Summary
Gerrig, Psychology and Life, Summary Ch 1,2,3,5,6,9,10,12,13,14,15,16
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Includes ch 1,2,3,5,6,9,10,12,13,14,15,16.
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Psychology and LifeChapter 1
Important question: What is human nature? Psychologists answer this question
by looking at processes that occur within individuals as well as forces that
arise within the physical and social environment.
Psychology: The scientific study of the behaviour of individuals and their mental
processes.
Scientific: Psychological conclusions should be based on evidence
collected through a scientific method (set of orderly used steps to analyse and
solve problems, objectively)
Behaviour: The means by which organisms adjust to their environment.
Individual: The individual might be studied in its natural habitat or in the
controlled conditions of a research laboratory.
Mental processes: Psychologists have to understand how the human
mind works.
The goals of a psychologist conducting basic research are to describe, explain,
predict and control behaviour. → Basis of psychological enterprise.
Describing: Accurate observations about behaviour → Behavioural data:
Reports of observations about the behaviour of organisms and the conditions
under which the behaviour occurs.
Explaining: Explanations go beyond what can be observed. Most
explanations recognize that behaviour is usually influenced by a combination of
factors: Internal: genetic makeup, motivation, intelligence, self-esteem. External:
peer pressure.
Predicting: Statements about the likelihood that a certain behaviour will
occur or that a given relationship will be found.
Controlling: Making behaviour happen or not happen (starting, maintaining,
stopping, influencing). This way psychologists can better help people.
Psychology’s Historical Foundations
Herman Ebbinghaus (1908): ‘Psychology has a long past, but only a short
history’. People have been asking questions about human nature for a long time,
but were not able to answer the questions. Plato (427 – 347 B.C.) and
Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) did pose psychological questions.
empiricist: People begin their life with their mind as a blank tablet. → Mind
acquires information through experiences.
nativist: People begin life with mental structures that provide constraints on how
they experience the world. → Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804).
René Descartes (1596 – 1650): The human body is an animal machine that
can be understood scientifically by discovering natural laws through empirical
observation.
Wilhelm Wundt (1879): Founded the first formal laboratory devoted to
experimental psychology. He trained the first psychology students. Wundt made
Edward Titchener start his own lab in the US. At the same time, William James
wrote a book about psychology.
→ Tension between:
Structuralism: The elements of the Mind: In Wundt’s laboratoy’s, information
was acquired through systematic, objective procedures → Independent observers
could replicate the results. The emphasis was on the precise measurement,
statistical analysis of data. Ticheners approach (structuralism): The study of the
basic structural components of mind and behaviour. → Introspection: The
systematic examination by individuals of their own thoughts and feelings about
, specific sensory experiences. This way, Tichener suggested that all taste
emerges from sweet, salty, sour, bitter. But with structuralism it was impossible
to confirm that the products of each individual’s introspections were general
aspects of human psychology.
Alternative Max Wertheimer: Focus on the way in which the mind understands
many experiences as gestalts – organized wholes – rather than as sums of simple
parts.
Funtionalism: Minds With a Purpose: James focussed on the purpose of
the mental processes. ‘What is the function or purpose of any behavioural act?’
John Dewy focussed on the functions of reflexes. He was concerned with the
practicality of psychology → Learning by doing on US’ schools.
Currently, psychologists study structuralism and functionalism of behaviour.
Women as pioneering Researchers
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863 – 1930): Established one of the first laboratories
in the US to study memory. First woman president of the American Psychological
Association.
Margaret Floy Washburn (1871 – 1939): First woman with PhD in psychology.
Wrote The Animal Mind: Book provided a review of research on perception,
learning and memory across animal species.
Helen Thompson Wooley (1874 – 1947): First research that examined
differences between the sexes. Conclusion: Differences don’t arise because of
natural ability but because of social experiences.
Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886 – 1939): Attacked the claim that women are
genetically inferior to men with respect to creativity and intelligence.
Perspectives on Psychology
Psychologists perspectives → The way in which they examine behaviour and
mental processes. It determines what they look for, where they look and what
research methods they use:
Psychodynamic Perspective: Behaviour is driven or motivated by
powerful inner forces (inherited instincts, biological drives, attempts to resolve
conflicts between personal needs and society’s demands). The organism stops
reacting when its needs are satisfied and its drives reduced.
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939):
Believed that the principles he observed applied to both normal and
abnormal behaviour;
He thought that a person is pulled and pushed by inner and outer
forces;
Human nature is not always rational;
Actions may be driven by motives that are not conscious awareness;
Neo-Freudians/modern psychodynamics: Not only in the early
childhood, but throughout the whole life, a person’s personality is formed.
Behaviourist Perspective: Seek to understand how particular
environmental stimuli control particular kinds of behaviour. Antecedent
environmental conditions → behavioural response →The action to be understood,
predicted and controlled. Finally, they observe the consequences of the response.
John Watson (1878 – 1958): Psychological research should seek the laws
that govern observable behaviour across species.
B.F. Skinner (1904 – 1990): Expanded behaviourism by analysing
behaviour’s consequence.
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