1. Chapter 1 : Introduction
The Nature of Psychology
Ailene C. Ygot
Instructor

2. Psychology as a Science
• psyche (mind) + logos (study)
• actions, responses, behavior
• How? objective and systematic study
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior
and mental processes.

3. Psychology as a Science
• Goals:
describe, explain, predict and control
behavior and mental processes
• How can I control my fears?
• How can I learn to study?

4. History of Psychology
• Nativist View – some ideas
are innate
 17th century
 Rene Descartes
• Empiricist View – knowledge
is acquired through
experiences and interaction
with the world
NATURE
NURTURE

5. History of Psychology
• 1879 – first psychological laboratory
• University of Leipzig, Germany
• Wilhelm Wundt – Father of Psychology
 study on senses – vision
 attention, emotions and memory

6. History of Psychology
• 1883 – first psychology lab in the US
• John Hopkins University
• Granville Stanley Hall
• founded the first American Journal of
Psychology

7. History of Psychology
• 19th century
• Titchener / Wundt
• Structuralism
 mental structures – perception, consciousness,
thinking and emotions
 Introspection – method of data collection

8. History of Psychology
• 1900’s
• William James
• Functionalism
 functions of the mind and behavior to adapt to
the environment

9. History of Psychology
• 1900’s (US)
• John B. Watson
• Behaviorism
 challenged Functionalism
 observable behavior

10. History of Psychology
• 1912 (Germany)
• Max Wertheimer
• Gestalt Psychology
 “gestalt” – form , configuration
 the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
 experiences cannot be broken down into smaller
units

11. History of Psychology in the
Philippines
• 17th century – Psychology was taught in the
Phils. (UST & USC)
• 1926 – first Department of Psychology (UP)
• UST – first university to offer undergraduate,
master’s and doctoral degrees in Psychology

12. Pioneers in Psychology in the
Philippines
• Sinforoso Padilla – established the first
psychological clinic in the Philippines in UP in
1932
• Jesus Perpina – set up the FEU psychological
clinic in 1933
• Estefania Aldaba-Lim – first Filipino to
receive a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. In
1962, she set up the Philippine Psychological
Corporation.

13. Perspectives in Psychology
• Psychodynamic Approach
• Behavioral Approach
• Cognitive Approach
• Biological Approach
• Phenomenological or Humanistic Approach
• Sociocultural Approach

14. Psychodynamic Approach
 Sigmund Freud
 behavior stems from the unconscious mind
 manifestations – dreams, slips of speech
(“Freudian slip”) , or mannerism
 Psychoanalysis – therapeutic approach of Freud
 Carl Jung and Alfred Adler

15. Behavioral Approach
 John B. Watson – father of Behaviorism
 only by studying behavior could psychology be
considered a science
 mind cannot be observed directly
 Stimulus-Response (S-R) psychology – offshoot
of behaviorism
 Stimulus (environment) – Response (responses to
stimulus) - Rewards and Punishments following
these responses

16. Cognitive Approach
 mental processes –
perceiving
remembering
reasoning
deciding
problem solving
 how?
Focus on specific behaviors and then interpreting them in
terms of underlying mental processes

17. Biological Approach
 how the brain underlie behavior and mental
processes
 physiological processes
 neurotransmitters – chemicals produced in the
brain that are believed to have an effect on the
person’s moods
 serotonin
 norepinephrine

18. Phenomenological or Humanistic
Approach
 subjective and personal experience of events
(phenomenology) and the need for personal
growth
 the belief that an individual’s principal
motivational force is a tendency toward growth
and self actualization
 Abraham Maslow
 Carl Rogers

19. Sociocultural Approach
 the ways by which social and cultural
environments influence behavior
 cultural context should be considered
 comparing behavior across countries;
or within a country

20. Depression
• Psychodynamic
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Humanistic
• Sociocultural
• Anger turned inward
• Lack of positive reinforcers
• Interpretation of their
ability to control events
• Genetic susceptibility to
depression
• Self-esteem
• Culturally acceptable?

21. Group Activity
Brainstorm on how the emotion
ANGER can be understood using the
different approaches.