Chapter 1: The Science of Module 1: Psychology’s Domains Early Leaders and Approaches in the Study of Psychology

"Speaking of fruitcakes, any plans for the holidays?" Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) “the father of psychology” Structuralism

“What are the pieces that make up thinking and experience?”

To apply scientific principles for study of human mind and , establishes first in Germany,1879.

Proposed School of Structuralism: approach of psychology that mind consists of three basic elements – sensations, feelings, and images.

Believed was made of up of nonphysical elements – , , experiences, feelings, etc. Subjects required to look inward (introspection) to describe their emotions or feelings. (1842-1910) Harvard professor; pioneer of American psychology. Functionalism Consciousness – awareness - is a stream of ever- changing thoughts; impossible to break it down into individual elements. Most interested how humans function (School of Functionalism Psychology) and adapt to and organize their environment. Thinking developed because it is adaptive. Adaptive become habits: the “To the infant the world is “flywheel of society.” just a big, booming, buzzing confusion.” Like physical traits, useful behavioral traits could be passed to future generations. Gestalt Germany, 1930s

School of : emphasizing how we organize information wholes and integrate separate stimuli into meaningful patterns.

Focus on – the organization and interpretation of stimuli received and within its context on how it influences behavior and .

“ are more than the sum of their parts.”

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Psychoanalysis

Austrian, develops first complex theory.

School of Psychoanalysis Psychology: importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior.

Humans are motivated by primitive sexual drives, forbidden desires, and traumatic childhood experiences. Focused on the effects of these conflicts – buried in the unconscious – on our conscious. “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one- seventh of its bulk above water.” John B. Watson (1878-1958) Behaviorism

One of the first American psychologists to study the impact of on human

Made scientific inquiry a primary focus of .

School of Behaviorism: study of observable behavior and studies the relationship between stimuli and responses.

We feel or do because of the association we have made.

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, …to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents.” The Field of Psychology

Psychology: The scientific study of mental processes and behavior

Mental processes: anything the brain is capable of doing (thinking, learning, believing, forming attitudes, imagining, etc.).

Behavior can mean most any activity (blinking, sweating, smoking, etc.). Psychologists vs. Psychiatrists

Psychologists: study the physical and the psychological aspects of behavior

Research Psychologists: study the origin, cause or results of behaviors

Applied Psychologists: make use of findings of research psychologists

Psychiatrists: medical doctors with training to treat medical disorders A Few Famous “Psychiatrists”

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Dr. Frasier Crane

Dr. Lucy Van Pelt Calvin and Hobbes Subfields of Psychology

Clinical: diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

Counseling: diagnosis and treatment of less severe problems

Developmental: Personality: changes over a life span comparing and contrasting

Physiological: Experimental: conducting research and studies Finding biological for behavior

Social: Industrial/Organizational: behavior affected by presence of others Relationship between people and their work environment

What items will you not find in a gaming hall of any casino?

how stores are spying on you General Themes of Psychology

1. Nature v. Nurture

Is our behavior influence greater by our genes or by our environment?

2. Determinism (“hardwired”) v. Freewill

How much control over our behavior do we have?

3. Methodology

What is the best approach in the scientific study of human behavior? Modern Approaches Used in Psychology Today Biopsychological Approach

Biopsychological: views behaviors as the result of functions and biology.

Advantages Disadvantages

Understanding biological aspects It does little to explain social of behavior can help in developing influences on behavior. medical treatment for some disorders; observable behavior.

Hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors, etc.

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Behavioral Approach

Behavioral: behavior is product of learning and associations.

Advantages Disadvantages

It can help parents teach children It takes away our “free will.” appropriate behavior; strengthening or weakening observable behaviors.

Classical and Operant Conditioning B.F. Skinner John B. Watson Humanistic Approach

Humanistic: people are basically good and capable of helping themselves.

Advantages Disadvantages

The “human potential;” It gives No one is good all the time. people power over their own lives and behavior; the importance of environment.

Achieving “self actualization – the ideal self.

Carl Rogers Albert Maslow Psychoanalytic Approach

Psychoanalytic: a system that views the individual as the product of unconscious forces.

Advantages Disadvantages A framework for examining It focuses on how people are only process below the products of mostly negative consciousness. unconscious impulses.

Less emphasis today on early Sigmund childhood experiences and Freud more on the motivations behind behavior. Cognitive Approach

Cognitive: emphasizes how humans use mental processes to handle problems or develop certain personality characteristics.

Advantages Disadvantages

It analyzes how thoughts affects It downplays the role of emotions. behavior; how information is stored, recalled and utilized. Use of brain scanning technology to observe the living brain.

Using marijuana impedes left/right brain communication – a negative impact on

Roden’s “The Thinker” (1882) Sociocultural Approach

Sociocultural: behavior is strongly influenced by the rules and expectations of specific social groups or cultures.

Advantages Disadvantages

It helps psychologists to counsel people It does not address physiological from different cultures and to understand influences on behavior. social influences on behavior.

Peer pressures and expectations of a culture – how to look, act behave. Eclecticism

Eclecticism: process of making your own system by borrowing from other systems; not always one answer to explain a behavior.

Dr. Frasier Crane

Rick Ankiel Steve Blass Disease