The History and Perspectives of Psychology

Psychology What does it mean? Inner sensations- mental processes Observable behavior

Prologue: The Story of Psychology Psychology’s Roots  Prescientific Psychology  Psychological Science is Born  Psychological Science Develops

Prologue: The Story of Psychology Contemporary Psychology  Psychology’s Big Debate  Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis  Psychology’s Subfields

Psychology’s Roots Prescientific Psychology In India, Buddha wondered how and combined to form ideas.

Prescientific Psychology Confucius ( B.C.) In China, stressed the power of ideas and the importance of an educated mind. home.tiscali.be/alain.ernotte/livre/confucius.jpg

Prescientific Psychology Hebrew Scriptures scriptures linked mind and emotion to the body.

Prescientific Psychology Socrates ( B.C.) and Plato ( B.C.) Socrates and his student Plato believed the mind was from the body, the mind continued to exist after death, and ideas were innate. Socrates Plato

Prescientific Psychology Aristotle ( B.C.) Aristotle suggested that the soul separable from the body and that knowledge (ideas) grow from.

Prescientific Psychology Rene Descartes ( ) Descartes, like, believed in soul (mind)- body separation, but wondered how the immaterial mind and physical body.

Prescientific Psychology Francis Bacon ( ) Bacon is one of the founders of modern science, particularly the method.

Prescientific Psychology John Locke ( ) Locke held that the mind was a, or blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it. biografieonline.it/img/bio/John_Locke.jpg

Prescientific Psychology Mind and body are connected Mind and body are distinct Socrates Augustine What is the relation of mind to the body?

Prescientific Psychology Some ideas are inborn The mind is a blank slate How are ideas formed?

Psychological Science is Born Structuralism Wundt and Titchener studied the elements (atoms) of the mind by conducting experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in Wundt ( ) Titchner ( )

Psychological Science is Born Functionalism Influenced by Darwin, William James established the school of functionalism, which opposed structuralism. James ( ) Mary Calkins

Psychological Science is Born The Unconscious Mind and his followers emphasized the importance of the mind and its effects on human behavior. Freud ( )

Psychological Science Develops Behaviorism Watson (1913) and later emphasized the study of overt as the subject matter of scientific psychology. Watson ( ) Skinner ( )

Psychological Science Develops Humanistic Psychology Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth potential and our need for and. Maslow ( ) Rogers ( )

Psychology: A Definition The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Break it down… Science Behavior Mental Processes

Psychology’s Big Issues Stability v. Change Continuity v. Discontinuity Nature v. Nurture

Stability v. Change As the years pass, do we change or remain the same? Do we become adults or are we always just big kids? Personality traits, physical appearance, sense of humor, tastes, etc…

Continuity v. Discontinuity Does growth occur gradually or in stages?

Biology versus Experience Am I the way I am because I was born that way or because of my surroundings? Nature v. Nurture Can I ever be like these people, or does nature give me limitations?

Figure 1 Biopsychosocial approach Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers

Psychology’s Perspectives The Big Eight

Neuroscience/Biological Perspective Focus on how the physical body and creates our emotions, memories and sensory experiences. If you could not remember the names of your parents and went to a psychologist who adheres to the neuroscience perspective, what might they say?

Evolutionary Perspective Focuses on. We behave the way we do because we__________those behaviors. Thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors ___________. How could this behavior ensured Homer’s ancestors survival?

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Perspective Fathered by Sigmund Freud. Our behavior comes from drives. Usually stemming from our. What might a psychoanalyst say is the reason someone always needs to be chewing gum?

Behavioral Perspective Focuses on our behaviors. Only cares about the behaviors that impair our living, and attempts to change them. 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.

Cognitive Perspective Focuses on how we think (or information) How do we see the world? How did we learn to act to sad or happy events? Cognitive Therapist attempt to change the way you think. Meet girl Get Rejected by girl Did you learn to be depressed Or get back on the horse

Social-Cultural Perspective Focus on how your effects your behavior. Even in the same high school, behaviors can change in accordance to the various subcultures.

Humanistic Perspective Focuses on growth Attempt to seek self-actualization Therapists use active listening and. Mr. Rogers would have made a great Humanistic Therapist!!!

Positive Psychology Perspective Focus on and psychological states Focus on what goes right, instead of what goes wrong Create personal rather than treat symptoms Founded by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Martin Seligman

Psychology’s Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocusSample Questions How the body and brain enables emotions? How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives? How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes? How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences? To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocusSample Questions How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts? How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas? How we learn observable responses? How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocusSample Questions How we encode, process, store and retrieve information? How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving? How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures? How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ? What are “successful” individuals doing to be “successful”? What is happiness? How do we foster creativity? What makes optimism possible?

Psychology’s Subfields: Research PsychologistWhat he/she does Biological Explore the links between brain and mind. Developmental Study changing abilities from womb to tomb. Cognitive Study how we perceive, think, and solve problems. Personality Investigate our persistent traits. Social Explore how we view and affect one another.

Psychology’s Subfields: Research Data: APA 1997

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied PsychologistWhat she does Clinical Studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders Counseling Helps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges. Educational Studies and helps individuals in school and educational settings Industrial/ Organizational Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied Data: APA 1997

A (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with psychotherapy. on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients. Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry

Table 1 Myers: Psychology, Eighth Edition Copyright © 2007 by Worth Publishers