Origins of Psychology

• Define Psychology

  the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• Experimental philosophy (17th-19th century)
• Rene Descartes key concepts

  -Cartesian Dualism (the mind and body are independent of each other)
• John Locke key concepts

  -Empiricism (basis of the behaviourist approach)
• Charles Darwin key concept

  -Evolution

  -Adaptive genes (meaning all behaviour has evolved)

  -Survival of the fittest
• History of psychology...
• What did Wundt do and when?

  Open the first psychology laboratory in Ger, 1879
• What did Freud do and when?

  1900s- psychodynamic approach (the unconscious mind& behaviour). Develops person-centred therapy called psycholanaylsis.
• What did Watson and Skinner do and when?


  1913- establish behaviourist approach
• What did Rogers and Maslow do and when?


  1950s- developed humanistic approach, rejecting behavioural and psychodynamic & emphasising free-will
• What did Bandura do and when?

  1960s- Social Learning Theory (cognitive and behavioural approach combined)
• When was the biological approach developed?

  1980s
• Who was Wundt?

  The father of pyschology
• What was ideas did he promote?

  -Controlled objective research

  -Structuralism

  -Introspection
• What is introspection?

  A systematic analysis of our own conscious experience of a stimulus (eg describing our emotions when hearing rain)
• What is structuralism?

  To use introspection to explore the basic structural elements of the human mind (by breaking down behaviour eg perception & sensation)
• Strengths of Wundt's Methods

  - Controlled methods

  -Replicable

  -Still used today
• Weaknesses of Wundt's methods

  - Subjective (varied from each person)

  -Not reproducible

  -Processes (eg memory, perception) were unobservable

  - Can't predict future behaviour using this so its "Laws of Behaviour" is flawed
• The emergence of psychology as a science...
• What are the 2 assumptions?

  -All behaviour is determined

  -If behaviour is determined, it should be possible to predict how humans would behave in different conditions
• What is the scientific method?

  The use of investigative methods that are objective, systematic and reliable
• Strength to psychology being a science?

  +Not biased nor subjective

  
  

  +All behaviour is determined so replicable

  
  

  +Theories can be adapted

  
  

  +objective so physical proof & systematic
• Weakness of psychology being a science?

  -objective so environment is artificial (Hawthorne effect)

  -can't observe thoughts so subjective

  -some don't believe all behaviour is determined
• What is structuralism?


  an approach to psychology based on the idea that conscious experience can be broken down into its basic components (eg senses and perception)