History of Psychology:
Aristotle, before 30 BC
Greek naturalist and
philosopher who theorized
about learning, memory,
motivation, emotion,
perception, and personality.
Charles Darwin:
1850s
Studied the evolution
of finches and expands
his study to include
humans.
Opposed religious teachings
of the time by suggesting
that man was a common
ancestor to lower species.
Birth of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt:
Father of Psychology
1879: Leipzig, Germany.
Intended to make psychology
a reputable science.
Many American psychologists
eventually went on to study
in Leipzeig.
Wilhelm Wundt:
Father of Psychology
Most of his experiments on
sensation and perception.
Did not think that high order mental
processes could be studied
experimentally.
Trained in medicine and philosophy.
Wrote many books about
psychology, philosophy, ethics,
and logic.
American Psychological
Association (APA)
Founded in 1892:
the governing
body of all research
not conducted by
universities.
G. Stanley Hall
First president of the APA,
established the first
psychological lab in the
U.S. in 1883, at Johns
Hopkins University.
Started the American
Psychological Journal (1887)
now the American Journal
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not raed ervey lteter by
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Introspection
Looking inward at one’s
own mental
processes.
Because it is not
objective, it fails
miserably.
E.B. Titchener
Wundt’s student.
Taught at Cornell University.
Studied nature of mental
experiences.
Structuralism: Analyze
sensations, images and feelings
into their most basic elements.
William James:
1842-1910
Claimed that searching for building
blocks was a waste of time
because brain and mind are constantly
changing: focused on function.
Functionalism. Underlying causes and
practical consequences of certain
behaviors and mental strategies:
“Stream of Consciousness.”
Expanded psychology to animal behavior.
Eclecticism
Utilizing of diverse theories and
schools of thought.
Mosaic, no single approach can
create the whole picture.
Unlikely for psychology to ever have
a unifying paradigm.
Grand theories replaced by more
specific ones.
Present Day Psychology
Behavioristic theory:
Expanded psychology into
many groups that could not
be studied by introspection.
All behavior is observable
and measurable. Abandoned
mentalism for behaviorism.
Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov, 1849-1936.
Russian experimenter who
showed automatic/involuntary
behavior in learned responses
to specific stimuli in the
environment.
Created “Classical
Conditioning.”
Behaviorism
John Watson, 1913.
Psychology can never be as
objective as chemistry or
biology. Consciousness is not
that easy.
“I can take a child and make him
into anything, a beggar, a
doctor, a thief.”
Behaviorism
B.F. Skinner, 1950’s.
Dismissed importance of inherited
traits and instincts about human
behavior. Private events can be
studied as long as they are treated as
a form of behavior, many experiments
with learning and memory.
Believed that all behavior is a result of
rewards and punishments in the past.
Behavioristic Theory
Social Learning Theory: How people
acquire new behaviors by observing
and imitating others (modeling).
Criticisms: Excluded all behavior that
cannot be seen. All behavior cannot
be explained by rewards and
punishments. Treats people like
robots as if they have no free-will.
Psychoanalytic Theory
All behavior is meaningful,
and much of it is controlled
by digging below the
surface to uncover the roots
of personality.
Sigmund Freud!!! (Da MAN!)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939.
Studied neurology, but wanted to
be a medical researcher, forced
into being a private physician.
Became convinced that patients
difficulties were due to mental rather
than physical problems.
Proposed that distress due to problems
that dated back to childhood.
Siggy Freud
Psychoanalysis: Freud’s method for
treating people with emotional problems,
free association.
Unconscious: Nearly all of our impulses
are sexual and aggressive in nature.
Because we cannot accept them in
our conscious, thoughts find their
expression in dreams, slips of the
tongue that appear as accidents, and
even jokes.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Interpretation of Dreams, 1900.
Sold 600 copies in 8 years; today
sells millions every year.
Aggressive energy: Basic human
instinct lodged in unconscious; the duty
of society is to get people to channel
their aggressive energy into productive
activity. If not, aggression is released
and violent activities occur.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Hidden Desires: Freud stated
that people are “cesspools
of hidden desires.”
Unresolved Conflicts: If these
occur in childhood, this
will cause fixations in later
life. (Stages)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud’s Stages: Oral (Birth - 1 yr.),
anal (1 yr.), phallic (4 yrs. -
separates males/females), latency
(Puberty), genital (adult)
3 Personalities: Id, Ego, Superego:
Id: Wants/Desires, Basic primal
instincts. “Pleasure Principle”
Ego: “Reality Principle”
Superego: Conscious mind. “Do the
right thing.”
Psychoanalytic Theory:
Criticisms
Does not focus on observable behavior,
negative viewpoint of mankind
because actions are provoked by
unconscious thoughts, cannot be
scientifically proven or disproven.
Ignores political and social explanations
of people’s problems.
Currently focuses on perceptions,
memories, and thinking in our
unconscious (Psychodynamic
Humanistic Theory
1950’s-60’s: Emphasize free-
will, people not completely
ruled by environment or past
experience, able to control
one’s own choices and
destinies to achieve full human
potential. (Existentialism)
Humanistic Theory
Abraham Maslow:
Hierarchy of Needs:
People’s struggle is to be
the best they possibly can,
known as self-actualization.
Carl Rogers: Former minister;
believed all people strive for
perfection; some interrupted
by a bad environment.
Humanistic Theory
Human Potential: Everyone striving
to reach their highest potential.
Criticisms: Believes all people are
good and that people have the
ability to heal themselves. Too
vague, more of a philosophy for
life than a psychology.
Biopsychological
(Neurobiological)
Seeks to understand the nervous
system. All actions, feelings associated
with the nervous system.
Wilhelm Wundt: Expected psychology to
rest almost solely on Anatomy and
Biology. Interested in how bodily events
interact with events in the external
environment to produce perceptions,
memory and behavior. Roger Sperry
won Nobel-Prize for his Split-Brain
Biopsychological
(Neurobiological)
Nervous System: Responsible for our
behavior; Specifically abnormal and
immediate responses.
Anatomy/Biology: Solely responsible for
human behavior.
Criticisms: Ignores mental processes.
Explains too little of human behavior,
rejects environmental influences.
Cognitive Theory
Thinking: how mental thoughts affect
behavior. Humanism gives rise to the
Cognitive Theory. Studies how we
attend, perceive, think, remember,
solve problems and arrive at beliefs.
Know what’s going on in people’s
heads first, then applies it to
their behavior.
Jean Piaget: studies children’s
cognitive development.
Cognitive Theory
Thought Processes: Can infer mental
processes from observable
behavior.
Gestalt Psychology: means “pattern”
or “configuration.” Studies how
people interpret sensory information
in order to acquire knowledge.
“The whole is larger than the sum of
its parts”
Cognitive Theory:
Criticisms
Downplays emotion, too
mentalistic, hard to decide
between competing
cognitive explanations.
Strong approach today .
Sociocultural Psychology
Examines how cultural and
political (religious) experience
effect our everyday life.
Gender influences of behavior.
Job opportunities to influence
people’s goals and ambitions.
Sociocultural Psychology
It is NOT intrapsychic:
Within the mind or self.
Cultural Values/Political
Systems: How norms and
social influences affect
behavior.
Sociocultural Psychology
Ambition/Goals/Values:
Environments influence on one’s
long-term ambitions.
Criticisms: Underestimated
personal and overestimated social
influences on our behavior. Makes
broad generalizations about ethnic
groups and cultures.
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