Prologue
(The Story of Psychology)
➢ What is Psychology:
○ Psychological science if born
○ Psychological science is develops
○ Contemporary psychology
○ Psychology’s three main levels of analysis
○ Psychology’s subfields
○ SQ3R (NOTE TAKING)
➢ What is Psychology:
■ Today’s definition- the scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
■ Scientific- answering questions objectively based
on observable facts, data, and established methods
■ Behavior- observable actions
■ Mental Processes- thoughts, feelings, sensations,
perceptions, motivations, dreams, subjective
experiences
● Behavior and mental processes are explained
together because one always affects the other
➢ Roots of Psychology:
○ Ancient philosophers asked questions about human
existence
■ Rene Descartes- dualism, or the idea that the mind
and body are separate entities that interact
■ Plato- nativism, or the idea the certain kinds of
knowledge are inborn or innate
■ Aristotle- philosophical empiricism, or the idea
that all knowledge is acquired through experience
➢ Prescientific Psychology:
■ John Locke (1632-1704)- Locke held that the mind
was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and
experiences wrote on it
, ➢ Roots of Psychology:
■ Physiology- the branch of biology that studies the
functions and parts of living organisms
○ By the 1600s physiologists find that specific studies
being to begin to study the workings of the brain and
its relations to behavior
○ In the 1700s physiologists find that specific bodily
functions can be traced to specific brain areas
○ Some early ideas, such as phrenology, did not stand the
test of time
➢ Roots of Psychology: A Discipline is
Found
○ Uses scientific methods to study psychological
processes
○ Writes first psychology textbook (1874)
○ Established first psychology research laboratory at the
University of Leipzig Germany (1879)
➢ Early Schools of Psychology:
■ Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)- the science of
psychology
○ Wilhelm Wundt promotes the belief that experimental
methods should be used to study mental processes
○ What is the best way to measure mental processes?
○ Although Wundt is considered the ”founder” of
psychology as a separate scientific discipline, his
initial work was a research assistant to philosophy
Hermann Von Helmholtz, who was studying the reaction
time to stimuli
○ In time some 200 students traveled to Leipzig to study
with Wundt
○ Over years, nearly 20,000 students attended his
lectures in general psychology
■ Edward Titchener (1867-1927)- structuralism
○ Edward Titchener student of Wundt held that complex
conscious experiences could be broken down into
elemental parts or structure
○ What are the structures of conscious experience?
○ Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt’s became a
psychology professor at Cornell University in 1892
(The Story of Psychology)
➢ What is Psychology:
○ Psychological science if born
○ Psychological science is develops
○ Contemporary psychology
○ Psychology’s three main levels of analysis
○ Psychology’s subfields
○ SQ3R (NOTE TAKING)
➢ What is Psychology:
■ Today’s definition- the scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
■ Scientific- answering questions objectively based
on observable facts, data, and established methods
■ Behavior- observable actions
■ Mental Processes- thoughts, feelings, sensations,
perceptions, motivations, dreams, subjective
experiences
● Behavior and mental processes are explained
together because one always affects the other
➢ Roots of Psychology:
○ Ancient philosophers asked questions about human
existence
■ Rene Descartes- dualism, or the idea that the mind
and body are separate entities that interact
■ Plato- nativism, or the idea the certain kinds of
knowledge are inborn or innate
■ Aristotle- philosophical empiricism, or the idea
that all knowledge is acquired through experience
➢ Prescientific Psychology:
■ John Locke (1632-1704)- Locke held that the mind
was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and
experiences wrote on it
, ➢ Roots of Psychology:
■ Physiology- the branch of biology that studies the
functions and parts of living organisms
○ By the 1600s physiologists find that specific studies
being to begin to study the workings of the brain and
its relations to behavior
○ In the 1700s physiologists find that specific bodily
functions can be traced to specific brain areas
○ Some early ideas, such as phrenology, did not stand the
test of time
➢ Roots of Psychology: A Discipline is
Found
○ Uses scientific methods to study psychological
processes
○ Writes first psychology textbook (1874)
○ Established first psychology research laboratory at the
University of Leipzig Germany (1879)
➢ Early Schools of Psychology:
■ Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)- the science of
psychology
○ Wilhelm Wundt promotes the belief that experimental
methods should be used to study mental processes
○ What is the best way to measure mental processes?
○ Although Wundt is considered the ”founder” of
psychology as a separate scientific discipline, his
initial work was a research assistant to philosophy
Hermann Von Helmholtz, who was studying the reaction
time to stimuli
○ In time some 200 students traveled to Leipzig to study
with Wundt
○ Over years, nearly 20,000 students attended his
lectures in general psychology
■ Edward Titchener (1867-1927)- structuralism
○ Edward Titchener student of Wundt held that complex
conscious experiences could be broken down into
elemental parts or structure
○ What are the structures of conscious experience?
○ Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt’s became a
psychology professor at Cornell University in 1892
