Introducing psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt


  Established the first psychology lab in the University of Leipzig, Germany, 1879
• Wilhelm Wundt


  The father of psychology
• Structuralism


  Early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind
• Introspection


  When people were asked to describe what they were experiencing as they were given stimuli, like smelling roses
• Edward Titchener


  Student of Wilhelm Wundt, coined the term "structuralism"
• The problems with introspection:

  • Required smart people with self-awareness and an ability to verbalize what they were thinking
  • People often make mistakes in their perceptions
  • There was too much variation between accounts
• William James


  Wrote the first psychology textbook
• Functionalism


  School of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioural processes work, and how they allow us to survive and flourish
• introspection: first began in laboratory set up by Wilhelm Wundt; process of reporting on one's own conscious mental experiences
• Parts of William James' work on functionalism could be traced back to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which inspired James. We see this in how he studied why our traits did what they did, much like the concept of survival of the fittest
• A structuralist would want to take apart a machine and see what it was made of. A functionalist would want to explore the machine and see what it could accomplish
• Psychodynamic approach


  Developed by Sigmund Freud, a way for you unconscious to be explained by someone else; therapy, dream analysis, hypnosis. The idea that you don't know your deepest reasonings, and they have to be unraveled for you to understand yoursellf
• Sigmund Freud


  Developed psychoanalytic theory, now known as the psychodynamic approach
• Advantages of psychodynamic approach:

  • it is flexible and cannot really be proven wrong
  • helps explain why we do seemingly random things
• Limitation of psychodynamic approach:

  • Not very scientific because it aims to study hidden things like the unconscious
• Behavioralism


  Created by Ivan Pavlov, seen as a rejection of the psychodynamic approach because it studies measurable things: behaviors and reflexes
• Classical conditioning


  Named reflexive conditioning by Ivan Pavlov when it was discovered accidentally when dogs started salivating at non-food items if they were always presented to them before food
• Pavlov is known for classical conditioning which focuses on reflexes
• B F Skinner is known for operant conditioning which focuses on behaviors
• Operant conditioning


  Behavioralism: the idea that your behaviors are triggered by a punishment-reward system that builds habits over time.
• Classical conditioning


  Behavioralism: the idea that your reflexes can be trained by stimuli if one thing is correlated to another enough
• Ivan Pavlov


  Created classical conditioning
• B F Skinner


  Created operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning advantage:

  • Reflexes/triggers (stimuli) can be measured and observed
• Classical conditioning limitation:

  • Creativity and thoughts are not simple reflexes that can be trained
• Operant conditioning advantage:

  • Behaviors can scientifically be measured
  • It is proven that punishments and rewards influence behaviors
• Operant conditioning limitation:

  • People are more complex than rewards or punishments; we love and do selfless things
• Cognitive approach


  School of psychology that focuses on thoughts
• Cognitive approach advantage:

  • Flexible theory that allows for differences between people and the complexity of thought
  • Especially well suited for treatment
• Cognitive approach limitation:

  • Thoughts are almost impossible to observe or study
  • Relies on people to report their own thoughts, which has flaws
• Psychodynamic idea of illness:

  • Unconscious ideas, fears, and impulses cause us to act against what society sees as good or proper
• Psychodynamic approach to treatment:

  • finding a way to understand and work with those unconscious urges
• Behavioral classical idea of illness:

  • Unhelpful associations have been made between certain stimuli and certain reflexs
• Behavioral classical approach to treatment:

  • Disconnect harmful associations
  • Make appropriate associations between stimuli and reflexes
• Behavioral operant idea of illness:

  • People seek the wrong rewards/trapped in a maladaptive system of rewards and punishments for their behaviors
• Behavioral operant approach to treatment:

  • Implement a different punishment/reward system to change behaviors to what is considered good and healthy
• Cognitive idea of illness:

  • Maladaptive thought patterns/mental habits prevent people from thinking beneficial thoughts
• Cognitive approach to treatment:

  • Recognizing harmful/defeatist thought patterns and changing them to be healthy or beneficial
• Principles of psychology


  First textbook ever written on psychology
• Margaret Washburn


  First woman to get a PhD in psychology for her animal beharvioral research and writing The Animal Mind