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Introduction to Psychology
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The Story of PsychologyModule 1 – What is Psychology
• Aristotle suggested that a meal makes us sleepy by causing gas and heat to collect the
heart (source of personality)
• Psychology’s First laboratory: Wilhelm Wundt – Machine measured the time lag between
people hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a telegraph key
o Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory work involved experimental studies of mental
processes
Science of psychology organized into different branches
1. Structuralism: Early school of thought promoted by Edward Bradford Titchener; used
introspection to revel the structure of the human mind
o Looking inward and reporting immediate sensations, images, and feelings =
Introspection
o Early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Tichener; used introspection to
reveal the structure of the human mind
2. Functionalism: Early school of thought promoted by James and in uenced by Darwin;
explored how mental and behavioral processes function – how they enable the organism
to adapt
o James wrote the “Principles of Psychology” nished in 1890
o Functionalism focused on the adaptive value of conscious thoughts and emotions
o Early school of thoughts promoted by James and in uenced by Darwin; exposed
how metal and behavioral processes functions- how they enable the organism to
adapt, survive, and ourish
First women in Psychology: Mary Whiton Calkins
• James admitted her in his graduate seminar
• She nished all of Harvard’s Ph.D. requirements; denied her degree, offered an
alternative from Radcliffe collage of school for women
• Went on to become the rst female president in 1905 of the American Psychological
Association (APA)
➢ Margaret Floy Washburn was the second
Psychological Science Develops
• Psychology was de ned as “the science of mental life” (de nition continued until 1920s)
by early pioneers
• John B. Watson & B.F Skinner rede ned as “the scienti c study of observable
behavior”
o Objective science that observes human activity, without reference to mental
processes = Behaviorism
o Dismissed the value of introspection
Freudian Psychology
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, • Emphasized our unconscious thought processes and emotional responses to childhood
experiences affecting our behavior today
o Freudian Psychology – Major Force
o Freud was an Austrian physician
Humanistic Psychology: How current environmental in uences can nurture or limit our growth,
with the importance of love and acceptance satis ed
• Emphasized potential for healthy growth
• Historically signi cant perspective that emphasized human growth potential
Cognitive Revolution: Explores how we perceive, process, and remember information
o Brought back the interest in studying mental processes
• Birthed cognitive neuroscience
o Studies the relationship between thought processes and brain functions
o The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with the cognition
(memory, language and thinking)
Today’s de nition of Psychology
• Science of behavior and mental processes
Contemporary Psychology: The science de ned by behavior and mental processes
Evolutionary Psychology: Study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of
natural selection
Positive Psychology: Scienti c methods used to explore the building of a “good life” that
engages our skills
• With the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals
and communities to thrive
Psychology’s three main Levels of Analysis – Biopsychosocial approach
• Key: Levels of analysis (Biological, psychological, and socio-cultural) all in uence
behavior or mental processes
• An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological and social culture
level of analysis
Biological in uences:
• Genetic mutations
• Natural selection of adaptive traits and passed down behavior
• Genetically in uenced traits
• Genes responding to the environment
Psychological In uences:
• Learned fears and other learned expectations
• Emotional responses
• Cognitive processing and interpretations
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