WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

consciousness,
thinking, and other
Psychology kinds of mental
• It is the study of mind and behavior states and
activities.
and mental processes.
Introspection A procedure used to
• Mind = behavior; health mind +
study the structure
healthy body = happy life. of the mind in which
• Hypothalamus is the one who subjects are asked
releases the hormones to make us to describe in detail
feel our emotions. what they are
experiencing when
What is behavior? they are exposed to
• It is any response or reaction to a a stimulus.
stimulus; stimulus can be an object
or a person. EARLY PIONEERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Goals in Psychology 1) Wilhem Wundt
1. Describe – the different ways that • Father of psychology
organisms behave. • Attempted to bring objectivity and
2. Explain – the cause of behavior, measurement to the concept of
understand the behavior. psychology – objective introspection.
3. Predict – how organisms will behave 2) Edward Titchener
in certain situations. • Student of Wilhem Wundt
4. Control – an organism’s behavior, • Introduced structuralism
influence the organism on how they • Expanded Wundt’s ideas and created
can help treat the behavior. his own viewpoint.
3) William James
• Founder of functionalism
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY • Founder of American psychology

Trephining Healing by chipping

a hole in the
SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY
patient’s skull to let
evil spirits out. Psychologist had different views, theories,
Phrenology Analysis of basic techniques, and purposes about psychology.
characteristics As a result, they are divided based on their
based on the
perspective.
shaped and number
of bumps on the 5 SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT – Neuroscience,
skull Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Cognitive, and
Structuralism Wundt’s approach, Humanistic are those schools of psychology
which focuses on that are active up to the present date.
uncovering the
fundamental mental 1. Structuralism
components of • First school of thought in psychology
 • Founded by Wilhem Wundt and • Highlights the role of the environment
further developed by Edward in the guiding behavior.
Titchener • Conditioning – technique used to
• Emphasized the basic units of show that all behaviors are learned
experiences and these are the through interaction with the
physical sensation, affection, images. environment.
• Major tool: introspection • Behaviorist Manifesto – daily
“observing/interviewing” observation of several hundred
2. Functionalism infants from birth through the 30 days
• Founded by William James on infancy.
• An early approach to psychology that
Additional information:
concentrated on what the mind does
– the functions of mental activity and 1. Cognitive
the role of behavior in allowing people • Examines how people understand
to adapt to their environments. and think about the world.
• It emphasized function rather than the • We can identify processes like
structure of human consciousness. intelligence, decision making, etc.
James proposed that consciousness 2. Humanistic
is ongoing and continuous; it cannot • Contends that people can control
be isolated and reduced to elements. their behavior and that they naturally
• Emphasized individual try to reach their full potential.
experiences/differences. • Individuals are inherently good in a
3. Gestalt Psychology sense that they move towards self-
• Founded by Max Werthelmer, Kurt actualization.
Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler.
Note:
• Focuses on the organization of
perception and thinking in a “whole” Psychoanalysis – founded by Freud
sense rather than on the individual
elements of perception. Psychodynamic – those who is interested in
4. Psychoanalysis learning psychoanalysis.
• Focuses on the unconscious mind
• Behavior is motivated by inner forces
(life and death instincts, libido, and BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
aggression drives) and conflicts (id, • Brain and nervous system: cognitive
ego, superego) about which we have and biological psychology (memory,
little awareness or control. learning, senses)
• Founded by Sigmund Freud • All psychological events can be
• Foundation for the psychodynamic related to the activity of the brain and
perspective the nervous system
• More on history of the past. • Neurotransmitters (dopamine,
5. Behaviorism serotonin, oxytocin)
• Founded by John B. Watson
• Focuses on observable behavior
 PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE • Temporary; reverting back to an earlier
stage of development which has
• Foundation: psychoanalysis
lesser stress.
• More focused on the development of
3. Projection
a sense of self and the discovery of
• See in others unacceptable feelings
other motivations behind a person’s
or tendencies that reside in ourselves
behavior than sexual motivations.
(paranoia)
• Events in childhood have a great
4. Acting out
influence on our adult lives, shaping
• Performing an extreme behavior in
our personality.
order to express thoughts or feelings
• Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Melanie Klein,
the person is incapable of expressing
Erik Erikson.
(self-harm)
Psychodynamic Perspective 5. Reaction Formation
• Doing the opposite in an exaggeration;
First Born Second Born form a reaction that is acceptable to
- Power - Moderately society/others.
- Superiority competitive
• Forming a reaction that is acceptable
- High anxiety - Revolutionar
or doing things the other way.
- Overprotective y attitude
tendencies - Shaped by 6. Undoing
- Treatment of their • Look away or do away with
second child perception unpleasant experiences by making it
depending on age of the older disappear through repetitive and
and prior style of child’s ceremonial acts (compulsion)
life attitude. 7. Displacement
(hostile/cooperating • Redirect unacceptable urges onto
) different people or objects so that
original impulse is concealed, no
Youngest Only Child exaggeration.
- Most pampered; - Competition 8. Sublimation
problem child with parents • Beneficial to self and society (humor-
- Inferiority - Egotistical channeling of unacceptable impulses
feelings of tendencies or thoughts into a light-hearted story
dependency - May have or joke)
- Most motivated exaggerated
to exceed other sense of self-
siblings. concept. COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

• Founded by Aaron Beck and Albert

Defense Mechanism Ellis
• Examines how we understand and
1. Fixation
think about the world.
• Permanent; remaining at the present
• Cognition – process of thinking
more comfortable stage of
• Focus: memory, attention, thoughts,
development.
ideas, and beliefs.
2. Regression
 • Uses of technology to test your brain • The sorting out of interpretation,
functioning (interviews, MRI, CT-Scan) analysis, and integration of stimuli by
the sense organs and brain.

The Sensory System:

PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
External Sensation
Looks at man as:
- Process of knowing material, concrete
• A rational being endowed with
stimuli through the external senses.
intellect and will
• Visual Sense
• An individual with different needs and
• Auditory Sense
motives
• Olfactory Sense
• A being with past experiences
• Gustatory Sense
influencing his view of self and
• Cutaneous Sense
actions
• Abraham Maslow and Carl Roger Four Elements of External Sensation:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 1. Stimulus
• Any aspect of the world that influence
our behavior
• Activates the sense organs

(light, sound, objects, scent, flavor)

Stimulus: Psychophysics

• Study of relationship between the

physical aspects of stimuli and our
psychological experience of them.
• Subjective perspective
• Different individuals view the world
differently.

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Sensation

• Physical response
• The activation of the sense organs by
a source of physical energy.
Stimulus: ABSOLUTE and DIFFERENCE
• It is the process of bringing
THRESHOLDS
information from the environment into
the body and brain. 1) Absolute Threshold
• The smallest intensity of a stimulus
Perception
that must be present for it to be
• Psychological response detected.
• The lower the absolute threshold =
the greater the sensitivity
Approximate Absolute Thresholds for • Sensory areas are located in the
Humans: different lobes of the brain.

• Vision – candle flame seen at 30

miles on a clear, dark night
• Hearing – tick of a watch under quiet
conditions at 20 feet
• Taste – 1 teaspoon of sugar in 20
gallons of water
• Smell – 1 drop of perfume diffused
into the entire volume
• Touch – wing of a fly or bee falling on a
person’s cheek from a distance of 1 1. Frontal Lobe
cm • Motor Cortex: somatic motor
2) Difference Threshold association area.
• The smallest level of added (or • Gustatory Cortex
reduced) stimulation required to • Olfactory Cortex
sense that a change in stimulation 2. Parietal Lobe
has occurred. • Somatic sensory association area
• The smallest difference between two 3. Occipital Lobe
stimuli. It only has 50 percent of the • Visual cortex: Primary visual Cortex
time. and Visual association area
4. Temporal Lobe
2. Receptor • Auditory Cortex: Primary auditory
• The stimulus is received by the Cortex and Auditory association area.
receptors.
• It is a specialized cells in the sense
organ capable of detecting the VISUAL SENSE
stimulus. Vision
Kinds: • Seeing
• Exteroceptors: external surface of • Most valued of all external senses
the body. • Starts with light
• Proprioceptors: located in muscles,
joints, and tendons
• Visceroceptors – visceral organs

3. Transmissor
• Bundle of nerve fibers that convey
sensory messages or impulses from
one neuron to the next (called fiber
tracts)

Note:
Visual Stimulus:

Light

• Physical energy that stimulates the

eye
• A form of electromagnetic radiation
waves.

Visual Spectrum

• Range of wavelengths that humans

are sensitive to

Visual Phenomena

• Color vision
• Color blindness
• Afterimage

Color vision

• Normal Vision: can distinguish no

less than 7 million different colors
• Color blind: limited ability to perceive
color

Color blindness:

1. Trichromats
• A people with normal color vision
2. Dichromats
• A deficient in the blue-yellow system,
the red-green system, or both.
3. Monochromats
• Sensitive only to the black-white
system, totally color-blind.

Ishihara Test

• Test to identify color blindness.