Intro
Basic Definitions:
The study of the human mind and behavior
●Clinical Psychology
○The study of mental disorders and treatments for mental disorders
●Experimental Psychology
○Uses the scientific method to answer questions about psychology
Important Terms/ People:
●G. Stanley Hall
○First American Phd in Psychology
○Opened the first Psychological Lab in the US
○Founded American Psychology Association (APA)
●Margaret Floy Washburn
○First woman to be granted a Psychology Phd
●Francis Cecil Sumner
○First Black individual to be awarded a psychological Phd in 1920
○Became the Chair of Psychology at Howard University
●Biopsychosocial
○Integrates biological social and psychological elements
○Biology- genes
○Psychological- long term social behaviors
○Social- temporary influences experienced in a given situation
●Clinical vs Counseling vs Community Psychologist
○Clinical psychologists deal with mental disorders and treatments
○Counseling does not deal with disorders, but helps to deal with troubling elements
in an individual’s life
○Community Psychologists create an environment that promotes mental health,
connection between physical environment and mental health
Early Theories:
●Nativism vs. Philosophical Empiricism
●Nativism (Plato) states that we are born with innate knowledge
○Philosophical Empiricism (Aristotle) says that all knowledge comes
through experience
, ○Should look at it as nature AND nurture to create psychology
●Demons
○Trephination is the process of digging a hole in someone's skull so a
demon can escape
●Biological
○Different elements of psychology are housed in different organs
●John Locke
○All knowledge comes from experience, centers around Philosophical
Empiricism
●Wichcraft
○Finding the individual who is causing them to have a mental disorder
rather than treating the disorder
●Phrenology
○The bumps and divots in someone's skull relates to psychology
*A bump would be an excess in a psychological trait and a divot would be
the inverse
Modern Trajectories:
●Weber and Fechner
○Examined the differences between the early world and how we perceive it as it is,
actual change vs. perceived change
●Gestalt
○The whole is more than the sum of its parts
○Understanding context in a situation is necessary rather than making assumptions
based on senses
●Structuralism
○What makes up our consciousness
○Wilhelm Wundt: the father of psychology as a science
○1879 he opened the first psychology lab
●Functionalism
○Understanding the function of our consciousness, how we use it
○William James: taught the first class in psychology and wrote the first textbook
●Freud
○Shifted discussion to unconscious
●Behaviorism
○Behavior matters
●Humanism
, ○All humans have the capacity for good
●Cognitive Psychology
○Focusing on internal processes, thinking and what is happening in the mind
○Kurt Lewin
■We need to know what is going on in the mind to understand someone's
behavior
●Social Psychology
○The effect of real or imagined others effects psychology
Modern Subfields:
●Evolutionary Psychology
○Looking at things that our ancestors did or had to deal with that we still see
remnants of in modern psychology
■Anger
■Attraction
●Cultural Psychology
○Understanding the influence that culture has on your psychology and
understanding different cultures
●Educational psychology
○How we use elements from psychology to best support students and teachers
when it comes to education
●Industrial/organizational psychology
○Intersection of psychology and the workplace
●Forensic psychology
○Intersection of psychology and the law
7 Themes:
●Empirical
○Psychology is informed by testable science
●Theoretically Diverse
○Different viewpoints of psychology open up discussion
●Sociohistorical Evolution
○What happens in an individual’s historical background will influence their
psychology
●Multiple Causality
Basic Definitions:
The study of the human mind and behavior
●Clinical Psychology
○The study of mental disorders and treatments for mental disorders
●Experimental Psychology
○Uses the scientific method to answer questions about psychology
Important Terms/ People:
●G. Stanley Hall
○First American Phd in Psychology
○Opened the first Psychological Lab in the US
○Founded American Psychology Association (APA)
●Margaret Floy Washburn
○First woman to be granted a Psychology Phd
●Francis Cecil Sumner
○First Black individual to be awarded a psychological Phd in 1920
○Became the Chair of Psychology at Howard University
●Biopsychosocial
○Integrates biological social and psychological elements
○Biology- genes
○Psychological- long term social behaviors
○Social- temporary influences experienced in a given situation
●Clinical vs Counseling vs Community Psychologist
○Clinical psychologists deal with mental disorders and treatments
○Counseling does not deal with disorders, but helps to deal with troubling elements
in an individual’s life
○Community Psychologists create an environment that promotes mental health,
connection between physical environment and mental health
Early Theories:
●Nativism vs. Philosophical Empiricism
●Nativism (Plato) states that we are born with innate knowledge
○Philosophical Empiricism (Aristotle) says that all knowledge comes
through experience
, ○Should look at it as nature AND nurture to create psychology
●Demons
○Trephination is the process of digging a hole in someone's skull so a
demon can escape
●Biological
○Different elements of psychology are housed in different organs
●John Locke
○All knowledge comes from experience, centers around Philosophical
Empiricism
●Wichcraft
○Finding the individual who is causing them to have a mental disorder
rather than treating the disorder
●Phrenology
○The bumps and divots in someone's skull relates to psychology
*A bump would be an excess in a psychological trait and a divot would be
the inverse
Modern Trajectories:
●Weber and Fechner
○Examined the differences between the early world and how we perceive it as it is,
actual change vs. perceived change
●Gestalt
○The whole is more than the sum of its parts
○Understanding context in a situation is necessary rather than making assumptions
based on senses
●Structuralism
○What makes up our consciousness
○Wilhelm Wundt: the father of psychology as a science
○1879 he opened the first psychology lab
●Functionalism
○Understanding the function of our consciousness, how we use it
○William James: taught the first class in psychology and wrote the first textbook
●Freud
○Shifted discussion to unconscious
●Behaviorism
○Behavior matters
●Humanism
, ○All humans have the capacity for good
●Cognitive Psychology
○Focusing on internal processes, thinking and what is happening in the mind
○Kurt Lewin
■We need to know what is going on in the mind to understand someone's
behavior
●Social Psychology
○The effect of real or imagined others effects psychology
Modern Subfields:
●Evolutionary Psychology
○Looking at things that our ancestors did or had to deal with that we still see
remnants of in modern psychology
■Anger
■Attraction
●Cultural Psychology
○Understanding the influence that culture has on your psychology and
understanding different cultures
●Educational psychology
○How we use elements from psychology to best support students and teachers
when it comes to education
●Industrial/organizational psychology
○Intersection of psychology and the workplace
●Forensic psychology
○Intersection of psychology and the law
7 Themes:
●Empirical
○Psychology is informed by testable science
●Theoretically Diverse
○Different viewpoints of psychology open up discussion
●Sociohistorical Evolution
○What happens in an individual’s historical background will influence their
psychology
●Multiple Causality
