PS210 History of Psychology Unit 4 Nichola Cohen Ph.D.

Unit 4 Project  Due Tuesday by 11.59pm EST  Please read the rubric  APA formatting and references  Reference the text book and 1 other credible source  Must be well written  Use spell check  Use the writing center  Between 3-4 pages

Unit 4 Project  Introduction  Thesis statement and introducing primary topics  Contributions  Pick one of the early psychologists (either Wilhelm Wundt, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Franz Brentano, Carl Stumpf, Oswald Kulpe or Edward Titchener) and describe their contributions to psychology  1 page

Unit 4 Project  Critical evaluation  Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the work of your chosen Psychologist  1 page  Conclusion  Summarize the main points within your paper and form conclusions

What is functionalism?

 1 st American system of Psychology  Addressed how the mind functions and what its purpose is

What is the difference between structuralism and functionalism?

 Functionalists asked – What is the function of consciousness?  Structuralists asked – What is the structure of consciousness?

Virtual fieldtrip!  Watch this video:

Virtual fieldtrip!  Watch this video:  What did you see and why is this important?

Virtual fieldtrip!  Watch this video:  What did you see and why is this important?  You saw an orangutan displaying human-like behaviors  Functionalism is founded on the ideas of Charles Darwin. His ideas on evolution originated from observing an Orangutan displaying human-like behaviors in a London zoo

Where did the idea of evolution begin?

 Most people believe it started with Darwin, but it didn’t  The concept of evolution (the idea that living things change with time) can be traced back to the 5 th century, although it wasn’t until the late 18 th century that the idea was investigated systematically

Darwin and evolution  Excursion aboard the HMS Beagle ( )  Was selected to find evidence in support of the biblical account of creation  Spent a long time working on his theory, until in 1858 he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace who had outlined a theory very similar to Darwin’s  Both presented their ideas at a meeting, Darwin’s work got more attention  Better formalized

What is Darwin’s theory of evolution?

 Variability in individual members of a species is inherited  A process of natural selection results in survival of traits best suited to an environment and the elimination of those not fit  Proposed that humans evolved from lower life forms

What is Darwin’s theory of evolution?  Variability in individual members of a species is inherited  A process of natural selection results in survival of traits best suited to an environment and the elimination of those not fit  Proposed that humans evolved from lower life forms  Natural selection in action 

What were the implications of Darwin’s work on Psychology?

 Psychology became more focused on practical everyday problems  How people function in and adapt to their environments  Focus on animal psychology  Study of animal behavior became critical to understanding human behavior  Acceptance of methodology from different fields  Focus on description and measurement of individual differences

How did the Zeitgeist contribute to evolutionary theory?

 Finding fossils  Discovering areas on earth with different creatures  Industrial revolution

Francis Galton

 Statistical work  Mental tests  Thought intelligence could be measured in terms of sensory capacities  Known for his study of individual differences  Worked on mental inheritance  Thought genius is inherited

Eugenics

 The science of improving the human race through artificial selection

Eugenics  The science of improving the human race through artificial selection  Encouraged the birth of “fit” individuals, discouraged the birth of “unfit”

Eugenics  The science of improving the human race through artificial selection  Encouraged the birth of “fit” individuals, discouraged the birth of “unfit”  Proposed the development of intelligence tests to select fit individuals for selective breeding

Implications of eugenics

 Marriage laws  Laws forbidding inter-racial marriages were common  Sterilization laws  Laws passed allowing for the sterilization of “socially inadequate” people  Immigration laws  Immigration laws introduced to prohibit immigration of “undesirable” people

Animal Psychology  George John Romanes  Developed mental ladder, defining level of intellectual functioning of different animals  Introspection by analogy – investigators assume animals have the same mental processes as humans  Concluded that animals are capable of reasoning and problem-solving  His methodologies are very questionable!  C Lloyd Morgan  Law of parsimony – animal behavior should be described in its lowest form