PSY 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Margaret Floy Washburn, Edward B. Titchener, Humanistic Psychology
141 views19 pages
people
important information
terms
1/30
Chapter 1
The Science of Psychology
What is Psychology?
•psychology: scientific study of behavior and mental processes
obehavior: outward or overt actions and reactions
omental processes: internal, covert activity of our minds
•psychology is a science
oprevent possible biases from leading to faulty observations
oprecise and careful measurement
Psychology’s Four Goals
•description
owhat is happening?
•explanation
owhy is it happening?
otheory - general explanation of a set of observations or facts
•prediction
owill it happen again?
•control
ohow can it be changed?
*there is a book called DSM published by the american psychiatric association
> provides a formal description of psychiatric disorders
Emergence of Philosophy and Science in Psychology
•rationalism: truth through reason
oRene Descartes: animal spirit and hydraulic pressure causes behavior
•empiricism: truth through observation, measurement, and experimentation
oJohn Locke: all knowledge comes from experience
the chemical released into your fibers: ACETYLCHOLINE [allows muscle movement]
BOTOX prevents acetylcholine from reaching your fibers
Environment - Biology Interaction Effect on Behavior
Biology and Behavior
•genes > behavior
Environment and Behavior
•environment > behavior
Genes and Behavior
•genes > protein + enzymes > physiology + anatomy > behavior
oenvironment can affect genes & proteins + enzymes
Genes and Behavior: ISSUES
•direct/indirect
ogenes are not direct to behavior
•profound:
ogenes are important
•exclusivity
ogenes are not exclusive, environment also contribute to behavior
Trends in Psychology
•structuralism: BX can be understood by investigating the elements of
consciousness such as ideas and sensation
•functionalism: functional mental events of the person is the behavior
•psychoanalysis: three mental structures of the unconscious person: ID (instant
gratification), EGO, SUPEREGO
•behaviorism: asserts that since psychology is the study of observable behavior,
there is no place to study mental events, which cannot be observant. Psychology
is the study of individual behavior within their environment
•gestalt psychology
•humanistic psychology: emphasized the study of human behavior as it relates to
human experience of choice, creativity, self realization, and positive growth
•cognitive + biological psychology
2/6
Trends in Psychology
Structuralism
•structuralism: focused on structure or basic elements of the mind
•wilhelm wundt’s psychology laboratory
ogermany in 1879
odeveloped the technique of objective introspection: the process of
objectively examining and measuring one’s thoughts and mental activities
•edward titchener
owundt’s student; brought structuralism to America
•margaret washburn
otitchener’s student; first woman to earn a Ph.D in psychology
ostructuralism died out in the early 1900’s
Functionalism
•functionalism: how the mind lets people adapt, live, work, play
•proposed by william james
•influenced the modern fields of:
oeducational psychology
oevolutionary psychology
oindustrial/organizational psychology
ohuman factor
Gestalt Psychology
•gestalt: “good figure” psychology
•started with wertheimer, who studied sensation and perception
•gestalt ideas are now part of the study of cognitive psychology, a field focusing
not only on perception but also on learning, memory, thought processes, and
problem solving
Psychoanalysis
•psychoanalysis: the theory and therapy based on the work of sigmund freud
olife instinct (sexual behaviors)
odeath instinct (aggressive behaviors)
oconflict between life and death instincts produces anxiety and arousal
opersonalities emerge from the conflict arising from the instincts
RESULT: id, ego, superego
id: instant gratification, unconscious
ego: reality principle (self that is aware)
superego: morally guided unconscious self
•freud’s patients suffered from nervous disorders with no found physical cause
ofreud proposed that there is an unconscious (unaware) mind into which
we push, or repress, all of our threatening urges and desires
ohe believed that these repressed urges created nervous disorders
ofreud stressed the importance of early childhood experiences
•defense mechanisms emerge from the conflict arising between the ego and the
id and the superego
oex rationalism, projection, denial
orepression: the complete exclusion from consciousness, most basic
defense mechanism
odisplacement: the redirection of emotional impulses toward a substitute
person or object, usually one less dangerous that original source of
conflict
osublimation: a form of displacement in which sexual urges are
rechanneled into productive, nonsexual activities
orationalization: justifying one’s actions or feelings with socially acceptable
explanations rather than acknowledging one’s own motives
oprojection: attribution of one’s own unacceptable urges or qualities to
others
oreaction formation: thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme
opposite of unacceptable urges or impulses
odenial: failure to recognize existence of anxiety-provoking information
oundoing: form of unconscious pretence that involves atoning for an
unacceptable action or thought with a second action or thought
oregression: retreating to a behavior pattern characteristic of an earlier
stage of development
Behaviorism
•behaviorism: the science of behavior that focuses on OBSERVABLE behavior
only
omust be directly seen and measured
othree types of learning:
habituation: simple form of learning, observed in lower animals,
essential for survival, decreasing attention of non-important
information that is repeated ex constant hum of air conditioning