PSY 101 NOTES 

  ● Method of knowing: RATIONALISM 
June 13, 2019  ● Math → uses algorithms based on rationalism 
 
Psychology  3. Science 

● Look at what science is  ● Highest form of knowing 

● What are the goals of science  ● Method of knowing: SCIENCE 

● Why is psych considered a science  ● We get to it by extracting the strengths of the previous 

  methods of knowledge 

We are always trying to understand   

  {Methods of Knowing Prior to the 3 Pillars] 

3 Pillars of Understanding Who We Are​ = RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE 

● Intuition 
 
○ true because of feeling 
1. Religion 
○ but feelings are subjective 
● Why we are here on earth 
○ no evidence. shallow reasoning 
● Gives meaning to our life 
● Tenacity 
● Why some things happen to us 
○ true because of experience (usually by 5 senses) 
● Idea of FAITH 
○ empiricism, empirical evidence present 
● Method of knowing: AUTHORITY 
○ downside: single evidence is not enough to support a claim, 
○ It’s true because an authority figure says so 
MUST BE multiple & consistent 
○ Simply believing 
○ when we are being judgmental: often based on a single 
● Downside: We do not question authority 
behavior 
 
○ can be good when there are multiple, consistent experiences 
2. Philosophy 
○ BUT evidence can be deceitful 
● Rational thinking 
○ downside: concrete evidence doesn’t change but our 
● If it’s rational, it must be true 
understanding and perception can differ 
● Philosophers coming into the picture 
○ physical reality vs subjective reality 
 ■ interpretation can be faulty 

+ + +  ■ Zeus 
○ Middle 1990s 
● Always ask yourself: What is the basis?  
■ Rise of the internet 
● It all boils down to how we argue for certain things 
■ Snail mail was replaced by email 
● Intuition → Tenacity → Religion → Philosophy → SCIENCE 
■ Philippines → cell phones, pagers 
■ Hermes 
June 14, 2019 
  ○ Late 1990s  
Psychology  ■ Text messaging 
● Became popular in the late 1800s  ■ Internet 
● Eras were often associated to certain gods and goddesses  ■ Hermes 
○ Industrial Era  ■ Period of transition, going to the millennials 
■ Rise of early machines  ■ LOTR, Harry Potter = magic 
■ Vulcan/Hephaestus  ○ Current 
○ Late 1800s  ■ Emotions, depression 
■ Rise of knowledge, science, germ theory  ■ Possibly Poseidon 
■ Athena  ● Period of Athena = SCIENCE 
○ Dark Ages - Hades  ○ Philosophy was losing its grip 
○ Early 1900s/World Wars - Ares  ○ Understanding man 
○ 1950 - 1960s   ■ Dualism: Man is composed of something material and 
■ Hippies  immaterial, body and soul 
■ Dionysus  ● A philosopher in the late 1800s 
○ Late 1970s - Early 1800s  ○ If we want to understand man in the context of science 
■ Corporations and organizations rose  ○ Paved the way to the idea of the MIND 
■ Fathers started to work → period of absentee fathers  ● Psychology - related to philosophy and religion because of the 
■ Clamor for the father  immaterial aspect = all about terminologies 
 ● Idea that dominated = ATOMS  ● Wundt had many students 
○ John Dalton  ○ One of them being Titchener who started disseminating ideas 
○ Science embraced the idea of analysis  in psychology 
○ Deconstruct complex into basic units then start studying the   
basic units first  [Theories that challenged religion] 
■ Cells   
■ Grammar  1. Heliocentrism 
■ MIND  ● R: Man was created in the image of God, Earth and humans as 
  center 
School of Structuralism  ● Galileo said that Earth was not at the center → persecuted by 
● Europe (Germany)  the church 
● Wilhelm Wundt  ● Johannes Kepler revived the idea 
● Deconstructing mind (complex) into basic units   
○ Best way to understand man  2. Theory of Evolution 
○ Identify the basic structures of the mind  ● R: Man was created in the image of God 
■ INTROSPECTION (Objective Introspection)  ● Charles Darwin 
● Introspection  ● We may have evolved from lower forms of animals 
○ Inspection of internal experiences   
○ Simply reporting experiences  3. Unconscious actions influencing human behavior 
○ Specific  ● R: We are above animals because we are rational thinkers 
○ One must be trained to be a subject of introspection  ● A theorist in psychology 
○ Main Goal: To identify the basic structures of the mind  ○ Our actions are often irrational 
● Wundt was able to identify several structures like consciousness and  ○ Freud - unconscious actions influences our behaviors 
memory   
● Wundt created the first lab in psychology  ● Pro-evolution and anti-evolution 
○ Complex: One floor with many rooms in it  ● The key in progress is to have an open mind 
○ Students were old  ○ US embraced the idea of evolution 
 ○ Evolution entails that everything had to do with survival  ○ Western - Words 
○ Example: Body hair, more for those living in colder regions to  ○ Asian - Service, actions 
help them adapt to their surroundings  ● Always important to understand culture 
● Context of the mind   
○ Why do we have a mind and how does it affect us?  Science 
  ● Hardcore sciences were influenced by positivists 
School of Functionalism  ● What you’re studying exists in reality, external in nature (not internal 
● US  because it is subjective) 
● We should be able to understand the functinos of the structures of the  ○ Can be observed with 5 senses - empiricism 
mind   
● Big question: What is the function of consciousness? How does it help  Main Goals in Science 
us survive?   
● Structuralists were happy with just definitions  1. Describe 
   ● Can only be done when it can be observed in the physical 
[Dynamics in psychology]  world 
● Americans - bullies in psychology  ● Mind - can it be observed? We could only claim something if it 
● Europeans and Asians - tandem, quietly going against the bullies  can be observed, so do we have a mind? 
● We are to be careful when we read psychology sources  ○ Structures in Schools of Structuralism = 
○ WEIRD population  QUESTIONABLE 
■ Westerns  ○ What we’re studying must be empirical 
■ Educated   
■ Industrialized  2. Explain 
■ Rich  ● We can describe further in relation to other objects 
■ Democratic  ● If you can explain it, you understand it 
● Example: Corporal punishment - Western people are against, parents  ● Describe + Explain = Understand 
can be sued by children   
● Example: Showing love  3. Predict 
 ● We can control  ● Attempted to observe overt behaviors 
● Example: Table banging - idea of prediction  ● External environment causes behavior 
4. Control  ● Watson got 12 healthy infants 
● Or manipulation (dark side)  ○ Changed/manipulated external environment to turn into certain 
  kinds of people 
[Structuralism]  ● Behaviorism offered the first paradigm in understanding behaviors 
● We do not know if they described because the mind cannot be seen  ○ Stimulus 
● Cannot be #s 2, 3 and 4  ○ 1:1 correspondence of stimulus to response 
● Failed, along with Functionalism  ● Behaviorism = Scientific 
  ○ Describe 
School of Behaviorism  ○ Explain 
● Early 1900s  ○ Predict 
● John Watson  ○ Control 
● Study of behaviors, forget about the mind  ■ Making psychology the study of human behaviors 
● Overt and Covert Behaviors  ○ Method used = experimentation 
○ Overt   ■ Prototype of science 
■ We could observe using our 5 senses  ● Watson became the president of the American Psychology Association 
■ Can be measured  ○ Ignore the mind 
○ Covert  ○ Increased body of observations on behavior 
■ Cannot be observed  ○ Europe was still dominantly on Structuralism and Functionalism 
■ Examples: Love, emotions  ■ Came up with another school 
■ Later on, covert will have overt manifestations   
○ Example  School of Gestalt Psychology 
■ Happiness = Covert  ● Germany 
■ Smiling = Overt  ● Tried to bring behaviorism down 
● Multiple observations: Duration of smile,  ○ Attacked the idea of the 1:1 ratio of stimulus to response 
capture consistency = algorithms  ○ Presented the Rubin’s vase 
  ○ We are never sure but we can only hypothesize 
  ○ But we later on validate the hypothesis 
● Rubin’s Vase  ● Black Box Challenge - we are always making assumptions 
○ When you make a claim, there must be a set of 
observable evidences 
● Related to the psychology of personality tools 
● Claim​ vs. empirical evidence 
 
○ Overt 
○ 1 stimulus: Figure 
○ Hypothesized 
○ 2 responses: Vase or 2 faces 
○ Theorized 
○ Violated the 1:1 ratio, therefore it must not be true 
○ Idea 
● Behaviorists countered it by asking them to explain the 
○ ALL THESE without evidence are useless 
phenomena 
 
● Gestalt believed that there must be something between the 
 
stimulus and the response 
 
○ But they could not explain what it could be 
 
○ Black Box Challenge 
 
○ S → ? → R 
 
■ ? - In between stimulus and response 
 
● Hypothesize what it is 
 
● Based on observations 
 
● Will never be known  
 
● Could be personality, motivation, 
 
interest, attitude, etc 
 
○ Psychology became the science of hypothesis 
 
● S → Covert Behavior → Response/Overt Behavior 
 
○ Covert will always have overt manifestations 
 
  ● Behaviorism brought psychology to the field of science because of 
  experimentation 
June 17, 2019  ○ Mind cannot be manipulated as it cannot be seen 
  ● The 1:1 correspondence led to the achievement of the 4 goals of 
● Organized Skepticism​ - Science accepts nothing on the basis of faith  science 
and common sense  ● Behaviorism thrived on the idea of experience 
○ The reason why religion and science do not meet  ○ For the behavior to be affected by the external environment, 
  one must have direct experience to the external environment → 
Summary of the School of Behaviorism  learning 
● Idea of human behavior  ■ How do we learn from our external environments? 
● Important that we describe human behaviors to show understanding  ● Behaviorists did not believe in personality 
● External environments ​–​ [influence/explains] → overt behaviors  ○ Usually, behaviors are learned because we experience an 
○ The idea of understanding human behavior  environment that allows us to respond in a certain way 
○ Overt behaviors can be directly observed, empirical, can be  ● Pure behaviorism = pure experience in the environment 
measured  ● John Watson - Father of Behaviorism 
○ External environments can also be described and observed  ○ Became president of the American Psychology Association 
alongside overt behaviors  ○ Had a big influence on psychology 
■ Becomes empirical  ○ People placed him on top of the pedestal 
■ Can be manipulated  ○ Unfortunately, his career died at an early age 
■ Manipulation of external environments causes the  ■ He was interested in things that could not be studied 
change in overt behaviors  during that time (early 1900s) 
■ Experimentation can be done - true manipulation  ○ Examples of his interests: 
● Manipulated variables  ■ Little Albert experiment 
● Example: Room temperature  ● Unethical 
● Positive science thrives on numbers for measuring, quantifying and  ● Led to the precursor of Classical Conditioning 
analyzing, which then leads to rationalism  ● Presence of white rat and banging sound 
● How we develop fears and phobias 
 ● Example: Teacher telling class to bring out ¼   ○ Big scandal as Watson’s wife was the 
○ Surprise quizzes → vulnerability →  niece of a politician 
anxiety  ○ Divorce - part of agreement was to 
○ When repeated, leads to anxiety and  burn whatever data he retrieved. He 
phobias  ended up marrying Rayner who died 
■ Infant reflexes  early 
● Watson and assistant Rayner  ○ No university would hire him 
● Grasping reflex - child grasps anything in  ○ He turned into a cold and distant man 
contact with palm  from a once warm and approachable 
● Routine reflex - child moves head towards  one → would not show affection to his 
touch  children, causing one of them to 
● Sucking reflex - child tends to put anything  commit suicide 
they grasp into their mouths  ○ Could not land a job → friends helped 
● These reflexes were necessary for the survival  him and gave him a job as an 
of the infant = infant does not need to be  advertising consultant → started the 
taught how to breastfeed, but they cannot  use of celebrities for ads 
distinguish differences  ○ Watson’s followers 
+ Freud - stimulation of mouth lessens the  ■ Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov 
anxiety, pleasure pacifies anxiety (reason why  ● Study about dogs 
sometimes when we’re anxious we eat, etc)  ● Not a psychologist → physiologist 
■ Sex behavior  ● Wanted only to study the digestive system of 
● Taboo during that time  dogs 
● Study the physiological responses when one  ■ Burrhus Frederic/BF Skinner 
was aroused  ● Die hard behaviorist 
● Watson made a secret laboratory  ● Study of rats 
○ Rayner as the participant  ● Theory on how we learn 
 ● Even experimented on his own daughter,  ○ Behavioral perspective 
Deborah  ■ Way of looking at things 
○ Control external environment to form  ■ Very positivist 
behaviors  ● School of Gestalt Psychology tried to attack the School of Behaviorism 
○ Heir crib/conditioner  again 
■ Prototype of incubator   
■ Well controlled temperature,  ○ Wolfang Kohler 
lighting and human interaction  ■ Experiment on little chimp, Sultan 
■ Edward Lee Thorndike  ■ Idea of experience 
● The Puzzle Box - aim is for the cat to discover  ■ According to behaviorism, experience is the best 
that pulling the lever will mean freedom →  teacher 
learning curve  ■ BUT not everything that we learn is through 
● 2 Laws in Psychology  experience 
○ Law of Exercise  ■ Sultan 
■ Practice makes perfect  ● Lab chimp, did not know anything about 
○ Law of Effect  survival 
■ If a consequence for a certain  ● Was able to perform a task without experience 
behavior is favorable, it would  ● Discovery of insight learning 
be repeated → important  ● Eureka moment - we do not have to 
indicator if behavior will be  experience something to be able to solve it → 
repeated or extinguished  contradicted the idea of experience 
■ Seems like we are governed  ● Single argument was not enough to break 
by this law  down the many theories of behaviorism 
■ Teaches you how to be  ■ Gestalt  
flexible  ● Innate nature 
● School of Behaviorism gave rise to the first perspective on  ● Something in between S - R 
understanding behavior  ● Opened the doors for post-positivism 
  ■ Death, violence, destruction 
Psychoanalytic School of Psychology  ○ There is a thin line between the 2 
● Vienna, Europe  instincts 
● Sigmund Freud  ○ Both are often used for ads 
● Between the stimulus and the response, there is something internal  ● Psychoanalysis - Childhood experience plays a big role on who we are 
that triggers overt behaviors  today, why we are the way we are today 
   
○ Psyche   
■ Innate   
■ Cannot be observed directly   
■ Like “life” → cannot be described   
■ Like an entity   
■ What is contained in it?   
● Energy (from physics) → psychic energy →   
libido (sexual in layman’s terms)   
■ Libido   
● Instincts as one of the internal mechanisms   
that regulates it   
● 2 instincts   
○ Sexual/Sex   
■ Eros   
■ Libido that results to pleasure   
or positive responses   
■ Not necessarily the act of sex   
■ Life-giving   
○ Aggressive/Aggression   
■ Thanatos