UNIT 1

• Wilhem Wundt 1832-1920: “Physiology informs us about those life phenomena that we perceive by our external senses. In psychology, the person looks upon himself as from within and tries to explain the interrelations of those processes that this internal observation discloses.”

  The establishment of the first research laboratory in psychology by Wilhelm Wundt marked the birth of psychology as a modern science in 1879.
• Who was the founder of psychology?

  Wilhelm Wundt
• Structuralism was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related
• Where did structuralism come from?

  Structuralism emerged through the leadership of Edward Titchener, an Englishman who emigrated to the United States in 1892. After training in Wundt’s lab, he taught for decades at Cornell University.
• introspection required training to make the subject -the person being studied- more objective and more aware
• Functionalism was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure
• Who heavily influenced functionalism?

  William James 1842-1910
• Who said, "It is just this free water of consciousness that psychologists resolutely overlook"?

  William James
• Who was the first woman to receive a Ph.D in psychology? what book did the write?

  Margaret Floy Washburn, The animal mind
• behaviourism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study ONLY observable behaviour
• Who founded behaviourism?

  John. B Wastson 1878-1958
• behaviour refers to any overt response or activity by an organism
• unconscious, according to Freud: contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour
• Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour
• B.F. Skinner is associated with whihc theour?

  Behaviorism
• B.F skinner asserted that free will is an illusion
• humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasized the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth
• Behavioural (1913-present) included John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov and B.F skinner
• Psychoanalytic (1900-present) included Sigmund freud, Carl jung and Alfred alder
• Humanistic (1950s-present) includes Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
• cognitive (1950s-present) includes Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky and Herbert Simon
• Behavioural Neuroscience (1950s-present) includes James Olds, Roger Sperry, David Huber and Torsten Wiesel
• evolutionary includes (1980s-present) includes David Buss, Martin Daly, Margo Wilson, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby.
• humanists take an optimistic view of human nature
• Carl Rodgers pioneered a new approach to psychotherapy known as person-centred therapy- that remains influential today
• clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders
• cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
• Jean Piaget focused on increased attention on the study of children's cognitive development, while the work of Noam Chomsky elected new interest in the psychological underpinnings of language both relating to upcoming theory of cognition
• around the same time as Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky, Herbert Simon and his colleagues began influential research that lead to a noble prize in relation to cognition.
• Donald Hebb was a professor of psychology at McGill University in Montreal whose pioneering ideas are credited with highlighting the importance of physiological and neuropsychological perspectives and as having paved the way for the recent cognitive and neuroscience revolutions in psychology 
• Hebb’s emphasis on the importance of the brain in behaviour provided an important counterweight to that time’s dominance of the behaviourist models. 
• Hebb suggested that repeated stimulation leads to the development of cell assemblies.
• what brought around the globalization of psychology?

  advances in communication, travel, and international independence and ethnic make up of the western world has become multicultural
• evolutionary psychology examines behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations
• explain the positive psychology movement?

  Martin Seligamn was elected president of the APA brought about his idea inspired by his 5 year old daughter. Her calling him "grumpy" made him realize that he was looking at his life overly negative. From here he lauded this idea onto the psychological field
• positive psychology uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative and fulfilling aspects of human existence
• what are positive psychology's three areas of interest?

  1. postive subjective experience (postive emotions- love, happiness, hope)
  2. positive individual traits (personal strengths)
  3. positive institutions and communities (societies foster civil and supportive neighbourhood communities)
• psychology is the science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems
• the nine research areas in modern psychology are?

  1. developmental psychology
  2. social psychology
  3. experimental psychology
  4. behavioural neuroscience/biological psychology
  5. cognitive psychology
  6. personality
  7. psychometrics
  8. educational psychology
  9. health psychology
• applied psychology consists of four clearly identified areas that are?

  clinical, counselling and educational & social and Industrial & organizational psychology