What is Psychology? Renaissance Thinkers
• It is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Reñe Descartes - Distinguished the mental realm from the
o Behavior: includes all of our outward or overt actions and physical realm. He argued that only humans have a mind, that the
reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and movement. mind is a separate immaterial substance (its essence is thinking),
o Mental processes: refer to all the internal, covert (hidden) and that the mind is causally connected to (the pineal gland of)
activities of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. the brain.
Four Goals of Psychology Physicians
• To uncover the mysteries of human and animal behavior.
1. Description: What is happening? Gustav Fechner - established a new branch of psychology called
2. Explanation: Why is it happening? psychophysics. He believed that the mind could be measured using
3. Prediction: When will it happen again? perception and sensation and that psychology could be a quantified
4. Control: How can it be changed? science. One of his most notable theories was the Weber-Fechner
law, which focuses on barely noticeable differences.
History of Psychology
Greek Philosophers Physiologist
Plato - acknowledged the existence of an unconscious Hermann Von Helmholtz - Helmholtz is known for his mathematics
and of repression. concerning the eye, theories of vision, ideas on the visual
perception of space, color vision research, the sensation of tone,
Aristotle - He takes psychology to be the branch of perceptions of sound, and empiricism in the physiology of
science that investigates the soul and its properties, but he thinks of the soul as a perception.
general principle of life, with the result that Aristotle's psychology studies all living
beings, and not merely those he regards as having minds, human beings.
,In The Beginning: — Has elements in educational psychology and industrial/organizational
psychology
— Some of the earlier pioneers in Psychology:
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) Women in the early days of Psychology
— The Father of Experimental Psychology • Margaret F. Washburn (1871-1939)
— Established the first psychological laboratory in — The first woman to receive a PhD in psychology.
Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 — Known for her experimental work in animal behavior and
— Used the scientific method to study the structure of motor theory development.
sensation and perception. — In 1908 she published a book on animal behavior, "The
— He showed that introspection could be used to study mental states (the Animal Mind” (Washburn,1908).
examination of one's own thoughts and feelings.).
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
• Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927) — Student of William James.
— An Englishman (student of Wilhelm Wundt) took — Denied a Ph.D. degree by Harvard University because she
Wundt's ideas to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. was a woman.
— He expanded Wundt's original ideas, calling his new — In 1905, the first female president of the American
viewpoint structuralism because the focus of the study Psychological Association.
was the structure of the mind. — Established a psychological laboratory at Wellesley College.
— Believed that every experience could be broken down — The earliest research in the area of human memory and the psychology of the
into its individual emotions and sensations self.
— Applied introspection method to thoughts as well as physical sensation.
Contribution of Francis in the early days of Psychology
• William James (1842-1910)
• Francis Cecil Summer (1895-1954)
— The Father of American Psychology.
— First African American to receive a PhD in psychology
— Founder of Functionalism. at Clark University.
— Focused on how the mind allows people to function in the — He thought of Kenneth Bancroft Clark.
real world and how people work, play, and adapt to their
— Helped establish the psychology department at
surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism.
Howard University to train African American
— Influenced by Charles Darwin's ideas about natural selection (how living things psychologists.
change and adapt over time).
— Completed research that counteracted racism and bias in psychological studies
— Influenced the development of evolutionary psychology. of African Americans.
, — Was assumed by many to be the father of African American Psychology These few African American pioneers in the field of psychology represent only a
fraction of all those who made important contributions to psychology’s early days.
Psychology’s African American Roots: issues is psychology
• Dr. Charles Henry Thompson (1896–1980) was the first African American Psychology Then: The History of Psychology
to receive a doctorate in educational psychology in 1925 from the University — has roots in several disciplines, including philosophy, medicine, and physiology,
of Chicago. For 30 years he was the editor of the Journal of Negro Education and has developed through several perspectives.
• Dr. Albert Sidney Beckham (1897–1964) received his Ph.D. in psychology
• Gestalt Psychology founded by Max Wertheimer
in 1930 from New York University. He was a senior assistant psychologist at
o Objecting to the structuralist point of view
the National Committee for Mental Hygiene at the Illinois Institute for
about the psychological events could be
Juvenile Research in the early 1930s; he also counseled many Black youths in
broken down into smaller elements.
his role as the psychologist at DuSable High School in Chicago. He, like
o Could only be understood as a whole, the
Thompson, had many publications of his research in the areas of intelligence
entire event.
and social concerns of the African American youth of his time.
o Has influenced the field of cognitive psychology and form of
• Dr. Robert Prentiss Daniel (1902-1968) earned his Ph.D. in educational psychological therapy, Gestalt theory.
psychology from Columbia University in 1932. At one time the director of the
Division of Educational Psychology and Philosophy at Virginia Union
University, he became president of Shaw University in North Carolina and • Psychoanalysis ideas put forth by Sigmund
finally the president of Virginia State College. Freud
• Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser (1897-1934) earned her Ph.D. in educational o Often referred to as the “father of modern
psychology from the University of Cincinnati in 1933 and was the first psychology”.
African American woman to earn this degree. Her promising teaching career o Proposed that there is an unconscious mind,
met a tragic end when she died in an automobile accident only 1 year after which is the part of the mind that is unaware or outside of conscious
earning her doctorate. awareness. He believed that this unconscious mind contains all of
• Dr. Howard Hale Long (1888-1948) received his Ed.D. in educational our threatening urges and desires that we have pushed down or
psychology from Harvard University in 1933. After teaching psychology and repressed because they are unacceptable to our conscious self.
doing research in educational psychology for many years, Dr. Long became
dean of administration at Wilberforce State College in Ohio. • Behaviorism is associated with the work
• Dr. Ruth Howard (1900-1997) is known as the first African American of John B. Watson, who was greatly
woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology (not educational psychology) in 1934 influenced by Ivan Pavlov's work in
from the University of Minnesota. She served with her husband, Dr. Albert Conditioning/learning.
Beckham, as co-director for the Center for Psychological Services and also o Ivan Pavlov: Often referred to as
maintained a private practice in clinical psychology. Pavlovian conditioning, centers
around associative learning. He sought to explore how organisms,
including humans, acquire new behaviors and responses through
, repeated associations between stimuli (causes an action or o Focuses on human potential, free will, and the possibility of self-
response). actualization.
o John B. Watson: Argued among the structuralist, and challenged
the functionalist viewpoint, as well as psychoanalysis, with his own • Cognitive has roots in Gestalt Psychology
“science of behavior”, or Behaviorism. o Focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, thought processes,
▪ Believe that all behavior is learned through the process of problem-solving, language, and learning.
conditioning
▪ The “little Albert” experiment conducted by him was an
• Sociocultural Perspective
experiment that showed empirical evidence of what is
called classical conditioning. o Focuses on the behavior of individuals (or even think) influenced not
only by whether they are alone, with friends, in a crowd, or part of a
group but also by the social norms, fads, class differences, and
• Mary Cover Jones (1897-1987) ethnic identity concerns of the particular culture in which they live.
o A student of Watson who duplicated the
“Little Albert” study with another child,
• Biopsychological Perspective
“Little Peter”.
o Repeat Watson and Rayner’s study of o Focuses on the influences of hormones, brain structures, chemicals,
conditioning but added training that would “cancel out” the phobic disease, etc.; human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result
reaction. This process is called counterconditioning. of events in the body.
• Evolutionary Perspective
Psychology Now: Modern Perspectives
o Focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics,
— There isn’t one single perspective that is used to explain all human behavior and such as why we lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, the
mental processes. university of fear, and why we enjoy things like music and dance.
• Psychodynamic based on Freud’s Theory
o Focuses on the role of the unconscious mind and its influence on
conscious behavior, early childhood experiences, the development of
Psychological Professionals and Areas of Specialization
a sense of self, and other motivations. — People working in the field of psychology have a variety of training experiences
and different focuses.
• Behavioral based on the early work of Watson and later B.F Skinner • Psychologist
o Focuses on how behavioral responses are learned through classical o Has no medical training but has a doctorate degree (Ph.D., Psy.D., or
or operant conditioning. Ed.D) and works with either humans or animals in a variety of
settings based on the area of specialization.
o Must be licensed to practice independently; typically, does not
• Humanistic two pioneers are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers prescribe medications but can go through specialized training to do
so in a few states.
• It is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Reñe Descartes - Distinguished the mental realm from the
o Behavior: includes all of our outward or overt actions and physical realm. He argued that only humans have a mind, that the
reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and movement. mind is a separate immaterial substance (its essence is thinking),
o Mental processes: refer to all the internal, covert (hidden) and that the mind is causally connected to (the pineal gland of)
activities of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. the brain.
Four Goals of Psychology Physicians
• To uncover the mysteries of human and animal behavior.
1. Description: What is happening? Gustav Fechner - established a new branch of psychology called
2. Explanation: Why is it happening? psychophysics. He believed that the mind could be measured using
3. Prediction: When will it happen again? perception and sensation and that psychology could be a quantified
4. Control: How can it be changed? science. One of his most notable theories was the Weber-Fechner
law, which focuses on barely noticeable differences.
History of Psychology
Greek Philosophers Physiologist
Plato - acknowledged the existence of an unconscious Hermann Von Helmholtz - Helmholtz is known for his mathematics
and of repression. concerning the eye, theories of vision, ideas on the visual
perception of space, color vision research, the sensation of tone,
Aristotle - He takes psychology to be the branch of perceptions of sound, and empiricism in the physiology of
science that investigates the soul and its properties, but he thinks of the soul as a perception.
general principle of life, with the result that Aristotle's psychology studies all living
beings, and not merely those he regards as having minds, human beings.
,In The Beginning: — Has elements in educational psychology and industrial/organizational
psychology
— Some of the earlier pioneers in Psychology:
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) Women in the early days of Psychology
— The Father of Experimental Psychology • Margaret F. Washburn (1871-1939)
— Established the first psychological laboratory in — The first woman to receive a PhD in psychology.
Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 — Known for her experimental work in animal behavior and
— Used the scientific method to study the structure of motor theory development.
sensation and perception. — In 1908 she published a book on animal behavior, "The
— He showed that introspection could be used to study mental states (the Animal Mind” (Washburn,1908).
examination of one's own thoughts and feelings.).
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
• Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927) — Student of William James.
— An Englishman (student of Wilhelm Wundt) took — Denied a Ph.D. degree by Harvard University because she
Wundt's ideas to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. was a woman.
— He expanded Wundt's original ideas, calling his new — In 1905, the first female president of the American
viewpoint structuralism because the focus of the study Psychological Association.
was the structure of the mind. — Established a psychological laboratory at Wellesley College.
— Believed that every experience could be broken down — The earliest research in the area of human memory and the psychology of the
into its individual emotions and sensations self.
— Applied introspection method to thoughts as well as physical sensation.
Contribution of Francis in the early days of Psychology
• William James (1842-1910)
• Francis Cecil Summer (1895-1954)
— The Father of American Psychology.
— First African American to receive a PhD in psychology
— Founder of Functionalism. at Clark University.
— Focused on how the mind allows people to function in the — He thought of Kenneth Bancroft Clark.
real world and how people work, play, and adapt to their
— Helped establish the psychology department at
surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism.
Howard University to train African American
— Influenced by Charles Darwin's ideas about natural selection (how living things psychologists.
change and adapt over time).
— Completed research that counteracted racism and bias in psychological studies
— Influenced the development of evolutionary psychology. of African Americans.
, — Was assumed by many to be the father of African American Psychology These few African American pioneers in the field of psychology represent only a
fraction of all those who made important contributions to psychology’s early days.
Psychology’s African American Roots: issues is psychology
• Dr. Charles Henry Thompson (1896–1980) was the first African American Psychology Then: The History of Psychology
to receive a doctorate in educational psychology in 1925 from the University — has roots in several disciplines, including philosophy, medicine, and physiology,
of Chicago. For 30 years he was the editor of the Journal of Negro Education and has developed through several perspectives.
• Dr. Albert Sidney Beckham (1897–1964) received his Ph.D. in psychology
• Gestalt Psychology founded by Max Wertheimer
in 1930 from New York University. He was a senior assistant psychologist at
o Objecting to the structuralist point of view
the National Committee for Mental Hygiene at the Illinois Institute for
about the psychological events could be
Juvenile Research in the early 1930s; he also counseled many Black youths in
broken down into smaller elements.
his role as the psychologist at DuSable High School in Chicago. He, like
o Could only be understood as a whole, the
Thompson, had many publications of his research in the areas of intelligence
entire event.
and social concerns of the African American youth of his time.
o Has influenced the field of cognitive psychology and form of
• Dr. Robert Prentiss Daniel (1902-1968) earned his Ph.D. in educational psychological therapy, Gestalt theory.
psychology from Columbia University in 1932. At one time the director of the
Division of Educational Psychology and Philosophy at Virginia Union
University, he became president of Shaw University in North Carolina and • Psychoanalysis ideas put forth by Sigmund
finally the president of Virginia State College. Freud
• Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser (1897-1934) earned her Ph.D. in educational o Often referred to as the “father of modern
psychology from the University of Cincinnati in 1933 and was the first psychology”.
African American woman to earn this degree. Her promising teaching career o Proposed that there is an unconscious mind,
met a tragic end when she died in an automobile accident only 1 year after which is the part of the mind that is unaware or outside of conscious
earning her doctorate. awareness. He believed that this unconscious mind contains all of
• Dr. Howard Hale Long (1888-1948) received his Ed.D. in educational our threatening urges and desires that we have pushed down or
psychology from Harvard University in 1933. After teaching psychology and repressed because they are unacceptable to our conscious self.
doing research in educational psychology for many years, Dr. Long became
dean of administration at Wilberforce State College in Ohio. • Behaviorism is associated with the work
• Dr. Ruth Howard (1900-1997) is known as the first African American of John B. Watson, who was greatly
woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology (not educational psychology) in 1934 influenced by Ivan Pavlov's work in
from the University of Minnesota. She served with her husband, Dr. Albert Conditioning/learning.
Beckham, as co-director for the Center for Psychological Services and also o Ivan Pavlov: Often referred to as
maintained a private practice in clinical psychology. Pavlovian conditioning, centers
around associative learning. He sought to explore how organisms,
including humans, acquire new behaviors and responses through
, repeated associations between stimuli (causes an action or o Focuses on human potential, free will, and the possibility of self-
response). actualization.
o John B. Watson: Argued among the structuralist, and challenged
the functionalist viewpoint, as well as psychoanalysis, with his own • Cognitive has roots in Gestalt Psychology
“science of behavior”, or Behaviorism. o Focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, thought processes,
▪ Believe that all behavior is learned through the process of problem-solving, language, and learning.
conditioning
▪ The “little Albert” experiment conducted by him was an
• Sociocultural Perspective
experiment that showed empirical evidence of what is
called classical conditioning. o Focuses on the behavior of individuals (or even think) influenced not
only by whether they are alone, with friends, in a crowd, or part of a
group but also by the social norms, fads, class differences, and
• Mary Cover Jones (1897-1987) ethnic identity concerns of the particular culture in which they live.
o A student of Watson who duplicated the
“Little Albert” study with another child,
• Biopsychological Perspective
“Little Peter”.
o Repeat Watson and Rayner’s study of o Focuses on the influences of hormones, brain structures, chemicals,
conditioning but added training that would “cancel out” the phobic disease, etc.; human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result
reaction. This process is called counterconditioning. of events in the body.
• Evolutionary Perspective
Psychology Now: Modern Perspectives
o Focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics,
— There isn’t one single perspective that is used to explain all human behavior and such as why we lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, the
mental processes. university of fear, and why we enjoy things like music and dance.
• Psychodynamic based on Freud’s Theory
o Focuses on the role of the unconscious mind and its influence on
conscious behavior, early childhood experiences, the development of
Psychological Professionals and Areas of Specialization
a sense of self, and other motivations. — People working in the field of psychology have a variety of training experiences
and different focuses.
• Behavioral based on the early work of Watson and later B.F Skinner • Psychologist
o Focuses on how behavioral responses are learned through classical o Has no medical training but has a doctorate degree (Ph.D., Psy.D., or
or operant conditioning. Ed.D) and works with either humans or animals in a variety of
settings based on the area of specialization.
o Must be licensed to practice independently; typically, does not
• Humanistic two pioneers are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers prescribe medications but can go through specialized training to do
so in a few states.
