1 Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Prologue: The Story of Psychology James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers

2 Prologue: Psych’s Roots Psychology…from psukhe …Ancient Greek for breath…& later became to represent soul or spirit Prescientific Psy  Is the mind connected to the body or distinct?  Are ideas inborn (innate) or is the mind a blank slate filled by experience?  Came from philosophy & physiology

3 Prologue: Psych’s Roots (p. 3) Dualism: can have 2 separate parts……i.e. (that is), Mind & body are separate—believed by Socrates, Plato, Descartes Monism: both = 1 …mind & body inseparable believed by Hebrews, Aristotle, & St. Augustine Knowledge (Some aspects) are Innate ( inborn ): Socrates; Plato Human mind is __?__ slate: Aristotle; John Locke

4 Prologue: Psych’s Roots  Psychological Science Is Born Renaissance  Age of Enlightenment  Age of Reason  ALL this led to Empiricism: Scientific method  Knowledge comes from experience via the senses  Science flourishes through observation & experiment…empirical thinking  Vs. anecdotal evidence ”I knew a guy….” Why is anecdotal evidence dangerous? (Ex: Seat belts??) How can it lead to superstitions.. & “magical thinking?”

5 Prologue: Psych’s Roots  Wilhelm Wundt (“father of psy”):  opened 1 st psych lab, Univ. of Liepzig, Germany (c. 1879: “b’day of psy”) - was 1 st place established specifically to study empirically the ideas of psych Wundt’s “Big Ideas:”  Structuralism  Introspection (but…NEITHER lasted  )

6 Early theories: Structuralism vs. Functionalism  Structuralism used introspection (looking in) to explore the elemental structure of the human mind  Wundt & his student Edward Titchener (Titchener brought new area of study, “psychology,” to USA)

7 *William James: (btw: had famous bro.: Henry, Amer. author) Functionalism focused on how behavioral processes function… i.e, how they enable organism to adapt, survive, & flourish— adapt behaviors to survive A huge fan of Darwin, James related psych to Darwin’s ideas… FATHER OF AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY!! & Functionalism LED to Evolutionary Psych, a big area of Psych today James also taught Mary Calkins at Harvard… Later was 1 st female pres. (1905) of APA (Amer. Psychological Assoc.) Why did he teach her in classroom by herself? Why did she NOT get a Ph.D in Psychology as the male Harvard students had?

8 Psych’s Roots: Psychological Science Develops  Wundt--German philosopher and physiologist; “Father of Psy.” (1879)  James--American philosopher; wrote 1 st major psy text: Principles of Psychology (1400 pp.) (late 1800’s)  Pavlov--Russian physiologist; classical conditioning: learning thru survival or automatic means (1900)  John Watson (early 20 th cent.) : 1 st “behaviorist”  B.F. Skinner: operant conditioning: “it’ all environment & learning!” (1940’s – 1990’s)  Freud--Austrian physician; psychoanalytical method…became today’s psychodynamic (1880’s-1930’s)  Piaget--Swiss biologist; developmental…later some of cognitive..how we change as we get older

9 Psych’s Roots (p. 7) & dramatic growth: Approx# in 1940? 1980? 2000? Figure 1- British Psychological Society membership

10 Prologue: Psychology’s Roots  Definition of Psychology  The science of behavior (what we do) & mental processes (sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, & feelings)  Science: empirical (scientific) study of something  Behavior: the observable things we do…things we & others see us do  Mental processes: sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, & feelings…things going on in us but cannot be seen or observed

11 Contemporary (more recent) Psych 3 Big Issues today in Psych study: 1.Nature vs. Nurture: Is it genes (genetics, heredity) OR is it experience, learning, 2.Stability vs. Change: Are our traits the same thru life…or do we change as we age? 3.Rationality (reasonable; logical) vs. irrationality: Are humans logical …OR…ruled by emotions, etc.?

12 Psych’s 3 Big Issues 1.Nature vs. Nurture: Is it genes (genetics, heredity) OR is it experience, learning, etc. that make to develops our psy. traits & our behaviors?  This is the MAJOR, most often discussed issue  AKA heredity vs. environment (now mainly use term experience instead….Why?)  Innate vs. ___?__ slate: means what? Who (philosophers, etc) went w/ which idea??

13 Psych’s 3 Big Issues 2. Stability vs. Change: Do our traits stay basically the same thru life…or do we change a lot as we age? Do shy kids tend to stay shy? Do adventurous kids get more adventurous..or more cautious?

14 Psych’s 3 Big Issues 3. Rationality vs. irrationality: Are humans basically logical (reasonable) (like Mr. Spock, the Vulcan) … OR… Illogical (irrational…ruled by emotions, etc.) ? EX’s?

15 More Contemporary Psych Ideas: Evolutionary Psych: How we become more successful humans… What WORKS??  Natural selection & Charles Darwin: We change &/or adapt in order to survive Those adapting well are more likely to have offspring… Natural selection: off-spring inheriting trait variations (mutations) that help survival will be most likely to breed …& to pass strong traits to succeeding (later) generations In Psych, it is the behaviors & thinking that change same way to create a better animal… (THIS was basis for Wm. James ‘s ideas of functionalism )

16 Psychology’s Perspectives   How we see something depends on our viewpoint… How we each see the same issue depends on POV ALL 3 figures below are the same figure…just depends on how you are looking at it… yr POV (point of view) or perspective. There are also differing PERSPECTIVES in Psych.. …sets of ideas or beliefs about how humans/animals learn, think, behave, adapt, etc.

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18 Psychology’s Subfields w/in Basic Research Psy. & Applied Psychology Basic Research : These psychologists do research, not treatments, etc. 1.Biological psychologists explore the links between brain/mind & the body..the physical body 2.Developmental psychologists study changing abilities from womb to tomb..how aging affects us 3.Cognitive psychologists study how we perceive, think, use language, & solve problems 4.Personality psychologists investigate our persistent personality traits (or patterns) 5.Social psychologists explore how we view & affect & interact w/ one another w/in groups..how groups affect our behaviors

19 Prologue: Contemporary Psychology Psychology’s Subfields w/in Basic Research Psy. & Applied Psychology Applied Psychology: USING info from Psych research EX:’s:  Industrial/organizational (I.O.) psychologists study and advise on behavior in the workplace  Clinical psychologists study, assess, and treat people with psychological disorders (seeing patients or clients) or with personal problems

20 Be careful NOT to confuse…  Psychiatry: These are M.D.’s…not psychologists, which generally are Ph.D’s Psychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing w/ psych. disorders…usually the more severe disorder --& more likely to use medical ( for example, drug &/or surgical ) treatments as well as psychotherapy  Trained in medicine first…psych disorders later  Clinical psychologists are Ph.D.’s, NOT M.D.’s, but takes about same amt. of time!  MOST Psychol. can’t write out Rx for meds…referring MD does that  But this is changing as Ph.D. psych’s push for the licensing to Rx for psych disorders  Several states now allow this, though most do NOT