1. The History of Psychology

2. Ancient Greece
Advice: “Know thyself”, which has remained a motto of psychology ever since.
Introspection: careful examination of one’s own thoughts and emotions-to achieve self knowledge.
“looking within”

3. Middle Ages
Belief in demons (not understanding mental illness)
Certain “tests” used to determine whether one was possessed by a demon.
Ex. Throwing someone in deep water. If they floated to the top, clearly they were impure and possessed. They were executed for associating with the Devil.

4. The Enlightenment
Rational thought
Reason
Science

5. Philippe Pinel French physician in late 1700s
Unchained patients held in mental wards
Argued against the prevailing belief that the mentally ill were possessed by demons.
Leader in improving conditions for the mentally ill.

6. Dorothea Dix
Teacher in 1840s that led a crusade to give mentally ill people better treatment
The mentally ill were imprisoned like criminals.

7. Wilhelm Wundt-Late 1800s
“Father of Psychology” b/c he set up first scientific lab for study of psychology
Founded Structuralism.
Study of the elements of consciousness.
Used introspection as the tool for gathering data

8. Structuralists would be interested in all of the memories and sensations this woman is experiencing as she smells the flower.
BASIC PERCEPTIONS

9. Structuralism-Conscious mental experience
Ex. Even though these children experience the same sensations (sweetness and coldness) as they enjoy eating their ice cream, their reported introspections (looking inward to examine one’s own conscious experience) of the experience would probably differ.

10. William James 1st American Psychologist Founded Functionalism
Late 1800s
Founded Functionalism
Studied how the mind functions to adapt humans and other animals to their environment.
Direct observation in a laboratory supplements introspection.

11. Structuralism v. Functionalism..it’s like…
The difference between stopping a train to tear it apart to study its parts (structuralism), and looking at how the systems interact while it is running (functionalism).

13. Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis, a school of psychology that emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior.
Based on the idea that much of our lives are governed by or limited by unconscious ideas and impulses that have their origins in childhood conflicts.

14. Psychoanalysis continued.
Freud came to believe that unconscious processes, especially sexual and aggressive impulses, are more influential than conscious thought in determining human behavior.
Believed that repressed urges, in trying to surface, create nervous disorders.
He relied on personal observation and reflection instead of controlled laboratory experimentation. (NOT scientific)

15. Human mental life is like an iceberg
Human mental life is like an iceberg. The smallest, visible part of the iceberg represents the conscious mental experience of the individual.
But underwater, hidden from view, floats a vast store of unconscious impulses, wishes, and desires.

16. Mary Whiton Calkins Female pioneer in psychology-late 1800s
Tutored by William James
Women were not allowed to get Ph.D.’s
But, she completed all the requirements for one at Harvard and outperformed all her male counterparts on the tests.
Became the first female president the American Psychological Association (APA).
Mary Whiton Calkins

17. John B. Watson Founder of American Behaviorism early 1900’s
Believed psychology must limit itself to observable, measurable events.
Based his work on Pavlov.
Believed that all behavior is learned
“Little Albert” story *see Youtube clip

18. Behaviorism
School of Psychology that focuses on the learning and effects of observable behavior and studies relationships between stimuli and responses.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, Behaviorism was the dominant force in American Psychology.

19. B.F. Skinner-Behaviorist
Major Modern contributor to Behaviorism
Believed in Reinforcement: When a behavior is increased by a stimulus.
Example: train rats to push toys across the floor by giving them rewards of food.
See youtube clip: pigeons