Overview and Historical Roots

I. What is Psychology? A. In the past psychology was defined as the science of the mind. B. Today it is defined as the study of behavior and mental processes.

II. Three Key Themes in Psychology A. Free Will vs. Determinism 1) Determinism: the assumption that everything that happens has a cause or determinant in the observable world. 2) Free Will: the belief that behavior is caused by a person’s independent decisions.

B. Mind-Brain Problem 1) Dualism: this approach argues that the mind is somehow separate from the brain and yet controls the brain and body. 2) Monism: the idea that the conscious mind is inseparable from the brain and body; that the mind is a series of processes that can occur because of the complexity of the human brain. C. Nature vs. Nurture How do differences in behavior relate to differences in heredity (nature) and the environment (nurture)?

III. Key Sub-Disciplines in Psychology A. Biopsychology: explains behavior based on electrical and chemical activities in the nervous system. Examines the effects of genetics, drugs, and brain damage on behavior. B. Evolutionary Psychology: explains behavior based on genes that may have been reinforced over the course of human evolution. C. Sensation and Perception: the study of how we experience the world through our 5 senses (vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching).

C. Learning and Motivation: how what we learn through experience can affect our motivations in life such as goals and ambitions. D. Cognitive Psychology: the study of the processes associated with how we think, remember, and acquire knowledge; examination of different states of consciousness. E. Developmental Psychology: the study of how people’s behavior changes with age.

F. Social Psychology: the study of how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect other people and how other people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect us. G. Personality Psychology: in the past, this was the study of the human mind and behavior as a whole (e.g. Freud’s work). In essence, why do people do what they do? Today, personality psychologists are more interested in individual differences. They want to know why some people act one way in certain situations while other people behave differently in those same situations.

H. Abnormal Psychology: the study of people with psychological disorders. I. Clinical Psychology: the treatment of people with psychological problems through the use of various therapies such as cognitive or behavioral modification therapies. J. Psychiatry: the medical science of treating the psychologically disturbed with drug therapy. 1) Psychoanalysis: a form of clinical psychology that has its roots in the Freudian approach to treating people with psychological problems. Problems are typically understood as they relate to dreams, abuse, past experiences, the unconscious, etc.

IV. Other Areas of Psychological Application A. Health Psychology: the study of the relationship between physical and psychological health. B. Forensic Psychology: the study of criminal behavior. C. Industrial/Organizational Psychology: the study of how to match the right person to the right job or how to create an optimally functioning work environment (light, design, etc.). D. Ergonomics: the study of how to make machinery and technology more easily understandable to common everyday people. E. School Psychologists: work with students and their problems both in and out of the school environment.

V. The History of Psychology: Key Highlights A. Wilhelm Wundt: he argued that experience is composed of elements and compounds much like in chemistry. B. Edward Titchener: Structuralism: the study of how people understand the components that make up the structure of something. C. William James: Functionalism: the study of how people produce useful behaviors.

D. Charles Darwin: he argued that all species shared a remote common ancestor and over time we broke off into separate species. Different characteristics of a species may be more or less adaptable in particular environments. Those that were more adaptable continued into future generations while the maladaptive ones died off. 1) Comparative Psychology: research done on animals, such as rats, to better understand human physiology and behavior. E. Alfred Binet: he devised the first useful test of human intelligence. F. John Watson: 1) Behaviorism: the study of observable and measurable human behavior and NOT mental processes.

H. Ernest Becker: one of the last great “big picture” thinkers. He argued that the fact that we know we are going to die Someday is the primary motivating force that guides our everyday behavior. 1) Terror Management Theory: asserts that when a person is primed to think about their death, he or she becomes observably hostile to people with different beliefs and observably more fond of people with similar beliefs. G. Sigmund Freud: the father of psychoanalysis. He attempted to help people through methods such as dream analysis and the recovery of repressed memories surrounding traumas, such as child abuse. He also thought of sex as one of the most primary drives guiding human behavior.