A. What is Psychology?

- Comes from the ancient Greek psyche, meaning “soul” or “mind”

- Logia means a “study” or “account”
- “The science of mind and behavior”

Note: Psychology or Psych NOT Psycho (crazy or a person with an unstable mind)
Source: Collin, C., Benson, N., Ginsburg, J., Grand, V., Lazyan, M., & Weeks, M. (2012). The
Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (1st ed.) [E-book]. DK. Retrieved February 2012,
from https://b-ok.asia/ireader/2335218

“Scientific study of mind process and behavior of a human”

B. Goal of Psychology
1. DESCRIBE - describe the behaviors and mental processes
2. EXPLAIN - explanation of the occurrence of the behavior
3. PREDICT - predict how these certain behavior will occur
4. MODIFY - change the behaviors to normal and healthy lifestyle of individual
C. The History of Psychology
“Psychology has a long past, but only a short history.” - Hermann Ebbinghaus

Source: Collin, C., Benson, N., Ginsburg, J., Grand, V., Lazyan, M., & Weeks, M. (2012). The
Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (1st ed.) [E-book]. DK. Retrieved February 2012,
from https://b-ok.asia/ireader/2335218

Greek Mythology
Psyche
She was a mortal woman that her beauty rivaled to goddess Aphrodite. Eros is
Aphrodite’s son, the ugliest man in the world. Because of Aphrodite’s jealousy towards
Psyche she sent his son to make Psyche fall in love with him. (Ashliman, 2001; Greek
Myths & Greek Mythology, 2014)

Psychology was cast during that time because of the unclear concept of soul and mind. (Green,
2001)

1649 - Rene Descartes published his book The Passions of the Soul (separation of body and
soul)
1816 - Johann Friedrich Herbart’s textbook A Text-book in Psychology describes that a
dynamic mind has conscious and unconscious
1819 - Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialism on his book The Sickness Unto Death
1859 - Charles Darwin published On The Origin of the Species (all our traits are inherited)
1869 - Francis Galton’s nature vs nurture in his research Heredity Genius
1879 - Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory of Experimental Psychology (Leipzig,
Germany)
1887 - G. Stanley Hall published the first edition of American Journal of Psychology
1890 - William James published Principles of Psychology (Father of American Psychology)
1895 - Alfred Binet’s first laboratory of psychodiagnosis
1900 - Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dream; The rise of Psychoanalysis
1910 - Ivan Pavlov discovered the classical conditioning
1913 - John B. Watson published Psychology As The Behaviorist Views It (unofficial
behaviorist manifesto)
1921 - Carl Jung “introvert” & “extrovert” in his book Psychological Types
1927 - Alfred Adler published The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology
1930 - B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning in experiments on rats
1930s - Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler founded the Gestalt Psychology
1936 - Anna Freud published The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense
1941 - Karen Horney established American Institute of Psychoanalysis
1941 - Erich Fromm’s The Fear of Freedom (Humanistic Psychoanalysis)
1942 - Carl Rogers’s Client-Centered Therapy from his theory in Counseling and
Psychotherapy
1946 - Viktor Frankl write Man’s Search for Meaning
1967 - Rollo May’s Existential Psychology
1970 - Abraham Maslow’s self-actualization

Past
Empiricism - Knowledge comes from experience and observation; philosophical view
John Locke - “Blank slate” in latin “tabula rasa” (mind is empty) (new born baby)
That is why it is connected to empiricism.
Between philosophy and physiology. Why? Because as we are referring to the definition.

19the century when the formal scientific discipline of psychology started.

WILHELM WUNDT
- Father of Psychology
- Set up his first laboratory for psychological phenomena in Leipzig, Germany (2 types of
observation— internal;external)
Perspective:
1. STRUCTURALISM - understand the structure or characteristics of the mind
(Focus on the What)
 2. INTROSPECTIVE - by Wundt and other structuralists - “internal perception” -
procedure that will determine the basic sensory processes that shape our own
understanding of the world.
Edward Titchener - trained under Wundt introduced the term structuralism.
But some psychologists are not satisfied with Wundt's approach.

Additional: Who is the mother of psychology?Margaret Floy Washburn (July 25, 1871 – October
29, 1939), leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, was best known for her
experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development.

WILLIAM JAMES
- Father of American Psychology
- The first American psychologist who has different perspective
FUNCTIONALISM - what the mind does and how it functions (Focus on the How)
- How mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment.
- John Dewey applied it to the field of school psychology (what ways to best meet
students’ educational needs) Ex. In this pandemic, a lot of teachers are adjusting and of
course we are all adjusting up until now. We are on the process of learning how can we
meet the educational needs of a student. (That is why bitaw if naa muhangyo nako, I will
gladly gave what he/she deserves because kaagi pud nako na sauna as a student.)

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
- Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kӧhler, and Kurt Koffka - immigrated to the US in the early
20th century from Nazi, Germany.
- Gestalt is a german word it roughly translate to “whole”
- “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”

- Ex.
BEHAVIORISM
1. IVAN PAVLOV - classical conditioning (based in his experiments on dogs)
- “The sight of tasty food makes a hungry man’s mouth water”
- Talking about Stimulus and Response
- Ex. Training a dog.
2. JOHN WATSON - father of behaviorism within psychology
- He divert the focus of psychology from mind to behavior
 - Human behavior is influenced from environment
- Ex. classroom settings (During elementary diba uso ang pag evaluate every
school. So kailangan jud mag participate ang tanan student, so mura siyag scripted
na somehow dili it’s because naa may mag observe.)
3. B.F. SKINNER - Behavioral Analysis
- Focused on observable behavior but it’s not limited to outside events (thinking,
remembering, and anticipating)
- The history of an individual is important rather than anatomy (for predicting and
controlling behavior)
-
PSYCHOANALYSIS
SIGISMUND “SIGMUND” FREUD
- Father of Modern Psychology
- PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY - the most famous of all personality theories
- Emphasize the person’s UNCONSCIOUS, early child experience
- Twin Cornerstone : sex & aggression
- Ego, Id, and Superego
HUMANISM/ HUMANISTIC/EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. ABRAHAM MASLOW
- Holistic-Dynamic Theory
- Hierarchy of Needs

-
2. CARL ROGERS
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Unconditional Positive Regard, Genuineness, and Empathy
- UPR > therapist accepts their client for who they are
3. ROLLO MAY
- Existential Psychology - from the Philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and other European philosophers.
- People are responsible for who they become
 - People is lacking of courage to face their destiny, they are running away and soon
may give up their freedom
- Insignificant and Alienation
- Live life in the present — have courage.
- First Existential Psychologists and psychiatrists were also Europeans ( Ludwig
Binswanger, Medard Boss, Viktor Frankl and others)
Present
1. The Neuroscience Perspective : Blood, Sweat, and Fears
- How people and non human function biologically
>How individual nerve cells are joined together
> How the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and
other ancestors influences behavior
> How the functioning of the body affects hopes and fears, which
behaviors are instinctual and so forth.

2. Psychodynamic Perspective: Understanding the Inner Person

- Behavior is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which we don’t
have control (Dreams and Slips of the Tongue)
- Sigmund Freud - Psychoanalytic Theory
3. The Behavioral Perspective: Observing the Outer Person
- Look into the outside of the organism
- Watson believed that one could gain a complete understanding of behavior
by studying the environment in which a person operated
4. The Cognitive Perspective: Identifying the Roots of Understanding
- How do people think, understand, and know about the world? (make
decisions)
- Compare human to the computer
- Thinking is information processing
5. The Humanistic Perspective: The Unique Qualities of the Human Species
- All individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their
lives and behavior (Refer to Rollo May)

PSYCHOLOGY’S KEY ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES

NEUROSCIENCE COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL HUMANISTIC PSYCHODYNAMIC

ISSUE
Nature Nature BOTH Nurture Nurture Nature
(heredity) vs.
Nurture
(Environment)
Conscious vs. Unconscious BOTH Conscious Conscious Unconscious
Unconscious

Observable Internal Internal Observable Internal Internal

behavior vs. emphasis emphasis emphasis emphasis
Internal
mental
processes

Free will vs. Determinism Free will Determinism Free will Determinism
determinism

Individual Universal Individual BOTH Individual Universal

differences vs. emphasis emphasis emphasis
Universal
principles

SOURCES:

Prepared by: Mary Jane Biong

BS-Psychology, Caraga State University