U1 - Psychology's History and
Approaches
,Ancient Greeks
● Socrates and his student Plato: The mind exists independently of the body, and knowledge is inborn.
● Plato’s student Aristotle: knowledge is not preexisting; it grows from the experiences stored in memories
1600
● René Descartes: A proponent of dualism (mind is separate from the body), argued that “threads” within the
body control movement, and that some behaviours occur without thought.
● Britain, Francis Bacon: a founder of modern science in Britain, promoted empiricism—gaining knowledge
through observation and data—rejecting Medieval reliance on tradition.
1676: John Locke: “social contract” in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and
in which the government serves the people. People have natural rights to life, liberty and property. The mind at birth is
a tabula rasa (blank slate). This idea, adding to Bacon’s ideas, helped form modern empiricism (knowledge is
gained through experience = observe and experiment)
1831: Darwin - Natural selection
1879 December
Key Figure Contribution
Wilhelm Wundt, Ran the 1st psychology lab+experiment “atoms of the mind.”
Trained subjects on introspection
U of Leipzig, Structuralism: the idea that the mind operates by combining subjective
Father of Psychology emotions with objective sensations
Edward Titchener, Introduced structuralism.
Student of Wundt What is the structure of the conscious mind?
Introspection - think about and report on their experiences.
Discover the structural elements of the mind
William James Published the first psychology textbook: Principles of Psychology.
Must consider the functions of our thoughts and feelings: how do they enable
Functionalist us to adapt
Father of Modern Psychology → Functionalism – why does a behaviour exist? Why do you do that?
Mary Whiton Calkins Harvard PhD denied in 1895; memory researcher;
1st female president of APA in 1905
Student of James [Feminist Psychologist, 2002]
Margaret Floy Washburn, First female PhD (admitted) in psychology in 1894 from Cornell University
The second female APA president in 1921.
A Student of James Examined a person’s total experience because the way we experience the
world is more than just an accumulation of perceptual experiences
Sigmund Freud, Unconscious Mind: store of “taboo” feelings, desires, ideas (asocial)
→ The Unconscious Mind has more power than our consciousness.
Father of Psychoanalysis → Free Association
20th Century
1910s-1930s: GESTALT psychology: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
● Gestalt psychologists relied on careful observation of perception to understand how people organize
sensory experiences — an application of empirical methods (Bacon) to psychological phenomena.
1920s-1960s: US psychologists define psychology as “the scientific study of observable behaviour.”
1960s: Focused on mental process
Three levels of analysis: Biopsychosocial Approach
Each person is a complex system that is part of a larger social system, and at the same time composed of
smaller systems
Biological ● Natural selection of adaptive traits
● Genetic predispositions responding to the environment
● Brain mechanisms
● Hormonal influences
Psychological ● Learned fears and other learned expectations
● Emotional responses
, ● Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
Social Cultural ● Presence of others
● Cultural, societal, and family expectations
● Peer and other group influences
● Compelling models (such as in the media)
Approach Focus/Key ideas Example Question
Biological Biological systems How do brain chemicals affect behaviour?
● Brain/Brain parts How are messages transmitted within the body? How
● Genetics/DNA is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
● Physiological systems To what extent are traits such as intelligence,
personality, sexual orientation, and depression
attributable to our genes? To our environment?
Evolutionary [Darwinism: survival of the fittest] How does evolution influence behavioural
Adaptive behaviours shaped by tendencies?
natural selection
Psychodynamic → Focus on the unconscious mind How can someone’s personality traits and disorders
(Psychoanalysis) →The place where repressed be explained in terms of sexually and aggressively
→ Dream analysis memories, unrevealed wishes, driven or as the disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes
→ Free Response guilty secrets, unspeakable and childhood traumas?
→ Freudian slips yearning, etc., are stored.
→ Hypnosis → Cause the “mind” great anxiety
Behavioral → Observed behaviour How do we learn to fear particular objects or
(behaviourism) → Conditioning situations?
→Pavlor →Response to stimuli What is the best way to alter our behaviour, say, to
→Skinner lose weight or stop smoking?
→Watson
Humanistic →Free will How can we work toward fulfilling our potential?
→Governed by satisfying needs How can we overcome barriers to our personal
Humanism Pyramid (Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow) growth?
Cognitive →Thinking, memory, How do we use information in remembering?
problem-solving, IQ, perception Reasoning? Solving problems?
→ Piaget's 4 stages
Sociocultural Cultural background + society How are we humans alike as members of one
shape your behaviours human family? As products of different
environmental contexts, how do we differ?
, Old school psychology:
Empiricism: The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on
observation and experimentation.
Structuralism: An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human
mind.
Functionalism: A school of psychology that focuses on how our mental and behavioural processes function – how
they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Behaviourism: The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behaviour without reference to
mental processes.
Nature-Nurture Issue - the controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience.
Psychology subfields
Psychometric: The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.
Basic Research: Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
● Developmental: The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
● Educational: The study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.
● Personality: The study of an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
● Cognitive: The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering,
and communicating
● Social: The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Applied Research: A scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
● Industrial Organizational: The application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human
behaviour in workplaces.
● Human Factors Psychology: The study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and
easily used machines and environments
Clinical Science and Applications (counselling and clinical)
● Clinical: A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
● Counselling: A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school,
work, and marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review
Approaches
,Ancient Greeks
● Socrates and his student Plato: The mind exists independently of the body, and knowledge is inborn.
● Plato’s student Aristotle: knowledge is not preexisting; it grows from the experiences stored in memories
1600
● René Descartes: A proponent of dualism (mind is separate from the body), argued that “threads” within the
body control movement, and that some behaviours occur without thought.
● Britain, Francis Bacon: a founder of modern science in Britain, promoted empiricism—gaining knowledge
through observation and data—rejecting Medieval reliance on tradition.
1676: John Locke: “social contract” in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and
in which the government serves the people. People have natural rights to life, liberty and property. The mind at birth is
a tabula rasa (blank slate). This idea, adding to Bacon’s ideas, helped form modern empiricism (knowledge is
gained through experience = observe and experiment)
1831: Darwin - Natural selection
1879 December
Key Figure Contribution
Wilhelm Wundt, Ran the 1st psychology lab+experiment “atoms of the mind.”
Trained subjects on introspection
U of Leipzig, Structuralism: the idea that the mind operates by combining subjective
Father of Psychology emotions with objective sensations
Edward Titchener, Introduced structuralism.
Student of Wundt What is the structure of the conscious mind?
Introspection - think about and report on their experiences.
Discover the structural elements of the mind
William James Published the first psychology textbook: Principles of Psychology.
Must consider the functions of our thoughts and feelings: how do they enable
Functionalist us to adapt
Father of Modern Psychology → Functionalism – why does a behaviour exist? Why do you do that?
Mary Whiton Calkins Harvard PhD denied in 1895; memory researcher;
1st female president of APA in 1905
Student of James [Feminist Psychologist, 2002]
Margaret Floy Washburn, First female PhD (admitted) in psychology in 1894 from Cornell University
The second female APA president in 1921.
A Student of James Examined a person’s total experience because the way we experience the
world is more than just an accumulation of perceptual experiences
Sigmund Freud, Unconscious Mind: store of “taboo” feelings, desires, ideas (asocial)
→ The Unconscious Mind has more power than our consciousness.
Father of Psychoanalysis → Free Association
20th Century
1910s-1930s: GESTALT psychology: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
● Gestalt psychologists relied on careful observation of perception to understand how people organize
sensory experiences — an application of empirical methods (Bacon) to psychological phenomena.
1920s-1960s: US psychologists define psychology as “the scientific study of observable behaviour.”
1960s: Focused on mental process
Three levels of analysis: Biopsychosocial Approach
Each person is a complex system that is part of a larger social system, and at the same time composed of
smaller systems
Biological ● Natural selection of adaptive traits
● Genetic predispositions responding to the environment
● Brain mechanisms
● Hormonal influences
Psychological ● Learned fears and other learned expectations
● Emotional responses
, ● Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
Social Cultural ● Presence of others
● Cultural, societal, and family expectations
● Peer and other group influences
● Compelling models (such as in the media)
Approach Focus/Key ideas Example Question
Biological Biological systems How do brain chemicals affect behaviour?
● Brain/Brain parts How are messages transmitted within the body? How
● Genetics/DNA is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
● Physiological systems To what extent are traits such as intelligence,
personality, sexual orientation, and depression
attributable to our genes? To our environment?
Evolutionary [Darwinism: survival of the fittest] How does evolution influence behavioural
Adaptive behaviours shaped by tendencies?
natural selection
Psychodynamic → Focus on the unconscious mind How can someone’s personality traits and disorders
(Psychoanalysis) →The place where repressed be explained in terms of sexually and aggressively
→ Dream analysis memories, unrevealed wishes, driven or as the disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes
→ Free Response guilty secrets, unspeakable and childhood traumas?
→ Freudian slips yearning, etc., are stored.
→ Hypnosis → Cause the “mind” great anxiety
Behavioral → Observed behaviour How do we learn to fear particular objects or
(behaviourism) → Conditioning situations?
→Pavlor →Response to stimuli What is the best way to alter our behaviour, say, to
→Skinner lose weight or stop smoking?
→Watson
Humanistic →Free will How can we work toward fulfilling our potential?
→Governed by satisfying needs How can we overcome barriers to our personal
Humanism Pyramid (Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow) growth?
Cognitive →Thinking, memory, How do we use information in remembering?
problem-solving, IQ, perception Reasoning? Solving problems?
→ Piaget's 4 stages
Sociocultural Cultural background + society How are we humans alike as members of one
shape your behaviours human family? As products of different
environmental contexts, how do we differ?
, Old school psychology:
Empiricism: The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on
observation and experimentation.
Structuralism: An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human
mind.
Functionalism: A school of psychology that focuses on how our mental and behavioural processes function – how
they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Behaviourism: The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behaviour without reference to
mental processes.
Nature-Nurture Issue - the controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience.
Psychology subfields
Psychometric: The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.
Basic Research: Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
● Developmental: The scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
● Educational: The study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.
● Personality: The study of an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
● Cognitive: The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering,
and communicating
● Social: The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Applied Research: A scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
● Industrial Organizational: The application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human
behaviour in workplaces.
● Human Factors Psychology: The study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and
easily used machines and environments
Clinical Science and Applications (counselling and clinical)
● Clinical: A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
● Counselling: A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school,
work, and marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review
