Chapter 1 psychology

• Psychology


  The scientific study of the mind and behavior
• Scientific method


  • Propose a hypothesis
  • Test the hypothesis through observation or experiment
  • Publish or present results so others can replicate
• Psychology is empirical, based on measurable data
• Science deals only with matter and energy, not values and morality
• Psychology became accepted as an academic discipline in the late 1800s
• Empirical method


  Acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather than logical argument or previous authorities
• About 6 percent of all bachelor degrees granted in the United States are in the discipline of psychology
• scientific means using systematic methods to gather data about behavior
• behavior refers to everything that people do, say or think
• psychological means having to do with mental processes and behavior
• Wundt


  The first person to be referred to as a psychologist
• Wundt's view of psychology

  • The scientific study of conscious experience
  • Goal was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combined to result in our conscious experience
• Introspection


  A process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible
• Wundt considered his version experimental introspection; he used instruments such as those that measured reaction time.
• Wundt established his psychology laboratory at the University at Leipzig in 1879.
• Structuralism


  • Developed by Edward Titchener, Wundt's student, focused on the contents of mental processes rather than their function
  • understanding the conscious experience through introspection
• Functionalism


  • Accepted Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and viewed this theory as an explanation of an organism's characteristics
  • Focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment. ▪︎ William james
• Functionalists


  • More interested in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual parts, which were the focus of structuralism
  • Relied on more objective measures, including the use of various recording devices, and examinations of concrete products of mental activities and of anatomy and physiology
• Freud


  • An Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from "hysteria" and neurosis
  • Believed that one way the unconscious mind could be accessed was through dream analysis
• Psychoanalytic theory


  Focuses on the role of a person's unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences. ▪︎done by freud
• Freud's ideas were influential, and many therapists believe strongly in the unconscious and the impact of early childhood experiences on the rest of a person's life.
• Drew Westen argues that many of the criticisms of Freud's ideas are misplaced, as they attack his older ideas without taking into account later writings
• Westen argues that critics fail to consider the success of the broad ideas that Freud introduced or developed
• Broad ideas Freud introduced or developed

  • Importance of childhood experiences in adult motivations
  • Role of unconscious versus conscious motivations in driving behavior
  • Motivations can cause conflicts that affect behavior
  • Effects of mental representations of ourselves and others in guiding interactions
  • Development of personality over time
• Some current psychotherapy practices involve examining unconscious aspects of the self and relationships, often through the therapist-client relationship
• Gestalt


  Roughly translates to "whole"; a major emphasis is that how the parts of a sensory experience relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception
• Gestalt (Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler)

  • psychology directly contradicted Wundt's ideas of structuralism
  • Focuses on humans as a whole rather than individual parts
• Gestalt ideas have continued to influence research on sensation and perception
• Structuralism, Freud, and Gestalt psychologists


  All concerned with describing and understanding inner experience
• Behaviorism (John b, Pavlov, Watson, Skinner)

  Exclusively studied behavior, the objectively observable outcome of mental processes
• Classical conditioning


  A form of learning behavior where an animal or human produces a reflex response to a stimulus and is conditioned to produce the response to a different associated stimulus
• Behaviorism is used in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy, and behavior modification is commonly used in classrooms
• Operant conditioning


  Behavior is affected by its consequences, through reinforcement and punishment
• The Skinner box allowed careful study of the principles of modifying behavior through reinforcement and punishment
• Humanism(Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers)


  Emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs


  A theory that higher-level needs (e.g. social, self-actualization) motivate behavior once basic survival needs are met
• Client-centered therapy


  A therapeutic technique developed by Carl Rogers where the patient takes a lead role and the therapist displays unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy
• Noam Chomsky

  • was very influential in the early days of the cognitive revolution
  • He believed psychology needed to incorporate mental functioning into its focus in order to fully understand human behavior.
• Cognitive Revolution


  New disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science that revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry
• Behaviorism


  • Emphasis on objectivity and focus on external behavior had pulled psychologists' attention away from the mind for a prolonged period of time