The 7 PERSPECTIVES of Psychology

The Birth of Psychology Wilhelm Wundt University of Leipzig – Psychology’s first experiment, birth of a science – Established first psychology lab – Introspection (looking inward) Edward Titchener – Brought psych to U.S. – Margaret Floy Washburn-first woman to earn Psych PhD (barred from experimental psych)

Structuralism – Wundt, Titchener, Hall (founder & first president of APA) Uses introspection to explore the structural elements of the mind – Break down mental processes into most basic parts – Strengths first major school of thought in psych Influenced experimental psych – Weaknesses Experiments too subjective (unreliable results) Too concerned with internal behavior which is not observable or measured accurately

Functionalism A reaction to structuralism Sought to explain how our mental & behavioral processes function – How do they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish? – Focused on purpose of behavior William James influenced by Darwin – First professor of psych at Harvard – What’s the purpose of behavior? – Educated Mary Calkins – first woman president of APA Today 2/3 of psych PhDs are women

The 7 Perspectives Biological Behavioral Cognitive Evolutionary Humanistic Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Sociocultural

Why do we behave, think, feel, and experience sensations like we do? 7 different perspectives (aka approaches & schools of thought) to explain this

Perspective 1: BIOLOGICAL Seeks to understand: – The interaction between anatomy (brain/ nervous system) AND behavior – How the body & brain enable emotions, memories, & sensory experiences – What parts of the brain are involved in certain behaviors Main idea: What affects your body affects your behavior – Ex: you drank an energy drink before you entered class & are bouncing off the walls – Ex: up texting all night so exhausted

Perspective 2: BEHAVIORAL Argue psychology is the study of observable behavior – Behavior is determined by your environment & experience not genetics – The mind & mental events are not important b/c they can’t be observed (feelings don’t matter) Main idea: Everything is trained & learned, nothing is born – EX: you are afraid of spiders – To change behavior you must be reconditioned Key people: Watson, Skinner, Pavlov

Classical & Operant Conditioning

Perspective 3: COGNITIVE In order to understand someone’s behavior, we must understand how they think – Importance of how our mind sees, processes, stores, and remembers information – How does our interpretation of a situation affect our thinking, reactions, behavior? – EX: trying to change friend’s mind about abusive boyfriend – Key person: Jean Piaget

Perspective 4: EVOLUTIONARY Behavior can be best explained in terms of how adaptive that behavior is to our survival – We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors. – Thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors survival – This process selects physical and behavioral characteristics to promote survival Natural Selection: we have evolved into our present states over long periods of time Key Person: Charles Darwin!!!

Perspective 5: HUMANISTIC Argue that humans have unique qualities of behavior different from other animals – Free will & potential for personal growth guide behavior & mental processes – Emphasize the importance of feelings, love, & acceptance – view human nature as positive – Focus on how our environment influences our growth potential & need for love and acceptance – Self-actualization-process of fulfilling your potential Key People: Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers

Perspective 6: SOCIOCULTURAL Says that much of your behavior and your feelings are dictated by the culture you live in – must be taken into account when trying to understand, predict, or control behavior – EX: Some cultures kiss each other when greeting, some bow, some shake hands What does our society/culture value?

Perspective 7: Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic The interaction between the conscious and unconscious (mental process that we do not normally have access to but are influenced by) shape behavior – Stresses the importance of childhood experiences to the development of personality – Focus is to resolve unconscious conflicts through uncovering info that has been repressed (buried in unconscious) EX: A man cannot form relationships with others b/c he was beaten as a child, causing a fear of getting close to others.