SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THOUGHT

PSYCHOLOGICAL
FOUNDATION
 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
• Philosophical interest in behavior and the mind dates back to the ancient
civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, and India
• The discipline of psychology developed until the mid-1800s, when it evolved
from the study of philosophy and began in German and American labs
• A young science with its experimental roots in the 19th century
 DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY
• The term psychology derives from the Greek roots psyche (means the
soul or mind) and logos (means word); literally the study of mind or
soul
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• As a scientific discipline, psychology attempts to provide an
understanding of how and why organisms behave as they do.
• Areas of study: humans & animals (behavior or observable response),
heredity & environment, conscious & unconscious, normal & abnormal
(by level of distress and how maladaptive or disruptive behavior is for
the person or society), age range (across the life span) and theory or
applied (application of psychological principles to specific problems)
 EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
● founders of psychology as a science and academic discipline in the 19th
century were Wilhelm Wundt (Structuralism) and William James
(Functionalism).
● Wundt, a German scientist who was the first person to be referred to as a
psychologist , viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience,
and believed that the goal of psychology was to identify components of
consciousness and how those components combined to result in our
conscious experience
● Wundt used introspection (“internal perception”), a process by which
someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible,
making the human mind like any other aspect of nature that a scientist
observed
 EARLY SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS
● Wundt’s version of introspection used only very specific experimental
conditions in which an external stimulus was designed to produce a
scientifically observable (repeatable) experience of the mind (Danziger,
1980) - attempt to understand the structure or characteristics of the
mind known as structuralism
● Wundt fall short of his efforts to train individuals in the process of
introspection, a process that remained highly subjective, and there was
very little agreement between individuals
● William James, first American psychologist who espoused a different
perspective on how psychology should operate
 EARLY SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS
● James was introduced to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and
accepted it as an explanation of an organism’s characteristics – natural selection
leads to organisms that are adapted to their environment, including their
behavior
Adaptation means that a trait of an organism has a function for the
survival and reproduction of the individual
● For James, psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behavior in the
world, and as such, his perspective was known as functionalism
● Focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment
EARLY SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS
EARLY SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY: STILL ACTIVE AND
ADVANCED BEYOND EARLY IDEAS
THE FIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL DOMAINS
● Psychologists agree that there is no one right way to study the way people think or
behave
● The various schools of thought that evolved continued to shape the way we
investigate human behavior
Introduction to Careers in Psychology
SERVICE PROVIDERS TO INDIVIDUALS
● Clinical Psychology - with a specialty in understanding and helping people with
psychological problems
● Psychiatry - branch of medicine that deals with emotional disturbances
● Other Mental Health Professionals – Psychoanalyst, Clinical Social Worker,
Counseling Psychologists, Forensic Psychologists

SERVICE PROVIDERS TO ORGANIZATIONS

● Industrial/Organizational Psychology - The psychological study of people at work
● Human Factors – specialist or ergonomics, attempts to facilitate the operation of
machinery so that ordinary people can use it efficiently and safely
● Military Psychologists - provide clinical and counseling services to soldiers dealing with
highly stressful experiences
● School Psychology - specialists in the psychological condition of students