CHAPTER 01: THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE General Psychology (PSY2200 MBAC)

CHAPTER 01:THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL

SCIENCE

General Psychology(PSY2200 MBAC)

A THEORY WITH INTERESTING ROOTS

Psychoanalysis

The Story Begins…Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 – 1815)

Mesmer: Medical degree from University of Vienna, 1766

Maximillian Hell, Jesuit priest, spoke of using magnets to effect medical cures

Mesmer began using the technique, eventually dropping the use of the magnet – his own animal magnetism was sufficient to influence (note that he always told his patients what outcome he expected)

A commission appointed by the king of France investigated Mesmer’s techniques and attributed the benefits of animal magnetism to the imagination (Franklin, Guillotin)

The Story Continues…Marquis de Puységur

Refined Mesmer’s technique, decreasing the drama

Could induce a peaceful, sleeplike trance

Artificial Somnambulism Suggestibility Induced paralysis Induced anaesthesia Emotional experience

Posthypnotic AmnesiaPosthypnotic Suggestion

HypnosisJames Braid (1795 – 1860)

A skeptic of magnetismArgued that the phenomenon

was a product of suggestibilityRenamed the process neuro-

hypnology, then shortened to hypnosis (hypnos: Greek – sleep)

Made the phenomenon more respectable among the medical community

HYPNOSIS

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HysteriaJean-Martin Charcot (1825 - 1893)

Hysteria: (Hyster: Greek – uterus)

paralysis and numbness, disturbances of sight and hearing

Greek view of hysteria“Theory is fine, but it does

not prevent things from existing”

HysteriaJoseph Breuer (1842 – 1925)

Anna O. 21-year-old Paralysis of arms or legs Disturbances of sight and

speech Nausea Memory loss Mental disorientation

Anna O. and Breuer

Using hypnosis, Breuer discovered Anna had had to keep vigil by dying father’s bedside

Pathogenic ideas: Each of Anna’s symptoms had a relationship to trauma in this situation

Cathartic Method: Relief following emotional release Aristotle: Catharsis – emotional release and sense of

purification by the audience while watching a drama

The Talking Cure (“Chimney Sweeping”): talking about painful things can bring emotional relief

Anna O.The Outcome

Actually named Bertha Pappenheim (1859 – 1936)Admitted to a sanatorium immediately following

Breuer terminating treatmentUltimately became a leader in the European feminist

movementPlaywrightAuthor of children’s storiesFounder of several school and clubs for the poor,

illegitimate, or wayward young womenEffective spokesperson against white slavery and

abortion“If there is any justice in the next life women will

make the laws there and men will bear the children”

PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)

Birth in clinical practice, rather than academic or experimental psychology

Emphasis on unconscious processes

Psychoanalytic Theory

Pleasure Principle

RealityPrinciple

Psychoanalytic TheoryAnxiety and Defense Mechanisms

Anxiety Objective Anxiety: real-world threats Neurotic Anxiety: ego feels that it is going to be

overwhelmed by the Id Moral Anxiety: when an internalized value (from the

superego) is about to be violatedDefense Mechanisms: a means for the Ego to cope

with neurotic or moral anxiety

Defense Mechanisms

Sublimation: substituting a nonsexual goal for a sexual one

Projection: attributing blame to someone or something else (“the devil made me do it”)

Identification: if one does not live up to an internalized value, indentifying with someone who does (e.g. logos, hairstyles, choice of music)

Rationalization: manufacturing a rational reason for something when that isn’t the case

Reaction Formation: doing the opposite of what you really want to do (the homosexual man becomes a super Don Juan)

Back to Hysteria

In 1895, Charcot and Freud together argued that hysteria is caused by traumatic experience that is not allowed adequate expression and comes out instead in a physical manifestation

According to Freud, the experience is repressed because of Id/Ego/Superego conflicts

The Seduction Theory: In 1896, Freud goes further and suggests that in 18 of 18 cases, his patients all had histories of a sexual attack in childhood

A Controversy Emerges

Freud and Charcot were stating all of these things publicly in late 19th Century Europe

Freud’s patients were the children of the wealthy elite in Vienna

This is at the height of the Victorian EraThe Victorian Era was characterized by strict

moral standards, especially regarding sexThe idea that the social elites were sexually

victimizing their children was entirely unpalatable

The Outcome

Essentially, Freud withdrew his argumentHe substituted the idea that his patients were

fantasizing about sex and that the Id/Ego/Superego system repressed these fantasies, which emerged as hysteria

The result: Oedipus and Electra Complexes

Psychoanalytic Theory and Science

Psychoanalytic theory was developed via individual clinical observations and introspection by clinicians

The theory is minimally tied to formal science; Freud largely departed from his training in science in developing psychoanalytic theory

More recently, psychology as a discipline has developed theory on science

Evaluating Psychoanalysis

AS PRESENTED IN YOUR TEXT

Psychology as Science

AFFILIATION EXPERIMENTDR. STANLEY SCHACHTER

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Accumulation and Application of Scientific Knowledge

Basic and Applied ScienceThe Third Brake Light

The TheoryJohn Voevodsky, a Psychologist (1974)Taxicabs in San Francisco

Basic Science Experimental Group: Taxicabs with a third brake

light Control Group: Taxicabs without a third brake light Results: Fewer accidents (rear end collisions) in

experimental groupApplied Science

A third brake light is now standard Fewer accidents as a result

Basic and Applied ScienceMaterialism and Happiness

The TheoryEdward Diener, David Myers, Tim KasserRelationship between material wealth and happiness

Basic Science Diener and Myers: Once basic needs are paid for,

money does little to improve happiness Kasser:

People who buy into the consumer culture report lower personal well-being

Individuals who say that money, image, and popularity are important are less satisfied, more depressed and more anxious

Applied Science Parent-training programs to teach learning through

play Would this effect your behavior or choices with

your children?

Basic and Applied ScienceMake-Believe and Learning

The TheorySinger and SingerRelationship between make-believe in three to five year olds

Basic Science Experimental Group: Trained parents, teachers, home

care providers in playing make-believe games that teach about numbers, colors, shapes, vocabulary, and reading

Control Group: No training Results:

Children make gains in readiness skills Fun Easier to teach Effective in preparing children for school

Applied Science “Voluntary Simplicity” movement Maximizing “time affluence” rather than material

affluence Would knowing this effect your choices?

Basic and Applied ScienceThe Polygraph

The TheoryRelationship between physiological responses (heart rate, respiration, perspiration, muscle tension, etc) and deception

Basic Science Results:

No pattern of physiological response unique to deception

Placebo effects (belief that the polygraph is a “lie detector”) account for many of effects

Most lie detection is the product of expectation and making confessions

Applied Science Courts have rejected the use of polygraphs as evidence of

deception due to unreliability Would you allow someone to polygraph you to “prove”

your innocence?

Evaluating Psychology as Science