Module 1: The Scope and History of Psychology I. II. III. IV. V. I. Chapter Overview What is psychology?

Philosophical and theological psychology. Before the beginning of modern, scientific psychology, people were interested in all of these things. Scientific psychology Perspectives in current scientific psychology Psychology as a profession What is psychology? A science that attempts to describe and explain how we think, feel and act. There are at least two fault lines that underlie this definition. A. What are we really studying here? Observable behavior or subjective experience? 1. either? 2. both? B. How are we actually studying these things? As broad philosophical questions or with narrowly defined methods for finding practical answers? 1. art, literature, history? humanities methods? 2. physics, chemistry? methods from the hard sciences? II. Philosophical psychology provocative early questions A. How are mind and body related? 1. Dualism: the mind is a faculty of the soul, the immortal soul, not a product of the body. Practical implications: a. Investigate philosophical and theological writings and even sacred scripture. b. Focus on mental processes and subjective experiences. c. Dont bother studying the body, since the body at most is a reflection of pure mind or spirit, and never a cause. Socrates, Plato, the Atheneum. 2. Aristotle: the Lyceum. The mind and the body are in fact connected: the soul is not separable from the body, and the same holds good of particular parts of the soul (cf. Aristotles De Anima). Practical implications: a. Focus on observable behavior. Observe, measure and record what you notice. b. Pay attention to whats happening in the body. It could be 1

important. Observe, measure and record what you notice. Empiricism. 3. Ren Descartes (1596-1650) the soul has a physical seat, the pineal gland at the base of the brain 4. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Materialism: there is no soul, immortal or otherwise. The mind is a product of the brain. If you cant observe it and measure it, it doesnt exist. Empiricism. B. Are people programmed only by external experience (a form of Empiricism) or is there a genetic predisposition that guarantees that humans will notice certain patterns of language, mathematical relations, etc. (Innate, in-born ideas, Nativism, Genetic determinism)? 1. Nature (genetics, innate ideas) vs. Nurture (external training, control) 2. Plato vs. Aristotle 3. Abrahamic mysticism & oriental religion (karma, destiny, divine Providence) vs. scientific positivism (human reason conquers all) III. Scientific psychology A. The work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a great inspiration to those who wished to create a scientific psychology. Nineteenth Century biology was obsessed with classification the culmination of an intellectual trend that had been set loose by the European discovery of the Americas and the expansion of European trade into Africa and Asia. 1. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was the scientist whose work most typified this approach to understanding nature through classification. Carl Linnaeus is often called the Father of Taxonomy. He inspired an entire generation of his own students to set off on voyages to exotic outposts in order to discover and classify exotic plants and animals on the basis of his system for naming, ranking and classifying organisms. 2. The work of Charles Darwin was shocking within this world of taxonomical classification. It was shocking because it gave a rational explanation for all the variety that had been discovered something other than the whim of the gods. 3. Darwin argued that physical characteristics evolve through natural selection: characteristics which favor survival reappear in the offspring of survivors. The genes of survivors appear again in the children and grandchildren of survivors. 2

4. Darwin speculated that inborn aptitudes (potential talents) and behavioral tendencies are also passed on from survivors to their offspring. (Something like phobias, for example, might result from what first appeared in earlier generations as a talent for avoiding danger.) 3. Perhaps not only reflexes but instincts were developed and passed on in such ways. More accurate anatomy and physiology in the 19th Century was opening up new possibilities for speculating about the mental and emotional life of human beings. B. On a December day in 1879, a professor of physiology at the University of Leipzig, Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) and his students completed the construction of a machine that measured the time lag between peoples hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. 1. Wundt decided to create this apparatus as a reaction against philosophical psychology something which he disdained as mere subjective speculation. By doing so, Wundt created the first psychology laboratory; he is remembered today a founder of experimental psychology a revolutionary idea at the time. 2. He also became the first author of a textbook of psychology, centering largely on cognitive psychology (how people know things, how people learn). 3. structuralism (classification, as in 19th Century biology) C. Edward Titchener (1867 1927) was a student of Wundts who joined the faculty at Cornell soon after receiving his Ph.D. in 1892. 1. He brought Wundts ideas to America in the sense that both he and Wundt thought that a scientific psychology would do what hard sciences like physics and chemistry do: it would discern the basic structures, the building blocks that described and explained things. Like any 19th Century scientist, Titchener wanted to classify. He wanted to create a taxonomy. 2. In his search for something analogous to molecules and atoms, however, Titchener abandoned Wundts experimental methods. Instead he returned to self-reflective introspection, asking his subjects to recall sensory experiences rather than directly observing and measuring them. This approach came to be known as Structuralism.

D. William James (1842 1910) was one of the most remarkable figures in American intellectual history. He was born at the Astor House in New York City, son of Henry James, Sr., an independently wealthy and notoriously eccentric Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. William was the brother of the novelist Henry James and of the diarist Alice James. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable letter-writing talents of several of its member have made them a subject of interest for historians, biographers and critics for several generations. (Cf. Wikipedia.) 1. William James was a competitor of Titcheners. He thought that Titcheners emphasis on taxonomy and classification were a step backwards, away from modern science. James assumed that thinking, like smelling, developed because it was adaptive it contributed to our ancestors survival. Even consciousness serves a purpose: considering the past, planning for the future, increases the chances for survival. 2. William James proposed a different approach to psychology, functionalism (emphasis on dynamic change, adaptation to the environment as in Darwins work). James advocated a philosophy of pragmatism: testing truth by its practical consequences. 3. When not plagued by ill health and depression, James was an impish, outgoing and joyous man. This was evident in his insistence on admitting Mary Calkins into his graduate seminar, though in 1890 women lacked the right to vote or even to own property in their own name. When Calkins joined, all the other students dropped out in protest. When Calkins eventually finished all the requirements for a Harvard Ph.D. outscoring all the male students on the qualifying exams, Harvard denied her a degree, arguing that as a woman she could receive a degree only from a womans institution such as Radcliffe. Even so, Calkins eventually became a distinguished memory researcher and, in 1905, the first female president of the American Psychological Association. IV. Perspectives in current scientific psychology A. Five early schools of thought 1. structuralism 2. functionalism 3. Gestalt psychology 4. Freudian psychoanalysis 5. early behaviorism 4

B. The American Psychological Association today includes more than fifty divisions: from highly biological perspectives (behavioral genetics, neuro-science, evolutionary psychology) to highly subjective perspectives (cognitive psychology, psychodynamic psychology, social-cultural psychology) (Table 1.1, p. 9) C. Basic trends: 1. 1180s to 1920s: interest in mental processes 2. 1920s to 1960s: interest in observable behavior 3. 1960s to the present: acceptance that neither can be ignored D. Basic issues in contemporary psychology 1. stability vs. change: do individual traits persist as we age? Is the concept of personality justified? Is therapeutic change possible? 2. rationality versus irrationality: can conscious choice triumph over unconscious and uncontrollable impulse? 3. The biggest and most persistent issue concerns the relative contributions of biology and experience: this is the Nature-Nurture controversy that comes down to us all the way from Plato and Aristotle. It is evident in the twin origins of modern psychology -- the philosophy and the biology of 19th Century Europe. E. Basic research (theoretical) vs. applied research (to solve somebodys specific problem) (p.10) F. Fritz the Cat the right question at the right time (iClickers) V. The profession of psychology (Cf. appendix A, 9th edition) A. Psychology is the second most popular major in the United States, second only to business. 1. 42 % of U.S. psychology majors go on to graduate school in psych. 2. 38% finish with the bachelors degree. B. Employers that hire people with only a bachelors degree tend to favor individuals with 1. positive explanatory styles (optimistic attitudes) 2. practical experience relevant to their business 3. a good education C. TO GET A JOB with a bachelors degree in psychology 1. Get to know your instructors by going to meetings, volunteering, etc. 2. Take courses that support your interests in a particular field (e.g., community psychology to prepare for work in a state or federal welfare agency, or psychology of health to prepare for work in 5

hospitals or the healthcare industry). D. Look into the office of campus career services, alumni career networking opportunities, etc. E. Volunteer for campus or community organizations such as Psi Chi (4year-colleges) or Psi Beta (2-year-colleges) [psychologys national honors societies] or your schools psychology club. F. A masters degree in psychology requires at least two years of full-time graduate study in a specific subfield of psychology. 1. Requirements usually include practical experience in an applied (practitioners) setting. 2. Requirements may also include a masters thesis reporting on an original research project. G. A doctoral degree in psychology requires five to seven years of graduate study in a specific subfield of psychology. 1. There are two different kinds of doctoral degrees in psychology. A. The Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy) requires the candidate to complete a dissertation, an extensive research paper based on original research, inducing the use of computer-based statistical analysis. B. The Psy.D. (doctor of psychology) is based on clinical (therapeutic) work and examinations rather than a dissertation. 2. Among those with a doctoral degree of either kind, the most popular specialty area is clinical psychology. Clinical and counseling psychologists are required to pass state licensing examinations. This is the only branch of psychology where a state license is required. 3. About one third of doctoral-level psychologists are employed in academic settings, especially universities; the remainder work either in for-profit businesses, not-for-profit agencies, or in private practice. H. The American Psychological Association (APA) has 53 divisions catering to 53 subfields in psychology. The text describes sixteen of them. They can be divided according to two basic criteria: 1. Does the subfield consist mostly of practitioners (clinicians), or does it consist mostly of researchers? If the subfield consists mostly of researchers, is the research theoretical (basic research), or is the research primarily applied (that is, made to order to a specific client, e.g., a business or a government agency)? 2. The second criteria for understanding the subfields of psychology is this: whos your client? How do you get paid? I. How do I get into a good graduate school in psychology? 1. Network. Attend activities and meetings. Get to know the Psych. 6

Dept. 2. Become actively involved in research at a basic level such as data entry and data collection, so that you begin to understand how to do your own research. 3. Volunteer or get a job in a psychology-related field. This will show your ability to apply psychological concepts to real-world settings. It will also showcase your ability to juggle a number of tasks successfully -- an important skill for succeeding in grad school. 4. Maintain good grades while successfully completing challenging courses that relate to what will become your specialty in graduate school. 5. In your junior year, begin studying for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), the standardized test that applicants to graduate school must complete.