Psychology’s History and Approaches Unit I. Psychology Scientific study of behavior and mental processesScientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Psychology’s History and Approaches

Unit I

Psychology

•Scientific study of behavior and mental processes• Behavior: any action/reaction of a

living thing that can be formally observed

• Mental processes: internal processes (ex: thinking, feeling, desiring) that can only be indirectly observed

Psychology’s perspectives

Early Approaches

Structuralism

• The analysis of the basic elements that make up the mind• Involved breaking consciousness down into

sensations and feelings• Utilized introspection – subjective

observation of one’s own experience

• Developed by William Wundt (c. 1879)

• Legacy: • Launched psychology as an independent science• Influenced field for remainder of 1800s

•Criticisms:• Introspective method lacks

ability for replicable observations

How would you describe the taste of this apple?

Can you use introspection to describe schizophrenia?

Functionalism

• The study of the purpose (or function) mental processes serve in allowing people to adapt to their environment

• Developed by William James (c. 1890)• Inspired by Charles Darwin and his theory of

natural selection – features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than others to be passed on to future generations

•James believed mental abilities evolved b/c they were adaptive (helped people solve problems)

•Functionalism became a dominant approach by 1920

Structuralism vs. Functionalism

“Describe the emotion of fear.”

“How does fear enable humans to adapt to the environment?”

Psychoanalytic

• Psychoanalytic theory –emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, belief, and behaviors

• Developed by Sigmund Freud (c. 1900) with Carl Jung and Alfred Adler

• Criticisms:• Required exploration of person’s early sexual

experiences/unconscious sexual desires• Emphasis was on limitations and problems rather

than possibilities and potentials• Ideas were difficult to test

Gestalt

• Emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of its parts

• Developed by Max Wertheimer (c. 1924)

Modern approaches to Psychology

How can we learn about this pigeon?

The Behavioral Perspective(1930s – 1950s)

•Psychologists should restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior

•Developed by John Watson• Influenced by Pavlov's work with dogs• Watson influenced B.F. Skinner (c.

1938)

“Skinner Box”“Teaching Machine”

•Criticisms:• Ignored mental processes• Ignored evolutionary history of

organisms

The Humanistic Perspective

•Emphasizes the whole person and the positive potential of human beings• People are free agents who have a need

to develop, grow and reach their full potential

•Influenced by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

•Peaked in 1960

The Psychodymnamic Perspective

• Emphasizes the importance of unconscious influences but places less emphasis on sexual instincts

• Approach to therapy emphasizes repressed memories, free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of transference

The Biological Perspective

•Studies the physical (body and brain) bases of human and animal behavior

The Cognitive Perspective

• Scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thought, memory and reasoning

• Early influences: Sir Frederic Bartlett (c. 1932) and Jean Piaget (1960)

• Aided by the advent of the computer

• Cognitive neuroscience linked cognitive process to brain activity

The Sociocultural Perspective

• Focuses on how culture and social situations affect our behavior and thinking

The Evolutionary Perspective

• Explains mind and behavior in terms of the adaptive value of abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection

• Criticisms:• Many traits probably evolved to serve

different functions than those they currently serve

What is the evolutionary purpose of jealousy?

Is ability to drive the result of natural selection?

So you want to major in psychology…

Psychology vs. Psychiatry

• Psychologist (Ph.D, Psy.D)• Counseling psychologist - helps people

cope with life• Clinical psychologist - assess and treats

mental, emotional and behavioral disorders

• Psychiatrist (M.D.) - medical doctor who can prescribe drugs and treat physical causes of psychological disorders

Other Fields

• biological – workings of the brain, nerves, body, sensations

• cognitive – higher level brain processes like language, thinking

• developmental – changing abilities from womb to tomb

• educational – influences on teaching and learning

• experimental – conducts research studies to further psychological knowledge base

• forensic- legal issues, criminal minds, insanity

• human factors - ergonomics, workplace safety, human error, product design, human capability and human-computer interaction

• industrial-organizational – psychological principles in industry and business

• personality – studies how people differ from each other

• psychometric – measurement of human abilities, attitudes and traits

• social – studies how people influence each other and group behavior

• sports – applies psychology to sports and exercise, motivation, and social aspects of sports

2004 Graduate Study in Psychology

Clinical48%

Clinical nueropsychology3%

Counseling7%

Health1%

School/Educational8%

Other applied sub-fields5%

Cognitive3%

Developmental5%

Experimental1%

Industrial/Organizational4%

Neuroscience/Physio-logical/Biological

3%

Social and personality4%

Other rearch subfields7%

Where do U.S. psychologists work?

Managed care set-tings5% Other human

services10%

Hospitals16%

Private practice7%

School districts7%

Business, gov-ernment or other

settings17%

Colleges, universi-ties and other

academic settings38%

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