Origins of psych

• psychology emerged as a scientific discipline around 1880, when the first scientific lab was established
• it's early roots can be traced back to Descartes, who suggested that the mind and body were really distinct from each other, and the mind could be an immaterial substance in it's own right
• John Locke


  . proposed the idea of empiricism - all experiences can be obtained through senses

  . humans inherit neither knowledge nor instinct

  . this later formed the behaviourist approach
• Charles Darwin


  . proposed that all humans and animals behaviour has changed over generations, so the individuals with stronger, more adaptive genes survive and reproduce

  . later formed the biological approach
• Introspection


  . from the Latin word 'looking into'

  . was the first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awarness into basic structures of thoughts, images and pictures

  . memory and perception can also be observed through introspection

  . get people to reflect on sensations, feelings and images when focusing on an object
• Wilhelm Wundt 


  . the father of psychology

  . he opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany 1879 - this was the first lab dedicated to psychology

  . he separated psychology from philosophy by analysing the brain in a more structured way

  . Wundt believed in reductionism - consciousness could be broken down into its basic elements
• The emergence of psychology as a science

  . uses of highly controlled lab experiments can still be seen today

  . the scientific method refers to investigate methods that are objective, empirically tested and replicable - this allows theories to be tested
• Strengths of the scientific method

  . knowledge acquired is accurate and produces facts due to the controlled studies

  allows the cause of behaviour to be established and theories developed which can be tested and modified

  . once the cause is established, treatment can be developed
• Weaknesses of the scientific method

  . focuses on being objective and conducting research in strictly controlled environments

  . it tells us little how people act in natural environments

  . there are certain areas of the human behaviour that cannot be observed, therefore cannot be measured using the scientific method
• Psychology timeline

  • 17th-19th century - psychology apart of philosophy
  • 1879 - first psychology lab
  • 1900s - emergence of psychoanalysis
  • 1913 - emergence of behaviourist approach
  • 1950s - emergence of humanistic approach
  • 1960s - cognitive revolution
  • 1960s - Social learning theory
  • 1980s - emergence of biological approach
  • early 21st century - cognitive neuroscience