Psychological science Goals of psychology Critical thinking Scientific foundations of psychology Nature nurture debate Mind body problem Cartesian dualism John Stuart Mill Wilhelm Wundt Edward Titchener Introspection Structuralism William James Functionalism Evolution Stream of consciousness Gestalt theory Sigmund Freud Power of the unconscious Study of mind brain behaviour Understand mental activity social interactions how people acquire behaviour Taught by psychological science systematically evaluating info to reach logical conclusions Originated in philosophy esp by Chinese Muslim philosophers scientists emerged as a discipline in 19th c Europe Is individual psychology innate or a cultural phenomenon Debated by Aristotle Plato today nature nurture influence each other Are they separate distinct Early scholars believed so until da Vinci 1600s suggested mind body were separate but some mental fxns resulted from bodily fxns Argued psych should be a science of observation experiment 1879 first psych lab developed method of introspection Pioneered structuralism as a school of thought using introspection to study consciousness Issue lies in that experience is subjective reporting of the experience will change the experience Conscious experience can be broken down into its basic underlying components Argued the mind had a stream of consciousness that couldn t be frozen in time broken down or analyzed Psychologists ought to examine fxns served by the mind Mind developed bc its useful for preserving life adapting to environmental demands behaviour serves a purpose Continuous series of ever changing thoughts Founded by Max Wertheimer in 1912 whole of conscious experience is different from the sum of its parts perception of objects is subj dependent on context emphasis on patterns context in learning Developed psychoanalysis believed much of behaviour is determined by mental processes operating below level of awareness introduced notion of unconscious Unconscious mental forces can produce psych disorders discomfort John B Watson Behaviourism B F Skinner George A Miller Cognitive psychology 1980s 1990s Social psychology Disorder treatment Aaron T Beck Biology in treatments Brain chemistry Neuroscience Localization Genetics Culture Cultural neuroscience Levels of behaviour analysis Biological behaviour analysis Individual behaviour Challenged focus on the conscious unconscious developed behaviourism put emphasis on how to directly observe measure phenomena believed all behaviours were learned nurture Focus on how observable environmental stimuli affect behavioural responses dominated psych in 1960 s Followed behaviourism research emphasized how repeated behaviours were shaped by consequences hat follow them argued mental processes held no scientific value in explaining behaviours 1957 launched cognitive revolution Study of how people think learn remember Computers led to info processing theories cognitive psychologists teamed with comp scientists neuroscientists Emergence of cognitive neuroscience Emerged mid 20th century focuses on power of situation the way people are shaped through their interactions with others Pioneered by Carl Rogers Abraham Maslow behaviourism gave rise to behaviour modification therapy humanistic approach Developed cognitive therapies to correct faulty thoughts Drugs alter brain physiology tremendous advances in understanding link between mind body 100s of substance play parts not just a few Understanding neural basis of mental life importance of locations in the brain How the different locations of the brain fxn Human genome is basis of studying how specific genes affect thoughts actions feelings disorders Arises by social interactions transmitted from one generation to the next affects thoughts behaviours Studies the ways cultural variables affect the brain mind genes behaviours Biological individual social cultural Focus on neurochemsitry genetics ex animal research neurotransmitters Perception cognition behaviour ex personality gender analysis Social behaviour analysis Interpersonal behaviour ex groups workplace Cultural behaviour analysis Freudian slip Psychoanalysis Thoughts actions behaviours in different cultural groups ex norms beliefs Unconscious mental forces that rise to conscious level Therapist patient work to bring unconscious forces up to conscious level Allowing the patient to speak so freely that Freudian sips may occur Free association