Unit 1: History of Psychology

Question 1

What is Psychology?

Answer 1

The science of behavior and mental experience

Question 2

How did Psychology Begin?

Answer 2

• Father of psychology (Wilhelm Wundt)
• Used scientific method to study psychological processes
• Wrote first psychology textbook (1874)
• Established first psychology research laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany (1879)
• Developed the method of introspection (examining one’s own thoughts and mental activities)

Question 3

Structuralism?

Answer 3

Analyzes complex experiences in terms of their simplest components
•Led by Titchener (Cornell)

Question 4

Functionalism?

Answer 4

Focuses on how behaviors help us adapt to our environment

•Led by James (Harvard)

Question 5

Psychodynamic School: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Answer 5

• Focused on the “unconscious mind”: Part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions
• Led the approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
• Wrote The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
• Psychoanalysis: Therapeutic approach that focuses on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological disorders

Question 6

Behaviorism

Answer 6

• Pavlov
• Watson
• Skinner
• Until the beginning of the 20th century, psychology was defined as the study of mental processes. Behaviorism rebelled against this approach.
• Behaviorism: Psychology should focus on the scientific study of observable behavior, not the inner workings of the mind

Question 7

Humanistic Psychology

Answer 7

• Rogers
• Maslow
• Approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings.
• Emphasis on free will and the importance of choice.
• Humanistic therapists sought to help people realize their full potential; in fact, they called them clients rather than patients.
• In this relationship, the therapist and the client (unlike the psychoanalyst and the patient) were on equal footing.
• A rebellion against the Freudian perspective and behaviorism.

Question 8

The Cognitive Revolution

Answer 8

• The cognitive revolution of the late 1960s was a rebellion against behaviorism’s limited focus on behavior to a broad interest in studying mental processes.
• Cognitive Psychology: The scientific study of how thoughts, memory, language, and problem solving are processed.
• Coincided with new technology and methods of exploring the mind scientifically (e.g., the development of the computer).
• Uses the computer metaphor to understand how the mind works.

Question 9

Gestalt School of Thought

Answer 9

• A psychological approach which focuses on how people tend to perceive things as wholes (not as separate elements)
• Ex: When you listen to music you hear whole melodies not separate notes
• Important view in the study of sensation and perception

Question 10

Biological Psychology or Psychobiology

Answer 10

• Examines the relationships between the brain and behavior/mental processes.
• More recently, new brain-imaging techniques have enabled researchers to examine underlying cognitive-neural processes, giving rise to the field of cognitive neuroscience

Question 11

Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 11

• Focuses on behaviors and mental processes and:
• their evolutionary origins
• their adaptive value
• the purposes they continue to serve
• Inspired by functionalist approaches of William James

Question 12

Social Psychology

Answer 12

• The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate with one another.
• Some of the topics social psychologists study are: Conformity, Persuasion, Prejudice, Helping, Love, Culture

Question 13

The U.S. Supreme Court cited these studies in Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark case banning racial segregation in public education.

Answer 13

In the 1940-50’s, Mamie Clark and Kenneth Clark conducted research on the harmful effects of prejudice and discrimination. Their research found that Black children preferred to play with White dolls, a result that the U.S. Supreme Court later cited as evidence that segregation “generates a feeling of inferiority… that may affect the childrens’ hearts and minds.”

Question 14

Self-Devaluation Doll Study (Clark & Clark , 1939)

Answer 14

•253 African American children
•Presented with 4 dolls
o 2 brown with black hair
o 2 white with yellow hair
•Researchers asked kids:
o “Give me the doll you like best”  
o “Give me the doll that looks bad” 
o “Give me the doll that is a nicer color”
•Children devalued own racial identity
o 66% liked the white doll best
o 59% said the brown doll looked bad
o only 38% said the brown doll was a nice color

Question 15

Cultural Psychology

Answer 15

• Focuses on cultural differences in behaviors and mental experiences.
• Examines the important role of culture in shaping our behaviors and psychological processes.

Question 16

Issues in Psychology

Answer 16

• Nature vs. nurture
• Stability vs. change
• Person vs. situation
• Diversity vs. universality
• Mind vs body

Question 17

Career opportunities in psychology

Answer 17

•State hospitals
•Mental health centers
•Other human services settings
•Assistants to psychologists:
-Mental health centers
-Vocational rehabilitation centers
-Correctional centers
•High school psychology teacher
•Research Assistant
•Government or business positions
•Colleges and universities
•School or health facilities
•Research
•Human Resources
•Therapists

Question 18

Careers Paths for Therapists

Answer 18

• Psychiatrists – Medical doctors who provide diagnosis and therapy for persons with mental disorders.
• Psychoanalysts – Psychiatrists or psychologists with special training in the theory of psychoanalysis.
• Clinical psychologists – Assess and treat short-term to chronic and mild to severe forms of mental illnesses.
• Counseling psychologists – Help people cope with mild to moderate forms of mental illness, often specializing in treating adjustment problems (e.g., career counseling, marital counseling, grief counseling, etc.).
• Psychiatric social workers – Social workers with special training in the influences of the environment on mental illness

Question 19

Professional Organizations in Psychology

Answer 19

American Psychological Association (APA)
•Began in 1892.
•Today, academic psychologists make up 20% of membership, while 70% work in clinical and heath-related settings.

American Psychological Society (APS)
•Began in 1988.
•Changed to the Association for Psychological Science in 2006.