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Chapter 1 Psych Notes
Introductory Psychology (PSYCH 100)
The Pennsylvania State University
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CHAPTER- 1 The Science of Mind: The Discipline
of Psychology
INTRODUCTION
Introspection: the personal observation of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors→
1- WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY
- The “mind” is a way of talking about the activities of the brain: thought, emotion, behavior
- Psychology is all about people
- It’s 1/7 of the major hub sciences
- Early attempts to study mental processes weren’t great b/c psychologists relied on the use of introspection
1- WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGY'S ROOTS?
1. Philosophical Roots
- One of the most significant q’s b/w psy & phl is whether the mind is inborn or is formed via experience
- Aristotle: believed all knowledge is gained via sensory experience
- Locke: viewed mind as a “blank slate” @ birth & was filled w/ ideas gained by observing (empiricist)
- Contemporary psychologists believed experience interacts w/ inborn characteristics (eg. intelligence influenced by genetics & experience) 2. Natural Sciences Roots
- Physicians laid the foundation of our biological knowledge of the brain
- Demonstrated that a single sensory nerve carried on type of info instead of multiple
- Scientists began by asking q’s about relationships b/w physical stimulation & resulting sensations
Highlights in the Philosophical & Scientific Roots of
Psychology:
Person/Group Things to Remember
Ancient Greek philosophers Observations can be accounted for via natural (not supernatural) explanations British empiricists Knowledge is the result of experience Ancient physicians The brain is the source of the mind 17th- & 18th-century natural scientists Discoveries about sensation & movement showed that the mind was physical
Hermann von Helmholtz Studies of reaction time reinforced the idea of the mind as physical
1- HOW DID THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
BEGIN?
1. Wilhem Wundt & Structuralism
- Wundt was the first psychologist
- Ball drop & telegraph key experiment ; possible to “time” mental processes?
- Viewed reaction time as mental chronometry
- Believed reaction time provided a measure of the amount of mental processing required to do something ⁃ More complex decisions = reaction time↑
- Experience was viewed as a hierarchy
- Mind constructs an overall perception out of the building blocks of separate sensations; structuralism
- Structuralism→ the mind could be broken down into the smallest elements of mental experience 2. Gestalt Psychology
- Gestalt Psychology experience is diff from the sum of its elements→
- Emphasized the role of context
- ABC & 121314 experiment 3. William James & Functionalism
- Functionalism views behavior as purposeful & contributing to survival→
- Emphasized role of evolution
- Value of an activity depends on its consequences
- Coined stream of consciousness
- Stream of consciousness describes the flow of ideas that people experience while awake→ 4. Clinical Roots: Freud & the Humanistic Psychologists
- Most common view of psychological disorders in history has been the supernatural approach
- Actions of psychological disorders were actions of evil spirits or other external, magical forces
- Supernatural explanations for psychological disorders gave way to 2 scientific approaches:
- Medical model of psychological disorder: emphasized physical causes of abnormal behavior & magical treatments (ie. medication)
- Psychological model of psychological disorder: suggested that abnormal behavior can result from life experiences, leading to fear, anxiety, & other counterproductive emotional responses --FREUD--
Freud believed life experienced impacted behavior
Law of effect suggested that behaviors followed by good outcomes were more likely to occur in the → future, & behaviors followed by unpleasant/harmful outcomes would be less likely to occur
B Skinner was interested in the effects of consequences on how frequently behaviors were performed
Skinner boxes --COGNITIVE REVOLUTION--
Cognition covers the private & internal mental processes (information processing, thinking, reasoning, & problem solving)- the stuff behaviorists avoid
Ulric Neisser called this cognitive psychology
Summary: Foundation of psychology
Things to remember:
Wilhelm Wundt:
Structuralism: Behavior can be broken down into its components
Max Wertheimer:
Gestalt psychology: Breaking behavior into components loses meaning
William James:
Functionalism: Behavior is purposeful & contributes to survival
Sigmund Freud:
Psychodynamic theory: Ideas about the unconscious mind, the role of experience in abnormal behavior, and new approaches to therapy laid a foundation for later study in personality and therapy.
Abraham Maslow:
Humanistic psychology: People are naturally good and are motivated to improve.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov:
Behaviorism: Experience is the primary source of behavior.
Ulric Neisser:
Cognitive revolution: Private mental processing can be studied scientifically
GESTALT PRINCIPLES:
1. Proximity
- Things that are near one another seem to belong together 2. Similarity
- People tend to group stimuli that are alike 3. Continuity
- People tend to connect points that result in straight or gently curved lines that create smooth paths
- Preference for continuity 4. Closure
- We tend to ignore gaps in figures to create a sense of closure, or completeness 5. Simplicity
- People tend to organize & interpret forms of the simplest ways possible
1- WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES?
1 FIVE PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY:
1. Biological psychology/behavioral neuroscience
- focuses on the relationships b/w mind & behavior, as well as their underlying biological processes (genetics, biochem, anatomy, & physiology)
- Interested in the physical mechanisms associated w/ behavior 1b. Evolutionary psychology
- a branch of biological perspective that investigates how physical structure & behavior have been shaped by their contributions to survival & reproduction
- Extension of James’s functionalism 2. Cognitive psychology
- Investigates info processing, thinking, reasoning, & problem solving
- A lot to say about the storage & retrieval of memories
- Might ask why processing seems diff. b/w trying to remember names vs dates vs how to ride a bike 3. Developmental psychology
- Explores the normal changes in behavior that occur across the lifespan
- Might look @ how memory functions in people of different ages 4. Social & personality psychology
- describes the effects of the social environment, including social & cultural diversity, & individual differences on the behavior of individuals 5. Clinical psychology
- Seeks to explain, define, & treat psychological disorders
- Freud believed that traumatizing experiences were more difficult to remember, a process he called repression
Social & personality psychology: Asks how our behavior is affected by the presence of others; Recognizes that behavior varies around averages and that individual differences often interact with environments Developmental psychology: Investigates the normal changes in behavior that occur across the lifespan Clinical psychology: Explains, defines, and treats psychological disorders and promotes general well-being
Chapter 1 Psych Notes
Course: Introductory Psychology (PSYCH 100)
University: The Pennsylvania State University
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