Chapter 1 Lecture Notes
Modern Psychology: Psychology is the science that studies behavior and the
physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that
applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.
➔ Not just the study of the mind, in its early beginnings that is what it was. People
were trying to figure out what is the mind and where is the mind. Now psychology
is broad which includes physiological and cognitive that might be the driving or
guiding behavior.
➔ It is a profession, a career path includes the knowledge that is generated from
the scientific studies of the problem and applying it in a practical way
➢ For example, psychological therapy setting, helping people in a school
setting, or helping with research.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience: is the study of the brain and the nervous system.
➔ 1990: President George Bush declares this the “Decade of the Brain”
➔ 2013: Europe announces the Human Brain Project
➔ 2016: McGill University wins $84 million grant for neuroscience, launches
program, Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives.
➔ New MRI machine in Surrey Memorial Hospital: “The high field MRI and high
Density MEG offers researchers unparalleled possibilities to watch the brain in
action, by visualizing and combining range of different powerful measures of
brain function and structure, these imaging tools will enable the region's top
health innovators to bring rapid advances in the treatment of devastating brain
disorders and diseases such as brain injury, brain tumors, epilepsy, autism, down
syndrome, ADHD, dementia, and mood disorders.”
, Chapter 1 Psyc 102
How Psychology Developed
❏ Scholars Interested in the history of psychology often point to developments in
philosophy and Physiology as influencing the course of early psychology (Green
and Groff, 2003; Pickren and Rutherford, 2010). Ancient Greek philosophers
such as Socrates (469-399 B.C.E), Plato (427-347 B.C.E), and Aristotle
(385- B.C.E) considered and debated issues of relevance to psychology,
including such subjects as the separation of mind and body and whether
knowledge (nativism) or gained through experience (empiricism) (Hothersall,
1995).
❏ Physiologist and Physician's such as Robert Whyte (1714- 1766), Franz gall
(1758-1828), Paul Broca (1824-1880), Johannes Muller (1801-1858) Show the
important insights gained into the working of the body and brain through the
application of systematic, empirical methods.
❏ Two major schools of thought, structuralism and functionalism, were entangled in
the first great intellectual battles in the field (wertheimer, 2012)
Structuralism
❏ Leadership of Edward titchener
❏ Structuralism was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze
Consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are
related.
❏ Introspection required training to make the subject the person being studied
more objective and more aware.
Functionalism
❏ Influenced by William James (1842- 1910)
❏ Functionalism was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the
function of purpose of Consciousness, rather than its structure. James argued
that the structuralist approach missed the real nature of conscious experience.
Consciousness he argued, consists of a continuous flow of thoughts.
❏ James wanted to understand the flow itself, which he called the stream of
consciousness.
❏ Theory of motion that remains influential today (Laird & Lacasse, 2014)
, ❏ His Landmark book, principles of psychology (1890), became standard reading
for generations of psychologists.
❏ Instead of focusing on sensation and perception, the functionalist began to
investigate mental testing, patterns of development in children, the effectiveness
of educational practices, and behavioral differences between the sexes.
❏ Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman in the United States to receive a
PhD in Psychology. She was the author of the book The Animal mind (1908),
which served as a precursor to behaviorism, a theoretical approach discussed
below.
❏ Leta Hollingworth, did important work on children's intelligence and was
influential in debunking some of the theories current at the time that were
proposed to explain why women were “ inferior” to men
❏ Mary Whiton Calkins, who studied with William James, went on to become the
first woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association
(APA).
❏ Feminist Psychologists, among others, have argued that women have
traditionally been under-represented in Psychology and that psychology has
often under emphasized the study of women and gender.
Behaviorism
❏ Behaviorism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific
psychology should study only observable Behavior.
❏ Watson was proposing that psychologists abandon the study of Consciousness
all together and focus exclusively on behaviours that they could observe directly
❏ Behavior refers to an overt response or active-duty by an organism.
❏ “Give me a dozen healthy infants, Wells formed and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and trained him to
become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, Merchants
thief, and yes even bigger man and see, regardless of his talents, tangents,
Tendencies, abilities, vacations and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my
socks and I admit it, but so have The Advocates of the contrary and they have
been doing it for many thousands of years.” (Watson, 1924)
Freud
Modern Psychology: Psychology is the science that studies behavior and the
physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that
applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.
➔ Not just the study of the mind, in its early beginnings that is what it was. People
were trying to figure out what is the mind and where is the mind. Now psychology
is broad which includes physiological and cognitive that might be the driving or
guiding behavior.
➔ It is a profession, a career path includes the knowledge that is generated from
the scientific studies of the problem and applying it in a practical way
➢ For example, psychological therapy setting, helping people in a school
setting, or helping with research.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience: is the study of the brain and the nervous system.
➔ 1990: President George Bush declares this the “Decade of the Brain”
➔ 2013: Europe announces the Human Brain Project
➔ 2016: McGill University wins $84 million grant for neuroscience, launches
program, Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives.
➔ New MRI machine in Surrey Memorial Hospital: “The high field MRI and high
Density MEG offers researchers unparalleled possibilities to watch the brain in
action, by visualizing and combining range of different powerful measures of
brain function and structure, these imaging tools will enable the region's top
health innovators to bring rapid advances in the treatment of devastating brain
disorders and diseases such as brain injury, brain tumors, epilepsy, autism, down
syndrome, ADHD, dementia, and mood disorders.”
, Chapter 1 Psyc 102
How Psychology Developed
❏ Scholars Interested in the history of psychology often point to developments in
philosophy and Physiology as influencing the course of early psychology (Green
and Groff, 2003; Pickren and Rutherford, 2010). Ancient Greek philosophers
such as Socrates (469-399 B.C.E), Plato (427-347 B.C.E), and Aristotle
(385- B.C.E) considered and debated issues of relevance to psychology,
including such subjects as the separation of mind and body and whether
knowledge (nativism) or gained through experience (empiricism) (Hothersall,
1995).
❏ Physiologist and Physician's such as Robert Whyte (1714- 1766), Franz gall
(1758-1828), Paul Broca (1824-1880), Johannes Muller (1801-1858) Show the
important insights gained into the working of the body and brain through the
application of systematic, empirical methods.
❏ Two major schools of thought, structuralism and functionalism, were entangled in
the first great intellectual battles in the field (wertheimer, 2012)
Structuralism
❏ Leadership of Edward titchener
❏ Structuralism was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze
Consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are
related.
❏ Introspection required training to make the subject the person being studied
more objective and more aware.
Functionalism
❏ Influenced by William James (1842- 1910)
❏ Functionalism was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the
function of purpose of Consciousness, rather than its structure. James argued
that the structuralist approach missed the real nature of conscious experience.
Consciousness he argued, consists of a continuous flow of thoughts.
❏ James wanted to understand the flow itself, which he called the stream of
consciousness.
❏ Theory of motion that remains influential today (Laird & Lacasse, 2014)
, ❏ His Landmark book, principles of psychology (1890), became standard reading
for generations of psychologists.
❏ Instead of focusing on sensation and perception, the functionalist began to
investigate mental testing, patterns of development in children, the effectiveness
of educational practices, and behavioral differences between the sexes.
❏ Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman in the United States to receive a
PhD in Psychology. She was the author of the book The Animal mind (1908),
which served as a precursor to behaviorism, a theoretical approach discussed
below.
❏ Leta Hollingworth, did important work on children's intelligence and was
influential in debunking some of the theories current at the time that were
proposed to explain why women were “ inferior” to men
❏ Mary Whiton Calkins, who studied with William James, went on to become the
first woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association
(APA).
❏ Feminist Psychologists, among others, have argued that women have
traditionally been under-represented in Psychology and that psychology has
often under emphasized the study of women and gender.
Behaviorism
❏ Behaviorism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific
psychology should study only observable Behavior.
❏ Watson was proposing that psychologists abandon the study of Consciousness
all together and focus exclusively on behaviours that they could observe directly
❏ Behavior refers to an overt response or active-duty by an organism.
❏ “Give me a dozen healthy infants, Wells formed and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and trained him to
become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, Merchants
thief, and yes even bigger man and see, regardless of his talents, tangents,
Tendencies, abilities, vacations and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my
socks and I admit it, but so have The Advocates of the contrary and they have
been doing it for many thousands of years.” (Watson, 1924)
Freud
