Prologue:

The Story of
Psychology
“The [brain is the] most
complex physical object…
in the entire cosmos”
Owen Gingerich,
astronomer

PowerPoint®
Presentation
by Jim Foley

© 2013 Worth Publishers


Topics and Questions
 The history and growth of
psychology, from questions to a
science
 The big question: do our human
traits develop through
experience (nurture), or are we
born with them (nature)?
 Psychology’s biopsychosocial
levels of analysis
 Psychology’s subfields
 Applying psychology to learning
the text: SQ3R
Psychology is about
understanding mind,
self, and others.
Bring your curiosity to
class, with questions
like:
How do I explain
dreams? Anxiety? The
abilities and funny
behavior of babies?
How can I learn to use
my mind to be more
successful in my life? To
be more effective in
helping others?
From speculation to science:
The Birth of Modern Psychology
Aristotle (4th century BCE) asked
questions to understand the
relationship between body and
psyche.
His way of answering those questions
was to observe… and make guesses.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) added

two key elements to help make
psychology a science:
1. carefully measured observations
2. experiments
Wilhelm Wundt’s 1879 experiment
measured the time it took for people to:

Push a button when a ball Push a button when

dropped (based on when they consciously aware of hearing
heard the ball hit a platform): the ball hit the platform:
1/10th of a second. 2/10ths of a second.

Why were the

times different?
Edward Titchener’s Structuralism
 Titchener, like his teacher Wilhelm Wundt, relied on “self-
report” data. He had people engage in introspection,
reporting on sensations and other elements of experience, in
reaction to stimuli such as the smell or feel of a flower.
 Titchener tried to use these introspective reports to build a
view of the mind’s structure. He called this view
structuralism.
Psychology Pioneers
 William James (1842-
1910) developed
functionalism. He
studied human thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors
and asked: What
function might they
serve? How might they
have helped our
ancestors survive?
William
 He wrote Principles of
James Psychology.
 James mentored another
pioneer
Psychology Pioneers
 Mary Whiton Calkins
(1863-1930) became a
memory researcher and
the first female president
of the APA.
 She studied with William
James but was denied a
Harvard PhD. Why?
Because of her gender.
Mary
Whiton
Calkins
Psychology Pioneers
 Margaret Floy Washburn
(1871-1939), PhD, became
the second female APA
president, and wrote The
Animal Mind.
 She studied with Edward
Titchener, but was barred
from his experimental
psychology organization.
Guess why.

Margaret Floy
Washburn,
PhD
Shifting definitions of “psychology”

Now we combine these

definitions:
John B. “The
Wilhelm science Watson
of behavior
and and Cognitive
Wundt and B.F. Skinner, psychologists,
Edward mental processes.”
behaviorists, 1960’s,
Titchener, 1920’s: “The studied
around 1900: scientific internal mental
“The science study of processes,
of mental life.” observable helped by
behavior.” neuroscience.
Trends in Psychological Science:
Behaviorism
By pairing a bunny with a
loud noise, Watson
taught a baby (“Little
Albert”) to fear rabbits.
This is called classical
ccnditioning.
John B. Watson

Skinner used operant

conditioning to teach
pigeons to do amazing
things to get rewards. He
later wrote about how
human communities could
be shaped by this
method .
B. F. Skinner
Trends in Psychology:
Freudian/Psychoanalytic Psychology

 Sigmund Freud, founder of

psychoanalysis, (late 1800’s):
 He studied and helped people with a
variety of mental disorders.
 His school of study and treatment
focused on the role of unconscious
drives, wishes, and needs, and
emphasized the importance of
childhood experiences.
Sigmund Freud
Trends in Psychology:
Humanism

Humanists: Abraham Maslow and Carl

Rogers (1960s):
 studied people who were thriving rather
than those who had psychological
problems.
Abraham Maslow  developed theories and treatments to
help people to feel accepted and to reach
their full potential.

Carl Rogers
 The Growth of
Psychology
 Psychology’s pioneers have come
from many fields: physiology,
philosophy, medicine, and biology.
 Advances in psychology also have
been made in many countries
 Psychology has spread rapidly;
there are 71 member nations in
the IUPS.
The subjects studied in
psychology have
multiplied too… as we
shall see in this course.
The Big Issue in Psychology: N-N
The Nature-
Nurture
Question:
To what extent are
our traits already
set in place at birth
(our “Nature”)?
And to what extent
do our traits
develop in
response to our
environment/
experience (our
“Nurture”)?
 Plato: Aristotle:
Ideas such All knowledge
as “the comes through
good” and the senses.
“beauty”
Descartes:
are inborn. vs.
Some
ideas are
innate.
Nature Nurture
John Locke:
Charles Darwin: The mind is a
Some traits, blank slate (blank
behaviors, and chalkboard or
instincts are part of screen) “written
the nature of the on” by experience.
species.
 We share a
common We have
origin that differences
Nature
gives us an Nurture
that are
inborn human shaped by our
nature in environment
common.
“Nurture works on what Nature endows.”
 Biology Plus Environment..
are part of
psychology’s three
“biopsychosocial”
levels of analysis.
The deep level, The outer level,
Biology: Environment:
genes, brain, social Influences,
neuro- culture,
transmitters, education,
survival, In the middle,
reflexes, Psychology: relationships
sensation thoughts,
emotions,
moods, choices,
behaviors, traits,
motivations,
knowledge,
perceptions
The three levels as influences on
some psychological phenomenon

Example:
Example:
Example:
Example:
Enjoying
Depression
Intelligence
Shyness
Soccer
There are many
perspectives for
describing
psychological
phenomena: From different angles, you ask different questions:
Cognitive How reliable is memory? How can we improve our
perspective thinking?
Social-cultural Could our behavior, skills, and attitudes be
“downloads” from our culture?
Behavioral Could our behavior, skills, and attitudes be
genetics genetically programmed instincts?
What role do our bodies and brains play in
Neuroscience emotions? How is pain inhibited? Can we trust our
senses?
Psychodynamic Do inner childhood conflicts still plague me and
affect my behavior?
How are our problematic behaviors reinforced?
Behaviorist How do our fears become conditioned? What can
we do to change these fears and behaviors?
Evolutionary Why are humans prone to panic, anger, and
making irrational judgments?
Different perspectives on a single issue: Six Blind Men and an
Elephant
Let’s play: “What’s my perspective?”
“Obsessive- “Compulsions start as habits
compulsive and are rewarded by the
disorder is a anxiety relief they bring.”
problem in the
orbital cortex.”
“No, it’s a sign
“OCD comes of unresolved
from our childhood
“No, OCD is natural instinct issues.”
an to control our
inherited environment.”
condition.”
“OCD thinking
and behavior is a
reaction to our
fast-paced, out-
“No, OCD is a matter of-control
of mental habits and lifestyles.”
errors that can be
corrected.”
Psychology’s Subfields

Type of research Applied

Biological Clinical Psychology

Developmental Counseling Psychology

Cognitive Educational Psychology

Personality Industrial-Organizational

Social Community Psychology

Positive Psychology Clinical Psychology

Psychology’s Subfields
Research Examples

Type of research Explore the structural problems

Biological in the brain that may be part of
autism
Study how the stages of
Developmental cognitive and emotional
development vary in autism
Clarify the difficulties autistic
Cognitive children have with
understanding sarcasm
Decide whether traits like
Personality neuroticism need to be
measured differently in autism
Find how autistic children can
Social learn social skills as procedures
if not by intuition
Explore what motivates people
Positive Psychology and contributes to life
satisfaction
Psychology’s Subfields
Applied

Applied Use exposure therapy to

Clinical Psychology decrease phobic reactions in a
traumatized client
Help someone achieve career
Counseling Psychology goals despite family conflict and
self-doubt
Evaluate aptitudes and
Educational Psychology achievement to plan for a
student with learning problems
Figure out how a factory can
Industrial-Organizational improve coordination of tasks,
roles, and personalities
Help coordinate a city’s efforts
Community Psychology to understand and prevent
elder abuse
Use exposure therapy to
Clinical Psychology decrease phobic reactions in a
traumatized client
Psychology in context with
other professions
Psychiatrists are
physicians, M.D.s or
D.O.s. They can prescribe
medication.

In addition to
psychologists,
professionals in social
work, counseling, and
marriage and family
therapy may be trained
to do psychotherapy.
First Application of Psychology:
Improving your test performance
Scientific studies show us that:
testing yourself boosts retention of material.
• The retrieval practice effect/testing effect

actively processing material helps master it.

• Put it in your own words, make connections
spaced rehearsal, interspaced with other
subjects, is more efficient than cramming.
• Spread studying over multiple days

people tend to overestimate their mastery.

• If the concept looks familiar… not good enough
 Applying this knowledge:
Use SQ3R to master a textbook
Scan/Skim what you are about to
Survey read, especially chapter outlines
and section heads.

Ask questions that the text

Question might answer; write guesses.

Look for the answer to your

Read questions, reading a
manageable amount at a time.
Recall what you’ve read in
Rehearse your own words. Test
yourself with quizzes.
Look over text and
Review notes and quickly
review the main ideas
of the whole chapter.