CHAPTER 1—PSYCHOLOGY: THE EVOLUTION OF A SCIENCEI. Defining the Science of Psychology A. Psychology – the scientific study of the mind and behavior1.Includes study of perception, memory, creativity, consciousness, love, anxiety, addictions, and moreB.Mind – our private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelingsC. Behavior – observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animalsD. Addressing the questions of William James, father of modern psychology1.What are the bases of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings, or our subjective sense of self?a.Previously believed that the pineal gland was a bridge between the physical world and the psychological worldb.We now know that those perceptions are represented as electrical and chemical activities in the braini.Example: Expert pianists require less activity in finger-controlling cortex than novices, according to neuroimaging studies2. How does the mind usually allow us to function effectively in the world?a."Thinking is for doing," that is, the function of the mind is to help us do things so that we may prosper (e.g., acquire food, shelter, mates)b. Psychological processes are adaptivei.Example: Emotions allow us to react quickly to "life or death" events, as well as form social bonds3. Why does the mind occasionally function so ineffectively in the world?a.The mind often trades accuracy for speed and versatility, resulting in malfunctions, or "bugs"b.The influence of habit, or doing things without really thinking, could explain bizarre actions of "absentminded" peoplec.Breakdowns and errors are opportunities to examine how things change from normal operations, and provide pathways to knowledgeII. Psychology’s Roots: The Path to a Science of Mind A. Psychology’s Ancestors: The Great Philosophers1.Nativism ("nature") – philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborna. Supported by Plato2.Philosophical Empiricism ("nurture") – philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experiencea. Supported by Aristotlei.Child’s mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) upon which experiences are written3. Did not empirically test their theoriesB. From the Brain to the Mind: The French Connection1.French philosopher René Descartes argued the body is made of material substance, whereas the mind (or soul) is made of an immaterial or spiritual substancea. Dualism – the view that the mind and body function separatelyi.Presents the problem of addressing how the mind communicates with the bodyii.Descartes believed that the mind influenced the body through the pineal gland2. British philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued that the mind and body are notseparate; the mind is what the brain does3.French physician Franz Joseph Gall believed that brains and minds were linked through size, not glandsa.Phrenology – defunct theory that specific mental abilities and characteristics are localized in specific regions of the brain4.French biologist Pierre Flourens tested the ideas of Gall by removing brain partsfrom animals and observing any resulting changes in behavior5.Surgeon Paul Broca worked with a patient who could understand speech, but could not produce speech due to specific damage in his brain6.Broca and Flourens were the first to demonstrate that the mind is grounded in the material substance of the brainC. Structuralism: Applying Methods from Physiology to Psychology1. Physiology – the study of biological processes, especially in the human body2.William James was drawn to the work of German physiologists Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt3. Helmholtz measures the speed of responsesa. Stimulus – sensory input from the environmentb. Reaction Time – the amount of time taken to respond to a specific stimulusc.Helmholtz noted that reaction times from a stimulus at the toe were longer than those applied to the thigh, showing that the neurological processes underlying mental events are not instantaneous4. Wundt and the development of structuralisma.Wundt, Helmholtz’s research assistant, published a book about a scientific approach to psychology based on sensory perception experimentsb.In 1879 Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at University of Leipzig, which he thought should focus on analyzing consciousnessi.Consciousness – a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mindii. Structuralism – analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mindiii. Introspection – subjective observation of one’s own experienceiv.Wundt’s students would be asked to use introspection in response to a stimulus and record their "raw" sensory experience, not their interpretation of that experiencev.Reaction time experiments began to illustrate the differences between perception and interpretationD. Titchener Brings Structuralism to the United States1.British-born Edward Titchener studied with Wundt for two years then opened a similar lab at Cornell University2.Titchener used introspective methods to attempt to further identify the basic elements of the conscious experience3.Structuralism faded due to the lack of replicable observations and criticisms from other schools of thoughtE. James and the Functional Approach1.William James ran experiments in his Harvard course leading to his book, The Principles of Psychology (1890)2.James disagreed with the idea that consciousness could be broken down into separate elements, claimed consciousness was more like a flowing stream3.Functionalism – the study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environmenta. Inspired by Charles Darwin’s work, The Origin of the Species (1859)4. Natural Selection – the features of an organism that help it survive andreproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generationsa.James believed that mental abilities must have evolved because they were adaptive5.James’s ideas influenced G. Stanley Hall, who set up a lab at Johns Hopkins University in 1881 to study the psychology of development and educationa.Hall founded the first psychology journal in the U.S. (American Journal of Psychology) and helped found the American Psychological Association (APA),serving as its first president6. Functionalism prevailed in North America by the 1920sIII. The Development of Clinical PsychologyA. The Path to Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory1.Hysteria – a temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally