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Module 1 - Orientation Student
Module 1 - Orientation Student
Prologue Overview
What Is Psychology?
Psychological science is born
Psychological science develops
Contemporary psychology
Psychology’s three main levels of analysis
Psychology’s subfields
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First laboratory
Fourth century B.C.E.: Aristotle used observation
and questioning to understand the body-psyche
relationship
Questions were answered through observation (and
guesses)
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Psychological
Science Is Born
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-
1920)
Defined psychology as
“science of mental life”
Added two key elements
to enhance scientific
nature of psychology
Elements included
carefully measured
observations and
experiments
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Structuralism:
Titchener
Mentored by Wundt
Relied on “self-report”
data
Encouraged
introspection, reporting
on sensations and other
elements of experience
in reaction to stimuli
Used these introspective
reports to build a view of
the mind’s structure
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Functionalism:
William James (1842-
1910)
Studied human
thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors and asked:
What function might they
serve?
Authored Principles of
Psychology
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First women in
psychology
Mary Whiton Calkins
(1863-1930)
Became memory
researcher and first
APA female president
Studied with James
but discriminated
against and denied
PhD
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First women in
psychology
Margaret Floy
Washburn (1871-1939)
Became second APA
female president
Wrote The Animal Mind
Studied with Titchener
but barred from his
experimental
psychology organization
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Psychological
Science Develops
Freudian
psychology
Emphasized ways
unconscious thought
processes and
emotional responses
to childhood
experiences affect
later behavior
Was second major
force until 1960s
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Humanistic psychology
Revived interest in study of mental processes
Focused on ways current environments nurture or
limit growth potential and importance of having need
for love and acceptance satisfied
Led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
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Mental
processes = Psychology Behavior =
internal, = science of any action
subjective behavior and that can be
experience observed or
mental recorded
inferred from
behavior processes
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Contemporary Psychology
Contemporary Psychology
Nature Nurture
• Plato: Character and • Aristotle: Content of mind
intelligence inherited; comes through senses
some ideas inborn • Locke: Mind is blank slate
• Descartes: Some ideas
are intuitive
• Darwin: Some traits,
behaviors, and instincts
are part of species;
natural selection
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Contemporary Psychology
Contemporary
Psychology
Martin Seligman:
Positive psychology
Explores human
flourishing
Uses scientific methods to
Courtesy Martin Seligman
investigate building of
good life that engages
skill-building and a
meaningful life that
extends beyond self
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Social-cultural influences:
Biological influences:
• presence of others
• genetic predispositions (genetically • cultural, societal, and family
influenced traits) expectations
• genetic mutations • peer and other group influences
• natural selection of adaptive traits and • compelling models (such as in the
behaviors passed down through media)
generations
• genes responding to the environment
Behavior
or mental
process
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Psychology’s Subfields
Psychology
Hub scientific discipline (Cacloppo, 2007)
Common quest : Describing and explaining behavior and
the mind underlying it
Range of researchers
Biological psychologists
Developmental psychologists
Cognitive psychologists
Personality psychologists
Social psychologists
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Psychology’s Subfields
Perspective Focus Sample questions Examples of subfields using
this perspective
Neuroscience How the body and brain How do pain messages travel from the hand Biological; cognitive; clinical
enable emotions, memories, to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked
and sensory experiences with moods and motives?
Evolutionary How the natural selection of How does evolution influence behavior Biological; developmental;
traits has promoted the tendencies? social
survival of genes
Behavior genetics How our genes and our To what extent are psychological traits such Personality; developmental;
environment influence our as intelligence, personality, sexual legal/forensic
individual differences orientation, and vulnerability to depression
products of our genes? Of our environment?
Psychodynamic How behavior springs from How can someone’s personality traits and Clinical; counseling;
unconscious drives and disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes personality
conflicts and childhood traumas?
Behavioral How we learn observable How do we learn to fear particular objects or Clinical; counseling; industrial-
responses situations? What is the most effective way to organizational
alter our behavior, say, to lose weight or
stop smoking?
Cognitive How we encode, process, How do we use information in Cognitive neuroscience;
store, and retrieve information remembering? Reasoning? Solving clinical; counseling; industrial-
problems? organizational
Socio-cultural How behavior and thinking How are we alike as members of one Developmental; social
vary across situations and human family? How do we differ as products psychology; clinical; counseling
cultures of our environment?
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