This is a summary of a 2 lecture series that covered the history of psychology as it developed over time as well as the history of psychology in south africa.
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY:
Reading: chapter 1 (pg 22-39) of textbook
Psychology: the scientific study of behaviour and the mind
- Scientific: must be free from bias, must be objective
Behaviour: directly observable actions and responses
Mind: internal states and processes (e.g. thoughts, feelings) inferred from
observable responses
4 goals:
1. Description- what is happening, where, to whom?
2. Explanation- Why is it happening?
3. Prediction- When will it happen again?
4. Control- How can it be changed?
Psychology as a science:
- Basic research: Knowledge-driven research. Eg. Memory test
- Applied research: Problem-focused research. Eg. new study method
Types of psychologists
- Psychologist is not psychiatrist
- Psychologist must register with the HPCSA
1. Clinical Psychologist
2. Counselling Psychologist
3. Research Psychologist
4. Industrial/ Organisational Psychologist
5. Educational Psychologist
- Registered counsellors and psychometrist
Psychology in perspective:
- Philosophy
- Physiology
- Physical science
Early schools of psychology:
, 1. Structuralism: analysing consciousness in terms of its basic elements.
Thoughts, feelings, experiences
- Objective introspection: examining and measuring one’s own thoughts
2. Functionalism: functions of consciousness are more important than its
structure
- Focus was on how the mind allows people to function in the world
- No longer a major perspective
- Influenced educational, industrial and evolutionary psychology.
LECTURE 2:
- Reading: chapter 1 pg 22-39
Three influential schools
1. Gestalt psychology:
- Consciousness cannot be broken down into basic elements, the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts
- “gestalt” = an organised whole
2. Psychoanalysis:
- The unconscious mind
- The importance of sex and sexual motivations
- The importance of early childhood experiences
3. Behaviourism
- Classical conditioning
- Focus is an observable behaviour- not consciousness
- Behaviour is not unconsciously determined, it is learned
- The ‘Little Albert’ experiment
Modern Perspectives
1. Psychodynamic theory
- the unconscious
- Early experiences
- Less emphasis on sex/ sexual motivations
- More emphasis on the development of a sense of self and
social/interpersonal relationship
- Neuropsychoanalysis: linking psychodynamic concepts with
neurobiology
2. Behaviourism
- Operant conditioning: how voluntary behaviour is learned
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