A. Perez & A.

Cmpanu

English for Psychology Students

UNIT 1

Psychology?

Discussion
1. What is psychology? Can you give your own definition?
2. Is psychology important to you? Why? Why not?
Reading
Read the article below and answer these questions:
1. How old is the science of psychology?
2. What is functionalism?

The word psychology literally

means, "study of the soul" (,
psukh, meaning "breath", "spirit", or
"soul"; and - -logos, translated
as "study of" or "research").

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and
includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior
and cognitive processes.
Psychology is really a very new science, with most advances happening over the past 150 years or so.
However, its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece, 400 500 years BC. The emphasis was a
philosophical one, with great thinkers such as Socrates influencing Plato, who in turn influenced Aristotle.
Philosophers used to discuss many topics now studied by modern psychology, such as memory, free will,
attraction etc. The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in
1694 in The Physical Dictionary which refers to "Anatomy, which treats of the Body, and Psychology,
which treats of the Soul.
In the early days of psychology there were two dominant theoretical perspectives:
An American psychologist named William James (1842-1910) developed an approach which
came to be known as functionalism. He argued that the mind is constantly changing and it is
pointless to look for the building blocks of experience. Instead, focus should be on how and why
an organism does something. It was suggested that psychologists should look for the underlying
cause of behavior and the mental the processes involved.
Structuralism was the name given to the approach pioneered by Wilhelm Wundt and it relied on
trained introspection, a research method whereby subjects related what was going on in their
minds while performing a certain task. However, it proved to be unreliable method because there
was too much individual variation in the experiences and reports of research subjects.
Because psychology is a science it attempts to investigate the causes of behavior using systematic and
objective procedures for observation, measurement and analysis, backed-up by theoretical interpretations,
generalizations, explanations and predictions.
The classic contemporary perspectives in psychology to adopt these strategies were the behaviorists, who
were renowned for their reliance on controlled laboratory experiment and rejection of any unseen or
subconscious forces as causes of behavior. And later, cognitive psychology adopted this rigorous, scientific,
lab based scientific approach too.
With its broad scope, psychology researchers investigate an enormous range of phenomena: learning and
memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality and social
behavior, intelligence, child development, mental illness, and much more. Some conduct detailed biological
studies of the brain, others explore how we process information; others analyze the role of evolution, and
still others study the influence of culture and society.
(adapted from McLeod, S. A. 2011. What is Psychology? - Simply Psychology)
Group work
According to the text, functionalism and structuralism are the first perspective in the study of psychology.
Name other perspectives that followed in the history of psychology and pick one which you agree upon and
consider it the most suitable for present times.
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A. Perez & A. Cmpanu

English for Psychology Students

Language
A. Find the proper definition according to the text.
n. free will
a) honesty and the ability to do or know what
is morally acceptable
b) inner power that leads you to make your
own decision without outside influence
c) therapeutic technique through which
clients are encouraged to imagine the
scenes connected with their feelings of
anxiety
d) put up with; wait; comply; obey

n. introspection
a) assuming that your group is superior to all
others
b) the theory which holds that the origin of all
knowledge is sense experience; the method
of observation and experiment used in the
natural sciences
c) refusing to accept an unpleasant truth,
usually unconsciously
d) thinking about your own thoughts and
feelings

n. building block
a) a block used as a building material,
especially a cinder block.
b) a small wooden or plastic cube used as a
building toy.
c) a basic element or part of something
d) a component that fits with others to form a
whole

adj. renowned
a) fresh
b) revocable
c) obsolete
d) famous

B. Now complete the following sentences using the words from the previous exercise.
a) Traditionally, those who deny the existence of .. look to fate, supernatural
powers, or material causes as the determinants of human behavior.
b) Frequent ................................... is not always good for the person as it may arouse doubts and lack of
confidence.
c) Amino acids are the .................................. of proteins.
d) He is ............................... for his paintings.
Discussion
1. Together with your colleague, read the
following paragraph and answer the question.

2. Use your critical mind upon this:

Thomas Kuhn considers that a field of study
can only legitimately be regarded as a science if
most of its followers subscribe to a common
perspective or paradigm. He believes that
psychology is still pre-paradigmatic, while others
believe its already experienced scientific
revolutions (Wundts structuralism being replaced
by Watsons behaviorism, in turn replaced by the
information-processing approach).
(McLeod, 2011)

Despite the failing of introspection Wundt is

an important figure in the history of psychology as
he opened the first laboratory dedicated to
psychology in 1879, and its opening is usually
thought of as the beginning of modern
psychology. Wundt was important because he
separated psychology from philosophy by
analyzing the workings of the mind using more
objective and standardized procedures.
Do you agree with the separation of psychology
from philosophy?

Can psychology be considered a science if

psychologists disagree about what to study and
how to study it?
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