PSYCHOLOGY: Perspectives 2nd Edition

PSYCHOLOGY: Perspectives 2nd Edition

GREGORY J. FEIST ERIKA L. ROSENBERG

Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Introduction to Psychology Chapter One

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Chapter Outline    

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What is Psychology ? Subdisciplines of Psychology The Origins of Psychology Ways of Thinking About Mind, Body, and Experience No One Perspective Tells the Whole Story in Psychology Bringing It All Together: Making Connections in Psychology Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

What is Psychology? 

Psychology defined – Psychology is the scientific study of thought and behavior – Distinguishing between the science of psychology and popular (“folk”) psychology

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Why Should You Study Psychology? 

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Makes you more aware of how people work Makes you more aware of how you work Can help you be more effective in various career paths Can help you relate better to others, including family members and friends. Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Subdisciplines of Psychology

Insert Figure 1.1 about here

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Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Cognitive psychology – Study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire and use language, and how we solve problems

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Developmental psychology – Study of how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span

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Behavioral neuroscience – Study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Biological psychology – Study of the connections between bodily systems and chemicals, and their relationship to behavior and thought

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Personality psychology – Study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations

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Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Social psychology – Study of how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior

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Clinical psychology – Study of the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and ways to promote psychological health

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Counseling Psychology -

Similar to clinical psychology, but may work with less severe psychological disorders Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Health psychology – Study of the role that psychological factors play in physical health and illness

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Educational psychology – Study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the dynamics of school populations, and the psychology of teaching

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Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology – Applies psychological concepts and questions to work settings Industrial side – focuses on selecting workers, matching employees to jobs, and evaluating job performance  Organizational side – focuses on worker satisfaction, performance, and productivity by examining management styles and work environment 

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Subdisciplines of Psychology 

Sports psychology – Examines the psychological factors that affect performance and participation in sports and exercise

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Forensic psychology – Field that blends psychology, law, and criminal justice

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The Origins of Psychology

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A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology 

Prehistoric Views – Shamans  

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Medicine men or women Treated mental problems by driving out demons Might use Trephination – Drilling a small hole in a person’s skull to release spirits and demons

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A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology 

Ancient Views – Moved away from supernatural and toward natural and physiological explanations of psychological disorders 

Ancient Chinese – Made connections between bodily organs and emotions

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Ancient Egyptians and Greeks – Used narcotics to treat pain

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Hippocrates

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A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology •

Medieval to Early Modern Views – Middle Ages • •

Supernatural causes were blamed (again!) The Renaissance

– People were thought to be possessed by demons, spirits, and the devil – not physical disorders

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The Inquisition

– Float test for witchcraft

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Asylums – facilities for the mentally ill – Conditions were deplorable and chaotic – “Bedlam” – Movements for moral treatment emerged in Europe and the United States Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology 

Modern Views – Late 1880s – Emil Kraepelin classified different disorders 

Dementia praecox was the predecessor to schizophrenia

– Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis 

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Assumes the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior Dreams are an important source of data about the unconscious mind Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology 

Modern Views – Mid-1900s – Three developments in clinical psychology   

Psychotherapy Drug treatment Criteria for diagnosing mental disorders

– DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition, Text Revision 

Classification system that includes diagnoses for more than 250 psychological disorders Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

The Philosophy of Empiricism – View that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience  

17th Century John Locke – Tabula rasa (“blank slate”)

– Because philosophy does not gather data to test its ideas, psychology moved in a different, more scientific direction Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

The Psychophysics of Human Perception – First scientific form of psychology – Laboratory studies of the subjective experience of physical sensations – Differs from the study of physics 

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Physics – studies the physical properties of light and sound Psychophysics – studies human perception of light and sound

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

The Psychophysics of Human Perception – Relationship between the physical and psychological worlds – Early important work was done by such scientists as Ernst Weber, Gustav Fechner, and Hermann von Helmholtz – In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany – This date, 1879, is a “red-letter” date in psychology!

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

The Psychophysics of Human Perception – G. Stanley Hall 

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Founded the American Psychological Association (APA) Established the first psychology laboratory in the USA, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Taught Francis Cecil Sumner, the first African American to earn a PhD in psychology in 1920

William James • Considered the founder of American psychology • Taught G. Stanley Hall, and Mary Whiton Calkins, who went on to be the first female president of the APA in 1905 Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Structuralism – 19th century school of thought that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior 

Introspection – looking into one’s own mind to determine the structure of consciousness

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Functionalism – 19th century school of thought that argued it was better to look at why the mind works the way it does than to describe its parts Influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural selection  Championed by William James  Used introspection as well 

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Behaviorism – School of thought that asserts that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives John Watson  B.F. Skinner 

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Humanistic psychology – Theory of psychology that promotes personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential Abraham Maslow  Carl Rogers 

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Positive psychology – Scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning Martin Seligman  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Can you say that name three times quickly?) 

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A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Cognitivism – Gestalt psychology 

Theory of psychology that maintains that we perceive things as wholes rather than as a compilation of parts – Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Cognitivism – Frederick Bartlett Stated that memory is not an objective and accurate representation of events but rather a highly personal reconstruction based on one’s own beliefs, ideas, and point of view  The way we think about things (cognitive frameworks) organizes how we experience the world 

Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

A Brief History of Scientific Psychology 

Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience – Who we are and what we do is a result of brain activity, is impacted by genetic factors, and has a long evolutionary past – John Tooby and Leda Cosmides published “The Psychological Foundations of Culture” in 1992  

Brain imaging techniques Human genome Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Insert Figure 1.3 (both parts) about here

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Ways of Thinking About Mind, Body, and Experience

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The Nature-Nurture Debate 

Nature-only side – Who we are comes from inborn tendencies and genetically based traits

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Nurture-only side – We are all essentially the same at birth, and we are the product of our experiences

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Either position, alone, presents an incomplete picture Nature and nurture are interdependent, not dichotomous Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The Nature-Nurture Debate 

Nature through nurture – Position that the environment constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are, and what we do

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Mind-Body Dualism 

René Descartes – 17th century philosopher and mathematician – Stated that the mind and the body are separate entities – Mind controls the body most of the time

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The Evolution of Behavior 

Evolution is the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species – Natural selection Chance mutations  Adaptations 

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The Evolution of Behavior 

Evolutionary psychology – Branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptive problems it may have solved for our early ancestors – By-products (or exaptations)

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No One Perspective Tells the Whole Story in Psychology 

How do you determine which perspective gives the best explanations of psychology? – The use of science and critical thinking – Making connections between different perspectives

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Adhering rigidly to one school of psychological thought will invariably lead to incomplete explanations Copyright 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Bringing It All Together Making Connections in Psychology: Studying Electronic Social Interactions

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Studying Electronic Social Interactions 

The world of electronic interaction provides a context for research in many subdisciplines of psychology

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Studying Electronic Social Interactions • Social Networking Sites (Facebook) • Email • Chat rooms • Photo posting • Posting Videos • Blogging

• Electronic gaming (with others or alone) • Video chats (Skype) • Bulletin boards

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