History of Psychology Elementary Psychology Colin T William Overview What are some things that people with psychology degrees do in the world Overview Ebbinghaus Psychology is a field with a long history but a short past Philosophers have long theorized on questions of human psychology Plato The Ring of Gyges Locke child as tabula rasa The Mind Body Problem Philosopher Rene Descartes was interested in the question of how the mind is connected to the body At first this seems obvious the brain However how do concepts experiences emotions memories get from being neuron clusters to experience The Field is Born In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt established the first formal lab for study of psychology as a science Structuralism In the 1800s the industrial revolution had brought about a mechanistic approach to science Structuralism reflected this by focusing on breaking down experiences into basic elements like parts of a machine or process Name coined by Edward Titchener who studied under Wundt Functionalism After Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species much focus turned to what the evolutionary value is of human traits i e what s their function Functionalism focused on the function or purpose of consciousness and behavior Main proponent was William James Psychoanalysis Around the same time movements were taking place to develop mind cures Sigmund Freud worked on talking cures for people s psychological problems He developed a form of therapy called psychoanalysis underpinned by a psychodynamic approach to the mind Most of his model was unscientific and has been refuted but remains influential Behaviorism While Freudianism dominated therapy behaviorism came to dominate the science of psychology Behaviorism proposes that psychology is the study of observable human behavior Ivan Pavlov BF Skinner John Watson Humanistic Psychology Following WWII many researchers looked upon the landscape of psychology and didn t like what they saw So they proposed a third force in psychology to restore focus to what s meaningful about being human Humanists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow focused on personal growth achieving human potential and the importance of unconditional positive regard Little influence in scientific research but strong in therapy Cognitive Psychology Also in re evaluating the state of psychology some researchers took issue with the behaviorist approach which assumed we could scientifically measure only observable behavior They wanted to take a scientific approach to internal mental processes parallel to advances with computers Cognitive psychology emphasizes perception memory language thinking and problem solving Roots in exiled Gestalt psychologists Ulric Neisser Feminist and Cultural Psychology Women saw that most research in psychology was being conducted by males Feminist psychology looked at effects of social and gender inequities on gender relations and the sexes in general Carol Gilligan Expansion of focus on other cultures led to multicultural or sociocultural psychology Biological Psychology Prior to the 1970s learning about the brain relied mostly on autopsies or grim serendipity Still such stories were prone to exaggeration and distortion Biological Psychology Recent decades saw the advent of CAT scans MRI fMRI and PET scans that let us look at living brains So What is Psychology Psychology is different things to different people scientific in method but lacking a defined single paradigm Have come a long way in 100 years however still can t answer the mind body problem can t tell you about morality etc But isn t it all just common sense All Just Common Sense Most people use only 10 of their brain power Playing Mozart to infants makes them smarter Most people experience a midlife crisis Hypnosis can help retrieve lost memories Dreams have symbolic meaning Lie detectors are accurate Ulcers are caused by stress Opposites attract or birds of a feather flock together Vaccines cause autism ADHD is caused by too much sugar in one s diet It s better to express anger than to keep it all in All Just Common Sense Our brains contain about 3 million miles of neural connections There are some people who experience sounds and smells and tastes as colors and patterns Teens who text a lot on a daily basis are more likely to drink alcohol or use drugs People who have lost their language ability to stroke are often better at detecting lies than normal people Any Questions