Lesson 1

The science of psychology

Mr. Michael A. Mendoza, MAEd, RGC, RPm, LPT, CHRA

Instructor

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 What is Psychology?

• It is the scientific study of

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Psychology is a Science

• Prevent possible biases from leading to

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Four Goals of Psychology
1. Description
– What is happening?
2. Explanation
– Why is it happening?
– theory: general explanation of a set of observations
or facts
3. Prediction
– Will it happen again?
4. Control
– How can it be changed?
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Four Goals of Psychology

History of Psychology

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Plato Rene
Descartes
Aristotle
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
John Locke Francis Galton

Charles Darwin
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
Ernst Weber Herman von
Helmholtz
Gustav Fechner

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Four Goals of Psychology

School of Thoughts

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Structuralism
• He is the father of modern
psychology.
• He established first
experimental laboratory of
Psychology in Leipzig,
Germany (1879).
• He developed the technique
of objective introspection: the
process of objectively
examining and measuring
one’s thoughts and mental Wilhelm Wundt
activities.
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Structuralism

• It focused on the
structure or basic
elements of the mind.
• He was Wundt’s
student; brought
structuralism to
America.
• Structuralism died out
in the early 1900s.
Edward Titchener
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Functionalism
• It focused on how the mind
allows people to adapt, live,
work, and play to their
surroundings.
• It is very much influenced by
Charles Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution.
• Influenced the modern fields of:
– educational psychology
– evolutionary psychology
– industrial/organizational William James
psychology
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Gestalt Psychology
• Gestalt
– “good figure” psychology
• Gestalt ideas now part of the study
of cognitive psychology
• cognitive psychology: field
focusing not only on perception
but also on learning, memory,
thought processes, and problem
solving
• Believed that the human mind imposes
meaning to related experiences. It
advocates that the study of human
behavior should be holistic.
• “The whole is greater than the sum of Max Wertheimer
its”
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
Figure 1.1 A Gestalt Perception
The eye tends to “fill in” the blanks hereand sees both of these figures as circles rather than as a series of dots or a
broken line.

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Psychoanalysis
• It stressed the importance of
early childhood experiences.
• Sigmund Freud – the father of
psychoanalytic theory.
• He believd that personality was
formed in the first 6 years of life.
• He proposed that there is an
unconscious mind into which we
repress our urges and desires.
• Followers: Alfred Adler, Carl
Jung, Anna Freud Sigmund Freud
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Behaviorism
• It is focuses on observable behavior
only.
– must be directly seen and measured
• Proposed by John B. Watson
– based on the work of Ivan
Pavlov, who demonstrated
that a reflex could be
conditioned (learned)
– Watson believed that phobias were
learned
case of “Little Albert”: baby taught
to fear a white rat
John B. Watson

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Four Goals of Psychology

Modern Perspectives

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Psychodynamic
• It is the modern version of
psychoanalysis.
• It focuses on the role of the
unconscious mind and its influence on
conscious behavior and early
childhood experiences.
– more focused on the development of a sense
of self and the discovery of motivations behind
a person’s behavior other than sexual
motivations
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Behavioral
• It focuses on how behavioral
responses are learned through
classical or operant
conditioning.
– B. F. Skinner studied operant
conditioning of voluntary
behavior
– Behaviorism became a major
force in the twentieth
century
– Skinner introduced
the concept of
reinforcement to Burrhus Frederic Skinner
behaviorism
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Humanistic
• It focuses on human potential, free
will, and possibility of self-
actualization.
• It is the “third force” in psychology.
– People have free will: the freedom to
choose their own destiny
– Emphasizes the human potential, Abraham Maslow
the ability of each person to
become the best person he or
she could be
 self-actualization: achieving
one’s full potential or actual
self
– Early founders:
 Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
 Carl Rogers
Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Cognitive
• It became a major force in the field of
psychology in the 1960s.
• It focuses on how people think, remember,
store, and use information.
• It also focuses on memory, intelligence,
perception, problem solving, and learning.
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Sociocultural
• It focuses on the relationship between social
behavior and culture.
• It is a combination of two areas of study:
• Social Psychology – study of groups, social
roles, and rules of social actions and
relationships.
• Cultural Psychology – study of cultural norms,
values, and expectations.

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Biopsychological
• It focuses on influences of hormones, brain
structures and chemicals, and diseases.
• It attributes human and animal behavior to
biological events occurring in the body, such
as genetic influences, hormones, and the
activity of the nervous system.

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
 Evolutionary
• It focuses on the biological bases of
universal mental characteristics that all
humans share.
• It looks at the way the mind works and
why it works as it does.
• Behavior seen as having an adaptive
or survival value.

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.
Reference:
✓ Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. (2015).
Psychology, Global Edition 4th Edition.
Pearson Education Limited
✓ https://www.slideshare.net/hunzikerCCC/
psyc1101-chapter-1-4th-edition-
powerpoint

Psychology, Fourth Edition Copyright ©2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White All rights reserved.