The Science of Psychology

What is Psychology?
- systematic, scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Behavior refers to overt (directly observable) and covert (cannot be directly observed) actions or responses
Mental processes refer to the cognitive functions of the mind
Goals of Psychology
Describe describe the different ways that organisms behave
Explain explain the causes of behavior
Predict predict how organisms will behave in certain situations
Control control the behavior
History of Psychology
600 300 BC: Ancient Greece and Rome
Hippocrates: mind is a separate, distinct entity that controlled the body (body is composed of physical
substance; mind is ethereal and resides in the brain)
Plato: reality resides not in the concrete objects we recognize but in the ideal, abstract forms that these
objects represent (rationalist, logical/philosophical analysis)
Aristotle: reality lies in the concrete world of objects (empiricist, empirical methods)
1600 1850: The Early Modern Period
Rene Descartes: agreed with Plato (rationalist: introspective, reflective method is superior to empirical
methods for finding the truth)
John Locke: tabula rasa (empiricist: humans are born without knowledge)
Immanuel Kant: understanding mental processes requires both rationalism and empiricism working
together
Wilhelm Wundt
Father of Psychology
1st in movement to make psychology as a science (1st experimental laboratory in Leipzig, Germany)
Structuralism: study the basic elements of the mind (sensations and perceptions)
Introspection: examining and measuring ones own thoughts and mental activities
*Edward Titchener: student of Wundt (structuralism in USA)
William James
Viewed mental activities as having developed through ages of evolution because of their adaptive
functions
Functionalism: function or purpose of behavior
Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov: Classical Conditioning (Stimulus and Response)
John B. Watson: Little Albert
Edward Lee Thorndike: Law of Effect
B.F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning (Reinforcement and Punishment)
Albert Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory (Observational Learning/Vicarious Learning)
Gestalt
Emphasized that perception is more than the sum of its parts and studied how sensations are assembled
into meaningful perceptual experiences
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Khler, Kurt Koffka (Phi Phenomenon)
Psychoanalysis
Influence of the unconscious
Freud, Adler (birth order), Horney (womb envy), Erikson (stages of development)
Humanistic
Emphasized that each individual has great freedom in directing his or her future; a large capacity for
achieving personal growth; intrinsic worth; enormous potential for self-fulfilment
Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs), Rogers (Person-centered Theory)
Cognitive
Focus on how we process, store, and use information; and how this information influences what we
attend to, perceive, learn, remember, believe and feel
Kelly (personal constructs), Ellis (rational/irrational thinking)
Perspectives in Psychology
Biological neurobiological processes that underlie behavior and mental processes
Behavioral observable behavior in terms of conditioning and reinforcement
Cognitive perceiving, remembering, reasoning, deciding and problem solving and their relationship to behavior
Psychoanalytic unconscious motives stemming from sexual and aggressive impulses
Subjectivist subjective realities people actively construct

HF.Psychology 101, FS2015-2016