Psychology

the scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes.

Psychologists are behavioral scientists.

Subject=individual

Major goals of psychology

to describe, explain, predict or control behavior

Behavior

Observable, measurable action.

Means by which both animals & humans adjust to their environment.

Objectivity

The need to record observable behavior as fact

Structuralism

Contents of the mind--"What" not 'Why'

All human experience could be understood as the combination of simple elements

Attacked: Reductionistic, Elemental, Mentalistic

Functionalism

Minds with a purpose

William James--what mental processes do for a person’s adaptation and survival.

John Dewey--School of functionalism

Learned habits to adapt to environment

Mary Whitin Calkins

First psychology labs in the United States

Invented important techniques for studying memory

Margaret Floy Washburn

1st woman to recieve PHD in psychology

2nd to lead APA

3rd performed early research in crossspecies psychology (The Animal Mind 1908)

Helen Thompson Wooley

Gender differences

(arose from social experiences)

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

Gender differences

(differences in creativity and intelligence)

Psychodynamic Perspective

behavior results from powerful inner forces beyond our immediate awareness (innate instincts, biological drives, and attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and society’s demands)

Reduce tension

Sigmund Freud--early childhood as the timeframe during which personality was formed.

Behaviorist Perspective

seek to understand how environmental stimuli influence behavior

Antecedent-->Behavioral Response-->Consequence

John Watson "psychology should seek laws that govern observable behavior across species"

B.F. Skinner--> Humans also!!!

Humanistic Perspective

Humans are not controlled by unconscious drives or external environment; have the choice

Carl Rogers/Abraham Maslo-natural tendancy towards psychological well being

Human life as a whole & not elemental

Cognitive Perspective

human thought and all the processes of knowing, such as attending, thinking, remembering, and understanding

An individuals subjective reality is more important than it's objective reality

Jean Piaget/Noam Chomsky (language aquisition)

Biological Perspective

Explains behavior in terms of genese, brain, the nervous system, and endocrine system

Complex behavior can be understoon by breaking up the behavior into smaller units

Evolutionary Perspective

Extends natural selection to explain how mental abilities evolve

Much longer temporal focus

Charles Darwin

Sociocultural Perspective

Cross-cultural differences in the causes and consequences of behavior

"The Self"