Introduction to Psychology

By Course Instructor
Raisa Ayub
IPP
2022
Institute
of
What is Psychology?

 Psychology is the scientific study of

behavior and processes.
 There are terms “Psyche,” “Psycho,” and
“Psychology”
 Psyche is a Greek word which means ‘mind’
and logos means study.
 Psycho means a mentally ill person.
Psyche

 The Greeks believed

that the soul or
"psyche" was
responsible for
behavior.
 Psyche was the Greek
goddess of the soul
Beginning of Psychology
The Historical origins of Psychology

 The history of Psychology starts with the

great ancient philosophers of Greece, the
most famous ones are:
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Socrates

 He was famous for the

questioning to people. He
constantly engaged in
conversations with
everybody—old and young,
high and low—trying to
bring into the open by his
questions the
inconsistencies in their
opinions and actions
known as Socratic Method.
Plato

 Plato was the

second ancient
Greek Philosopher.
 Socrates’ friend and

pupil.
 Plato is the Greatest

of the Rationalist
philosophers
Aristotle

 Aristotle was the 3rd greatest

philosopher who was the student of
Plato.
 He joined Plato's Academy in Athens
and remained there until the age
of thirty-seven and learned many
subjects such as physics, biology,
mathematics.
 He was the tutor of Alexander-the
Great
 until the end of the 17th century,
Western culture was Aristotelian.
Hippocrates

 He was Father
of Medicine
 Lived around the
same as
Socrates
time
 He finally freed
medicine from the
shackles of magic,
superstition, and the
supernatural.
 Hippocrates collected data and conducted
experiments to show that disease was a natural
process; that the signs and symptoms of a disease
were caused by the natural reactions of the body
to the disease process.
 Interested in Physiology
 Made observations about how brain controls
various organs in the body which later helped in
forming a biological perspective of Psychology.
Nature-Nurture Debate

 This debate is still raging today.

 The debate is about whether human capabilities
are inborn or acquired through experience.
 Nature view says that knowledge is innate, which
means he enters into the world with knowledge
and understanding of reality.
 Nurture view says that knowledge is NOT innate, it
is acquired through experiences and interaction
with the world.
 17th century Philosopher, Descartes supported
Nature view saying that some ideas such as God
and self are innate.
 He believed that a body can be studied as a
machines could be studied.
 John Locke supported Nurture view, saying that a
human mind is tabula rasa – a blank state when a
person born and knowledge is gained through
experience as the individual matures.
 This debate gave birth to Associationist
Psychologywhich denies the
knowledge of
concept and states
innate that mind is filled
ideas through senses with and
similarity and contrast. associates through
 The debate is still seen in various perspective of
Psychology, the question is not whether nature
nurture shapes human psychology but the
question is how it shapes?
 School of thoughts
Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism,
Gestalt Psychology,
Psychoanalysis
The beginning of Scientific Psychology

 It began in late 19th century

 Wilhelm Wundt established the 1st psychology

laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany
in 1879.
First Laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
Structuralism

 Definition: it is a school of thought which is an analysis

of mental structures into simplest form to see how they
were made into complex form and how they can
correlate with the physical events.

 The methods used to analyze in simplest form through

introspection, self-reports of sensations, views, feelings
and emotions.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

 During his research in physiology, Wundt began to

conceive ideas of an independent and experimental
field of psychology

 The term ‘Structuralism’ was first used by Wundt in

his book Contributions to the Theory of Sensory
Perception. (1858 and 1862 – published in sections).
 Wundt was the founder of structuralism

 He used the method of introspection.

 Introspection is ‘to look within.’

 It is to observe and record of our own perceptions,
thoughts and feelings.
Goals of Introspection (given by
Wundt)
 to analyze conscious processes into their
basic elements

 to discover how these elements are

synthesized or organized

 to determine the laws of connection governing

that organization
Edward Bradford Titchener (1867 –
1927)
 He was Wundt’s student

 Structuralism: is the name given formally to Titchener’s

system of psychology which deals with conscious
experience as it is dependent on experiencing persons.

 He believed that psychology was not for curing society

or sick minds, its purpose was to discover the facts or
structure of the mind.

 Introspection: he relied on observers who were trained

to describe their conscious state.
Fechner

 Wundt together with Fechner is taken as the founder

of Structuralism.

 Fechner presented his ideas of Structuralism in his

book
Elements of Psychophysics. (1860).
 Introspection method was criticized because there was lack
of agreement on this method, people having their different
opinion on their self-analysis.

 William James opposed the idea of structuralism, his view

was stressed on the importance of empirical (sensory
experience, knowledge) and rational thought over an
experimental, trial-and-error philosophy.

 Hence, he introduced Functionalism

Functionalism

 Functionalism is a school of thought focuses on how

mind works in order to enable an organism to adapt to
and function in its environment.

 It is focused on how and what mental states work rather

than what they are made up of.
 Functionalists say that in order to see how an organism
adapts to its environment, it is necessary to observe its
actual behavior.

 Functionalists were influenced by Charles Darwin

theory of evolution which stated that the organism best
fitted with the environment will survive and reproduce
and the ones who will not adapt will die.
 Functionalism and structuralism played
important role in the development of 20th
century psychology.
 It is still regarded as the science
of conscious experience.

 These both school of thought was

replaced by Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology and
Psychoanalysis.
Behaviorism
 Behaviorism is a school of thought which is the shaping
of behavior through reinforcing specific habits and
learning through the interaction with the environment.

 Founder was John B. Watson

 He believed behavior is public, consciousness is

private.

 Stimulus-response (S-R) Psychology term was

 There are 2 types of behaviorism
concept :
 1. Operant Conditioning
 2.Classical Conditioning
 B.F. Skinner was an American gave the
concept of Operant Conditioning

 Operant Conditioning is the modification or

shaping of the behavior through
REINFORCEMENT (an increase in
behavior) and PUNISHMENT (a decrease
in behavior).
 Ivan Pavlov was a Russian Psychologist who gave the
concept of Classical Conditioning or respondent
conditioning.

 Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new

behavior via the process of association. In simple terms,
two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned
response in a person or animal.
Classical Conditioning
 Little Albert Experiment
• Experiment by : Watson and Raynor
• Presented Albert with a white rat – he showed
no fear
• Watson than presented the rat with a loud
bang which startled little Albert and made
him cry
• After continuous association of the white rat
and loud noise. Little Albert was classically
conditioned to experience fear at the sight
of the rat
• Alberts fear was generalized to other stmuli
that were similar to the rat, including fur coat,
some cotton wool, and Christmas mask
Gestalt Psychology

 It is German word meaning ‘Form’ or ‘Configuration.’

 Founders were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka

Wolfgang Kohler. and

 It is a school of thought
which is believed to look a human mind
and behavior as a ‘whole.’
 the Gestalt psychologists were
instead interested in looking at the totality of
the mind and behavior.
 Gestalt Psychologists believed that the
whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
Psychoanalysis

 Founder of Psychoanalysis
was Sigmund Freud.

 Originated in 20th Century.

 Psychoanalysis is the theory of personality and a method
of psychotherapy.

 It is the study of Unconscious- thoughts, attitudes,

impulses, wishes, motivations and emotions of which
we are unaware.

 Unconscious thoughts are expressed through dreams,

slips of the tongue and physical mannerisms.
 Free Association was the method used by Freud during
therapy.

 It is the in which person is instructed to say

method
whatever comes to mind as a way of bringing
unconscious wishes into awareness.

 Motivation behind unconscious wishes are

sex and aggression.
 Freud’s theory was not widely accepted when it was first
proposed but people agreed on his concept that goals,
ideas and motives at times operate outside conscious
awareness.
 The people who followed Freud’s theory of unconscious are
known as Neo-Freudians and their approach is known as
Psychodynamic

 They include:
 Alfred Adler
 Carl Jung
 Erik Erikson
 Karen Horney
Humanistic Psychology

 Humanistic psychology belief that people are innately

good. They strive for their personal growth and
achievement in this world.

 This type of psychology holds that morality, ethical

values, and good intentions are the driving forces of
behavior.
Carl Rogers

 His therapy is known as Person-centered therapy

 It deals with ways in which individuals perceive

themselves consciously rather than how a counsellor
can interpret their unconscious thoughts or ideas

 Humanistic Psychology was influenced in1970s and

1980s.
Abraham Maslow

 Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve

certain needs and that some needs take precedence
over others.

 Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this

will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once
that level is fulfilled the next level up is what
motivates us, and so on.
Maslow Hierarchy of needs
Cognitive Psychology

 Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that

focuses on the way people process information.

 It includes perception, attention, language, memory, and

thinking.

 The term 'cognitive psychology' was first used by Ulric

Neisser in 1967, he was the father of cognitive
psychology.
Biological Psychology

 It deals with the genetics and physiology of a human

such as:

 how the nervous system and hormones work,

 how the brain functions,
 how changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior.
 Also how the inheritance (genetics) affects a given trait
or behavior of a human.
Psychological Perspectives

 It is an approach or way of looking topics within

psychology.

 Any topic in psychology can be approached with

different perspectives.

 There could be many but 5 main are the contemporary

perspectives of psychology.
 Behavioral Cognitive Psycho
analytic

Psychological
Perspective

Subjectivist/
Gestalt Biological