Intro to Psychology History Approaches Psychology A short

Intro to Psychology History & Approaches

Psychology…. A short history and a long past. • Stand Alone discipline for 120 years. • What is psychology? – Science of behavior and mental processes

Prescientific Psychology How are ideas formed? Some ideas are inborn, innate The mind is a blank slate, ideas grow from experience Socrates (469 -399 B. C. ) Aristotle (384 -322 B. C. ) Plato (428 -348 B. C. ) Locke (1632 -1704)

Psychological Science is Born • Wilhelm Wundt – Late 1800’s – 1 st Psychology Lab – Father of Modern Psychology – Seeking to measure reflexes vs. conscious awareness. (direct way to observe causes of behaviors)

Early Schools of Thought Wave One: Structuralism/Functionalism • Structuralism – What is consciousness? – Edward Titchener – Introspection • Functionalism – Why do we have consciousness? – How does it help us adapt/function? – William James- 1 st Psych Textbook What are your immediate sensations?

What the heck do you see?

Wave Two: Gestalt • Gestalt Psychology • Max Wertheimer (18801943) • Examine a person’s whole experience. • The whole is more than the sum of its individual parts. • Gestalt Therapy

Wave Three: Psychoanalysis • Freud (1856 -1939) • Psychoanalytic Theory • Critics Unscientific Unverifiable theories

Wave Four: Behaviorism • John Watson (18781958) (founder) • B. F. Skinner (reinforcement) • Limit studies to what can be observed

Modern Approaches/Perspectives • Evolutionary • Psychoanalytical • Biological • Humanistic Approach • Cognitive • Behavioral • Cross-Cultural