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Notebook Page 1 - Origins of Psychology

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8 views7 pages

Notebook Page 1 - Origins of Psychology

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kavitaap2
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© Morgan AP Teaching

Notebook Page 1
Historical Backgrounds and Fields
Unit 1 – Scientific Foundations of Psychology
The Field of Psychology Behavior - What
organisms do and
how or why they
Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes; do what they do
it is both a combination of the biological and the psychological

Mental Processes - The internal, subjective experiences we infer


from behavior: sensations, perception, dreams, thoughts, feelings, etc.

Sensations - These are your senses—it is the process of your body receiving
outside signals and stimuli from your eyes, nose, ears, tongue, etc.

Perception - This is how your brain interprets that information being provided.
You may perceive some things as happy, or sad, or hostile, or good, or bad, etc.

© Morgan AP Teaching
© Morgan AP Teaching

Ancient Origins of Psychology


Psychology was not an official science or field of study until 1879, although
philosophers had linked the idea of the physical body and the mind long before

Ancient Hebrew writers drew connections between feelings and parts


of the body, such as love being felt near the heart and fear in the stomach

Buddha (500s CE) noted the influence of sensation and perception on ideas (i.e.
senses can change moods, such as anger, which changes how you perceive and act)

Socrates and Plato (400s BCE) theorized that the mind and body were separable,
and that our minds were born with certain, innate knowledge that required unlocking

Aristotle (300s BCE) argued the opposite: that we obtain knowledge and habits through
observation and experience (not simply through unlocking what we already have)
© Morgan AP Teaching

Scientific Development
Ancient philosophers general believed nature or nurture was responsible for our minds and behavior

Proponents of nature believed knowledge and mind are innately bestowed, while
nurture proponents believed knowledge and mind are shaped by our environment

This trend continued into the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries
with advocates such as Descartes (nature) and Bacon and Locke (nurture)

Descartes believed the brain’s fluids contained ‘animal spirits’ that


commanded muscles, and that these ‘spirits’ determined behavior

Bacon held that we humans learn as we go, and are forever trying
to organize and make patterns of everything—even randomness

Locke held that we are all born as ‘blank slates,’ which are molded by our surroundings and education
© Morgan AP Teaching

Structuralism
Psychology developed into its own field of science under Wilhelm Wundt
when studying the longer reaction time of hearing vs. perceiving a sound

This perplexed Wundt and he began to explore the idea of


sensation and perception with G. Stanley Hall and John Hopkins

Wundt started a branch of psychology known as structuralism:


the scientific search for the structural elements of the mind

To do this, structuralism has people reflect internally on their


thoughts or feelings after a stimulus (smell, taste, touch, etc.).
E.g. – what people think of or feel when they smell a rose, or rotten meat

However, this branch quickly dismissed as unreliable as results varied


from person to person, and no consistent structural perceptions were found
© Morgan AP Teaching

Functionalism
Period of time from 1890-1920, William James developed the field of Functionalism

James was influenced by the ideas of evolution and


biological inheritance on the human mind and behavior

James believed that sensations like hearing, taste, touch, simple emotions,
and consciousness were evolutionary mutations that helped our ancestors survive

He asserted that consciousness enabled early humans to think about the


past, allowing them to remember benefits, dangers, and plan for the future

Those individuals survived and then passed on their traits to the next generations

Despite excellent work with James, Mary Whiton Calkins was denied a PhD simply for being a
woman; the first female PhD in psychology wouldn’t be granted until 1894 (Margaret Washburn)
© Morgan AP Teaching

Freudian Psychology
The ideas of Sigmund Freud emerged in the late-19th and early-20th centuries

Originally a physician, Freud witnessed a colleague treat a patient’s


mental illness by listening to the thoughts and problems of the patient

Freud then made a connection between our minds, bodies, and our experiences

Freud asserted that our behaviors, thoughts, and perceptions are


shaped unconsciously by our past and our primitive instincts

To Freud, our unconscious mind’s motives and desires are unknown to us,
and are constantly being repelled and blocked by our conscious mind

While many of his theories have been debunked, Freud re-opened the nurture argument,
as well as the idea that our minds and bodies have aspects that are beyond our
awareness

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