History of Psychology

Started as Philosophy• Socrates & Plato

– Mind and Body are Separate

– Knowledge is inborn

• Aristotle – Mind & Body are One

– Knowledge grows from experiences & memories

Philosophical Developments• A Question: How are mind and body related?

• René Descartes (1596–1650) -Interactive Dualism

• The mind and body are separate but interact (fluids

through the nerves) to produce conscious experience of sensations & emotions

Heading Towards a Science

• Led to EMPIRICISM – What we know comes from experience, therefore science should rely on observation & experimentation.

• Francis Bacon & John Locke• Both focus on how the mind is shaped by

experience

Physiology Influence

• Study of functions & parts of humans

• By 1600’s began to focus on brain

• Began to develop explanations for the functioning of the senses.

• Becomes foundation for psychology as a science

Psychology as Science is Born!

PsychologyThe Science

Wilhelm Wundt

December 1879

What is Psychology?

The science of behavior and mental processes– Behavior - observable actions of a person or animal

– Mental Processes - feelings, sensations, perceptions, memories, dreams, motives and other subjective experiences

– Science - an objective way to answer questions based on observable facts/data and well-described methods

• Separated from philosophy in 19th century– influences from physiology remain

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920)

Wilhelm Wundt –Leipzig, Germany

–The “father of psychology”

–Founder of modern psychology

–Opened the first psychology lab in 1879

–applied laboratory techniques to study of the mind/consciousness

–Wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology connecting physiology to psychology

Who’s Your

Daddy?

E. B. Titchener (1867–1927)

•Wundt’s student,

– Professor at Cornell University

– Analyzed the intensity, clarity and quality of the parts of consciousness

•Founder of structuralism

E.B. Titchener

Structuralism• Studied the basic elements (structures) of thoughts and

sensations (consciousness).

• Felt consciousness could be broken into 3 parts:

1. physical sensations

2. feelings

3. images

• Introspection – subject would view an object and try to reconstruct their sensations & feelings they felt while viewing it.

– Not scientific – too subjective, not repeatable, not able to be used for studying all topics (learning, development, mental disorders).

William James (1842–1910)

•First American psychologist

•Started psychology at Harvard in 1870s

•Opposed Wundt and Titchener’s approach

•Author of the first psychology textbook (Principles of Psychology - 1,400 pages!)

•Founder of Functionalism

–functionalism – influenced by Darwin to focus on how behaviors help us adapt to the environment

William James

Functionalism• Emphasized studying the function of

consciousness and how consciousness helped people adapt to their environment– Wanted to understand how mind and consciousness

worked– Used naturalistic observation– Viewed consciousness as a stream of constantly

changing states .

DAILY

DOUBLE

Explain the difference between Structuralism & Functionalism.

Structuralism – basic parts of a person’s thoughts and feelings. Focus on basic senses & perception.

Functionalism – how our consciousness helps us to function or adapt to our environment.

William James’ Students• G. Stanley Hall

– First Ph.D. in psych– Started first U.S. psych lab– Started the American Psychological Association.

• Mary Whiton Calkins – First woman to complete Ph.D. program but Harvard didn’t give

her a degree! – Became first woman president of the APA in 1905

• Margaret Floy Washburn – First official Ph.D. in psychology – Studied different animal species – 2nd female president of APA

John B. Watson (1878–1958)

John B. Watson

• Founder of Behaviorism

• Studied only observable and objectively described acts

• Emphasized objective and scientific methodology

• Performed the Little Albert Classical Conditioning Study on Fear

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)

• Behaviorist

• American psychologist at Harvard

• Focused on learning through rewards and observation

• Studied learning and effect of reinforcement & punishment (Operant Conditioning)

B.F. Skinner

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

• Behaviorist

• Russian Physiologist

• Studied learning through associations (classical conditioning) in dogs

• Emphasized the study of observable behaviors

Santa?

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Austrian physician that focused on illness

• Founder of the psychoanalytic perspective

• Believed that abnormal behavior originated from unconscious drives and conflicts that were aggressive and sexual in nature.

Freud’s Influence

• Influence on “pop culture”– Freudian slips– Anal-retentive

• Influence on psychology– Psychodynamic theory– Unconscious thoughts– Significance of childhood experiences

Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow(1902-1987) (1908-1970)

• Helped to create Humanistic Psychology• Stressed the study of conscious experience and an

individual’s free will to reach their potential• Healthy individuals strive to reach their potential (self-

actualized).

Wolfgang Kohler

• Created Gestalt Psychology

• The whole is different from the sum of its parts.

• Integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Wolfgang Kohler

(1865-1965)

What do you see?

You See the whole picture first rather than the individual dots that make it up. – Gestalt PsychologyScene from Ferris Bueller (start at 1:05)

Cognitive Neuroscience

• Combines the biological and cognitive schools of thought in psychology

• Study of the Brain and how it works when we perceive, think, remember and use language.