The evolution of psychology Presented By P Musetha

The evolution of psychology Presented By P. Musetha

Lecture 1: An Introduction

BP (Before Psychology) �Psychology’s intellectual parents are Philosophy and Physiology

The Birth of Psychology �Wilhelm Wundt proposed that we should study the mind independent of philosophy and physiology �Wundt also proposed that this new field of study (psychology) should be rooted in science �This new science would concern itself with the study of conscious and immediate experience

The First Psychology Laboratory �Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig, Germany �Thus, 1879 is usually considered the “birth” of modern psychology �Psychology = Psyche (soul) + Logos (study)

So what did this Wundt guy actually study? �Attention �Memory �Sensory processes �Reaction-time experiments to see how fast these processes happen

Psychology becomes popular �Many of Wundt’s students went on to establish additional psychology laboratories in the United States �G. Stanley Hall established the first psychology laboratory in the United States in 1883 at Johns Hopkins University

G. Stanley Hall �G. Stanley Hall launched the first journal in America dedicated to psychology �G. Stanley Hall also helped to establish the American Psychological Association (APA) and served as its first president �The APA is the largest organization devoted to the study and advancement of psychology today

Review �What does the word “psychology” mean? �When was psychology born? �Which two disciplines gave birth psychology? �Who established the first psychology laboratory? �Where was the first psychology laboratory established? �Who establish the first psychology laboratory in America, helped establish the APA and the first psychology journal in America? �What does APA stand for? �What should this new field of psychology study?

People start arguing… �How exactly should we go about studying conscious experience? �Two main viewpoints emerged: Structuralism and Functionalism

Structuralism Psychology should analyse consciousness by breaking it down into it’s component parts and investigate these parts individually, and also how these parts are related

Structuralism Edward Titchener believed, like his teacher Wilhelm Wundt, that the best way to analyse conscious experience was to break it down into its basic elements So how does this work?

Early Psychologists played Mental Legos?

Structuralism (cont. ) �The best way to break consciousness up into it’s basic building blocks, is via a process known as introspection �Introspection is a process of systematic and objective self-observation �These people had to be specifically trained (introspection is pretty dam hard)

Functionalism �William James proposed that the structure of consciousness is not as important as what it does �Functionalist were inspired by the work of Charles Darwin

Functionalism (cont. ) �Psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness �What does consciousness do? �Taking snapshots of consciousness misses the important bits. You need to analyse the “stream of consciousness” in order to obtain meaningful descriptions of the mind

Functionalism (cont. ) It’s not so much what something is made of, but how and why it “functions” the way it functions that is important

For Example

Functionalism (cont. ) According to functionalists many of our mental faculties were shaped by natural selection

Functionalism (cont. ) �In order to understand why you were afraid we first need to understand that our fear response is a product of natural selection �People that were afraid of scary/dangerous things (like spiders) survived longer and thus procreated more

Functionalism (cont. ) �This is called natural selection. In a nutshell, people who are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and procreate �Functionalist were thus more concerned with the practical application of psychology than structuralists �Because of this practical slant, functionalism influenced the development of applied psychology and behaviourism

Psychoanalysis �Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939) �Freud noticed that many of his patient (himself included) suffered from irrational fears and anxieties

Psychoanalytic Theory �Freud was convinced that people’s conscious experience was only the tip of the iceberg �Freud proposed that, in addition to our conscious experience, there is also an unconscious element to our minds

Psychoanalytic Theory This unconscious part of our mind contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but influences our behaviour nonetheless

Psychoanalytic Theory �According to psychoanalytic theory, who you are is largely determined by what goes on in your unconscious mind �Unfortunately, you don’t have much control (or even awareness) of what goes on down there �Freud’s method that sought to deal directly with this unconscious part of our mind, was called psychoanalysis

�According to Freud, psychological disturbances are largely caused by unresolved personal conflicts in the unconscious

�Freud’s ideas weren’t entirely new, but they were very controversial and was the first attempt to deal with the “other” side of the human mind in a systematic way �Before Freud, people kind of assumed that we were not only aware of, but also in control of our own minds and behaviour �Remember introspection?

�Not everyone was fond of Freud’s ideas, but various of his ideas can be found in popular culture references

Behaviourism �During late 1920’s a new school of thought became dominant in psychology �Founded by J. B Watson �Behaviourism is the idea that psychology should only study observable behaviour �No more studying consciousness

Behaviourism (cont. ) �Watson declared that true science is based on verifiability �Verifiability means something can be proved (or disproved) by anyone willing to make the observations �Consciousness is essentially a private event and can thus not be verified

Behaviourism (cont. ) �Behaviour , on the other hand, is something everyone can observe and agree on �According to behaviourist then, psychology should be the “science of behaviour” �Behaviour refers to any overt (publicly observable) response or activity by an organism �Some behaviourists went as far as claiming that there is no such thing as consciousness

Behaviourism �Behaviourism = Stimulus-Response Psychology �Stimulus (input) produces a Response (output) �Behaviour is caused by environmental factors (input) �Lead to an increase in animal research (more control over stimuli/input and response/output)

Nature vs Nurture �Classic debate in psychology �Are we a product of our genes or how we were raised?

Nature vs Nurture “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select. . . ” (Watson, 1924)

1. Who was the father of behaviourism? 2. Who was the father of psychonalysis? 3. True or False: Psychoanalysis is often referred to as Stimulus-Response psychology? 4. True or False: Behaviourists defined psychology as the scientific study of behaviour? 5. True or False: psychoanalysist’s used a lot of animals for research? 6. True or False: Behaviourists thought that consciousness could be studied in an objective way?

1. True or False: According to Freud who you are is largely determined by your personality? 2. Behaviourist abandoned the study of consciousness because consciousness is not ________? 3. True or False: Watson argued that behaviour is caused by heredity and the environment? 4. True or False: Behaviourists primarily used animals for their research because they could exert greater control over their experiments with animals? 5. According to Freud psychological disturbances are caused by ___________?