The Science of Psychology (chapter 1)
1.1 Why study psychology? (pg. 1)
- Identify the goals of psychological science
- Provide examples of psychology’s relevance to real-life contexts
- Define critical thinking
Psychology is about you and about us
Psychologists explain human behaviours in real-life contexts
Psychological science is the study of mind, brain and behaviour. Mind refers to mental activity, the
perceptual experience we have while interacting with the world are examples of the mind in action.
The mind is also responsible for our memories, thoughts and feelings. Mental activity results from
biological processes in the brain. In other words; the physical brain enables the mind: the mind is
what the brain does (Kosslyn and Koenig, 1995).
Bargh and colleagues (2006) referred to the unconscious influences as the ‘automaticity of everyday
life’ because they occur every day without our effort or intent.
Psychological knowledge is used in many professions
Psychological science teaches critical thinking
Critical thinking is systematically evaluating information to reach reasonable conclusions. Amiable
scepticism is one of the traits of good scientists. You are open to new ideas, but are wary of new
scientific findings when good evidence and sound reasoning do not seem to support them. This is
also critical thinking; being able to look for holes in evidence, using logic and reasoning to see
whether the information makes sense , and considering alternative explanations. It also means
considering if the information is biased (e.g. by political or personal agendas). Critical thinking
involves healthy questioning and keeping an open mind.
How critical thinking works:
Most research shows that the relationship between sugar consumption and hyperactivity is
essentially zero (Wolraich, Wilson, White, 1995). Many people let their beliefs and biases determine
how they label observations. A critical thinker will consider alternative explanations for such
behaviour and seek quality research that takes such possibilities into account.
Summing up: Why study psychology?
The findings of psychological research are relevant to every person’s life, and are of value to many
professions. While most of us function as intuitive psychologists, most of our intuitions and beliefs
are wrong. To improve the accuracy of our own ideas, we need to think critically about them. We
also need to think critically about research findings, and doing so means understanding the research
methods that psychologists use.
Measuring up
1. Psychology is relevant in all aspects of life
2. Critical thinking is systematically assessing information to reach reasonable conclusions
,1.2 What are the scientific foundations of psychology? (pg. 6)
- Trace the development of psychology since its formal inception in 1879
- Define the nature/nurture debate and the mind/body problem
- Identify the major schools of thought that have characterized the history of experimental
psychology
The nature/nurture debate has a long history
Are psychological characteristics biologically innate? The nature/nurture debate has taken one form
or another throughout psychology’s history. Psychologists now realize that both play important to
human’s psychological development. They study for example the ways that nature and nurture
influence each other in shaping mind, brain and behaviour.
The nature/nurture debate is the arguments concerning whether psychological characteristics are
biologically innate or acquired through education, experience and culture.
Culture is the beliefs, values, rules and customs that exist without a group of people who share a
common language and environment and that are transmitted through learning from one generation
to the next.
The mind/body problem also has ancient roots
The mind/body problem is a fundamental psychological issue: are mind and body separate and
distinct? Or is the mind simply the physical brain’s subjective experience?
Common sense comes from sensus communis (Da Vinci, the part of the brain that receives all
sensory messages). In the 1600’s Rene Descartes, a philosopher, promoted the first influential
theory of dualism. This idea refers to the mind and body being separate yet intertwined.
Psychologists now reject that separation.
Experimental psychology began with introspection
In the mid-1800 in Europe, psychology arose as a field of study built on the experimental method. In
A System of Logic (1843), the philosopher John Stuart Mill declared that psychology should leave the
realms of philosophy and of speculation and become a science of observation and of experiment. He
defined psychology as ‘The elementary laws of the mind’ and argued that only through the methods
of science would the processes of the mind be understood. As a result, throughout the 1800s, early
psychologists increasingly studied mental activity through careful scientific observation. Like the
shift from philosophy to experimentation, rapid increases in knowledge about basic physiology were
central to the development of psychological science.
In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory and institute. At this facility, in
Leipzig, Germany, for the first time students could earn advanced academic degrees in psychology.
Wundt founded modern experimental psychology. He realized that psychological processes, the
products of physiological actions in the brain, take time to occur. He studied reaction times;
however he wanted to also measure conscious experiences. To do so he developed the method of
introspection, a systematic examination of subjective mental experiences that requires people to
inspect and report on the content of their thoughts. Wundt asked people to use introspection in
comparing their subjective experiences as they contemplated a series of objects, for e.g. by stating
which they found more pleasant.
, Introspection and other methods led to structuralism
Introspection is a systematic examination of subjective mental experiences that requires people to
inspect and report on the content of their thoughts. Structuralism is an approach to psychology
based on the idea that conscious experience can be broken down into its basic underlying
components.
Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, used methods such as introspection to pioneer a school of
thought that became known as structuralism. He argued that one could take a stimulus such as a
musical tone, and through introspection analyse its quality, intensity, duration and clarity. The
general problem with introspection is that experience is subjective. Each person brings a unique
perceptual system, and it is difficult for researchers to determine whether each participant in a
study is employing introspection similarly. Additionally, the reporting of the experience changes the
experience. Over time, psychologists largely abandoned introspection because it was not reliable for
understanding psychological processes. Nonetheless, Wundt, Titchener and other structuralists were
important owing to their goal of developing a pure science of psychology with its own vocabulary
and set of rules.
Functionism addressed the purpose of behaviour
In 1890, William James published the first major overview of psychology. Many of his ideas have
passed the test of time. In theorizing about how the mind works, he moves psychology beyond
structuralism and into functionalism. He was a critic of structuralism. He was captivated by the
nature of conscious experience. In 1875 he gave his first lecture on psychology. His book: Principles
of Psychology (1890) was the most influential book in the early history of psychology and many of its
central ideas have help up over time.
He argued that the mind was much more complex than its elements and therefore could not be
broken down. Structuralism failed to capture the most important aspects of mental processes. He
argued that psychologists ought to examine the functions served by the mind (how the mind
operates). According to his approach, functionalism, the mind came into existence over the course
of human evolution. It works as it does because it is useful for preserving life and passing along
genes to future generations. In other words, it helps humans adapt to environmental demands.
One of the major influences on functionalism was the work of the naturalist Charles Darwin. In 1859
he published his revolutionary study On the Origin of Species which introduced the world to the
evolutionary theory. His ideas profoundly influence science, sociology and philosophy. Evolutionary
theory can be used to understand many aspects of mind and behaviour.
The broad-ranging subjects to which functionalism was applied led to criticism that this school was
not sufficiently rigorous, and functionalism slowly lost its momentum as a movement in psychology.
Within the past few decades however, the functional approach has returned to psychological science
as more and more researchers consider the adaptiveness of the behaviours and mental processes
they study.
Stream of consciousness is a term coined by William James to describe each person’s continuous
series of ever-changing thoughts.
Functionalism is an approach to psychology concerned with the adaptive purpose, or function, of
mind and behaviour.
