Definition

The word 'psychology' is derived from the Greek psyche (mind, soul or spirit) and logos (knowledge, discourse or
study). Literally, then, psychology is the 'study of the mind'.

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and cognitive processes.

• Such study can involve both animal and human behaviors

Cognitive processes: what the brain does when we think, remember, feel, etc.
Behavior: outwardly observable acts of an individual, alone, or in a group.
As psychologists go about their systematic and scientific study of humans and animals, they have several
goals.
Overall, psychologists seek to do four things—
• Describe – name or classify
• Understand – Why?
• Predict – forecast behavior
• under what conditions is the behaviour/event likely to occur
• Control – alter conditions that influence behavior
Brief History

Typically, historians point to the writings of ancient Greek philosophers, such Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as the first
significant work to be rich in psychology-related thought. They considered important questions like what are free will, how
does the mind work, and what is the relationship of people to their society. For hundreds of years, philosophers continued
to wrestle with these and related questions and psychology eventually sprouted from the roots of philosophy. But
psychology also borders on various other fields including physiology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, sociology,
anthropology and other components of the humanities.

“Psychology has a long past, but a short history”

 500,000 BC: trephining to allow the escape of evil spirits.

A surgical instrument used to remove sections of bone from the skull

 430 BC: Hippocrates argues for four temperaments of personality.

He believed certain human moods, emotions and behaviors were caused by body fluids (called
 "humors"): blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm.

Sanguine
The Sanguine temperament personality is fairly extroverted
Confidently optimistic and cheerful
Choleric(Kolurik)
Easily moved to anger
They have a lot of ambition, energy, and passion, and try to instill it in others. Many great charismatic
military and political figures were cholerics
Melancholic
A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition
Phlegmatic
Phlegmatics tend to be self-content and kind. They can be very accepting and affectionate.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) suggests that the soul and body are not separate and that knowledge grows from
experience.

1689 AD: John Locke introduces idea of tabula rasa(Blank Slate).

Individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and
perception.
.
1807: Franz Josef Gall proposes phrenology.
is a hypothesis stating that the personality traits of a person can be derived from the shape of the skull. It is
now considered a pseudoscience.
Psychological Science Develops

Wilhelm Wundt: The Founding of Psychology as a Science

Wundt wanted to apply the methodical, experimental methods of science to the study of human consciousness.
To this end, he founded the first-ever psychology laboratory at University of Leipzig in Germany, earning him
the monumental distinction of psychology's founder (1897). At his laboratory, Wundt spent hours exposing
individuals to audio and visual stimuli and asking them to report what they perceived. In this way, he studied one
component of consciousness, perception. The school of thought that arose from the work of Wundt and his
colleagues is called structuralism. The basic goal of structualists was to study consciousness by breaking it down
into it components -- mainly perception, sensation, and affection.

His early investigations included the use of introspection (a technique in which you attempt to observe and
record the contents of your own mind under various carefully controlled conditions), as well as controlled
experiments in which the data were derived from measurement of objective behavior.
Structuralism vs. Functionalism

A student of Wundt's, E.B. Titchener was a strong advocate for structualism in the United States, but he had
competition from an opposing school of thought, called functionalism. This movement was led by William
James and John Dewey. While structuralists essentially wanted to determine "what is consciousness?",
functionalists wanted to determine "what is consciousness used for?" -- in other words, they wanted to study the
purpose, or function, of consciousness and basic mental processes.

The two camps debated passionately over which approach to psychology was best, each hoping to shape the
direction of their fledging academic subject. Though neither side emerged as a clear winner, their energy led to
the rapid spread of psychology, especially in the United States. In 1883,G. Stanley Hall established the first
psychology laboratory in the US at Johns Hopkins University, and by 1900, there were dozens of laboratories,
and three psychology journals and the American Psychology Association(APA) had been founded. Ultimately,
psychology's first two movements subsided and were replaced by subsequent schools of thought, but both made
significant contributions to the field, as psychologists today study both structure and function.

Behaviorism

Around 1913, American psychologist John B. Watson founded a new movement that changed the focus of
psychology. He believed that in their study of consciousness, both structuralists and functionalits diverged too
much from objective science. Internal mental processes should not be studied, because they cannot be observed;
instead, Watson advocated that psychology focus on the study of behavior and thus, his movement became
known as behaviorism. As Watson saw it, behavior was not the result of internal mental processes, but rather the
result of automatic response to stimuli from the environment. Behaviorism became focused on how conditions of
the environment affect behavior and specifically, how humans learn new behavior from the environment. This
movement took a strong hold in America and was the dominant school of thought for about forty years. Watson's
successor, as the leader of behaviorism was B.F. Skinner, who developed an influential view that operant
conditioning, was the mechanism for learning.

Gestalt Theory

While behaviorism was becoming dominant in the US, two other schools gained influence in Europe around the
same time. The Gestalt movement arose from Max Wertheimer's research into an illusion of movement, called
the phi phenomenon. The phi phenomenon is the illusion of motion created when single visual stimuli are
presented in rapid succession. A good example is a movie you watch at the movie theatre. Continuous motion on
the screen is created by rapidly flashing individual frames of light, one after another. Gestalt theorists' basic
belief was that the any psychological phenomenon, from perceptual processes to human personality, should be
studied holistically; that is, they should not be broken down into components, but rather studied as a whole.

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud

Up until this point, psychology tended to stress more on the conscious human experience. However, Sigmund
Freud, the famous Austrian physician changed the whole face of psychology in such a dramatic way by putting
forward a theory of personality that stressed on the importance of the unconscious mind. His work with patients
suffering from mental ailments like hysteria led him to believe that our early childhood experiences as well as
our unconscious impulses contribute greatly towards the development of our adult behaviors and personalities.

According to him, psychological disorders are basically the result of unconscious conflicts that take place within
us, and that become unbalanced or extreme. His theory had a huge impact on the 20th century psychology,
influencing the mental well being as well as in many other fields like literature, art and popular culture. Although
many of his concepts are looked upon with skepticism today, his influence on modern psychology cannot be
questioned.

Humanism

By the 1950's, a new movement began as an alternative to behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory. The followers
of this movement considered behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory dehumanizing and they took the name,
humanism, for their movement. Instead of behaving as pawns of the environment or the powerful unconscious,
humanists believed humans were inherently good and that their own mental processes played an active role in
their behavior. Free will, emotions, and a subjective view of experience were important in the humanism
movement.

Cognitive Theory

The most recent major school of thought to arise has been the cognitive perspective, which began in the 1970's.
This movement is much more objective and calculating than humanism, yet it is very different than behaviorism,
as it focuses extensively on mental processes. The main idea of this movement is that humans take in
information from their environment through their senses and then process the information mentally. The
processing of information involves organizing it, manipulating it, storing it in memory, and relating it to
previously stored information. Cognitive theorists apply their ideas to language, memory, learning, dreams,
perceptual systems, and mental disorders.

TRAINING

Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist - Many people get these confused. They are similar in that both may work in the
diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. They are different in that a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who may
prescribe medication. A psychologist generally has a Ph.D. and cannot prescribe medication.

Degrees in Psychology - The lowest degree is a Bachelors degree. There is not much you can do with that. The
second level is a Master's degree. This is the lowest level that allows you to practice but you generally need some
type of supervision. Most practicing psychologists have a doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.). This is the only
level for full licensure and independent practice.