Psychology

(Assignment no.1)

Jannel M. Tobongbanua
BSME 1-2

I. Psychology
Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It is an academic
discipline and an applied science which seeks to understand
individuals and groups by establishing general principles and
researching specific cases.
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially
those affecting behavior in a given context.

II. Different Branches of Psychology

Abnormal Psychology - is the area that looks at psychopathology and
abnormal behavior.
General Psychology - explains the principles of behavior; how and why
people behave.
Behavioral Psychology - also known as behaviorism, is a theory of
learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through
conditioning.
Biopsychology - focused on the study of how the brain influences
behavior is often known as biopsychology
Comparative Psychology - concerned with the study of animal
behavior.
Cross-Cultural Psychology - looks at how cultural factors influence
human behavior.
Educational Psychology - concerned with schools, teaching psychology,
educational issues and student concerns.
Experimental Psychology - that utilizes scientific methods to research
the brain and behavior
Personality Psychology - is focused on the patterns of thoughts,
feelings, and behavior that make a person unique.
Clinical psychology - integrates science, theory, and practice in order
to understand, predict and relieve maladjustment, disability, and
discomfort.

 Cognitive psychology - investigates internal mental processes, such as

problem solving, memory, learning, and language (how people think,
perceive, communicate, remember and learn).
Developmental psychology - is the scientific study of systematic
psychological changes that a person experiences over the course of
his/her life span. Developmental psychology is often referred to as
human development.
Evolutionary psychology - looks at how human behavior has been
affected by psychological adjustments during evolution.
Forensic psychology - involves applying psychology to criminal
investigation and the law.
Health psychology - also called behavioral medicine or medical
psychology.
Neuropsychology - Studies the structure and function of the brain in
relation to clear behaviors and psychological processes.
Occupational psychology - also known as industrial-organizational
psychology.
Social psychology - uses scientific methods to understand and explain
how feeling, behavior and thoughts of people are influenced by the
actual, imagined or implied presence of other people.

III. School of thoughts regarding to Psychology

Structuralism -The belief that there is a connection between sensation
and emotion and behavior.
Functionalism - Functionalism has the most influence of any theory in
contemporary psychology. Psychological functionalism attempts to
describe thoughts and what they do without asking how they do it. For
functionalists, the mind resembles a computer, and to understand its
processes, you need to look at the software -- what it does -- without
having to understand the hardware -- the why and how underlying it.
Gestalt Psychology - According to Gestalt psychologists, the human
mind works by interpreting data through various laws, rules or
organizing principles, turning partial information into a whole. For
example, your mind might interpret a series of lines as a square, even
though it has no complete lines; your mind fills in the gaps. Gestalt
psychotherapists apply this logic to problem-solving to help patients.
Psychoanalysis - Psychoanalytic theory, which originated with Sigmund
Freud, explains human behavior by looking at the subconscious mind.

Freud suggested that the instinct to pursue pleasure, which he

described as sexual in nature, lies at the root of human development.
To Freud, even the development of children hinged on key stages in
discovering this pleasure, through acts such as feeding at the mother's
breast and defecating, and he treated abnormal behavior in adults by
addressing these stages.
Behaviorism - In the 1950s, B.F. Skinner carried out experiments with
animals, such as rats and pigeons, demonstrating that they repeated
certain behaviors if they associated them with rewards in the form of
food. Behaviorists believe that observing behavior, rather than
attempting to analyze the inner workings of the mind itself, provides
the key to psychology. This makes psychology open to experimental
methods with results that can be replicated in the same way as any
scientific experiment.
Humanistic Psychology - Humanist psychologists teach that to
understand psychology, we must look at individuals and their
motivations. Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" exemplifies this
approach: a system of needs, such as food, love and self-esteem,
determines a person's behavior to various extents. Meeting these
needs leads to a sense of self-satisfaction and solves psychological
problems.
Cognitivism - Cognitive psychology follows behaviorism by
understanding the mind through scientific experimentation, but it
differs from it by accepting that psychologists can study and
understand the internal workings of the mind and mental processes. It
rejects psychoanalysis, as it regards psychoanalytic theories about the
subconscious mind as subjective and not open to scientific analysis.

IV. Different Perspective in Psychology

Psychodynamic Perspective - The psychodynamic perspective
originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. This view of psychology
and human behavior emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind,
early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships to explain
human behavior and to treat people suffering from mental illnesses.

Behavioral Perspective - Behavioral psychology is a perspective that

focuses on learned behaviors. Behaviorism differed from many other

perspectives because instead of emphasizing internal states, it focused

solely on observable behaviors.

Biopsychological Perspective The biological perspective is a broad

scientific perspective that assumes that human behavior and thought
processes have a biological basis. Biology includes investigations into
biochemistry of behavior associated with neurotransmitters and
hormones, genetics and heritability, and the psychophysics of
sensation and perception. Physiological psychology, neuroscience,
psychoneuroimunology and psychopharmacology are all part of
the biological perspective. Because the biological perspective relies on
scientific methods, its scope of investigation is limited to variables that
can be controlled. Research methods are quantitative and seek to
produce findings that can be replicated and that are generalizable
across populations.

Cognitive Perspective - In response to the empty organism theory of

behaviorism, the cognitive perspective developed explanations for
human behavior that suggest that human behavior is at times
thoughtful and can be controlled by thought processes. Indeed, the
cognitive perspective suggests that much of human behavior is
mediated by thought processes like memory and attention, belief
systems, attitudes and language. Cognitivists believe that humans
bring significant conscious processes into the mix and that much of
human behavior is mediated by conscious processes. Belief systems,
value systems, thought processes, reason and intelligence have a
significant impact on why we do the things we do and act the way we
act. The cognitive perspective suggests that much of human behavior
is significantly influenced by cognitive processes and is thus amenable
to our thoughtful control.

Sociocultural Perspective The social/cultural perspective in

psychology suggests that human behavior is influenced by social
context, environmental cues, social pressures and cultural influences.
Anyone who has attended a football game will recognize that human
behavior is susceptible to influence of the crowd mentality. We are
all shaped by the context of our environment and influenced by the
perception of authority in our social order. Social psychologists suggest
that these forces are very powerful and explain a great deal about the
causes of human behavior and thought processes.


Evolutionary Perspective - The evolutionary perspective explains
human behavior and thought process as resulting from evolutionary
processes. The underlying assumption of biological evolution is survival
of the species. Human behavior is understood in the light of the
question: how does this behavior result from processes that support
the survival of the species.

 Humanistic/Existential Perspective The humanistic perspective arose

in reaction to the deterministic and pessimistic psychoanalytic view
and the mechanistic behavioral perspective, to support more optimistic
views that humans are motivated by their potential to be creative and
productive in response to their social and environmental conditions.
The existential part of the humanist view recognizes the reality of
being in a world and the opportunity that we have to choose a path for
ourselves. Humanism is hopeful, focuses on subjective, conscious
experience, tries to solve human problems and emphasizes the human
potential to grow in a positive manner. The humanist philosophy
respects diversity and confronts reality as it is, both the painful and
pleasurable, the good and the bad. Humanism assumes that people
have choices about their behavior and possess free will to act and also
must assume responsibility for choices and consequences. The
humanist perspective differs from the biological perspective in that the
assumptions about causes for behavior lie in human self-efficacy,
choice and free will as opposed to the determinism of biological
causes. Humanist and existential philosophies are combined because
they both emphasize free will and responsibility as central to the
nature of being.

Feminist-post structural Perspective - The feminist poststructural

perspective arose in response to the observation by postmodern
theorists like Michel Foucault, that the creators/owners of a theory
enjoy certain advantages that come from organizing knowledge along
explanatory lines. Science has traditionally been dominated by men
and thus the methods and outcomes of science have benefited men for
the most part. But, the feminist perspective goes beyond a critique of
androcentric practices and suggests that all organized knowledge has
a political agenda that should be examined in the light of all persons'
rights and benefits. The poststructural view helps us understand that
knowledge is power and that the holders of the languages that
construct knowledge are the ones who will have the choices about how
resources are distributed. This political theory of psychology and
knowledge construction tries to level the playing field and admit the
views and voices of all. The underlying assumption in this view is that
diversity is essential for human survival. Incumbent upon adherents to
this perspective is a commitment to take a stand on issues they deem
important, identify their own epistemological position and biases in

relation to their views and then engage in a process of selfinterrogation of their position.
V. Historical roots of Psychology
The Beginnings of Psychology: Philosophy and Physiology
While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late
1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early
Greeks.
During the 17th-century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes
introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body
were two separate entities that interact to form the human experience.
Many other issues still debated by psychologists today, such as the
relative contributions of nature vs. nurture, are rooted in these early
philosophical traditions.
So what makes psychology different from philosophy? While early
philosophers relied on methods such as observation and logic, todays
psychologists utilize scientific methodologies to study and draw
conclusions about human thought and behavior. Physiology also
contributed to psychologys eventual emergence as a scientific
discipline. Early physiology research on the brain and behavior had a
dramatic impact on psychology, ultimately contributing to the
application of scientific methodologies to the study of human thought
and behavior.
Psychology Emerges as a Separate Discipline
During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist named Wilhelm
Wundt was using scientific research methods to investigate reaction
times. His book published in 1874, Principles of Physiological
Psychology, outlined many of the major connections between the
science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior.
He later opened the worlds first psychology lab in 1879 at the
University of Leipzig. This event is generally considered the official
start of psychology as a separate and distinct scientific discipline.

 How did Wundt view psychology? He perceived the subject as the

study of humanconsciousness and sought to apply experimental
methods to studying internal mental processes. While his use of a
process known as introspection is seen as unreliable and unscientific
today, his early work in psychology helped set the stage for future
experimental methods. An estimated 17,000 students attended
Wundts psychology lectures, and hundreds more pursued degrees in
psychology and studied in his psychology lab. While his influence
dwindled in the years to come, his impact on psychology is
unquestionable.
Structuralism Becomes Psychologys First School of Thought
Edward B. Titchener, one of Wundts most famous students, would go
on to found psychologys first major school of thought. According to the
structuralists, human consciousness could be broken down into much
smaller parts. Using a process known as introspection, trained subjects
would attempt to break down their responses and reactions to the
most basic sensation and perceptions.
While structuralism is notable for its emphasis on scientific research,
its methods were unreliable, limiting, and subjective. When Titchener
died in 1927, structuralism essentially died with him.
The Functionalism of William James
Psychology flourished in American during the mid- to late1800s. William James emerged as one of the major American
psychologists during this period and the publication of his classic
textbook, The Principles of Psychology, established him as the father of
American psychology. His book soon became the standard text in
psychology and his ideas eventually served as the basis for a new
school of thought known as functionalism.
The focus of functionalism was on how behavior actually works to help
people live in their environment. Functionalists utilized methods such
as direct observation. While both of these early schools of thought

emphasized human consciousness, their conceptions of it were

significantly different.