Intro notes to psychology

1. Name:____________________
Introduction to Psychology Notes…
What is Psychology?
 Psychology is
o Mental Processes:
 Examples:
o Behavior:
 Examples:
How does Psychology Relate toScience?
 Psychology is a
o Psychologists usethe
o Scientific Method
What do Psychologists Do?
 Careers in Psychology:
o
o
o
o
 Two major Psychology Organizations:
o
o

2. The Origins of Psychology
What are the Origins of Psychology?
 Greek Philosophers
o Socrates and Plato first conceive
 Enlightenment Philosophers
o Rene Descartes:
o John Locke develops Blank Slate Theory:
o Locke and Francis Bacon come up with
 Empiricism:
How Was Psychology Born?
 WilliamWundt, a German professor, created an experiment
o Experiment designed
o Wundt is considered
A picture of whatis commonly held to be the firsttrue
psychology experiment:Wundt’stelegraph balldrop and
telegraph lever test
Socrates makes a revelation
about the mind!
A drawing by Descartes showing
his ideas about the structure of
the nervous system

3.  Edward BradfordTitchener,
o Structuralism:


 Gestalt Psychology:
o Basically a
o Mostly
 WilliamJames, Harvard professor, develops
o Functionalism:
 James theorized that behaviors
 Influenced by
o Considered to be
o
Why do you perceive a three
dimensional object? Why faces?
Gestalt psychology at work…
Structuralism depends on introspection
He published the first Psychology
textbook. Thanks Mr. James!

4. The Behavioral Perspective
“Psychology asthe behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimentalbranch of natural
science. Its theoreticalgoal is the prediction and controlof human behavior”
----John Watson
 What is the focus?
 Behavior is determinedby:
o



o
Important People
 Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
o Pavlov’s Dog Experiment:
o Classical Conditioning:
o OfficeExample
 Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
o PuzzleBox:
o Conclusion:
 John Watson (1878-1958)
o Little Albert Experiment
o Father of
 Authored Psychology asthe Behaviorist Viewsit
 B.F. Skinner (1904) Behavior changes according to
o Negative and positive
 Albert Bandura(1925-) SocialLearning Theory
o People learn by seeing
o Bobo Doll Experiment:
“Oh sweet Bobo, I
weep for the abuse
given to you!”
Pavlov’sDog neverhasbeen able
to get another gig

5. Humanistic Perspective
 What is the focus?
o
o
 Behavior is determinedby:
o
o




Important People:
 Carl Rogers:consciousexperience
o Human growth and free will is achieved by being:



 Abraham Maslow: self-actualization
o Self-Actualization:
o Developed
Carl Rogers says,
“Enough of that
unconscious bologna,
concentrate on the
conscious!”
Not everyone believes in the
humanistic approach to
happiness…
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Where do you stand?

6. Cognitive Perspective
 What is the focus?
 Behavior is determinedby
o

 The way the brain
 “Information Processing”:
o Strongly tied to
Important People
 Jean Piaget :
o Children think
o Development occurs in
Biological Perspective
 What is the focus?
 Behavior is determinedby
o
o
o
 Any More?
o
Cognitive psychology
incorporates many different
fields to understand the brain…
Biological psychology
incorporates tools like
MRIs and PET Scans

7. Social Cultural
 What is the focus?
o Everything about your identity…
 Behavior is determinedby
o Your upbringing
o The situation:
 MassillonTigers Example
Important People
 PhilipZimbardo (1933): Situations can cause people to
o Stanford Prison Experiment:
 Stanley Milgram(1933-1984):Influenceof authority is important in
determining behavior
o Ran shock experiments whereparticipants wereasked to deliver
shocks to others
 65% of participants werewilling to deliver
 People will do whatauthority asks
 Solomon Asch(1907-1996):Influenceof
o People will
Zimbardo’s prison
experiment resulted
in institutional cruelty
If you were in Solomon Asch’s
experiment which line would
you pick?
“Lethal shock?
Well… only because
you asked me to,
doc!”