Introduction of

Psychology
Ms Humaidha
 Definition of Psychology
• The word 'psychology' is derived from two Greek words,
'psyche’, meaning the mind, soul or spirit and 'logos',
meaning discourse or to study. These words combined
produce the 'Study of the mind'.
• The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• The history of psychology can be traced back to ancient
Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato, who
explored topics such as perception, memory, and learning.
The modern scientific study of psychology began in the
late 19th century, with the establishment of experimental
psychology as a discipline.
 Greek Philosophers

• Plato believed that mind or soul has a distinct power and is God
given.
• Aristotle wrote “About the Psyche” consisting of topics such as
personality, sensation, thought, intelligence, motives, feelings and
memory.
What is the nature vs. nurture debate in psychology?

• The nature vs. nurture debate is a longstanding controversy in psychology that

centers on whether human behavior and traits are primarily determined by
genetics (nature) or environmental factors (nurture).
• We can trace psychology’s roots back to the ancient Greeks, who considered the
mind to be a suitable topic for scholarly contemplation. Later philosophers
argued for hundreds of years about some of the questions psychologists grapple
with today. For example, the 17th-century British philosopher John Locke
believed that children were born into the world with minds like “blank slates”
(tabula rasa in Latin) and that their experiences determined what kind of adults
they would become. His views contrasted with those of Plato and the 15th-
century French philosopher René Descartes, who argued that some knowledge
was inborn in humans
 Pre-Modern Period

• Descartes formed a theory of mind-body interaction.

• John Locke believed that at birth, the mind is a tabula rasa, a blank slate
and that the experiences one encounters during one’s lifetime are
impressed on the mind.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) German
physiologist Wilhelm Wundt is generally
credited as being the founder of psychology
as an experimental science. In 1879, he
established the first psychology research
laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. By the
early 1900s, many American students had
come to study at Wundt’s facilities, which
now occupied several floors at the university.
By that time, Wundt’s research had
expanded to include such topics as cultural
psychology and developmental psychology.
 Structuralism
• However, the formal beginning of psychology as a
scientific discipline is generally considered to be in the
late 19th century, when, in Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm
Wundt established the first experimental laboratory
devoted to psychological phenomena. About the same
time, William James was setting up his laboratory in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Structuralism: Wundt’s approach, which focuses on
uncovering the fundamental mental components of
consciousness, thinking, and other kinds of mental states
and activities.
• Introspection: A procedure used to study the structure
of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in
detail what they are experiencing when they are
exposed to a stimulus.
• To determine how basic sensory processes shape our
understanding of the world, Wundt and other
structuralists used a procedure called introspection, in
which they presented people with a stimulus—such as a
bright green object or a sentence printed on a card—and
asked them to describe, in their own words and in as
much detail as they could, what they were experiencing.
• Wundt argued that by analyzing their reports,
psychologists could come to a better understanding of
the structure of the mind.
Edward B. Titchener (1867–1927) Born in
England, Titchener studied with Wundt in
Germany and then became a psychology
professor at Cornell University in 1892. In
contrast to the psychology programs at
both Harvard and Columbia Universities at
the time, Titchener welcomed women into
his graduate program at Cornell. In fact,
more women completed their psychology
doctorates under Titchener’s direction than
with any other male psychologist of his
generation (Evans, 1991).
William James (1842–1910) Harvard professor
William James was instrumental in
establishing psychology in the United
States. In 1890, James published a highly
influential text, Principles of Psychology.
James’s ideas became the basis of another
early school of psychology, called functionalism,
which stressed studying the adaptive
and practical functions of human behavior.
 Functionalism
• The perspective that replaced structuralism is known as functionalism. Rather
than focusing on the mind’s structure, functionalism concentrated on what the
mind does and how behavior functions. Functionalists, whose perspective
became prominent in the early 1900s, asked what role behavior plays in
allowing people to adapt to their environments. For example, a functionalist
might examine the function of the emotion of fear in preparing us to deal with
emergency situations.
• Led by the American psychologist William James, the functionalists examined
how behavior allows people to satisfy their needs and how our “stream of
consciousness” permits us to adopt to our environment. The American educator
John Dewey drew on functionalism to develop the field of school psychology,
proposing ways to best meet students’ educational needs
 Main schools of psychology

• Each school has its own theoretical perspective and

approach to understanding human behavior and mental
processes.
• Behaviorism: John Watson & B. F. Skinner
• Psychoanalytic theory: Sigmund Freud
• Humanism: Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow
• Cognitive perspective: George Miller
• Evolutionary perspective: David Buss
 Behaviorism
• Views observable, measurable behavior as the appropriate
subject matter.
• Emphasizes the key role of environment as a determinant
of behavior.
• Helped establish psychology as a science.
• Founded by John Watson
• B. F. Skinner
 Three Key Scientists in the Development of
Behaviorism

Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) John B. Watson (1878–1958) B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)

 Psychoanalytic Theory
• The unconscious is the primary focus of psychoanalytic
theory.
• Freud believed that the unconscious is the storehouse for
material that threatens the conscious life of the individual.
 Humanistic Psychology
• Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow emphasized the unique human
qualities, especially their freedom of choice and decision making, as well
as their potential for personal growth.
• Emphasizes positive view of human nature.
• Carl Rogers: developed client-centered therapy

Carl Rogers (1902–1987)

 Cognitive perspective
• Views humans as active participants in their environment.
• Studies mental processes:
Memory
Problem solving
Decision making
Perception
Language
 Evolutionary Perspective
• Studies how humans have adapted the behaviors required
for survival in the face of environmental pressures.
• Comparing behaviors across species can often lead to new
insights about the adaptive function of a particular
behavior. For example, humans, monkeys, and apes are all
members of the primate family.
 Gestalt psychology
• Gestalt psychology emphasizes how perception is organized.
Instead of considering the individual parts that make up
thinking, gestalt psychologists took the opposite tack, studying
how people consider individual elements together as units or
wholes. Led by German scientists such as Hermann Ebbinghaus
and Max Wertheimer, gestalt psychologists proposed that “The
whole is different from the sum of its parts”—that is, our
perception, or understanding, of objects is greater and more
meaningful than the individual elements that make up our
perceptions.
THANK YOU