week 1

• structuralism (wilhlem wundt): it matters what mental processes are made of. how can you break them down?
• the gestalt viewpoint (max wertheimer): to understand consciousness, we must study the whole, not just its component parts
• functionalism (william james): it matters what function mental processes serve. how are they adaptive?
• functionalism is heavily influenced by darwin's natural selection
• psychoanalytic theory (sigmund freud): our behavior is deeply influenced by unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires; these are NOT nice / good
• psychoanalytic theory studied "hysteria" and neurosis
• sigmund freud theorized that many of his patients' problems arose from the unconscious mind
• sigmund frued 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 and early childhood experiences
• classical conditioning (ivan pavlov): learning (behavior change) can occur when we come to assoicate one stimulus with the presence of another
• behaviorism (John B. Watson & B.F. Skinner): psychology should be a science of observable and measurable events and behaviors, and that mental states and cognitive processes were irrelevant or inaccessible
• cognitive psychology (noam chomsky & ulric neisser): how our brain processes information influences how we behave. not only can you objectively study the mind, but you absolutely should - cognitive revolution
• humanistic psychology (abrahram maslow & carl rogers): we have free will to live more creative, meaningful, and satisfying lives. if we have our basic needs met, and are provided with unconditional positive regard, we will be motivated to improve ourselves and reach our highest potential
• positive psychology (martin seligman): psychology is much larger than mental illness or curing diseases. it's about bringing out the best in people, it's about strength of character
• mary whiton calkins was a student of william james at harvard; she was allowed to attend lectures but not formally admitted
• mary whiton calkins was the first female to meet all the requirements for a phd in psychology, but had the conferral refused in 1894; she was offered a phd from radcliffe but turned it down
• mary whiton calkins established the field of self-psychology
• mary whiton calkins was the first female to establish a psychology lab and to serve as president of the american psychological association
• mary whiton calkins was ranked 12th in a 1903 listing of the top 50 psychologists by the best in the field
• margaret washburn was the first female psychologist to have a phd officially conferred (cornell, 1894)
• margaret washburn's influential book the animal mind provided experimental evidence from animal studies that internal, not just external, behaviors are valid subjects of psychological study
• frances c. sumner was the first african american to recieve a phd in psychology (lincoln university, 1920)
• frances c. sumner helped found the psychology department at howard universty
• frances c. sumner was interested in racial disperities in eduction and in the psychology of religion
• frances c. sumner taught many students of color who would become influential leaders in the civil rights movement and who would have significant careers in their own right
• inez beverley prosser was the first female african american to earn a phd in psychology (university of cincinnati, 1933)
• inez beverley prosser worked her way through graduate school by teaching school after her brother, leon, convinced her parents that she should be the one in the family to go to college, not him
• inez beverley prosser looked at self-esteem in african american school children in segregated vs. integrated schools
• inez beverley prosser found that children did better in segregated schools
• mamie phipps & kenneth clark studied psychology at howard university and were the first african americans to receive phds in psychology from columbia university
• mamie phipps & kenneth clark were intersted in how children develop a sense of self, especially as concerns internalized racism; they developed the infamus "doll experiment"
• mamie phipps & kenneth clark testimony was very influential for brown v. board and other school integration cases
• mamie phipps & kenneth clark founded northside center for child development to offer psychological help for families in harlem
• contemporary perspectives: biological, evolutionary, cognitive, sociocultural, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic
• the most comprehensive explanations for human behavior come from considering the influence of multiple perspectives
• psychology is one of 7 "hub sciences" that most strongly influence work done in other fields
• psychological science is needed due to human bias, humans being vulnerbal to believing untruths, and the fact that scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from overestimated intuition and illusion
• in the scientific method, useful theories are testable and falsifiable, explain behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations, imply predictions that anyone can use to check the theory or to derive practical applications, and stimulate further research that leads to a revised theory that better organizes and predicts observations
• theories lead to hypotheses that lead to research and observations that confirm, reject, or revise theories
• case studies suggest fruitful ideas for future research; no generalizations or universal truths