This document provides an overview of the field of psychology. It discusses that psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Some key topics covered include the various approaches in the history of psychology such as structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive; major figures that contributed to each approach like Wundt, James, Freud, Pavlov, Piaget; the goals of psychology including description, explanation, prediction, and influence; and the many subfields that modern psychology is divided into such as clinical, developmental, industrial/organizational, and forensic psychology.

1. Chapter 1
Introducing Psychology

2. Section 1
Why Study Psychology?

3. Psychologists Point of View
They study complex behavior
• Physiological- having to do with an
organism’s physical processes
• Cognitive- having to do with an organism’s
thinking and understanding

4. What is Psychology?
• Is the scientific study of behavior that is
tested through scientific research
– the study can involve both animal and human
behaviors
– Some believe our thoughts, feelings, and
fantasies are important, but not always
observable
– the study of behavior must be systematic

5. Use of Systematic Method
• Usually asks and answers questions about
why people think, act, and feel as they do
reduces the chances of coming to false
conclusions
• Blind man and elephant story

6. The Goals of Psychology
• Description
• Explanation
• Prediction
• Influence

7. Description
• Describe or gather information about the
behavior being studied and present what
is known

8. Explanation
• Are not content with the facts
• They seek to explain why people or
animals behave
• Hypothesis- an assumption or prediction
about behavior that is tested through
scientific research
• Theory- a set of assumptions used to
explain phenomena and offered for
scientific study

9. Prediction
• Use knowledge and predict what
organisms think and feel in various
situations
• By studying past behaviors, psychologists
can predict future behaviors

10. Influence
• Psychologists seek to influence behavior
in helpful ways
• Basic Science- the pursuit of knowledge
about natural phenomena for its own sake
• Applied Science- discovering ways to use
scientific findings to accomplish practical
goals

11. Scientific Method
1) Question
2) Hypothesis
3) Experiment
4) Results
5) Conclusions
6) Theory

12. Wilhelm Wundt
• Set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig,
Germany
• Two types of element: sensations and
feelings
• Believes an individual observes, analyzes,
and reports his or her mental experiences

13. Section 2
A Brief History of Psychology

14. Marmaduke Sampson
• Studied “why crime occurs”
• Believed behavior was the result of the
shape of the head
• Phrenology- the practice of examining
bumps on a person’s skull to determine
that person’s intellect and character traits
• Inspired scientists to consider the brain
instead of the heart as responsible for
human behavior

15. The Origins of Psychology
• 5th
and 6th
Centuries
– Greeks studied human behavior and decided
people were rational and not dominated by
gods
– Greeks set the stage for the development of
sciences

16. The Origins of Psychology
• 1500 and 1600s
– Copernicus- published idea that the earth was
not the center of the universe, the sun was.
– Galileo Galilei- used a telescope to confirm
the predictions of Copernicus
– Descartes- proposed a link between the body
and mind

17. Historical Approaches
• Structuralism
– Wilhelm Wundt- is acknowledged for
establishing modern psychology as a
separate field of study
– Structuralist- a psychologist who studied the
basic elements that make up conscious
mental experiences
– Introspection- a method of self-observation in
which participants report their thoughts and
feelings

18. Functionalism
• William James- taught the first class in
Psychology at Harvard University
– Wrote the first textbook “The Principles of
Psychology”
• Functionalist- a psychologist who studied
the function instead of the structure of
consciousness

19. Inheritable Traits
• Sir Francis Galton
– Wanted to understand how heredity
influences a person’s abilities, character, and
behavior.
– His study focused on genius being a
hereditary trait
– Did not consider that distinguished families
may also have exceptional environments and
socioeconomic advantages

20. Inheritable Traits
• Scientists recognized flaws in Galton’s
research
• They came up with the theory that “a
person’s heredity and environment interact
to influence intelligence”

21. Gestalt Psychology
• German Psychologists
– Max Wertheimer
– Wolfgang Kohler
– Kurt Koffka
• Disagreed with the principles of structuralism
and behaviorism
• Believed perception was more than a sum of its
parts
• Studied how sensations are assembled into
perceptual experiences

22. Contemporary Approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Sociocultural

23. Psychoanalytic Psychology
• Sigmund Freud
– Interested in the unconscious mind
– Used the technique of free association, which
is still used today
– Believed that dreams are expressions of the
most primitive unconscious urges
– His view on the unconscious is a powerful
influence and controversy

24. Psychoanalytic Psychology
• Psychoanalyst- a psychologist who
studies how unconscious motives and
conflicts determine human behavior,
feelings, and thoughts.
• Case study- is an analysis of the thoughts,
feelings, beliefs, experiences, behaviors,
or problems of an individual

25. Behavioral Psychology
• Ivan Pavlov- Russian Scientist
• Salivating dog experiment
– Pavlov rang a tuning fork each time he gave a
dog some meat powder.
– The dog would normally salivate when the
power reached his mouth
– He repeated the experiment, the dog would
salivate when it heard the ring
– The dog was conditioned to associate sound
with food

26. Behavioral Psychology
• Behaviorist- a psychologist who analyzes how
organisms learn or modify their behavior based
on their response to events in the environment
• John Watson
– Believed psychology should only concern itself with
the observable facts of behavior
• B.F. Skinner
– Introduced the concept of reinforcement
– Is a response to a behavior that increases the
likelihood for the behavior to be repeated

27. Humanistic Psychology
• Humanist- a psychologist who believes
that each person has freedom in directing
his or her future and achieving personal
growth
• Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo
May are humanistic psychologists
– Believed human nature as evolving and self-
directed

28. Cognitive Psychology
• Jean Piaget
• Noam Chomsky
• Leon Festinger
• Cognitivist- a psychologist who studies
how we process, store, retrieve, and use
information and how thought processes
influence our behavior
• Believe that behavior is more than a
simple response to a stimulus

29. Biological Psychology
• Known today as behavioral neuroscience
• Psychobiologist- a psychologist who
studies how physical and chemical
changes in our bodies influence our
behavior
– Have found that genetic factors influence our
behaviors
– Discovered a link between chemicals in the
brain and human behavior

30. Sociocultural Psychology
• Sociocultural psychologists study:
– the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities
and differences on behavior and social
functioning
– The impact and integration of millions of
immigrants entering the U.S. every year
– Attitudes, values, beliefts, and social norms
and roles of the various racial and ethnic
groups

31. Section 3
Psychology as a Profession

32. What is a Psychologist?
• Psychologists- is a scientist who studies
the mind and behavior of humans and
animals
• Psychiatry- is a branch of medicine that
deals with mental, emotional, or
behavioral disorders
• These two professions are usually
confused

33. Subfields of Psychology
• Clinical psychologist- is a psychologist
who diagnoses and treats people with
emotional disturbances
• Counseling psychologist- is a psychologist
who usually helps people deal with
problems of everyday life
– School psychologist

34. Subfields of Psychology
• Developmental psychologist- a
psychologist who studies the emotional,
cognitive, biological, personal, and social
changes that occur as an individual
matures
• Educational psychologist- a psychologist
who is concerned with helping students
learn

35. Subfields of Psychology
• Community psychologist- a psychologist
who may work in a mental health or social
welfare agency
• Industrial or organizational psychologist- a
psychologist who uses psychological
concepts to make the workplace a more
satisfying environment for employees and
managers

36. Subfields of Psychology
• Environmental psychologists- work in a
business or with the government to study
the effects of the environment on people
• Psychobiologists- study the effect of drugs
or try to explain behavior in terms of
biological factors

37. Subfields of Psychology
• Forensic psychologists- work in legal, court, and
correctional systems
• Health psychologists- study the interaction
between physical and psychological health
factors
• Experimental psychologists- is a psychologist
who studies sensation, perception, learning,
motivation, and/or emotion in carefully controlled
laboratory conditions

38. Source:
• Kasschau, Richard, A. Understanding
Psychology. McGraw-Hill, Glencoe, New
York, New York, 2008.