Introduction to Psychology

Created @July 18, 2023 2:42 PM

Class BPSY 50

LESSON 1 - INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Materials (annotated).pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M

Status Done

Psychology
the study of the soul, from Modern Latin psychologia

the science of behavior and mental processes

term wasn’t coined until around the turn of the 16th century

practice wasn’t established until the mid-1800s

The Evolution of Psychology

Imperial Examination
2000 years ago

Chinese rulers conducted the world’s first psychological exams, requiring public officials to take
personality and intelligence tests

Plato
428-347 BC

Greek philosopher who argued for the role of nature in psychological development

🤓 nature view - holds that human beings enter the world with an inborn store of knowledge and
understanding of reality

Aristotle
384-322 BC

Greek philosopher who argued for the role of nurture in psychological development

pondered the seed of human consciousness and decided that it was in the heart, not the head

Introduction to Psychology 1
 🤓 nurture view - holds that knowledge is acquired through experiences and interactions with the
world

Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679

his doctrine is that human behavior is directed by self-interest which is now

known as psychological hedonism

Rene Descartes
1596-1650

the first to write the concept of emotions

his famous quotation “I think therefore I am” elucidated his focus on the
importance of cognition on the human experience

most known for his concept of dualism

John Locke
1632-1704

he considered personal identity (or the self) to be founded on consciousness (memory) and not on the
substance of either the soul or the body

believes the environment shapes a child’s behavior

nurture side

Jean-Jacques Rosseau
1712-1778

advocated strongly that in view of inherent potential, children should be facilitated and self learning is best
way

disagreed from Locke and his model was called “nativism”

nature side

Gustav Fechner
1801-1887

German experimental psychologist who developed the idea of the just noticeable difference (JND), which
is considered to be the first empirical psychological measurement

Introduction to Psychology 2
 Charles Darwin
1809-1882

British naturalist whose theory of natural selection influenced the functionalist school and the field of
evolutionary psychology

Wilhelm Wundt
1832-1920

German psychologist who opened one of the first psychology laboratories

helped develop the field of structuralism

father of experimental psychology

William James
1842-1910

American psychologist who opened the first psychology laboratory in USA used for teaching
demonstration

helped develop the field of functionalism

Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936

Russian physiologist whose experiments on learning led to the principles of classical conditioning

Hermann Ebbinghaus
1850-1909

German psychologist who studied the ability of people to remember lists of nonsense syllables under
different conditions

Sigmund Freud
1856-1939

Austrian psychologist who founded the field of psychodynamic psychology

the most tremendously influential and controversial thinkers of his time

his theories helped build our views on childhood, personality, dreams and sexuality

the founder of psychoanalysis

introduced this theory in his book The Interpretation of Dreams published in 1900

a radical kernel of psychoanalysis was the theory that our personalities are shaped by unconscious
motives

Introduction to Psychology 3
 Freud went on to publish over 20 more books and countless papers with an iconic cigar in hand all the
while

got jaw cancer from smoking

underwent at least 30 painful operations while continuing to smoke on the last 16 years of his life

the Nazis had taken over Austria by the late 1930s, and Freud and his Jewish family narrowly escaped
England

died at 83 year old in September 1939 through morphine injection

Edward Titchener
1867-1927

American psychologist who contributed to the field of structuralism

student of Wundt

John B. Watson
1878-1958

American psychologist who contributed to the field of behaviorism

Sir Frederic Bartlett

1886-1969

British psychologist who studied the cognitive and social processes of remembering

Jean Piaget
1896-1980

Swiss psychologist who developed an important theory of cognitive development in children

B. F. Skinner
1904-1990

Burrhus Frederic

American psychologist who contributed to the school of behaviorism

developed the idea of operant conditioning

Donald Broadbent
1926-1993

British cognitive psychologist who was a pioneer in the study of attention

Introduction to Psychology 4
 The Women of Psychology
Mary Whiton Calkins
1863-1930

the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1905

the study of memory and the self concept

Margaret Floy Washburn

1871-1939

the first woman to earn a doctorate in psychology from Cornell University

the second female president of APA in 1921

her research focused on animal behavior

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

1886-1939

focused her research on women and child development

disproved the prevailing belief at the time that female abilities were inferior to those of males, and that
female abilities declined during menstruation

Anna Freud
1895-1982

developed the basic concepts in the theoretical and practical approach to child psychoanalysis

daughter of Sigmund Freud

Disciplines of Psychology
PSYCHOLOGICAL
DESCRIPTION IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS
PERSPECTIVE

used method of introspection to

• Wilhelm Wundt • Edward
Structuralism identify the basic elements of
Titchener
psychological experience
attempts to understand why
Functionalism particular psychological aspects • William James
have developed
focuses on role of unconscious
• Sigmund Freud • Carl Jung •
thoughts, feelings, and memories,
Psychodynamic Alfred Adler • Erik Erickson • Karen
and early childhood experiences in
Horney
determining behavior

Introduction to Psychology 5
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
DESCRIPTION IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS
PERSPECTIVE

not possible to objectively study

the mind so psychologists should
Behaviorism • John B. Watson • B.F Skinner
limit their attention to study of
behavior itself
focuses on role of biology on
Biological human behavior and mental • Michael Gazzaniga
processes
emphasis is placed on the
Humanistic individual’s potential for personal • Carl Rogers • Abraham Maslow
growth

study of mental processes,

• Hermann Ebbinghaus • Sir
Cognitive including perception, thinking,
Frederic Bartlett • Jean Piaget
memory, and judgments
study of how the social situations
and the cultures in which people • Fritz Heider • Leon Festinger •
Socio-cultural
find themselves influence thinking Stanley Schachter
and behavior
focuses on adaptation and survival
• Charles Darwin • David Buss •
Evolutionary as the basis of behavior and
Richard Dawkins • Steven Pinker
mental processes

💡 Psychology is an integrative science.

Introduction to Psychology 6