Unit 1: Psychology’s History and Approaches

Psychology’s Roots Prescientific Psychology ● Ancient Greeks ● Socrates and Plato ● Mind is separable from the body and continues after the body dies ● Knowledge is innate (born within us) ● Aristotle ● Loved data ● Careful observation ● Knowledge is not pre-existing/It grows from experiences stored in our memories

Psychology’s Roots Prescientific Psychology ● Rene Descartes ● Enlightment ● Empiricism –senses Empiricism

Psychology’s Roots Psychological Science is Born ● Wilhelm Wundt (1879) ● University of Leipzig (first lab) ● Reaction time experiment ● Seeking to measure what? ● Introspection

Psychology’s Roots Thinking About the Mind’s Function ● William James ● Functionalism (darwin) Functionalism ● Mary Calkins-first women ● Margaret Floy Washburn ● 1 st phd women ● Experimental psychology Experimental psychology

Psychological Science Develops ● Behaviorism Behaviorism ● John B. Watson ● B.F. Skinner ● “study of observable behavior”study of observable behavior” 1920’s-1960’s “You can not observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought, but you can observe and record people’s behavior as they respond to different situations.”

Psychoanalysis ● Freud ● Study of the Unconscious ● Psychoanalysis to treat mental disorders

Psychological Science Develops (1960’s) ● Humanistic psychology Humanistic psychology ● Carl Rogers ● Abraham Maslow- am-maslows-contribution-to-the- humanistic-movement-in- psychology.html ● Cognitive Neuroscience Cognitive Neuroscience

Psychological Science Develops ● Psychology Psychology ● Science ● Behavior ● Mental processes

Contemporary Psychology

Psychology’s Biggest Question ● Nature – Nurture Issue Nature – Nurture Issue ● Biology versus experience ● Charles Darwin ● Natural selection Natural selection Nurture works on what nature endows.

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

What is an approach or perspective? ● Different views for explaining or analyzing any given phenomenon. ● Usually used to explain behavior or mental processing. ● Psychological perspectives – ways which psychologists classify collections of ideas. ● Kind of like political parties and each perspective has its own viewpoint and sometimes they agree and sometimes they don't.

Grizzly Bears! ● Why do Grizzly Bears hibernate? ● Is it based on evolution? Did hibernation help their ancestors to survive? ● Is it biological? Do their inner physiology drive them to hibernate? ● Is it environmental? Is it because cold environments hinder food gathering during winter?

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives (The Umbrella) ● Biological psychology NC Biological psychology ● Evolutionary psychology NC Evolutionary psychology ● Psychodynamic psychology NC Psychodynamic psychology ● Behavioral psychology NC Behavioral psychology ● Cognitive psychology NC Cognitive psychology ● Humanistic psychology NC Humanistic psychology ● Social-cultural psychology NC Social-cultural psychology

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

4 lobes of the brain

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

Evolutionary Psychology ● The study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principals of natural selection. ● Perspective: How the natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes. ● All behavior is a result instincts that helped our species survive. ● How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? ● Key Words: Ancestors, Heritability, Natural Selection, Maturation, Survival

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

Perspective: Psychoanalytic ● How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts ● Analysis of personality traits and disorders in terms of sexual and aggressive drives as the disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas ● Unresolved complexes hidden within ones unconscious (Oedipus and Electra, Potty training) ● ID, EGO, SUPEREGO ● Unconscious of why we do what we do ● Treatment?????

Id, Ego, Superego ● Id=Pleasure principle ● Ego=Reality principle ● Superego=Conscience (inhibitions and moral values) ● Battleground Id, Ego, Superego

Behavioral Psychology ● The scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning. ● Perspective: How we learn observable responses. ● How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? ● Key Words: Learning, Observable actions (Behavior), Reinforcement, Rewards, Punishment

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

Cognitive Psychology ● The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with THINKING, knowing, remembering, and communicating. ● Perspective: How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information. ● How do we use information in remembering or problem solving? ● Key Words: Thinking, Memory

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

Social-cultural Psychology ● The study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking. ● Perspectives: How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures. ● How are we all alike as humans? How do we differ based on culture or society? ● Key Words: Others influence, culture, environment, conformity, society

+ Application of Theories ● John is 40 years old. He lives alone with his mother. He has never been married but has a good job as an engineer. His life seemed to be going well until one day a month ago. John’s boss chewed him out for not doing something right at work. During the last month, John has been worried and depressed because he has started to forget things. He told his mother, who told Ethel who lives next door, and now everybody knows. Here are some examples of what has been happening to him: he was supposed to turn in plans for a new project but forgot they were due. He had always remembered his mother’s birthday, but it was a week ago and he completely forgot about it, hurting her, even though she pretended not to be upset. A month ago, a few days after the incident on the job, he met a woman he really liked and set up a date with her for later in the week. But he had forgotten that he was going to be out of town then, so he had to cancel the date./ Explain John’s behavior and treatment you would recommend based on the theory given to your group. JOHN