History of Psychology

1. A History of
Psychology

2. Background Knowledge
• Get a piece of paper & a pen/pencil
• Number your paper #1-10

3. Instructions: Answer True or False for
each statement
1. Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power
2. Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained
3. Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Is a Well-Established Scientific
Phenomenon
4. Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence
5. Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and
Accurate Events We’ve Experienced
6. Hypnosis Is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events
7. Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives
8. Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their
Learning Styles
9. The Polygraph (“Lie Detector”) Test Is an Accurate Means of
Detecting Dishonesty
10. Low Self-Esteem Is a Major Cause of Psychological Problems

8. The Hippocratic Oath is an oath
historically taken by physicians,
physician assistants and other
healthcare professionals swearing
to practice medicine ethically and
honestly.

10. Particularly in Europe during the Middle Ages,
beatings were administered to the mentally ill who
acted out as punishment for the disturbances their
behavior caused and as a means of “teaching”
individuals out of their illnesses.

11. The Middle Ages & Mental Illness
Causes of mental illness included:
■Supernatural causes such as demons and demonic
possession.
■Witchcraft and sorcery.
■Mass hysteria.
■Melancholy and stress.
Treatments for mental illness included:
■Exorcism.
■Shaving the pattern of a cross in the head-hair.
■Believe that those suffering from mental illness could
benefit from hearing mass.
■Drinking ice-cold water.

13. Psychology as we know
it started on a December
day in 1879, in a small
room on the third floor of
a shabby building at
Germany’s University of
Leipzig.

14. Structuralism vs. Functionalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6nm69Z_IE

15. Structuralism Functionalism
 first school of
psychology
 breaking down mental
processes
 Wilhelm Wundt
 too concerned with
internal behavior (cant
observe)

16. Structuralism Functionalism
o focused on the purpose
of consciousness and
behavior
o emphasized individual
differences
o William James
o Influenced the
educational system

17. Structuralism Functionalism
 first school of
psychology
 breaking down mental
processes
 Wilhelm Wundt
 too concerned with
internal behavior (cant
observe)
o focused on the purpose
of consciousness and
behavior
o emphasized individual
differences
o William James
o Influenced the
educational system

20. PSYCHOLOGY DEVELOPED OVER TIME
• William James – Functionalism (observation and
introspection – What are the purposes of behavior
and mental processes?)
• John B. Watson – Behaviorism (scientific study of
observable behavior)
• B.F. Skinner – Reinforcement (influences behaviors)

24. Gestalt Psychology
• learning is active and purposeful
• Problem solving is accomplished by insight,
not mechanical repetition.

26. Sigmund Freud
• Psychoanalysis
• (unconscious motives and internal conflicts)
• Freudian slip

28. Freudian slip
(in Freudian psychology) an accidental mistake
in speech or writing that is thought to reveal a
person's unconscious motives, wishes, or
attitudes.

30. Psychology’s Three Big Debates
• Nature Versus Nurture
• Stability Versus
Change
• Continuity Versus
Discontinuity