Psychology has evolved from early philosophers' speculations to a more scientific discipline. Key developments include Wundt establishing the first psychology laboratory in the late 1800s and schools of thought like structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalytic, behaviorism, and cognitive psychology emerging. Today, psychology is made up of many subdisciplines that study topics like perception, memory, social influences, and more using scientific approaches while still addressing longstanding questions about human nature and behavior.

1. The Evolution of Psychology History, Approaches, and Questions

2. The Evolution of Psychology Learning Objectives: Explain how psychology changed from a philosophical to a scientific discipline. List the most important questions that concern psychologists. Outline the basic schools of psychology and describe how each school has contributed to psychology.

3. The Evolution of Psychology Psychology has changed dramatically over its history. The field has moved from speculation about behavior to a more objective, scientific approach. There has been an increasing influx of women into the field. Most psychologists are now women. However, the basic questions of psychology have remained constant.

4. The Evolution of Psychology

5. The Evolution of Psychology

6. The Evolution of Psychology: The First Psychologists Were Philosophers

7. The Evolution of Psychology: The First Psychologists Were Philosophers Greek Philosophers Plato (428 BC – 347 BC) – “nature:” certain types of knowledge are inborn Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – “nurture:” children are born a blank slate; knowledge is acquired through experience European Renaissance Philosophers Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650 BC) – believed in: free will – the mind controls the body; nature – innate natural abilities; dualism – the mind and body and fundamentally different Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

8. The Evolution of Psychology: The First Psychologists Were Philosophers These philosophers did not conduct research to support their arguments. The transition from philosophy to psychology occurred in the 1800s. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) – developed psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany William James (1842-1910) – founded laboratory at Harvard University

9. The Evolution of Psychology: The First Psychologists Were Philosophers

10. The Evolution of Psychology: The First Psychologists Were Philosophers

11. The Evolution of Psychology

12. The Evolution of Psychology

13. The Evolution of Psychology: Structuralism Structuralism – a school of psychology aimed at identifying the basic elements of conscious experience Structuralists used introspection to map the elements of consciousness. introspection – involves asking participants to describe exactly what they experience during mental tasks

14. The Evolution of Psychology: Structuralism

16. The Evolution of Psychology: Functionalism Functionalism – the goal is to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects they currently possess Associated with William James and influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural selection Functionalism’s principles have been absorbed into psychology. Functionalism’s legacy is most apparent in the field of evolutionary psychology .

17. The Evolution of Psychology: Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychology – branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior Fitness – the extent to which a characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce

18. The Evolution of Psychology: Evolutionary Psychology

19. The Evolution of Psychology: Psychodynamic Psychology Psychodynamic psychology – an approach focusing on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories Unconscious processes may be revealed through talk therapy and dream analysis, components of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.

20. The Evolution of Psychology: Psychodynamic Psychology

21. The Evolution of Psychology: Psychodynamic Psychology

22. The Evolution of Psychology: Behaviorism Behaviorism – approach based on the idea that consciousness cannot be studied objectively proposed that psychologists should limit their attention to behavior itself

23. The Evolution of Psychology: Behaviorism

24. The Evolution of Psychology: Behaviorism

25. The Evolution of Psychology: Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology – field that studies mental processes, such as perception, memory, and judgment achieved prominence in the 1960s, with the advent of computer technology argues that understanding mental processes is necessary to understand behavior

26. The Evolution of Psychology: Cognitive Psychology Studied memory for lists under different conditions Studied the cognitive and social processes of remembering Found that our knowledge and expectations influence our memory Hermann Ebbinghaus Sir Frederic Bartlett

27. The Evolution of Psychology: Cognitive Psychology

28. The Evolution of Psychology: Cognitive Psychology The cognitive approach remains highly influential in many areas of psychology. Cognitive psychology has benefited from advances in neuroimaging. neuroimaging – the use of techniques to provide pictures of the structure and function of the living brain

29. The Evolution of Psychology: The Many Disciplines of Psychology Psychology is not a single discipline, but a collection of many subdisciplines. The subdisciplines share common approaches and exchange knowledge

30. The Evolution of Psychology: The Many Disciplines of Psychology

31. The Evolution of Psychology: The Many Disciplines of Psychology

32. The Evolution of Psychology: The Many Disciplines of Psychology

33. The Evolution of Psychology Key Takeaways The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more objective as more sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed. Some basic questions asked by psychologists include those of nature versus nurture, free-will versus determinism, accuracy versus inaccuracy, and conscious versus unconscious processing. The Structuralists attempted to analyze the nature of consciousness using introspection. The Functionalists based their ideas on the work of Darwin and their approaches led to the field of evolutionary psychology.

34. The Evolution of Psychology Key Takeaways, continued The Behaviorists explained behavior in terms of stimulus, response and reinforcement, while denying the presence of free will. Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, process, and remember information. Psychodynamic psychology focuses on unconscious drives and the potential to improve lives through psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. The social-cultural approach focuses on the social situation, including how cultures and social norms influence our behavior.