lecture 1 from

1. Psychology
Introduction
Brian J. Piper, Ph.D.

2. Goals?
 Psychology’s Roots
 Psychology Today

3. Psychology’s Roots
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
http://faculty.washington.edu
Aristotle, a naturalist and philosopher, theorized
about psychology’s concepts. He suggested that the
soul and body are not separate and that knowledge
grows from experience.

4. Psychology’s History

5. Charles Darwin
Darwin wrote extensively about:
* child development
* emotion
1809-1882

6. Psychological Science is Born
Wundt and psychology’s
first graduate students
studied the “atoms of the
Wundt (1832-1920)
mind” by conducting
experiments at Leipzig,
Germany, in 1879. This
work is considered the
birth of psychology as we
know it today.

7. Psychological Science is Born
James (1842-1910)
Mary Calkins
American philosopher William James wrote an important
1890 psychology textbook. Mary Calkins, James’s
student, became the APA’s first female president.

8. Psychological Science is Born
Freud (1856-1939)
Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, and his
followers emphasized the importance of the
unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior.

9. Psychological Science is Born
Psychology originated in many disciplines
and countries. It was, until the 1920s,
defined as the science of mental life.

10. Psychological Science Develops
Behaviorists
Skinner (1904-1990)
Watson (1878-1958)
Watson and later Skinner emphasized the study of
overt behavior as the subject matter of scientific
psychology.

11. Psychological Science Develops
Humanistic Psychology
Maslow (1908-1970)
http://facultyweb.cortland.edu
Rogers (1902-1987)
http://www.carlrogers.dk
Maslow and Rogers emphasized current
environmental influences on our growth potential
and our need for love and acceptance.

12. Psychology Today
We define psychology today as the scientific
study of behavior (what we do) and mental
processes (inner thoughts and feelings).

13. Characteristics of Psychology
Quantifiable – humor example
Replicable
Order: Describe -> Theory -> Predict

14. Contemporary Psychology
1. Psychology’s Biggest Question
2. Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis
3. Psychology’s Subfields
4. CLOSE-UP: Tips for Studying Psychology

15. Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis

16. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective Focus Sample Questions
Neuroscience How the body and brain How are messages transmitted in
enables emotions? the body? How is blood
chemistry linked with moods and
motives?
Evolutionary How the natural selection of How does evolution influence
traits the promotes the behavior tendencies?
perpetuation of one’s genes?
Behavior genetics How much our genes and our To what extent are psychological
environments influence our traits such as intelligence,
individual differences? personality, sexual orientation,
and vulnerability to depression
attributable to our genes? To our
environment?

17. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective Focus Sample Questions
Psychodynamic How behavior springs How can someone’s
from unconscious drives personality traits and
and conflicts? disorders be explained in
terms of sexual and
aggressive drives or as
disguised effects of unfulfilled
wishes and childhood
traumas?
Behavioral How we learn observable How do we learn to fear
responses? particular objects or
situations? What is the most
effective way to alter our
behavior, say to lose weight or
quit smoking?

18. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective Focus Sample Questions
Cognitive How we encode, process, How do we use information in
store and retrieve remembering? Reasoning?
information? Problem solving?
Social-cultural How behavior and thinking How are we — as Africans,
vary across situations and Asians, Australians or North
cultures? Americans – alike as members of
human family? As products of
different environmental contexts,
how do we differ?

19. Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Psychologist What she does
Explore the links between brain and
Biological
mind.
Study changing abilities from womb to
Developmental
tomb.
Study how we perceive, think, and solve
Cognitive
problems.
Personality Investigate our persistent traits.
Explore how we view and affect one
Social
another.

20. Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Data: APA 1997

21. Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Psychologist What she does
Studies, assesses, and treats people with
Clinical
psychological disorders
Helps people cope with academic,
Counseling
vocational, and marital challenges.
Studies and helps individuals in school
Educational
and educational settings
Industrial/ Studies and advises on behavior in the
Organizational workplace.

22. Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Data: APA 1997

23. What sub-field does he
belong?

24. Peter Gray 2011

25. Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses,
and treats troubled people with psychotherapy.
Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical
professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs
and psychotherapy to treat psychologically
diseased patients.

26. Psychological Associations &
Societies
The American Psychological Association is the
largest organization of psychology with 160,000
members world-wide, followed by the British
Psychological Society with 34,000 members.

27. Study Tips
• Passive versus Active (SQ3R) Learning
• Massed versus Spaced Practice

28. Skepticism
• 9 min Video (Warning, ends explicitly!)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtCsstLXL9
• 2 min Video (Alex, Irene Pepperberg)
http
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KvPN_Wt8I

29. Summary
• Psychology is the study (science) of
behavior (theory, quantifiable, replicable)
• This field traces its roots to philosophy and
biology