chapter 1 - the evolution of psychology
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Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Psychology
Lauren Ornelas
Walter Neal
Warren Ruis
Lupita Espinoza
Presented by :
Developing “Psychology”
Greek terms - ‘Psyche’: Soul, “logos’: Referring to the study of a subject
Stemmed from the studies of Philosophy and Physiology
Wilhelm Wundt (1879)Established Psychology as its own field54,000 pages of books“Father” or “Founder” of Psychology
Consciousness
Developed by WundtDeveloping the idea of consciousness“Awareness of immediate experience.”
Structuralism V. Functionalism
Structuralism:Edward Titchener (English Professor in America)“Based on the notion that the task of psychology
is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related.”
Recognizing RelationshipsBreaking Down BarriersTaking things Apart
Structuralism V. Functionalism
Functionalism William James (American Scholar)“Psychology should be based on the
belied that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness [alone] rather than its structure.”
Seeing the psychological process as a whole
Natural Selection
William James (1842-1910) used this Darwin Theory
Characteristics that are beneficial and carry down through time and generations
Applied to the Functionalism model of psychology’s purpose
Women Pioneers in Psychology
Mary Calkins (1863-1930) Invented Techniques for studying memory
Margaret Washburn (1871-1939) First female PhD in Psychology and was later very influential in behaviorism
Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939) Studied and wrote about adolescent development, retardation and focused on gender differences
Watson and Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a “theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.”
Watson wanted to abandon consciousness theories all together
Challengers: Gestalt Theorists, who through the Gestalt Principals focused on consciousness and its level of perceptual importance.
Freud and the Unconscious
Developed the innovative process, Psychoanalysis, the study of the mind through behavior
Unconscious, as he termed it, largely revolved around “thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.”
He later developed the Psychoanalytic Theory, which attempts to explain personality, motivation, mental disorders and focuses on unconscious determinants of behavior.
Sexual Urges play a large role
Behaviorism and B.F Skinner
All behavior is governed by external stimuli Fundamental Principle: organisms tend to repeat
responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes
Actions are the results of unconscious decisions Free will is an Illusion
Humanism: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
Humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and potential for growth.
Humans are fundamentally different from other animals
Governed by sense of self or one's "self-concept" Rogers and Maslow argued that human nature is
governed by one's personal desire for growth.
Psychology as a Profession
Applied Psychology : everyday practical problems
WW1 produced tests to put soldiers into fields of their capabilities
Clinical Psychology: diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
WW2 produced 40,000 veterans who returned from war seeking medical treatment
Returning to Its Roots
Renewed interest in cognition: mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
Psychologists showed little interest in cognition because it was "unobservable" behavior.
Cognitive theorists argue that must study internal events to fully understand how the human mind works.
Focusing solely on observable behavior does not produce a full picture of what is really going on.
Culture
Psychologists used to study how their theories could be applied to western cultures
Theorists ignored how their theories could be applied to groups such as women and minorities in eastern cultures
New interest in culture can be attributed to two recent factors 1) world has "shrunk" 2) Multicultural nations are now becoming more and more prevalent in today's societies
Psychologists of today are now trying to understand how culture groups and minorities are affected by everyday topics such as discrimination, prejudice and racism.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations
Natural Selection favors behaviors that enhance organisms reproductive success.
Evolutionary Psychologists tend to look at things like differences between male and female visual-spatial ability.
William James and other functionalists were influenced by Darwin's concept of natural selection
Psychology Today: Vigorous and Diversified
Psychology: the science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie behavior, it is the profession that applies to accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.
APA (American Psychological Association)- this is a national organization devoted to the advancement of psychology
-founded in 1892 -today APA has over 80,000 members
Research Areas in Psychology
Within psychology there are 7 major research areas Developmental psychology- looks at human development across a life
span Social psychology- the focus of interpersonal behavior Experimental psychology- the focus on sensation, perception, learning,
conditioning, motivation, and emotion Physiological psychology- the influence of genetic factors on behavior Cognitive psychology- the focus of higher mental processes
Personality- involves describing individuals' consistency in behavior revealing their personality
Psychometrics- the use of test to determine the measurement of behavior and capacities
Professional Specialties in Psychology
Four identified areas of specialization within psychology: Clinical psychology- deals with people who have psychological
disorders and their evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment Counseling psychology- relates to clinical but deals with
people who have everyday problems, often work with family, marital, or career counseling
Educational and school psychology- their goals are to improve the curriculum, testing, teacher training, and other things within a school and education
Industrial and organizational psychology- does several things in the business and industry world
Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes
3 Themes Related to Psychology as a Field of Study
Psychology is Empirical- Empiricism is the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. Psychologist’s conclusions are based according to their gathered observation, speculation, traditional beliefs, or their common sense.
Psychology is Theoretically Diverse- Theory a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. Because of the theoretical diversity within psychology, there are several opposing theories, views, etc. to explain several things.
Psychology Evolves in a Sociohistorical Context- psychology is both an influence and is influenced by several worldly things such as trends, issues, and values in a society. i.e. raising children, sexual urges, etc.
Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes
4 additional ideas Behavior is Determined by Multiple Causes- behavior is a
complex component of all people and is determined by several causes. This idea that behavior is governed by several factors is called multifactorial causation of behavior.
Our Behavior Is Shaped by Our Cultural Heritage- Culture- refers to the widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations. Culture carries an impact on ones thoughts, feelings, and behavior and is important to factor in when researching for any subject.
Putting it in Perspective: Seven Key Themes
Hereditary and Environment Jointly Influence Behavior- many theorists argued over the fact that personal traits and abilities are governed completely by hereditary, or completely by environment. Today most psychologists believe that both environment and hereditary are important factors that govern people.
Our Experience of the World is Highly Subjective- people process incoming information very differently while ignoring some factors and focusing on others. People may see or what they choose to see or what they expect to see and this has been tested through experiments by researchers like Hastorf and Cantril.
Developing Sound Study Habits
Siebert’s study habits program Set up a schedule for studying Important to allocate definite times to studying Study breaks can revive sagging concentration Write down study schedule Cramming last minute is an ineffective study
strategy
– Strains memorization, tax energy level, and stoke the fires of test anxiety
Developing Sounds Study Habits
Find a place to study where you can concentrate
Find a place where distractions are minimal Reward your studying Systematic manipulation if rewards =
behavior modification described by B.F Skinner
Improving your Reading
Majority of study time spent reading and absorbing information
Various strategies for actively reading, such as Robinson’s SQ3R method.
SQ3R: a study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: Survey, question, read, recite and review.
What makes SQ3R effective is that it breaks a reading assignment into manageable parts and requires understanding before you move on
SQ3R Steps
Survey Glance over topic headings General overview of material
Question o Proceed through reading one section at a time o Convert the heading of the first section into a reading
Read Read only the specific section, keeping in mind the question
you formulated in the 2nd step Reread section until you can answer the question
SQ3R Steps
Recite Recite the answer to your question out loud to
yourself in your own words Not until the main ideas of this section are
understood can you move on to the next section
Review Go back over key points Repeat questions and attempt to answer them
without using book
Testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize ones scores
Changing your answers in a test, may ultimately pay off
Tips for Multiple choice questions Read each question completely Eliminate options that are highly implausible Options representing broad generalizations tend to be incorrect Options representing carefully qualified statements tend to be correct.
Improving Test-Taking Strategies
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome
A useful model of critical thinking has at least two components
– cognitive component – emotional or affective component
Critical thinking skills include:– distinguishing among facts, opinions and reasoned
judgements, working systematically toward a goal Also called Transcontextual skills
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