Psychology

Philosophy

Biology

Physics

Empiricism: Humans should only be studied through directly observable behaviour

Positivism: Methods of science should be applied to human behaviour

Evolution: Darwin's ideas that we have evolved from other animals. The discoveries in genetics have implication for how we understand human behaviour

Physicology: Discoveries about the brian, nervous system & hormones have contributed greatly to our understanding of human behaviour

Psychologists have adopted many of the scientific methods & principles form Physics

Beginning of Psychology

In 1879 it was identified as a separate scientific disipline. Wundt was the 'founding father' as he began the very first psychology laboratory at this time.

Some aruged that William James should also have the honour. As his book 'The Principles of Psychology' published in 1890 but the book itself took 12years to write.

Plato: 387 BC, Plato suggested the brain is the mechanism of mental process

Herman Ebbinghaus: 1885, Ebbinghas introduced the nonsense syllable as a means to study memory processes

Freud: 1886, Began performing therapy in Vienna, marking the beginning of personality theory Behaviourism: 1900's Palov Classical Conditioning Thornike - Operant Conditioning 1900, published 'The Interpretation of Dreams', marking the beginning of Psychoanalytic Thought

Structuralism: Proposed by Wundt, suggest we should study the conscious mind by looking at our own mental experiences and breaking them down into images, sensations & feelings.

Functionalism: Proposed by James, replaced idea of Structuralism. Suggest the idea that our thoughts help us to survive & adapt, so psychology should fine out what our thoughts are for.

Pragmatism: An approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application. Stimulate the development of different approaches: - Biological Psychology - Cognitive Psychology - Developmental - Social Psychology - Individual Differences

Behaviourism proposed limiting psychological study to overt behaviour, that could be quntified & easily measured.

Behaviorists considered as knowledge of the 'mind' too metaphysical to achieve scientifically

Cognitive Science: Study of human mind, using tools of evolutionay psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, behaviorism & neurobiology.

Main approaches

Structuralism

Functionalism

Psychodynamic

Uses method of introspection to identify the basic elements or "structures" of psychological experience

Contributors: Wundt, Titchener

Attempts to understands why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess

Contributors: William James

Focuses on the role of our unconscious thoughts feelings & memories & our early childhood experience in determining behaviour

Contributors: Freud, Jung, Adler, Erickson

Strengths Strengths Weaknesses

Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses

Structuralism is important because it is the first major school of thought in psychology.

Structuralism also influenced experimental psychology.

Reliability: Wundts descriptions of the components of the brain were not observable

The physiological assumptions of Structuralism were based on a limited understanding of physiology.

Provides guidelines for us to understand ourselves more, possibly lead to cue for some illnesses

Influenced the educational system, especially with regards to John Deweys belief that children should learn at the level for which they are developmentally prepared.

You cannot truely tell the real reason why things are what they are. Due to individual difference & different measures

"It is literature. It is beautiful, but it is not psychology," said Wilhelm Wundt of functionalist William James The Principles of Psychology (Fancher , R.E., 1996).

provided a valuable insight into how early experiences or relationships can affect our adult personality.

the first approach to try and attempt to explain mental illness in psychological terms and has had an enormous influence on the understand and treatment of mental disorders.

most of Freuds is based on findings of case studies, single individual where cases are often unique and there are problems with generalization.

Freud did not take into account cultural variations. Most of his research was done on white, middle class people. Every class and culture of people have differ ways and values, so his findings cannot be generalized to all cultures.

Nature

Nurture

Biological Approach Genetics, hormonal & neurochemical explanations of behaviour

Psychoanalysis Innate drives of sex & aggression. Social upbringing during childhood

Cognitive Psychology Innate mental structures i.e. schemas, perception & memory & constantly changed by the environment

Humanism Emphasis the basic physical needs. Society influences a persons self concept

Behaviourism All behaviour is learned from the environment through conditioning

Main approaches

Behaviorism

Cognitive

Social-cultural/ Humanism

Based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behaviour itself

Contributors: J.B. Watson, B.F. Skinner

Study of mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory & judgments

Contributors: Heider, Schachter Contributors: Ebbinghaus, Sir F. Bartlett, Piaget Study of how the social situations & the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking & behaviour

Strengths

Weaknesses

Strengths Strengths Weaknesses It investigates many areas of interest in Psychology that had been neglected by behaviourism; yet, unlike psychoanalysis and humanism, it investigates them using a more rigorous scientific method. use a scientific approach through the use of laboratory experiments, as shown in the Loftus & Palmer study. Over simplistic ignoring the huge complexity of human functioning compared to computer functioning. Unrealistic and over hypothetical ignoring the biological influences and grounding of mental processes.

Weaknesses

focuses only on behaviour that can be observed and manipulated. Therefore, this approach has proved very useful in experiments under laboratory conditions where behaviour can be observed and manipulated, especially in relation to the IV & DV.

The behaviourist principles of learning have been, and continue to be, tested in the laboratory where learning can be objectively measured.

The behaviourist approach has been criticized for suggesting that most human behaviour is mechanical, and that human behaviour is simply the product of stimulusresponse behaviours. This seems to be a very reductionist attitude.

ignores human beings' complex thought processes (cognition) and emotions.

Uses real life situations, increase generalisability & realism

Contribution to understanding of social behaviour

Ethics - Ignores cultural factors, different cultures have different behaviour

Generalisability Due to ethics & individual difference, it makes finding difficult to generlise, therefore cannot applied to everyone