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Prologue Overview

 What Is Psychology?
 Psychological science is born
 Psychological science develops
 Contemporary psychology
 Psychology’s three main levels of analysis
 Psychology’s subfields
 Best learning practices: Improve your retention-and
your grades!
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Psychological Science Is Born

 First laboratory
 Fourth century B.C.E.: Aristotle used observation
and questioning to understand the body-psyche
relationship
 Questions were answered through observation (and
guesses)
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Psychological
Science Is Born
 Wilhelm Wundt (1832-
1920)
 Defined psychology as
“science of mental life”
 Added two key elements
to enhance scientific
nature of psychology
 Elements included
carefully measured
observations and
experiments
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Structuralism:
Titchener
 Mentored by Wundt
 Relied on “self-report”
data
 Encouraged
introspection, reporting
on sensations and other
elements of experience
in reaction to stimuli
 Used these introspective
reports to build a view of
the mind’s structure
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Functionalism:
William James (1842-
1910)
 Studied human
thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors and asked:
 What function might they
serve?

 How might they have

helped our ancestors
survive?

 Authored Principles of
Psychology
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First women in
psychology
Mary Whiton Calkins
(1863-1930)
 Became memory
researcher and first
APA female president
 Studied with James
but discriminated
against and denied
PhD
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First women in
psychology
Margaret Floy
Washburn (1871-1939)
 Became second APA
female president
 Wrote The Animal Mind
 Studied with Titchener
but barred from his
experimental
psychology organization
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Psychological Science Develops:

Behaviorism
 Behaviorism
 Defined psychology as “scientific study of observable
behavior” without reference to mental processes
 Became major force in psychology into 1960s
 Proponents
 John B. Watson (Classical conditioning) and B.F.
Skinner (Operant conditioning) dismissed introspection
 Watson and Rayner conduced famous “Little Albert”
experiments
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Psychological
Science Develops
 Freudian
psychology
 Emphasized ways
unconscious thought
processes and
emotional responses
to childhood
experiences affect
later behavior
 Was second major
force until 1960s
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Psychological Science Develops

 Humanistic psychology
 Revived interest in study of mental processes
 Focused on ways current environments nurture or
limit growth potential and importance of having need
for love and acceptance satisfied
 Led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
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Psychological Science Develops

 The cognitive revolution occurred in 1960

and focus returned to interest in mental
processes.
 Cognitive psychology scientifically explored ways in
which information is perceived, processed, and
remembered.
 The interdisciplinary field of cognitive neuroscience
ties the science of mind (cognitive psychology) and
the science of the brain (neuroscience) and focuses
on brain activity underlying mental activity
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Modern Definition of Psychology

Mental
processes = Psychology Behavior =
internal, = science of any action
subjective behavior and that can be
experience observed or
mental recorded
inferred from
behavior processes
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Contemporary Psychology

 The field of psychology is growing and

globalizing
 Psychology’s pioneers have come from many fields:
physiology, philosophy, medicine, and biology.
 Advances in psychology also have been made in
many countries; psychology has spread rapidly with
182 member nations in the IUPS
 This contributed to the growing understanding of
biology and experience and fueled the nature-nurture
debate.
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Contemporary Psychology

 The big nature-nurture question continues.

 To what extent are our traits already set in place at
birth (our “Nature”)?
 And to what extent do our traits develop in response
to our environment/ experience (our “Nurture”)?

Why do you think these questions are important?

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Contemporary Psychology: Evolutionary

Psychology and Behavior Genetics

Nature Nurture
• Plato: Character and • Aristotle: Content of mind
intelligence inherited; comes through senses
some ideas inborn • Locke: Mind is blank slate
• Descartes: Some ideas
are intuitive
• Darwin: Some traits,
behaviors, and instincts
are part of species;
natural selection
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Contemporary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology: Focus on how humans

are alike because of common biology and
evolutionary history

Behavior genetics: Focus on differences related to

differing genes and environments

Cross-cultural psychology: Focus on ways

culture shapes behavior, but same underlying
processes are universal

Gender psychology: Focus on differences; males

and females are overwhelmingly similar
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Contemporary
Psychology
 Martin Seligman:
Positive psychology
 Explores human
flourishing
 Uses scientific methods to
Courtesy Martin Seligman

investigate building of
good life that engages
skill-building and a
meaningful life that
extends beyond self
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Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Psychological influences:
• learned fears and other learned
expectations
• emotional responses
• cognitive processing and perceptual
interpretations

Social-cultural influences:
Biological influences:
• presence of others
• genetic predispositions (genetically • cultural, societal, and family
influenced traits) expectations
• genetic mutations • peer and other group influences
• natural selection of adaptive traits and • compelling models (such as in the
behaviors passed down through media)
generations
• genes responding to the environment
Behavior
or mental
process
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Psychology’s Subfields

 Psychology
 Hub scientific discipline (Cacloppo, 2007)
 Common quest : Describing and explaining behavior and
the mind underlying it
 Range of researchers
 Biological psychologists
 Developmental psychologists
 Cognitive psychologists
 Personality psychologists
 Social psychologists
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Psychology’s Subfields
Perspective Focus
Neuroscience How the body and brain
enable emotions, memories,
and sensory experiences
Evolutionary How the natural selection of
traits has promoted the
survival of genes
Behavior genetics How our genes and our
environment influence our
individual differences
Psychodynamic How behavior springs from
unconscious drives and
conflicts
Behavioral How we learn observable
responses
Cognitive How we encode, process,
store, and retrieve information
Socio-cultural How behavior and thinking
vary across situations and
cultures
Sample questions Examples of subfields using
this perspective
How do pain messages travel from the hand Biological; cognitive; clinical
to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked
with moods and motives?
How does evolution influence behavior Biological; developmental;
tendencies? social
To what extent are psychological traits such Personality; developmental;
as intelligence, personality, sexual legal/forensic
orientation, and vulnerability to depression
products of our genes? Of our environment?
How can someone’s personality traits and Clinical; counseling;
disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes personality
and childhood traumas?
How do we learn to fear particular objects or Clinical; counseling; industrial-
situations? What is the most effective way to organizational
alter our behavior, say, to lose weight or
stop smoking?
How do we use information in Cognitive neuroscience;
remembering? Reasoning? Solving clinical; counseling; industrial-
problems? organizational
How are we alike as members of one Developmental; social
human family? How do we differ as products psychology; clinical; counseling
of our environment?
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Best Learning Practices: Improve Retention

and Grades!
 Scientific studies show that
 Testing boosts retention of material
 Actively processing material and retrieving material
helps master it (testing effect)
 Spaced rehearsal, interspaced with other subjects, is
more efficient than cramming
 Concept familiarity is not effective enough
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SQ3R Study Method (McDaniel et al., 2009;

Robinson, 1970)

Survey Question Read Rehearse Review

• Scan/Skim • Ask • Look for • Recall • Recall
what you questions the answer what what
are about that the to your you’ve you’ve
to read, text might question, read in read in
especially answer; reading a your own your own
chapter write manage- words. words.
outlines guesses. able Test Test
and amount at yourself yourself
section a time. with with
heads. quizzes. quizzes.
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Four Additional Tips

 Distribute study time

 Learn to think critically
 Process class information actively
 Overlearn