What Is Psychology

Introduction to
Psychology
Chapter One

Chapter Outline
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What is Psychology ?
Subdisciplines of Psychology
The Origins of Psychology
Ways of Thinking About Mind, Body, and
Experience
No One Perspective Tells the Whole
Story in Psychology
Bringing It All Together: Making
Connections in Psychology

What is Psychology?
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Psychology defined
– Psychology is the scientific study of thought and behavior
– Literature…..
– History…..
– Sociology…..

Why Should You Study
Psychology?
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Makes you more aware of how people work Makes you more aware of how you work Can help you be more effective in various career paths
Can help you relate better to others, including family members and friends. Subdisciplines of
Psychology

Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Cognitive psychology
– Study of how we perceive information, how we learn and remember, how we acquire and use language, and how we solve problems

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Developmental psychology
– Study of how thought and behavior change and show stability across the life span

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Behavioral neuroscience
– Study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Biological psychology
– Study of the connections between bodily systems and chemicals, and their relationship to behavior and thought

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Personality psychology
– Study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations

Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Social psychology
– Study of how the real or imagined presence of others influences thought, feeling, and behavior

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Clinical psychology
– Study of the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and ways to promote psychological health

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Counseling Psychology
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Similar to clinical psychology, but may work with less severe psychological disorders

Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Health psychology
– Study of the role that psychological factors play in physical health and illness 

Educational psychology
– Study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the dynamics of school populations, and the psychology of teaching Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology – Applies psychological concepts and questions to work settings
Industrial side – focuses on selecting workers, matching employees to jobs, and evaluating job performance
 Organizational side – focuses on worker satisfaction, performance, and productivity by examining management styles and work environment
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Subdisciplines of
Psychology
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Sports psychology
– Examines the psychological factors that affect performance and participation in sports and exercise

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Forensic psychology
– Field that blends psychology, law, and criminal justice

The Origins of
Psychology

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology
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Prehistoric Views
– Shamans
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Medicine men or women Treated mental problems by driving out demons Might use Trephination
– Drilling a small hole in a person’s skull to release spirits and demons A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology
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Ancient Views
– Moved away from supernatural and toward natural and physiological explanations of psychological disorders
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Ancient Chinese
– Made connections between bodily organs and emotions 

Ancient Egyptians and Greeks
– Used narcotics to treat pain

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Hippocrates

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology
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Medieval to Early Modern Views
– Middle Ages
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Supernatural causes were blamed (again!)
The Renaissance
– People were thought to be possessed by demons, spirits, and the devil – not physical disorders •

The Inquisition

– Float test for witchcraft

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Asylums – facilities for the mentally ill

– Conditions were deplorable and chaotic –
“Bedlam”
– Movements for moral treatment emerged in
Europe and the United States

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology
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Modern Views
– Late 1880s
– Emil Kraepelin classified different disorders 

Dementia praecox was the predecessor to schizophrenia

– Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis
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Assumes the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior
Dreams are an important source of data about the unconscious mind

A Brief History of the Practice of Clinical Psychology
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Modern Views
– Mid-1900s – Three developments in clinical psychology 
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Psychotherapy
Drug treatment
Criteria for diagnosing mental disorders

– DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual, 4th edition, Text Revision
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Classification system that includes diagnoses for more than 250 psychological disorders

A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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The Philosophy of Empiricism
– View that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience
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17th Century
John Locke
– Tabula rasa (“blank slate”)

– Because philosophy does not gather data to test its ideas, psychology moved in a different, more scientific direction

A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Philosophy & Physiology

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John Locke established empiricism – the view that knowledge and thoughts come from experience. Locke believed that the mind begins as a blank slate (tabula rasa), and that experience (what one sees, hears, tastes, touches, and smells) establishes its contents. A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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The Psychophysics of Human
Perception
– Relationship between the physical and psychological worlds
– Early important work was done by such scientists as Ernst Weber, Gustav
Fechner, and Hermann von Helmholtz
– In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig,
Germany
– This date, 1879, is a “red-letter” date in psychology! A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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The Psychophysics of Human
Perception
– G. Stanley Hall
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Founded the American Psychological
Association (APA)
Established the first psychology laboratory in the USA, at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore
Taught Francis Cecil Sumner, the first
African American to earn a PhD in psychology in 1920

William James
• Considered the founder of American psychology • Taught G. Stanley Hall, and Mary Whiton

A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Structuralism
– 19th century school of thought that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior
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Introspection – looking into one’s own mind to determine the structure of consciousness A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Functionalism
– 19th century school of thought that argued it was better to look at why the mind works the way it does than to describe its parts
Influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural selection  Championed by William James
 Used introspection as well
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A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Behaviorism
– School of thought that asserts that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives
John Watson
 B.F. Skinner
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A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Humanistic psychology
– Theory of psychology that promotes personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential Abraham Maslow
 Carl Rogers
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A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Positive psychology
– Scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning Martin Seligman
 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Can you say that name three times quickly?)
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A Brief History of Scientific
Psychology
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Cognitivism
– Gestalt psychology
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Theory of psychology that maintains that we perceive things as wholes rather than as a compilation of parts – Max Wertheimer
(1880-1943)

A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Cognitivism
– Frederick Bartlett
Stated that memory is not an objective and accurate representation of events but rather a highly personal reconstruction based on one’s own beliefs, ideas, and point of view
 The way we think about things
(cognitive frameworks) organizes how we experience the world
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A Brief History of
Scientific Psychology
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Evolutionary Psychology and
Behavioral Neuroscience
– Who we are and what we do is a result of brain activity, is impacted by genetic factors, and has a long evolutionary past
– John Tooby and Leda Cosmides published “The Psychological
Foundations of Culture” in 1992
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Brain imaging techniques
Human genome

Ways of Thinking About
Mind, Body, and
Experience

The Nature-Nurture
Debate
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Nature-only side
– Who we are comes from inborn tendencies and genetically based traits

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Nurture-only side
– We are all essentially the same at birth, and we are the product of our experiences 

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Either position, alone, presents an incomplete picture
Nature and nurture are interdependent, not dichotomous

The Nature-Nurture
Debate
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Nature through nurture
– Position that the environment constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are, and what we do