anymore. Some of the ideas of Gestalt psychology have been adopted and reworked by cognitive psychology.
- 20. Schools of Thought: Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud & Psychoanalysis Freud describes how the unconscious mind, dreams, and other psychological mechanisms exert influence on behavior. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories related to the study of the unconscious mind and a set of therapeutic techniques to help patients recover from psychological disorders.
- 21. Psychoanalysis A psychoanalyst believes that the unconscious mind – a part of our mind we do not have access to – controls many of our thoughts and behavior. A psychoanalyst would look for impulses or memories pushed into our unconscious and try to show how these influence our behavior.
- 22. Schools of Thought: Behavioral Ivan Pavlov & Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov studied digestion in dogs which led to an unintentional discovery. He noticed that dogs began to salivate when they heard him or his assistant walking down the hall before entering the room; dogs paired the sound footsteps with a delicious meal.
- 23. Behavioral
- 24. Behavioral John Watson & Behaviorism Demonstrated that you could take a neutral stimulus, like a rabbit, and condition someone, like a baby, to fear the rabbit by sounding an abrasive noise at the same time the rabbit was present. The baby associated the terrible noise with the site of the rabbit.
- 25. Behavioral B.F. Skinner & Operant Conditioning He expands the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement and punishment.
- 26. Schools of Thought: Humanistic Perspective Key figures in the Humanistic perspective are Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers. The humanistic perspective stresses individual choice and freewill (in opposition to other schools of thought like psychoanalysis and behaviorism that claim that behavior is determined). Humanistic psychologists assert that we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, and spiritual needs.
- 27. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- 28. Biopsychology Biopsychologists explain behavior and human thought strictly in terms of biological processes: hormones; genetics; neurotransmitters; disease; brain lesions, etc..
- 29. Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychologists examine human thoughts and behaviors in terms of natural selection. Some psychological traits might be advantageous for survival, and these traits will be passed on. Obesity example
- 30. Cognitive Perspective Cognitive psychologists examine behavior and thought in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember information. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development focuses on how our thinking develops as we develop from infants to adults. A cognitive psychologist might explain a person’s tendency to be extroverted in terms of how he or she interprets social situations.
- 31. Sociocultural Psychology Sociocultural psychologists look at how our thoughts and behaviors vary from people living in other cultures. They emphasize the influence culture has on the way we act and think. How much value does the culture place on being part of a group versus being an individual? What kind of behaviors are appropriate in some countries but not in others?
- 32. Biopsychosocial Model The biopsychosocial model acknowledges that human thinking and behavior results from combinations of biological, psychological, and social factors. For example, anorexia may be explained as having biological, psychological, and cultural causes.
- 33. Summary Approach Cause of Behavior Method for Investigation Biological Genes, hormones, physiology, brain, body Brain scans, genetic analysis, investigating physiology/biology Cognitive Personal thoughts, thinking patterns, brain processes, neural networks Investigating thoughts, patterns of thinking, and making analogies with computer models about the brain Humanistic Self-concept, self-esteem Talk-therapy Psychoanalytic/ dynamic Unconscious mind, trauma Dream analysis, talk-therapy Behavioural S/R responses, reinforcement/punishment Understanding previous reinforcement/punishment history
- 34. Summary Approach Cause of Behavior Method for Investigation Sociocultural Differences in cultural background Cross-cultural studies Evolutionary Natural selection Genetic analysis, species comparisons Structuralism --- Introspection studies Functionalism Natural selection Species comparison Gestalt Psychology Sensory/Perception processing --- Biopsychosocial model Aims to understand behavior through multiple schools of thought
- 35. Schools of Thought Kahoot Quiz Quizlet