Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Textbook: Ch. 1 (sec. 3 + 4) - Coggle Diagram
Textbook: Ch. 1 (sec. 3 + 4)
The Early Days of Psychology
learning objective
: Name important early psychologists and describe their major theories and research methods.
The Founding of Psychology
prior to the 19th century, psychology was thought of to be in the same category as philosophy
there being little to no difference being made
Wundt thought that psychology should be studied in the same manner as other science disciplines
made a program that taught students how to perform experiments (in the nature of trial-and-error) in psychology
Wundt made a school specifically for the study of psychology
made the first psychology journal in 1881
Wundt was a natural scientist (physiology scientists)
had a famous pendulum experiment
predicting where the pendulum would be at a certain time
he found out that he was always 1/10 of a set late;
making him think that it always takes humans 1/10 of a second to switch focus
he believed that "will" organized thoughts into higher levels
believed that behaviours and attention focuses are intentional
to make the difference between automatic and controlled behaviours (and perceptions), he thought of something called
voluntarism
many other scientists were influenced by Wundt's work
for example, a princeton graduation went to germany to study psychology, as he was inspired by the "new psychology" studied by Wundt and Fechner
also had the idea that a person's individual, social context is important in understanding their behaviour
had research participants go through
simple, repeatable situations, and asked to make observations
vocab
consciousness
: personal awareness of one's surroundings and mental processes
voluntarism
: a
theory
that behaviors are of will; voluntary
that will is the driving force to human behavior
structuralism
: studying human consciousness through a philosophical lens
introspection
: a way to study mental processes; and how simple thoughts can expand to complex ideas
also; a systematic observation/analysis of the consciousness
functionalism
: a philosophical way of considering how mental processes work to adapt to environments
Gestalt psychology
: the field of psychology that says we have an innate way of seeing particular things, and how we generalize concepts
Structuralism: Looking for the Components of Consciousness
Edward Titchener made a theoretical model based on Wundt's, called structuralism
Titchener's goal was to identify the parts of the conscious mind to try and determine the relation between them
himself and many other researchers tried to break down the conscious mind/"mental processes" into basic components like feelings and sensations
tried this by
introspection
but isn't effective because analyzing one's own consciousness only goes so far in science
to study the conscious mind, structuralists used introspection
the problem with introspection was that observations were seemingly unique to individuals
different people (structuralists) couldn't agree on a conclusion
people also thought that reflecting on a thought/feeling changes your perspective on that thing; so therefore changing that feeling/thought
schools that taught structuralism were attacked because they didn't include the study of animals (meaning, studying psychology outside of the "human" context")
and examining things such as abnormal behaviour
introspection was also criticized because different people came to different conclusions, depending on who was doing the introspecting, and what they were trying to find
the main criticism
about structuralism, was that it had
little (if at all) application to the real world
; all structuralists did was describe mental processes, and not move onto explaining (or answering the 4 goals of psychologists [mentioned in ch. 1, sec. 1]) in any way
Functionalism: Toward the Practical Application of Psychology
william james
helped shift the attention from focusing on the structures of the mind, to the functions of the mind
admired the work of darwin, and said that it was important to learn how the consciousness worked/functioned
said that humans were able to survive this long because of our adaptive nature
" argued that human thoughts, perceptions, and emotions have helped humans to adapt"
"reasoned that consciousness had to serve an important biological function because it was a trait in humans that had been naturally selected"
this basically means: james believed that consciousness served an important purpose (biologically) because it is a trait that stayed through evolution ("natural selection")
viewed consciousness as an ever-changing stream of mental events
tried to understand how the mind changed/adapted with changing environments
when studying, focused on the cause and consequences of behaviour
used a variety of empirical methods
also talked about individual differences; rather than only pointing out traits that are shared among ppl
also took researching to animals, children, and ppl with mental disorders
unlike structuralism
though there was no formal school to teach functionalism, it helped psychologists focus on what the mind can, and already does accomplish
with how functionalists focused on finding information that can be applicable, psychologists began to talk about and study
socially relevant topics
for example:
William Lowe Bryan and Noble Harter performed an investigation on how telegraph operators could learn typing skills
findings were used to improve training for railroad telegraphers
marked the beginning of studying socially important issues, such as emotional processing
including learning, education, etc.
Gestalt Psychology: More than Putting Together the Building Blocks
gestalt psychology: says that ppl have an innate tendency to think about things in "structures"
"inborn tendencies to impose structure on what we see"
can make us think of things in "big picture" ("the whole is greater than the sum of its parts")
cause us to perceive things as broad “perceptual units”
for example: when we look at a screen, we see pictures - but in "reality"/objectively, it's a bunch of pixels (that make up those pictures)
another example, is how ppl see familiar faces, when it's just eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
"our tendency to group eyes, noses, and mouths into recognizable human faces."
studied illusions and errors in perception, memory, and judgment to try and figure out why ppl have subjective realities - differing from the objective reality
Max Wertheimer
(1880–1943) and other psychologists in Germany were questioning the structuralist idea t
doubting whether the mind could really be broken down into "atomic" parts
wertheimer helped guide psychology away from studying individual elements of psychology, and more so studying the "big picture" of the human mind and functioning
before you go on: what do you know?
What is introspection, and which early school of psychologists relied most heavily upon it?
What is the main difference in approach between functionalism and structuralism?
What did the Gestalt psychologists study?
what do you think?
Which early school of psychology most closely resembles the way you view the human mind? Why?
charles darwin essentially led scientists to explore the origins of humankind and their behaviour
darwin studied and said that organisms evolve through time and pass down traits that can help their offspring live in the environment (learning to adapt)
Twentieth-Century Approaches
learning objective
: Summarize the major principles of the psychoanalytical, behaviourist, humanistic, cognitive, and neuroscience approaches to psychology.
Psychoanalysis: Psychology of the Unconscious
Wundt, Titchener, and the structuralists, James and the functionalists, and the Gestaltists all focused on consciousness, behaviours, and mental processes
things we are aware of
there are other theorists in psychology who studied/paid attention to the things we are unaware of;
unconsciousness
Sigmund Freud
got info from his patients as a neurologist
coping with irrational fears, obsessions, and anxieties.
believed that the patients' symptoms came from toxic childhoods
said that the conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg
was convinced that the patients' issues were from a mental cause, rather than physical
viewed psychological conflict as largely due to disturbances existing at an unconscious level and then reaching awareness
believed that ppl must go through some developmental milestones to have "emotional adjustment"
says that there is a tension between unconscious and the conscious mind, and that shapes essentially all of one's behaviour
tension of what's socially acceptable, and the wants of the unconscious part
his ideas were rejected by practically everyone
William James, the functionalist
says there's no unconscious; that what was observed in the conscious is all there is to mental processes
nevertheless, Psychoanalytic theory opened up the perspective on psychology (making psychology more relevant to more ppl)
psychoanalytic theory
: the theory that mental processes are influenced by the "competition" between the unconscious and conscious levels
unconscious
: thoughts, feelings, and sensations that we are unaware of, and (some ppl say) have a great impact on our behaviour
vocab
unconscious
: a "stage" of thinking that happens outside of awareness, but still affects behavior
not 100%; hypothesized that there is unconscious part of the mind
behaviourism
: a branch of psychological study that focuses more on observation actions, than mental processes
stimuli
: stuff outside the mind and body that triggers changes to our mind and body
response
: a reaction to stimuli
reinforcement
: a learning processes that makes an individual more likely to do something again in response to something
punishment
: an experience intended to decrease the likelihood of a behavior (the opposite of reinforcement)
humanistic psychology
: a theory that intends to give attention to the unique features of human behavior ("human functioning")
client-centred therapy
: therapy that focuses on making positive gains by mirroring the client's feelings and thoughts; that the client is "equal"
in an environment where there is unconditional positive regard towards the client
founded by Carl Rogers
cognitive psychology
: a field of psychology that sees mental processes as a way to process information
also studies how information is "stored and operated" in our minds
stored and operated = stored and used?
information processing
: the way information is stored and used in the mind
cultural psychology
: the study of how culture's rituals and such shape the group's tendencies and psychology
the influence on human behavior
cross-cultural psychology
: the study of the general psychology of anyone, regardless of culture
what's generally/"universally" true
neuroscience
: the study of psychological functions by looking at the biology of it
behavioural genetics
: "subfield of psychology" of how genes affect behavior
sociobiologists
: theorists who believe that people have innate sense of social behavior
"how social behavior should be organized"
evolutionary psychology
: a field of study that believes that genetic inheritance plays a big role in shaping thoughts and behaviors
also believes that the body and brain has undergone evolution
Cultural universality
: common behavior and practices among all cultures
Behaviourism: Psychology of Adaptation
says that psychology should be studied by only studying observation behaviors
early behaviorists focused on the relationship between stimuli and responses of ppl and other organisms
and the consequences of those responses, and how those consequences affects future responses
stimuli
: sensible things (things we can hear, see, feel, taste, etc.) that impact our inner and external states
response
: how we respond to stimuli
in north america, animal research was becoming popular
in russia, Ivan Pavlov’s discovery of conditioning linked animal behaviour with conditioning
somehow opened up research methods for people too
Edward Thorndike
(somewhat a functionalist) helped turn the attention of psychology to behaviorism
John Watson agreed with thorndike's idea that studying animal behaviour can really help with understanding human behaviour; strongly disagreed with psychoanalysis
extended Pavlov’s work and found out that children could be conditioned to fear certain objects or situations
B.F. Skinner argued that internal processes are at work in some situations
though, he also says that one should observe behavior first, before formulating an idea of the cause of the behaviour
using observation as basis for theories
negative reinforcement and punishments are two different things
example of punishment: not giving a dessert to a child who didn't eat veggies
example of negative reinforcement: stopping nagging to eat veggies after the child eats veggies
reinforcements (positive and negative): "strengthens a response"
punishments : "weakens a response"
some ppl thought that behaviourism was "cheapening" psychology
Joseph Jastrow
wrote that says that behaviourism written in magazines, etc. "undermined" psychology as a valid science
eventually, ppl within the behaviourism-study community began disagreeing with each other
Albert Bandura was saying that children don't learn by
social observation/modelling
instead of learning by consequence/rewards
also showed that people could learn without any ("apparent") change in their behaviour,
could be implying that individual changes have something to do with internal processes
with this in mind: studying behaviourism just by looking at behaviours (and not mental processes) became less "credited"
new field, cognitive behaviourism, came up
combining study of conditioning and cognition - to try and understand behaviour
Humanistic Psychology: A New Direction
Cognitive Psychology: Revitalization of Study of the Mind
Psychobiology/Neuroscience: Exploring the Origins of the Mind
before you go on: what do you know?
Which theorist is most closely associated with psychoanalytic theory—the theory that unconscious conflicts, rooted in childhood, affect much of our behaviour?
According to behaviourist theorists, what are the various reinforcement principles, and what impact does each have on behaviour?
What did humanist theorist Abraham Maslow suggest is the ultimate goal of human beings?
What are cognitions?
What is the main idea of evolutionary psychology?
what do you think?
Which of the theories presented here depend largely on biological principles? Which of the theories seem to be based more on environmental explanations? And which appear to rely on an interaction of factors? Do you find one theory to be more plausible than the others? Why?