Course Code: HUM204

Course Title: Psychology

Lecture / Week No. 1

Department of Business Administration

Contents

1.What is Psychology
2.History of Psychology
3.Psychology’s Levels of Analysis
What is Psychology?
Psychology is the scientific study of:
• Behavior
• Mental Processes

Scientific:
• Empirical method – knowledge is acquired through
careful observations

Goals: To describe, explain, predict, and control how we

think, feel, and act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Os1C000qxY
History of Psychology
• Psychology is a relatively new science

• Developed from philosophy & biology

History of Psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt and the 1st psych. lab (1879)
• Founder of Experimental Psychology
• Marked psychology’s transition from philosophy to science
Wundt’s Chronoscope
“…with the first clack of the
ball on the platform, the click
of the key, and the
registration of elapsed time
on the chronoscope, the
modern era of psychology
had begun” (Hunt, 1993).
 Early Psychological Science
(1880s – 1920s)
• Psychology defined as a science of mental life
• What goes on in our head that we can’t directly observe

• Two Main Schools of Thought:

1) Structuralism

2) Functionalism
1) Structuralism: sought to discover the basic
elements of consciousness

• Method of introspection

• What does it mean to “introspect”?

• Focus on subjective, individual conscious experiences

• Why?
• How else can you access someone’s private conscious thoughts? (Twitter and FaceBook
weren’t invented yet)

• Systematic variation of stimuli

• Participants provide verbal reports about their perceptions

 Participant describes
temperature and
sensations experienced
when water makes
contact with his skin

Participant compares a
series of weights
Discussion
• Write down 2 or 3 other questions or problems that could be studied
using introspection

• What problems do you see with relying on only the introspective

method?

• What other ways do scientists try to answer questions that do not rely
on introspection?
2) Functionalism: sought to discover
the evolved functions of thoughts
and feelings

• William James – “Father of American

psychology”

• Influenced by Darwinian evolution

• Mental activity and behavior are
adaptive and therefore serve functions

• Emphasized explaining, rather than

just describing conscious experience
I ask you to watch a really scary movie and ask you to
report what emotions and sensations you feel
afterwards. You report feeling scared, that your heart
is racing, and that you have sweaty palms. I then
explain that you feel scared and your heart is pumping
to prepare you to run away from, or possibly fight, the
terrifying zombies in the movie, thus ensuring your
survival.

Am I a structuralist or a functionalist?
I ask you to watch a really scary movie and ask you to
report what emotions and sensations you feel
afterwards. You report feeling scared, that your heart
is racing, and that you have sweaty palms. I simply
write down your responses. “Oh, that’s interesting.”

Am I a structuralist or a functionalist?
Behaviorism (1920s – ’60s)
• Introspection dismissed in favor of behaviorist
perspective
• Psychology redefined as the scientific study of observable
behavior
• John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
• Skinner: “There is no place in a scientific analysis of
behavior for a mind or a self.”
• Focus on learning and modifying behaviors, e.g., classical
and operant conditioning
• Dominated American psychology for 50 years
Psychoanalysis (1920s – ’60s)
• Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory

• Emphasis on the role of the “unconscious” mind and early childhood

experiences
• Basis of psychoanalysis
Contemporary Psychology (1960s – Present)
• Cognitive revolution
• Psychology as the scientific study of both behavior &
mental processes
Contemporary Psychology (1960s – Present)
 96% of research participants in psychological studies
are WEIRD (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010)
 Western, Educated, from Industrialized, Rich, Democratic
societies
 Yet, WEIRD individuals make up about 12% of the world’s
population

•So, what’s the problem here?

Contemporary Psychology (1960s – Present)
• Multi-cultural psychology

• Some psychological phenomenon are common to use all because we share an

evolutionary past as a species

• But some phenomenon are cultural specific or culturally influenced

Psychology’s Levels of Analysis
Psychology’s Levels of Analysis
What causes depression among college students?
Careers in Psychology
Major Course Themes
• Psychology is not common sense
• Many of our behaviors, thoughts, emotions are adaptive
• Many psychological processes occur automatically or unconsciously
• Importance of cognitive processes (how we think about things) on
behavior
• The power of the social situation to influence behavior
References / Resources

1. Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W., Dumper, K., Lovett, M., & Perlmutter, M. (2018). Psychology:
OpenStax.
2. LibGuides: OpenStax Psychology Resources Guide: Psychological Research. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://columbusstate.libguides.com/c.php?g=834572&p=6339947
3. Psychology. (2020, April 11). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology
4. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/action/science/