Early Psychology

A science is born

Though everyone agrees that chemistry is a science, not everyone is quite sure where psychology stands

What were psychology’s origins?

• Psychology originated in ancient Greece– Socrates and Plato

• Dualism (mind and body separate) – when body dies, mind lives on

• All knowledge is innate (unlearned)– Aristotle

• Monist (mind and body are the same) – when body dies, so does mind• Believed direct observation was thefoundation of understanding

What were psychology’s origins?

• 1600s Philosophy and Science merge– Rene Descartes

• Described nerve paths; agrees with Socrates and Plato(dualism, innate knowledge)

– Francis Bacon• Introduced the scientific method

– John Locke• Knowledge comes with experience • Tabula Rasa – “Blank Slate”

– Begins process of empiricism –Knowledge originates in experienceand that science should rely on observation and experimentation

What is structuralism?• Wilhlem Wundt

– 1879 - opens 1st research lab in Leipzig, Germany– Insists on using the scientific method for research– Psychology as a science is born

• Edward Bradford Titchener– Student of Wundt– Starts structuralism

• Seeks to break items down into its specific parts using the senses• Uses introspection – inward looking

• Example: A car is made up ofmany parts

What is Gestalt Psychology?• Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler

– Gestalt Psychology• Founded in opposition to Structuralism

• Argued that the whole is different than the sum of its parts• Example: A car is only a car when it is put together, as a series of parts it is mostly worthless as a car

What do you see in the picture?

What is functionalism?• William James

– Opened the first U.S. psychology lab at Harvard University

– Disagreed with Structuralism• Functionalism

– Seeks to find the reason something exists

• Example: What is the reason a car exists?

What is psychoanalysis?• Sigmund Freud

– Regarded by many as the “father” of psychology – his theories have been shown to be largely false

• Psychoanalysis– Did away with research and focused on treatment of abnormal behaviors– Focused on unconscious drives toexplain behavior (dream analysis and hypnosis)

What is behaviorism?• John Watson

– Argued that psychology should only study what could be observed and measured objectively

• Direct opposition to psychoanalysis• B.F. Skinner

– Behaviorism• Rewards increase behavior, punishments diminish behavior• Later influenced by cognitive psychology (the way we think)

– When humans KNOW they are being rewarded or punished for a behavior, it can change how they are influenced by it

What is humanistic psychology?

• Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow– A softer (1960s) response to behaviorism and

psychoanalysis– Emphasized the importance of current

environmental influences on ourgrowth potential