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Psychology Notes
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What is Psychology? |
-Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.
-Scientific:Answering questions objectively based on observable facts, data, and established methods
-Behavior:Observable, need to be operationally defined(measurable); behavior is anything an organism does
-Mental Processes: The internal, subjective experiences, we infer from behavior-thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, motivations, dreams, subjective experiences |
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History of Psychology-Prior to 300 BCE |
-Plato:Tripartite soul: intellect, spiritual/emotional, desires
-Aristotle: theorized about learning & memory, motivation & emotion, perception & personality, knowledge is acquired through experience
-Nativism:or the idea that certain kinds of knowledge are inborn or innate |
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The History of Psychology: The Influence of Physiology & Anatomy |
-Physiology: The branch of biology that studies the functions & parts of living organisms
-In the 1600s: brain & its relation to behavior
-By the 1700s: Specific bodily functions can be traced to specific brain areas
-Some early ideas, such as phrenology(Franz Joseph Gall), did not stand the test of time |
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The Birth of Psychology: Foundations as a Scientific Discipline |
-1879 Wundt established 1st psychology laboratory
University of Leipzig, marking the formal beginnings of the study of human behavior, emotions, & cognition.
-Utilizes scientific methods to study psychological processes |
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Edward Titchener |
-Structuralism
-Goal was to discover the mind's "structure" by means of introspection( sensation, feelings)
-Why did this method prove unreliable? |
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Functionalism |
-William James: 1842-1910
-Advocated by William James & influenced by Darwin, focuses on how behaviors & mental processes function to allow people & animals to adapt to their environment rather than focusing on self-reported thoughts & feelings, etc
-What evolutionary function do these serve? |
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Behaviorism |
-Early 1900s : Psychology redefined as the scientific study only of observable behavior;dismissed introspection in favor of measuring only that which, is observable & quantifiable.
-Suggest that the environment is much more influential on behavior than genetics.
-John B. Watson: "Little Albert Experiment"
-B.F.Skinner: radical behaviorism |
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Psychoanalytic Theory |
-Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)
-Unconscious mental processes shape feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
-The unconscious is the part of the mind that separates outside of conscious awareness
-Unconscious conflicts determines behavior and personality |