Chapter 1 Notes

Definition of psychology
PSYCHOLOGY: study of the mind or soul; scientific study of conscious experience; *the scientific study of behavior and mental processes of people and animals* 1. Behavior: any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism 2. Mental Process: internal states we infer from behavior, ex: thoughts, beliefs, feelings 2 Basic types of psychologists: 1. Research: study origin, cause, or results of certain behaviors o Work in government, organizations, etc 2. Applied: make direct use of findings of research psychologists o Counselors, psychiatrists, morale-boosters in big companies, etc. Theory: general framework/idea for scientific study

Philosophical Questions
The Greeks
Plato (4th century BC, 360 BC): Greek philosopher who was a nativist, claiming that certain ideas and a persons character and intelligence are innate/inherited from parents Aristotle (4th century BC, 320 BC): empiricist, i.e. argued that everything we know has come from our experiences with our envmt; developed theories about aspects of human behavior including memory, learning, motivation, emotion, perception, and personality, from his personal experiences and informal observations o I: most of Western civ accepted Aristotles explanations without question for almost 2000 years

The Renaissance
Philosophers began to reexamine Aristotles explanations and add their own perspectives Rene Descartes (1600): French mathematician and philosopher who was nativist and dualist o Dualism: view that mind and body are separate entities o Prescience proposed existence of threads that control behavior (i.e. nerves) and movements made without thought (reflexes, conditioned responses) John Locke (1700): British empiricist who claimed that mind is a blank state at birth so knowledge comes from direct sensory experiences o Followed in Aristotles footsteps

Rise of Modern Science (19th century)

Caused by advances in physiology and medicine o Discovery of nerves, movement commands from brain to muscles, specialization of brain parts, disease as a result of brain abnormality Hermann von Helmholz (1830): German physiologist who demonstrated that the movement of impulses in the nerves and in the brain are not instantaneous but instead take a small but finite amount of time

Charles Darwin (1860): introduced natural selection and evolution Researchers saw that human behavior could be studied using same methods applied to other sciences

The Birth of Psychology

synthesis of philosophy and physiology Wilhelm Wundt (Father of Psychology): German professor who grouped physiology and philosophy to make an independent product of psychology o established first formal lab for psychology research at University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879 Leipzig was world center of psych for the next decade o Made psychology the sci study of conscious experience Consciousness: awareness of immediate experience o Wrote first textbook in psychology G. Stanley Hall (1846 1924): established Americas first research lab in psychology at Johns Hopkins in 1883; launched Americas first psychology journal; helped established American Psychological Association and was first president of the association

Old Schools of Psychology

Pre-psych
Phrenology: study of the head Trephining: Stone Age human practice of carving holes into the skull to release evil spirits

Wave 1
Structuralism (late 1800s): based on notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements (components) and investigate how these elements are related Elements: 1) sensations, 2) feelings, 3) images; sensation and perception in vision, hearing, and touch Edward Titchener (1885): Englishman who migrated to US and taught at Cornell; earned his degree in Leipzig but brought his own distinct form of Wundts psychology to America o Founder of structuralism; based theory on loose interpretations of Wundt Introspection = the careful, systematic, objective self-observation of conscious experience of oneself; required training to make the subject more objective o used by Titchener and Wundt Lab

Functionalism (Late 1800s): based on belief that psychology should investigate function, i.e. purpose, of consciousness, rather than structure William James (1842-1910): American scholar who left medical field for psychology and wrote Principles in Psychology (1890), a landmark book that is standard reading for psychologists o Influenced by Darwinism

Applied natural selection theory to humans Consciousness is obviously an important characteristic of our species, so psychology should investigate functions rather than structure of consciousness Natural selection: principle that heritable characteristics that provide survival/reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations o Stream of consciousness theory Consciousness consists of continuous flow of thoughts, elements are only static points in that flow o Principles in Psychology was first comprehensive psychology textbook Practical slant investigated mental testing, patterns of child development, effectiveness of educational practices, etc. instead of only sensation and perception I: attracted first women into field

Conflict between Structuralism and functionalism Functionalism ultimately won o Faded as school of thought, but practical orientation fostered development of applied psychology and behaviorism most psychologists today are functionalists Structuralists and functionalists differed in view of subject matter of psych consciousness (structuralists) vs. animal/human behavior (behaviorists) BUT both believed that task of psych was to break down phenomena into smallest elements o Structuralists sensations, images that make up conscious o Behaviorists stimulus-response bonds

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1888) Began systematic program of research on memory with self as main research subject Did not promote specific school of psych Showed that higher mental processes could be studied with experimentation Learning curve, forgetting curve

Females in psychology
Mary Whiton Calkins: American pioneer in memory, dreams, personality; first female president of APA o Invented paired-associate technique o Self-psychology believed that conscious self was primary focus o 1895: Presented thesis to Harvard, but school refused to grant her degree Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939): first woman to receive PhD in psychology o Wrote The Animal Mind, important for subsequent emergence of behaviorism Lela Stetter Hollingsworth (1886-1939): worked on adolescent development, mental retardation, gifted children, and female empowerment o Debunked popular theories of how women were inferior to men I:caused other sceintists to subject popular, untested misconceptions to empirical inquiry o Coined term gifted

Wave 2
Gestalt (Early 20th Century): based on idea that whole is greater than sum of parts; studied the persons total experience response to molecular approach of structuralism

Gestalt = configuration Context is important Gestalt grouping principles: integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes o Combining elements creates something that did not exist before Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler

New Schools of Psychology

Wave 3
Psychoanalytic Approach (Early 1920s): attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior Unconscious: thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below surface of conscious awareness but exert great influence on behavior Developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) o Freud: Austrian physician who focused on disturbances of the mind to develop both a theory of personality and the first systematic method of psychotherapy o Wrote The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) introduces Freud's theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation Controversy o Suggested that people are not the masters of their own minds lacking free will o Behavior as influenced by how people cope with sexual urges Gained influence slowly o Resistance from overall shift towards behaviorism, for which even the conscious was too inaccessible to scientific observation BUT gained acceptance within medicine Carl Jung, Alfred Adler were followers Legacy o Extremely popular in 1940s o Influential perspective today with many aspects in mainstream psychology Neoanalysts: psychoanalysts who separated from Freud Continued idea of subconscious Events/conflicts from years past are pushed into subconscious and manifested in behavior as adults Eliminated focus on sex Karen Horney, Erick Fromm, Erik Erickson

Wave 4
Behavioral Approach (1920s-1960s) (Stimulus-Response S-R psychology) (1920s-1960s): theoretical orientation based on premise that sci psych should study only observable and objectively measurable behavior

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Opposition to psychoanalysts problem with introspection was that no one could verify what a person felt or thought Offshoot of functionalist thinking Most influential school of thought Radical shift proposed that if psychology was to be a science, it would have to give up consciousness as its subject matter and become the science of behavior instead Focused on how behaviors are learned and modified Emphasized similarities between human and animal behavior, esp in learning process Environmental slant took nurture position or nature vs. nurture issue o Nature vs. nurture: debate concerned with whether behavior is determined mainly by genetic inheritance (nature) or environment/experience (nurture) Underscored overall paradigm shift psych had been moving from consciousness to behavior in two decades before Watson Most famous Behaviorists: Edwin Thorndike: studied learning in cats and rats Margaret Floy Washburn: wrote book on animal behavior, see Women in Psych BF Skinner (1904-1990): Harvard psychologist known for training pigeons to play ping pong by rewarding certain behavior; **MOST prominent behaviorist theorist o Popularized the concept of reinforcement and operant conditioning Operant conditioning: type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its consequences, in which behavior changes in form, frequency, or strength Operant: "an item of behavior that is initially spontaneous, rather than a response to a prior stimulus, but whose consequences may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behavior o Denied free will, see below John B. Watson (1878 1958): founder of behaviorism; showed that fears can be instilled and removed in his work with orphan children; focused on stimulus-response relationships

John Watson and the Nature-Nurture Debate - Advocated nurture, not nature: give me a dozen healthy infants, wellformed, and my own special world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief 5. Ivan Pavlov: Russian physiologist who showed that dogs can be conditioned to salivate in response to an auditory stimulus; I: provided insight on how stimulus-response bonds are formed (can be irregular) o Classical conditioning: conditioning to behave in certain ways every time a particular stimulus appears Are people free? BF Skinner said we are not free o Environmental factors determine behavior o Responses that lead to positive outcomes are repeated; responses that lead to neg are not o No free will o Criticism people misinterpreted his ideas as undemocratic and accused him of advocating a scientific police state Beyond Freedom and Dignity = Behavior is governed by external stimuli. Psychs mission is to relate over behaviors (responses) to observable events in the envmt (stimuli) o Stimulus: any detectable input from the envmt; ex: light, sound waves, words, ads, conversations, etc.

Criticism underestimates complexity of human behavior clarification: acknowledged thinking as existent and physiology as basis of behavior, but thought these explanations didnt to psychological science

Wave 5
The 1950s/1960s: Opposition to Psychoanalytic Theory and Behaviorism Humanism (1960s) - *subjective, optimistic Led by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers (1902-1987) o Rogers: person-centered therapy (1970) o Maslow: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, goal is self-actualization Emphasis on o freedom and self-directed personal growth o free will can change at any time o uniqueness of human experience (concerns/capabilities go well beyond basic animal responses, directly opposing behaviorist ideas) o innate desire for self-actualization look at behavior through eyes of observer AND the eyes of the person doing the behaving o individuals behavior is connected to inner feelings and self-image Response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism - Angry that Psychoanalysts and Behaviorists took away human responsibility for actions o Humanists said we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being Early schools of thought centered around abnormal human behavior, but humanists emphasized helping people achieve and fulfill potential Regarded scientific methods as inappropriate for studying behavior Behavior is determined by each persons capacity to choose how to think and act Ex: in order to change an alcoholic, you need to change that persons perception of himself o Ex: Frank drinks because he has a low sense of self worth I: influence on positive psych; new approaches in psychotherapy

Cognitive psychology (emerged 1950s/1960s) Cognition = mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge Response to behaviorism - Critics of behaviorism noted that it failed to account for how internal processes impacted behavior (operant conditioning shows that repeated action stems from the positive consequence of a previous, accidental action, but it is incomplete because it doesnt explain WHY this is so Cognitive psychologists say because people THINK) 1950s and 60s Piaget, Chomsky, and Simon o Piaget: showed development of thinking, differences between children and adults- proposed stages of cognitive development theory o Chomsky: language acquisition o Simon: IQ testing Applying scientific methods to study internal mental events o Part of larger field of cognitive science linked to language, philosophy, etc. Emphasizes behavior as a result of thinking, perception, internal sentences, and memories o based on the idea that we speak to ourselves (think), i.e. self-instruction

Behavior stems from a persons interpretation of experience, i.e. false perceptions of reality psychology must study internal mental events to fully understand behavior Ex: Mrs. Owens cleans hotel rooms because she believes that they are dirty if she can change this thought, then she can eliminate the behavior of the cleaning habit Ex: person tells herself that she cannot do math does not try math because she thinks it is pointless I: perhaps the new dominant perspective

Difference between cognitive and behavioral: Behaviorists dont question the conscious processes that cause certain ends to influence behavior, but cognitive says the process is thinking Sequence o Behaviorists: action more/less actions o Cognitive: action thought/mental process more/less action

Biological Psychology Biological perspective: behavior explained in term of the underlying physiology, inc brain, central nervous system, hormones, and genetics James Olds (1956) electrical stimulation of the brain evokes emotional responses in animals Roger Sperry (1981) left and right brain specialization Davied Hubel and Torsten Wisel (1962, 1963) how visual signals are processed in brain Food, sleep, genetics, drugs, alcohol Neurobiological Approach: see above ex: Wilma fights with her husband because she has a chemical imbalance which causes her to lose her temper Evolutionary Psychology (1980s, 1990s, current) central premise is that natural selection occurs for behavioral as well as physical characteristics Human Adaptations Buss, Daly & Wilson, Cosmides & Tooby 80s and 90s o Studied natural selection of mating preferences, jealousy, aggression, sexual behavior, language, decision making, personality, development Ex: males and females differ in visual-spatial ability because men were hunters but women were gatherers Gaining in influence, but not without criticism o Not testable o Post hoc fallacy Positive Psychology (current): premise is that humans can change outcomes if they view things positively Martin Seligman Positive subjective experiences Positive individual traits Positive institutions and communities Sociocultural Approach: focuses on how thinking and behavior change depending on the setting or situation

Behavior is explained by influence of other people present Examines race, age, religion, gender, family (traditions, dynamics) to try to explain behavior Questions: How are we alike as members of one human family? As products of diff envmt contexts, how do we differ?

Four Big Ideas in Psychology

1. Critical Thinking: Psychology is a science that supports thinking that examines assumptions, uncovers hidden values, weighs evidence, and tests conclusions. 2. The Biopsychosocial Approach: To better understand behavior, it needs to be explained from three levels; biologically, psychologically, and socioculturally. 3. The Two-Track Mind: Todays psychologists explore our dual-processing capacity. Our perception, thinking, memory, and attitudes all operate on two levels; conscious and unconscious Exploring Human Strength: Focus not only on understanding and offering relief from troublesome behaviors and emotions, but also on understanding and building beneficial emotions and traits.

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Links
http://www.euromedinfo.eu/behavioral-cognitive-humanist-approaches.html/ http://www.simplypsychology.org/perspective.html http://www.cengage.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0495093033&discipline_number=24