The evolution of psychology - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The evolution of psychology

Presented

By

P.

MusethaSlide2

Lecture 1: An IntroductionSlide3

BP (Before Psychology)

Psychology’s intellectual parents are Philosophy and PhysiologySlide4

The Birth of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt

proposed that we should study the mind independent of philosophy and physiology

Wundt also proposed that this new field of study (psychology) should be

rooted in

science

This new science would concern itself with the study of

conscious and immediate experienceSlide5

The First Psychology Laboratory

Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig, Germany

Thus, 1879 is usually considered the

“birth”

of modern psychology

Psychology = Psyche (soul) + Logos (study)Slide6

So what did this Wundt guy actually study?

Attention

Memory

Sensory processes

Reaction-time experiments to see how fast these processes happenSlide7

Psychology becomes popular

Many of Wundt’s students went on to establish additional psychology laboratories in the United States

G. Stanley Hall established the first psychology laboratory in the United States in 1883 at Johns Hopkins UniversitySlide8

G. Stanley Hall

G. Stanley Hall launched the

first journal

in America dedicated to psychology

G. Stanley Hall also helped to establish the

American Psychological Association (APA)

and served as its first president

The APA is the largest organization devoted to the study and advancement of psychology todaySlide9

Review

What does the word “psychology” mean?

When was psychology born?

Which two disciplines gave birth psychology?

Who established the first psychology laboratory?

Where was the first psychology laboratory established?

Who establish the first psychology laboratory in America, helped establish the APA and the first psychology journal in America?

What does APA stand for?

What should this new field of psychology study?Slide10

People start arguing…

How exactly should we go about studying conscious experience?

Two main viewpoints emerged: Structuralism and FunctionalismSlide11

Structuralism

Psychology should analyse consciousness by

breaking it down into it’s component parts

and investigate these parts individually, and also how these parts are relatedSlide12

Structuralism

Edward

Titchener

believed, like his teacher Wilhelm Wundt, that the best way to analyse conscious experience was to break it down into its basic elements

So how does this work?Slide13
Slide14

Early Psychologists played Mental

Legos

?Slide15

Structuralism (cont.)

The best way to break consciousness up into it’s basic building blocks, is via a process known as

introspection

Introspection is a process of systematic and objective self-observation

These people had to be specifically trained (introspection is pretty dam hard)Slide16

Functionalism

William James proposed that the structure of consciousness is not as important as

what it does

Functionalist were inspired by the work of Charles Darwin Slide17

Functionalism (cont.)

Psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness

What does consciousness do?

Taking snapshots of consciousness misses the important bits. You need to analyse the

“stream of consciousness”

in order to obtain meaningful descriptions of the mind Slide18

Functionalism (cont.)

It’s not so much

what

something is made of, but

how

and

why

it “functions” the way it functions that is importantSlide19

For ExampleSlide20
Slide21

Functionalism (cont.)

According to functionalists many of our mental faculties were shaped by natural selectionSlide22

Functionalism (cont.)

In order to understand why you were afraid we first need to understand that our fear response is a product of natural selection

People that were afraid of scary/dangerous things (like spiders) survived longer and thus procreated moreSlide23

Functionalism (cont.)

This is called natural selection. In a nutshell,

people who are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and procreate

Functionalist were thus more concerned with the practical application of psychology than

structuralists

Because of this practical slant, functionalism influenced the development of

applied psychology

and

behaviourismSlide24

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Freud noticed that many of his patient (himself included) suffered from irrational fears and anxietiesSlide25

Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud was convinced that people’s conscious experience was only the tip of the iceberg

Freud proposed that, in addition to our conscious experience, there is also an unconscious element to our mindsSlide26

Psychoanalytic Theory

This unconscious part of our mind

contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness

but influences our behaviour nonethelessSlide27

Psychoanalytic Theory

According to psychoanalytic theory, who you are is largely determined by what goes on in your unconscious mind

Unfortunately, you don’t have much control (or even awareness) of what goes on down there

Freud’s method that sought to deal directly with this unconscious part of our mind, was called

psychoanalysisSlide28

According to Freud, psychological disturbances are largely caused by unresolved personal conflicts in the unconsciousSlide29

Freud’s ideas weren’t entirely new, but they were very

controversial

and was the first attempt to deal with the “other” side of the human mind in a systematic way

Before Freud, people kind of assumed that we were not only aware of, but also in control of our own minds and behaviour

Remember introspection?Slide30

Not everyone was fond of Freud’s ideas, but various of his ideas can be found in popular culture referencesSlide31

Behaviourism

During late 1920’s a new school of thought became dominant in psychology

Founded by J.B Watson

Behaviourism is the idea that psychology should only study observable behaviour

No more studying consciousnessSlide32

Behaviourism (cont.)

Watson declared that true science is based on

verifiability

Verifiability means something can be proved (or disproved) by anyone willing to make the observations

Consciousness is essentially a private event

and can thus not be verifiedSlide33

Behaviourism (cont.)

Behaviour , on the other hand, is something everyone can observe and agree on

According to behaviourist then, psychology should be the

“

science of behaviour”

Behaviour refers to any overt (publicly observable) response or activity by an organism

Some behaviourists went as far as claiming that there is no such thing as consciousnessSlide34

Behaviourism

Behaviourism = Stimulus-Response Psychology

Stimulus (input)

produces a

Response (output)

Behaviour is caused by environmental factors (input)

Lead to an

increase in animal research

(more control over stimuli/input and response/output)Slide35

Nature vs

Nurture

Classic debate in psychology

Are we a product of our genes or how we were raised?Slide36

Nature vs

Nurture

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select...”

(Watson, 1924)Slide37

Who was the father of behaviourism?

Who was the father of

psychonalysis

?

True or False: Psychoanalysis is often referred to as Stimulus-Response psychology?

True or False: Behaviourists defined psychology as the scientific study of behaviour?

True or False:

psychoanalysist’s

used a lot of animals for research?

True or False: Behaviourists thought that consciousness could be studied in an objective way?Slide38

True or False: According to Freud who you are is largely determined by your personality?

Behaviourist abandoned the study of consciousness because consciousness is not _______________?

True or False: Watson argued that behaviour is caused by heredity and the environment?

True or False: Behaviourists primarily used animals for their research because they could exert greater control over their experiments with animals?

According to Freud psychological disturbances are caused by _____________________?