Chapter 1.1 The History and Scope of Psychology

Thinking Critically About: The Scientific Attitude
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Thinking Critically About: The Scientific Attitude
Prepares us to think harder and smarter
1) Curiosity
2) Skepticism - an attitude that is not cynical (doubting everything), but also not gullible (believing everything)
3) Humility - willing to be surprised and follow new ideas
Image: Thinking Critically About: The Scientific Attitude
Critical Thinking
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Critical thinkers are open to the possibility that they might be wrong.
Describe what's involved in critical thinking.
Evaluating evidence, assessing conclusions, and examining our own assumptions are essential parts of critical thinking.
How does humility factor into the scientific mind set?
Humility allows us to have awareness of out vulnerability to error and openness to surprises and new perspectives. Researchers must be willing to be surprised and follow new ideas. People and other animals don't always behave as our ideas and beliefs would predict.

ANSWER: Humility—including an openness to unexpected findings, and to having one's own ideas challenged—is part of what enables scientific progress.
Why would a scientific thinker need to be skeptical?
Skepticism allows scientist to shift reality from fantasy and is an attitude that is not cynical (doubt-ing everything), but also not gullible (believing everything).

ANSWER: Scientists seek the middle ground between cynicism (doubting everything) and gullibility (believing anything). Their healthy skepticism pushes for answers: What do you mean? How do you know?
Why would a psychologist say "The rat is always right"?
A psychologist would say the rat is always right as reference to humility because what matters is not my opinion or yours, but the truths revealed by our questioning and testing.

ANSWER: "The rat is always right" is a way of saying that if animals' (or people's) behavior doesn't meet our expectations, then it's our ideas that need to change.
Empirical Approach
an evidence-based method that draws on observation and experimentation
Scientific Attitude
Being skeptical but not cynical, open-minded but not gullible.

curiosity, skepticism, humility

The scientific method inclined toward inquiry, integrity, and humility
Wilhelm Wundt
German physiologist who founded psychology as a formal science; established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Wundt with the help of two boys, created an experimental apparatus - a machine that measured the time it took for people to press a telegraph key after hearing a ball hit a platform.In the pursuit of trying to measure " the atoms of the mind" -the fastest and simplest mental process.
Structuralism
an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
Functionalisman early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourishEdward Bradford Titchener1867-1927. Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology. Titchener aimed to classify and understand elements of the mind's structure. He engaged people in self-reflective introspection (looking inward), training them to report elements of their experience. He used introspection to search for the mind's structural elements. -structuralism's technique of introspection proved somewhat unreliable. It required smart verbal people, and results varied from person to person.William James1842-1910; Field: functionalism; Contributions: studied how humans use perception to function in our environment; Studies: Pragmatism, The Meaning of Truth. founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment Thought it was important to study and consider what is the purpose of our evolved function. He believed and worked off of Charles Darwin theories. He believed the things we thought developed because it was adaptive - it helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. Consciousness serves a function. it enables us to consider our past, adjust to our present, and plan our future.Mary Whiton Calkins1863-1930. First female president of the APA (1905); a student of William James; denied the PhD she earned from Harvard because of her sex (later, posthumously, it was granted to her).Margret Floy Washburn1871-1939. First female to receive psychology Ph.D. and second female president of APA. Wrote the influential book, The Animal Mind.What even defined the start of scientific psychology?Scientific psychology began in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory.Why did introspection fail as a method for understanding how the mind works?People's self-reports varied, depending on the experience and the person's intelligence and verbal ability.The school of ________ used introspection to define the mind's makeup; _______ focused on how mental processes enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.structuralism; functionalism"The science of mental life."Until the 1920's psychology was defined as "the science of mental life" by early pioneers.What did Wundt and Titchener focus their studies on?Wundt and Titchener focused on inner sensations images, and feelingsWhat did James focus his studies on?James engaged in introspective examination of the stream of consciousness and emotion, hoping to understand their adaptive functions.Who changed the early definition of psychology ("the science of mental life") and what did they change it to?John B. Watson, and later B. F. Skinner, dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as " the scientific study of observable behavior." As they said, science is rooted in obersvation: What you cannot observe and measure, you cannot scientifically study. You cannot observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought, but you can observe and record people's behavior as they are conditioned- as they respond to and learn in different situations.Behaviorismthe view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).Freudian (Psychoanalytic) PsychologySigmund Freud's psychoanalytic psychology emphasized the ways our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect our behaviorSigmund Freud1856-1939. The controversial ideas of this famed personality theorist and therapist have influenced humanity's self understanding../ Field: psychoanalytic, personality; Contributions: id/ego/superego, reality and pleasure principles, ego ideal, defense mechanisms (expanded by Anna Freud), psychoanalysis, transferenceFrom the 1920s through the 1960s, the two major forces in psychology were _______ and _______ psychology.behaviorism: freudian.Humanistic PsychologyA Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth. In the 1960's, humanistic psychologists, led by Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow found both behaviorism and Freudian psychology too limiting. Rather than focusing on conditioned responses or childhood memories, the humanistic psychologist focused on our needs for love and acceptable and on environment that nurture or limit personal growth.Cognitive RevolutionA revolution in thought pioneered by psychologist in the 1960's, simultaneously with humanistic psychology's emergence. This revolution led the field back to its early interest in how our mind processes and retains information.Cognitive PsychologyThe study of mental processes, such as when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems. Today continues its scientific exploration of how we perceive, process, and remember information, and of how thinking and emotion interact in anxiety, depression, and other disorders.Cognitive NeuroscienceThe interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language). The marriage of cognitive psychology (the science of mind) and neuroscience (the science of brain gave birth to cognitive neuroscience. This specialty, with researchers in many disciplines, studies the brain activity underlying mental activityPsychologyThe science of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is anything an organism does - any action we can observe and record. Mental processes are our internal, subjective experiences - our sensations, perceptions, dreams thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Psychology is less of a set of findings than a way of asking and answering questions.Nature-Nurture IssueThe longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture.Natural SelectionThe principle that inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.Charles Darwin1809-1882 Darwin argued that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies. Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species explained diversity and species variation by proposing the evolutionary process of natural selection: From among chance variations, nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.Evolutionary PsychologyThe study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection. Evolutionary Psychology asks: how are we humans alike because of our common biology and evolutionary history?Behavior GeneticsThe study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Behaviors genetics asks: how do we individually differ because of our differing genes and environments?"Nurture works on what nature provides." or "Nurture works on what nature endows."A phrase that describes how the nature-nurture tension dissolves in modern psychology. Definition: humans have, biologically, a big capacity to learn and adapt. every thought is not only psychological but biological Researchers: N/A Example: depression can be both a brain AND thought disorderHow did the cognitive revolution affect the field of psychology?It recaptured the field's early interest in mental processes and made them legitimate topics for scientific studies/What is natural selection?This is the process by which nature selects from chance variations the traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.What is contemporary psychology's position on the nature-nurture debate?Psychological events often stem from the interaction of nature and nurture, rather than from either of them acting alone.WEIRD culturesWestern, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, DemocraticCultureThe enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. The shared ideas and behaviors that one generations passes on to the next. Culture shapes our behavior."All people are the same: only their habits differ."Our biological heritage unites as a universal family. The same underlying processes guide people everywhere.Cross-Cultural and Gender PsychologyEven when specific attitudes and behaviors very by gender or across cultures, as they often do, the underlying process are much the same.Positive PsychologyThe scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive. Inspired by Martins Seligman's and others demands for more research on human flourishing. Theses psychologists call their approach positive psychology. They believe that happiness is a by-product of a pleasant, engaged, and meaningful life. Thus, positive psychology uses scientific methods to explore the building of a "good life" that engages our skills, and a "meaningful life" that points beyond ourselves.Levels of AnalysisThe differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.Biopsychosocial ApproachAn integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis. The point to remember: Like two-dimensional views of a three-dimensional object, each of psychology's perspectives is helpful. But each by itself fails to reveal the whole picture.Neuroscience PerspectiveFOCUS: How the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensations. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How do pain messages travel from the hand to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Biological; cognitive; clinicalEvolutionary PerspectiveFOCUS: How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Biological; developmental; socialBehavior Genetics PerspectiveFOCUS: How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression products of our genes? Of our environment? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Personality; developmental; legal/forensicPsychodynamic PerspectiveFOCUS: How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How can someone's personality traits and disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Clinical; counseling; personalityBehavioral PerspectiveFOCUS: How we learn observable responses. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say, to lose weight or stop smoking? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Clinical; counseling; industrial-organizationalCognitive PerspectiveFOCUS: How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Cognitive neuroscience; clinical; counseling; industrial-organizationalSocial-Cultural PerspectiveFOCUS: How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures. SAMPLE QUESTIONS: How are we affected by the people around us, and by our surrounding culture? EXAMPLES of SUBFIELDS using this PERSPECTIVE: Developmental; social; clinical; counselingWhat advantage do we gain by using the biopsychosocial approach in studying psychological events?By incorporating three different levels of analysis, the biopsychosocial approach can provide a more complete view than any one perspective could offer.The _______-_______ perspective in psychology focuses on how behavior and thought differ from situation to situation and from culture to culture, while the ______ perspective emphasizes observation of how we respond to and learn in different situations.Social-cultural; behavioral.Psychology is united by a common quest:describing and explaining behavior and the mind underlying itBasic ResearchPure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.Biological PsychologistsExplore the links between brain and mind.Developmental PsychologistStudying our changing abilities from womb to tomb.Cognitive PsychologistsExperiment with how we perceive, think, and solve problems.Personality PsychologistsInvestigate our persistent traits.Social PsychologistsExplore how we view and affect one another.Applied ResearchA scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. Tackling practical problems.Industrial-Organizational Psychologistsuse psychology's concepts and methods in the workplace to help organizations and companies select and train employees, boost morale and productivity, design products, and implement systems.Counseling PsychologistsA branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being. They help people to cope with challenges and crisis (including academic, vocational, relationship issues) and to improve their personal and social functioning.Clinical PsychologistsA branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. They assess and treat mental, emotional, and behavior disorders.Counseling and Clinical psychologistsAdminister and interpret tests, provide counseling and therapy, and sometimes conduct basic and applied research.PsychiatristsA branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy. Unlike counseling and clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, who may provide psychotherapy, are medical doctors licensed to prescribe drugs and otherwise treat physical causes of psychological disorders.community psychologistA branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups. work to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all.Match the specialty (I through III) with description (a through c) I.Clinical Psychology II. Psychiatry III. Community Psychology A. Works to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all. B. Studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders but usually does not provide medical therapy C. Is a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders.I.Clinical Psychology = B. Studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders but usually does not provide medical therapy II. Psychiatry = C. Is a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders. III. Community Psychology = A. Works to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all.How is psychology a science?Psychology's findings, based on an empirical approach, are the result of careful observation and testing. Sifting sense from nonsense requires a scientific attitude.What are the three key elements of the scientific attitude, and how do they support scientific inquiry?The scientific attitude equips us to be curious, skeptical, and humble in scrutinizing competing ideas or our own observations. Curiosity triggers new ideas, skepticism, encourages attention to the facts, humility helps us discard predictions that can't be verified by research. Together, these three key elements make modern science possible.How does critical thinking feed a scientific attitude, and smarter thinking for everyday life?Critical thinking puts ideas to the test by examining assumptions, appraising the sources, discerning hidden biases, evaluating evidence, and assessing conclusions.What were some important milestones in psychology's early development?Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany. Two early school of though in psychology were structuralism and functionalism. Mary Whiton Calkins and Margaret Floy Washburn were two of the first women in the field.How did behaviorism, Freudian psychology, and humanistic psychology further the development of psychological science?Early researchers defined psychology as "the science of mental life." in the 1920s, under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviorists, the field's focus changed to the scientific study of observable behavior." Behaviorism became one of psychology's two major forces well into the 1960s. However, the second major force, of Freudian psychology, along with the influence of humanistic psychology, revived interest in the study of mental processes.How has contemporary psychology focused on cognition, on biology and experience, on culture and gender, and on human flourishing?The cognitive revolution in the 1960s led psychology back to its early interest in the mind, and to its current definition as the science of behavior and mental processes. The field of cognitive neuroscience now examines the brain activity underlying mental activity. Our growing understanding of biology and experience has fed psychology's most enduring debate. The nature-nurture issue centers on the relative contributions of genes and experience, and their interaction in specific environments. Charles Darwin's view that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies led to evolutionary psychology's study of our similarities because of our common biology and evolutionary history, and behavior genetics' focus on the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Cross-cultural and gender studies have diversified psychology's assumptions while also reminding us of our similarities. Attitudes and behaviors may vary somewhat by gender or across cultures, but because of our shared human kinship, the underlying processes and principles are more similar than different. Psychology's traditional focus on understanding and treating troubles has expanded with positive psychology's call for more research on human flourishing and its attempt to discover and promote traits that help people to thrive.What are psychology's level of analysis and related perspectives?The biopsychosocial approach integrates information from three differing but complementary levels of analysis: biological, psychological, and social-cultural. This approach offers a more complete understanding than could usually be reached by relying on only one of psychology's current theoretical perspectives (neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural).What are psychology's main subfields?Within the science of psychology, researchers may conduct basic research to increase the field's knowledge base (often in biological, developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology) or applied research to solve practical problems (in industrial-organizational psychology and other areas). Those who engage in psychology as a helping profession may assist people as counseling psychologists, helping people with problems in living or achieving greater well-being, or as clinical psychologists, studying and assessing people with psychological disorders and treating them with psychotherapy. (Psychiatrists also study, assess, and treat people with disorders, but as medical doctors, they may prescribe drugs in addition to psychotherapy.) Community psychologists work to create healthy social and physical environments (in schools, for example).As scientists, psychologists A.) keep their methods private so others will not repeat their research. B.) assume the truth of articles published in leading scientific journals. C.) reject evidence that competes with traditional findings. D.) are willing to ask questions and to reject claims that cannot be verified by research.D.How can critical thinking help you evaluate claims in the media, even if you're not a scientific expert on the issue?Critical thinking is smart thinking. When evaluating media claims (even about topics you might not know much about), look for empirical evidence. Ask the following questions in your analysis: Are the claims based on scientific findings? Have several studies replicated the findings and confirmed them? Are any experts cited? If so, are they affiliated with a credible institution? Have they conducted or written about scientific research? What agenda might they have? What alternative explanations are possible?In 1879, in psychology's first experiment, ________ and his students measured the time lag between hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a key.Wilhelm WundtWilliam James would be considered a(n) ________. Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener would be considered ________. A.) functionalist; structuralists B.) structuralist; functionalists C.) evolutionary theorist; structuralists D.) functionalist; evolutionary theoristsfunctionalist; structuralists.In the early twentieth century, ______ redefined psychology as "the science of observable behavior." A.) John B. Watson B.) Abraham Maslow C.) William James D.) Sigmund FreudJohn B. Waston"Nature" is to "nurture" as ____ is to ____ A.) Personality is to intelligence B.) biology is to experience C.) intelligence is to biology. D.) psychological traits are to behaviors.B.) biology and experience"Nurture works on what nature provides." Describe what this means. using your own words.The environment (nurture) has an influence on us, but that influence is constrained by our biology (nature). Nature and nurture interact. People predisposed to be very tall (nature), for example, are unlikely to become Olympic gymnasts, no matter how hard they work (nurture).Which of the following is true regarding gender differences and similarities? A.) Differences between the genders outweigh any similarities. B.) Despite some gender differences, the underlying processes of human behavior are the same. C.) Both similarities and differences between the genders depend more on biology than on environment. D. )Gender differences are so numerous that it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons.B.) Despite some gender differences, the underlying processes of human behavior are the same.Martin Seligman and other researchers who explore various aspects of human flourishing refer to their field of study as _______ _______.positive psychologyA psychologist treating emotionally troubled adolescents at a local mental health agency is most likely to be a(n) A.) research psychologist. B.) psychiatrist. C.) industrial-organizational psychologist. D.) clinical psychologist.D.) clinical psychologist.A mental health professional with a medical degree who can prescribe medication is a _____.PsychiatristA psychologist conducting basic research to expand psychology's knowledge base may A.) design a computer screen with limited glare and assess the effect on computer operators' eyes after a day's work. B.) treat older people who are overcome by depression. C.) observe 3- and 6-year-olds solving puzzles and analyze differences in their abilities. D.) interview children with behavioral problems and suggest treatmentsC.) observe 3- and 6-year-olds solving puzzles and analyze differences in their abilities.

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