Prologue The Story Of Psychology Chapter Objective 1

Prologue: The Story Of Psychology

Chapter Objective 1. Be able to define psychology 2. Trace psychology’s pre scientific roots, from early understandings of mind and body to the beginnings of modern science 3. Explain how the early psychologists sought to understand the mind’s structure and functions, and indentify some of the leading psychologist who worked in these areas 4. Describe the evolution of psychology from the 1920’s through today 5. Summarize the nature-nurture debate in psychology, and describe the principle of natural selection 6. Identify the three main levels of analysis in the biopsycholsocial approach, and explain why psychology’s varied perspectives are complementary 7. Identify some of psychology’s subfilds, and explain the difference between clinical psychology and psychiatry. 8. State five effective study techniques

Psychology Defined Psychology is: “The scientific study of behavior and mental processes”

Prescientific Psychology § Is the mind connected to the body or distinct? § Are ideas inborn or is the mind a blank slate filled by experience?

Hebrews believed you thought with your brain

…and felt with your bowels

Socrates

Mind is separate from body and continues after death

Aristotle

Spirit cannot be separated from the body

Knowledge grows from experience

Knowledge is NOT preexisting

Descarte

Believed brain fluid contained animal spirits And that the animal spirits sent messages through the body

Locke

Believed the mind at birth was a blank slate

Knowledge comes from experience via the senses

Knowledge comes from experience via the senses Science flourishes through observation and experiment

William Wundt Founding father of psychology

Edward Titchener • Structuralism used introspection (looking in) to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

Two early schools of Psychology • Structuralism: used introspection to explore the human mind • Functionalism: used mental and behavioral functions, such as emotions, memories, will power, habits, etc. , to determine how people adapt to our present and thrive in our future.

Nature vs. Nurture Do our human traits develop through experience, or do we come equipped with them?

Three Main Levels of Analysis • Biological Influences • Psychological Influences • Socio-cultural Influences

Biological influences • Genetic predispositions • Genetic mutations • Natural selection of adaptive physiology and behaviors • Genes responding to the environment Is this nature, or nurture?

Psychological influences • Learned fears and other learned expectations • Emotional responses • Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations Is this nature, or nurture?

Are you a chicken? Do you even know how to be a chicken?

Social-cultural influences • • Presence of others Cultural societal, and family expectations Peer and other group influences Compelling models (such as media) Is this nature, or nurture?

Mapple

Kinds of Research Psychologist • • • Biological Psychologist Developmental Psychologist Cognitive Psychologist Personality Psychologist Social Psychologist

Psychology vs. Psychiatry • Psychologist- provide psychotherapy for patients – Research psychologist – Counseling psychologist – Clinical psychologist • Psychiatrists- medical doctors who can proscribe drugs to treat physical symptoms of psychological disorders.

Perspectives in Modern Psychology • Humanistic- emphasizes the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth. • Biological- genetic predispositions to have certain behaviors or growth patterns. • Psychoanalytic- behavior and growth is largely driven by subconscious drives.

• Behavioral – Learned observable responses • Cognitive – Encode, process, store, retrieve information • Social-Cultural – Behavior, mental processes vary between cultures