1. The History of the Study of Psychology
Pages 14-22

2. Historical Background for Psychology
Philosophers had been debating the role of the brain for centuries. (Locke, Descartes, etc.)
Scientific discoveries in the 1800’s (discovery of cells, elements, atoms, etc.) cause many natural scientists to study complex phenomena by simplifying them.
Wilhelm Wundt started the first psychology laboratory.

3. Wilhelm Wundt
Founder of Modern Psychology, Founder of Experimental Psychology.
Took aspects of physiology and philosophy to make psych a separate discipline.
Main method used was introspection.
Structuralism – study of the basic elements that make up conscious mental experiences.

4. Introspection
People were trained to look into their own minds to determine the contents of their own minds.
If a stimulus was presented to them, they would think about how they were processing the stimulus. How they processed the color, the form, etc.
Main experimental method for a few decades.

5. Case Study We’re going to introspect for a few minutes.
I will show you a stimulus, you will think for a minute. And then you will try to script all of your thoughts for a minute.
Can you see some problems with this method?

7. William James Father of American Psychology
Taught first psychology class at Harvard in 1875.
Was the first functionalist – concerned with the function (role) of consciousness rather than its structure.
Wrote Principles of Psychology. Widely used textbook for years.
Until Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis come along (early 1900’s), most psychologists were interested in either structuralism or functionalism.

8. Mary Calkins
William James admitted her into his graduate seminar, causing all the other students to drop.
James tutored her alone and she scored better on the examination than any other student.
Harvard refused to give her the degree and offered her one from Radcliffe College, which she refused.
She became a psychology professor at Wellesley College and became the first female president of the APA (American Psychological Association).

9. Behaviorism
Argued that we cannot determine the contents of our own mind.
The only thing that we should focus on is observable behavior.
Much of their research is focused on animals because they cannot control their conscious thought.
Behaviorism becomes the main form of psychological research until the 1960s.

10. Key Behaviorists
Ivan Pavlov – Experiment with conditioning dogs to salivate at the ringing of a tuning fork leads to behaviorist school of thought.
Psychologists believe that behavior is based on prior experiences. Therefore, people are different because of the different ways they learned.

11. John Watson
Believed that psychology should only concern itself with observable facts of behavior.
Believed that all behavior is a result of conditioning.
Famous case study on Little Albert

12. Components of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that automatically produces an unconditioned response (UCR)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)– a previously neutral stimulus that is paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that automatically evokes an unconditioned response, until the conditioned stimulus itself produces a conditioned response (CR).

13. Example of Classic Conditioning
Using Pavlov’s experience
The noise of his machine, or bell in later experiments is a conditioned stimulus (neutral).
However, the noise continuously came before the dogs were presented the meat powder (Unconditioned stimulus) leading to the dogs salivating (Unconditioned response).
Over time, the conditioned stimulus (bell) will result in the dog salivating, thus becoming a conditioned response.

14. Case Study Two Little Albert
As an 11 month old, Albert is presented with a little white lab rat (CS). Then a loud noise is made behind the child (UCS). The child will come to show fear and after repetition he will fear the rat (CR) like he fears the noise (UCR).
The child has been conditioned to fear the rat.

16. Some outcomes of Classical Conditioning
Acquisition – the process of acquiring a controlled response. (i.e. the fear of rats, salivating at the sound of a bell)
Extinction – Process after acquisition, if the controlled stimulus is repeatedly presented alone, the controlled response will gradually decrease to zero. (ex. Boy is exposed to rats without the loud sound, over time he no longer fears the rats).
How can this be used in therapy?
Spontaneous Recovery – After extinction, if time passes and the controlled stimulus is presented, the old response may occur.
Stimulus Generalization – the conditioned response may occur not only to the specific conditioned stimulus, but also to objects similar to it.

17. Assignment
Write at least 2 paragraphs on an experience that you have had with conditioning.
Examples: Why you may have an irrational fear, certain mannerisms that you have, certain associations that you may have. If you cannot think of any, explain why you think you maybe do not have any strong conditioned characteristics or use the example of conditioning with a pet.