1. A History of Psychology

2. Interest in human behavior is as old as human history.
Since when…
Interest in human behavior is as old as human history.

3. Roots from Ancient Greece
Socrates motto “know thyself” raises questions about psychological study thus suggesting the concept of:
Introspection
“looking within” by examining ones own thoughts and feeling

4. Roots from Ancient Greece
Aristotle outlines laws of:
Associationism
A learned connection between two ideas or events
Concept still a major part of today's psychology

5. Example of Associationism
Experiences often remind us of similar experiences in the past

6. Aristotle's Universal Law
People are motivated to seek pleasure & avoid pain

7. Other Greek Theories
Confusion and bizarre behavior (psychological problems) were a result of punishment from ancient gods
Hippocrates however suggests the abnormalities were results of brain malfunctions

8. Roots From the Middle Ages
Possession is seen as punishment for sins or deals made with the devil
Implementation of “tests”

9. Roots From the Middle Ages
Water-Float Test
Suspected “Possessed” individual was thrown into deep water
kept afloat =impure and executed for associating with the devil
Those who sank =pure

10. Roots From the Modern Ages
Modern Science is born and a scientific approach to psychology is taken by the 1800s:
Wilhelm Wundt develops first modern laboratory in Germany

11. Wilhelm Wundt Structuralism
A field of psychology concerned with the elements of consciousness
2 categories of consciousness:
Subjective Feelings
Objective Sensations

12. What’s the diff? Objective Sensations Sight Subjective Feelings Touch
Taste
Smell
Sound
Reflections of outside world
Subjective Feelings
Emotions
Feelings
Mental Images
I remember how good it tastes to eat a juicy steak.
MMMmmm…give me meat!

13. Don’t Get it? Ignore what this is Describe your conscious experience
Redness
Brightness
Roundness
How intense and clear the sensations are.
If you did this- you would be a great candidate in a structural lab

14. William James
No No No Wundt! Consciousness cannot be broken down into categories rather:
Experience is a “stream of consciousness”

15. William James Functionalism
The school of psychology concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment.
How differences in learning and memory affect intelligence

16. What’s the diff? Functionalism
Reliance on introspection & behavioral observation in the laboratory
What are the purposes (functions) of behavioral & mental process?
Structuralism
Reliance on introspection
What are the elements (structures) of psychological process?

17. John B. Watson
Behaviorism
School of psychology focused on the scientific study of observable behavior.
Watson thought it unscientific to study consciousness rather studying observable behavior is scientific.

18. B.F. Skinner
A behaviorist contributor
Coins the concept of reinforcement

19. Gestalt Psychology
Psychologies purpose is to organize things into meaningful wholes.

20. Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis
Emphasizes the unconscious, its motives, conflicting impulses, urges, wishes, desires, irrational thoughts.