1. History & Approaches

2.  1.1: Describe how psychology developed from its pre-scientific roots in early understandings of mind & body to the the beginnings of modern science  1.2: Describe some important milestones in psychology’s early development  1.3: Describe how psychology continued to develop from the 1920s through today

3. Crash Course: Psychology #01 – Intro to Psych https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M

4. What is it? The study of our inner feelings and behaviors. Do our feelings always match our behaviors? If you call me a dumb@$$, I may feel sad inside. But I will still act tough. (but I will be crying on the inside, so be nice!).

5. Although the science of psychology started in the late 1800’s, the concept has been around a lot longer. There was evidence of trephination (cutting holes into a skull to let evil spirits out) back in the stone age. It was like a bad SAW movie!!!!

6. SocratesPlatoAristotle Mind/Body/Soul Mind/Body Logic Data Innate Knowledge Experience & Memory Early Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle explored topics such as pleasure, pain, knowledge, motiva tion, rationality, and mental illness—topics often discussed in psychology today.

7.  Rene Descartes ◦ “Dualism” ◦ Innate Ideas  Francis Bacon ◦ Experimental Method  John Locke ◦ Tabula Rasa (blank slate)  Empiricism Empiricism ◦ Implications?

8.  How does the mind work?  What is the relation of mind to the body?  How are ideas formed? How much is built in vs. how much is acquired?

9.  The science of psychology has gone through about 5 different waves since it started.  Waves are different ways of thinking over time.

10. Started with William Wundt’s first psychological laboratory and his concept of introspection (structuralism = understand the structure of the conscious mind). In reality this idea does not have much impact on how psychologists think today. Wundt defined introspection as the analysis of: Memory Perceptions Cognitive processes Motivations

11.  Highly trained assistants would be given a stimulus such as a ticking metronome and would reflect on the experience. They would report what the stimulus made them think and feel. The same stimulus, physical surroundings and instructions were given to each person.  Introspection Activity: In pairs, use introspection to describe an object/event. Verbalize the contents of your conscious mind: sensations, feelings, emotions-not names or functions.  Compare with other groups…

12.  Did you have difficulty reporting only sensations, feelings, emotions, etc.?  How many of you thought about the function of the object?  Other thoughts?  Did Wundt unrealistically limit the content of the conscious mind?  Does introspection reflect the way we experience objects and events?  Do we experience things as series of sensations or as an integrated whole?  Is there more to experience than conscious awareness?

13.  Then William James wrote The Principles of Psychology and discussed functionalism. (mousetrap vs. diamond) Functionalism is the theory that mental states are more like mouse traps than they are like diamonds. That is, what makes something a mental state is more a matter of what it does, not what it is made of.

14.  http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/psychsim5/l auncher.html http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/psychsim5/l auncher.html

15.  So, according to functionalism, the essential nature of your desires and your pains is not to be found in the stuff that your desires are composed of, but rather in the function that each performs. What kind of stuff is your pain made of? Are pains somehow made of molecules (i.e., physical stuff)? Or are they made of some kind of immaterial mental stuff?

16. Led by Max Wertheimer, these guys focused not on how we feel, but on how we experience the world. The whole of an experience can be more than the sum of its parts. Think for a moment of all the reasons that you love your mom. If you add all those reasons up, do they equal your love for your mom? Hopefully not!!! This may seem like one picture, but it can be perceived as different faces. Can you find them?

17.  This wave of thinking started with Sigmund Freud (in the early 1900’s).  In a nutshell, during this time period people believed that most of your feelings come from a hidden place in your mind called the unconscious.  We protect ourselves from our real feeling by using defense mechanisms.

18. During this time period (early to mid 1900s), people started to ignore how you feel inside. All that mattered was how you acted. If you they could change your behavior, who cares how you feel. Very popular during the conservative 1950s when social appearance mattered more than self-expression.

19. We are now in wave five….which is about variety. Psychologists pick and choose what theories to use depending on the situation and the client. Just like Ben 10 choosing the right alien to fight the bad guy depending the situation.

20. Bio-Psychology (Neuroscience) Humanist Cognitive

21.  All of your feelings and behaviors have an organic root.  In other words, they come from your brain, body chemistry, neurotransmitters, etc… Let us imagine for a second that your dog died (sad but it will happen). You become depressed. You stop eating and sleeping. What would a psychologist from this school say is going on and how might they help you?

22.  Focuses on Darwinism.  We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors.  Thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors survival. How could this behavior ensured Homer’s ancestors survival?

23. Psychodynamic Perspective Focuses on the unconscious mind. We repress many of our true feelings and are not aware of them. In order to get better, we must bring forward the true feelings we have in our unconscious. If a man has intimacy issues and cannot form relationships with others. What do you think someone from this school may think? Perhaps they may delve into the man’s unconscious and discover that he was bullied when he were younger. The bullying may have caused fear in getting close to others.

24. Behavioral Perspective Focuses on observable behaviors while putting feelings to the side. We behave in ways because we have been conditioned to do so. To change behaviors, we have to recondition the client. Pretend that you fail psychology class. You become depressed. In turn, you begin to binge and gain weight. What do you think a behaviorist may do? They would probably ignore the fact that you are depressed and just focus on your overeating. Maybe make you run a mile every time you eat over 2000 calories.

25. Humanist Perspective Peaked in the late 1960’s and 70’s….so it focused on spirituality and free will. We have to strive to be the best we can be “self- actualization”. Happiness is defined by the distance between our “self- concept” and “ideal self”.

26. Cognitive Perspective Focuses on how we think (or encode information) How do we see the world? How did we learn to act to sad or happy events? Cognitive Therapist attempt to change the way you think. You meet a girl… Hopes are high!!! She rejects you…don’t even get digits. How do you react to the rejection? Some learned get back on the horse And try again. Some learned to give up and live a lonely life of solitude.

27. Social-Cultural Perspective Says that much of your behavior and your feelings are dictated by the culture you live in. Some cultures kiss each other when greeting, some just bow. Does your culture place value on individual or the group? This is my culture!!! (this is the point when the class usually rolls their eyes) High Five & Candy to anyone who gets the joke here???

28.  Nature Versus Nurture  Stability Versus Change  Continuity Versus Discontinuity The Science of Psychology??? Soft Science handout Physics/Chemistry – Art/Philosophy continuum