Scientific Foundations of Psychology

What is Psychology ?
Is Psychology Science ?
 Unit 1-1
Introducing Psychology
The History of Psychology

The Field of Psychology Today

 Prescientific Psychology
Ebbinghaus: Psychology has a long past, but only a short history.

Philosophy and Physiology

Philosophical and physiological view on mind

Nativist and Empiricist

Innate mind 思想与生俱来（先天论） Empiricism 思想后天习得（经验论）

Ideas: The knowledge is born within us. Ideas: Knowledge comes from experience and
Representatives： that science should rely on observation and
experimentation.
Socrates, Plato, Descartes
Descartes: Representatives：
All things can be divided in to two things— Aristotle, Bacon, Locke
body and mind/spirit (Dualism). Locke: the mind at birth is a tabula rasa—a
These spirits flowed from the brain through “blank slate”—on which experience writes.
the nerves to the muscles.

Nature or Nurture ?
Philosophical and physiological view on mind

Materialism 唯物主义 Evolutionary Theory

Ideas: The only things that exist are matter

Ideas: Natural Selection
and energy. There is no spirit or soul.
Consciousness is the by-product of the
Representatives: Darwin
machinery.

Representatives: Thomas Hobbes Functionalism

Behaviorism
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. The concept of tabula rasa, or “blank slate” (the idea that human beings
come into the world knowing nothing, and thereafter acquire all of their
knowledge through experience), is most closely associated with
(A) Wilhelm Wundt
(B) Charles Darwin
(C) John Locke
(D) Sigmund Freud C
(E) Abraham Maslow
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

2. The concept of dualism refers to the division of all things in the world into
(A) thought and action
(B) body and spirit
(C) structural and functional
(D) theoretical and practical B
(E) dependent and independent
Psychological Science Is Born
 Wave One：Structuralism vs. Functionalism

Wilhelm Wundt ：The founder of psychology

Wundt set up the first psychological laboratory in 1879

at the university of Leipzig in Germany.
1. Structuralism 构造主义

• Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener

• Focus on the structure of the mind

Edward Titchener

They seek to measure “atoms of the mind”—the fastest and simplest mental processes.
E.g. The sensation of red is understood as an element of conscious.
Methods: Introspection—The process of looking inward in an attempt to directly
observe one’s own psychological processes.

评价：Introspective theories were important in establishing the science of psychology,

but they do not significantly influence current psychological thinking.
2. Functionalism 机能主义

Representatives: William James

influenced by Darwin’s concept of nature selection (evolutionary theorists)

Ideas: Psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather

that its structure; how the mind allows people to adapt, survive, and flourish.

Book: The Principles of Psychology, the psychology’s first textbook（1890）.

 区分

Structuralism （Wundt and Titchener）

• structure of the mind
• Used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.

Functionalism（William James ）
• function of the mind
• influenced by evolutionary theorists.

解构 vs. 建构
 其它重要人物

Stanley Hall Mary Whiton Calkins Margaret Floy

Washburn
(William James 学生) (William James 学生)
the first president of the APA (American the first woman to earn a
the first woman to be president of
Psychological Association). Ph.D. in psychology.
the APA.
 Wave Two——Gestalt Psychology

Founder: Max Wertheimer

Ideas: the whole experience is often more than just the sum of parts of the experience.
Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into
meaningful wholes.

评价：
Gestalt ideas are becoming the basis for a therapeutic technique called Gestalt therapy.
 Wave Three——Freudian psychology/Psychoanalysis

Founder: Sigmund Freud

Ideas: Psychoanalysis emphasized the ways our unconscious

thought processes and our emotional responses to early childhood
experiences affect our behavior.

评价：While many therapists still use some of Freud’s basic ideas in helping clients, Freud
has been criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories.
 Wave Four—Behaviorism

Ideas: Psychology should be an objective science that studies only observable behavior.

Representatives：
• Ivan Pavlov (Classical Conditioning Experiment)
• B. F. Skinner (Operant Conditioning Experiment)
• John B. Watson (Little Albert Experiment) Skinner

Watson: Give me a dozen healthy infants……

Pavlov

评价：verifiability but without reference to mental processes.

Watson
 The Field of Psychology Today
Seven contemporary perspectives

Psychologists’ perspectives determine the way in which they examine

behavior and mental processes.
01 1. Humanist Perspective 人本主义取向

Representatives:
• Abraham Maslow: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Carl Rogers: Client-Centered Therapy

Ideas: They emphasized the growth potential of healthy

people, stressed individual choice and freewill.
01 Humanist Perspective

Key word: growth potential, ideal self, freewill, self-actualization, needs, individual choice

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

An introverted person may choose to limit social contact with others because he or
she finds that social needs are better satisfied by contact with a few close friends
rather than large groups.

评价：
• Humanistic theories are not easily tested by the scientific method.
• Today, humanism exists as a form of psychotherapy aimed at self-improvement.
01
2. Psychoanalytic /Psychodynamic Perspective 精神分析/取向动力

Ideas: the interaction of the forces of the conscious and unconscious mind shapes behavior.

Representatives: Sigmund Freud, Carl G. Jung

1909

Sigmund Freud Stanley Hall Carl Jung

01
2. Psychodynamic /Psychoanalytic Perspective

Key word: unconscious, early childhood, trauma, conflict, repressed feelings

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

An introverted person avoids social situations because of a repressed memory of
trauma in early childhood involving a social situation.
01
3. Biopsychology (or Neuroscience) Perspective 生物心理取向
Or physiological psychology, biological psychology

Ideas: Human behavior might be caused by effects of our brain, genes, hormones, and
neurotransmitters.

Key word: mature, genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters, brain

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

A person’s tendency to be extroverted as caused by genes inherited from his parents.
01 4. Evolutionary Perspective 进化心理取向

Representatives: Darwin

Ideas: How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes. Some
traits might be advantageous for survival, and these traits would be passed down from
the parents to the next generation.

Key word: natural selection, survive, adaptive

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

a person’s tendency to be extroverted as a survival advantage. If a person is outgoing,
he or she might make allies, which could improve the chances of survival.
01
Evolutionary Perspective

How likely would you be to forgive either a sexual infidelity or an emotional one?

One interesting finding:

Men find it harder to forgive a partner’s sexual straying and are more likely to
break up with the woman than if the cheating is purely emotional; for women, the
opposite results were found.
Why?

评价：提供了独特的对行为和心理的解释，但也被认为部分合理化了性别歧视、种族歧视。
01
5. Behavioral Perspective 行为心理学

Representatives: Pavlov, Skinner, Watson

Ideas: Behaviorists explain human thought and behavior in terms of conditioning.

Behaviorists look strictly at observable behaviors and the responses to different kinds
of stimuli.

Key word: conditioning, reinforce, ignore, punish, praise, reward

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

A behaviorist would look for environmental conditions that caused an introverted
response in the person. For instance, a child was often praised for
being quiet and obedient, which would increase the introverted behavior.
01
6. Cognitive Perspective 认知心理学

Representatives: Jean Piaget

Ideas: They examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process,
and remember environmental events, such as memory, language use, thinking, problem
solving, and decision making……

Key word: perception, interpret, negative thought, unrealistic expectations, irrational beliefs

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

A cognitive psychologist might explain a person’s tendency to be introverted in terms of
how he or she interprets social situations.
01
7. Social-Cultural Perspective 社会文化心理学

Representatives: Lev Vygotsky

Ideas: Social-cultural psychologists look at how our thoughts and behaviors vary
between cultures. They emphasize the influence culture has on the way we think and act.

Key word: social rules, culture

Research method: cross-culture study

How to explain a person’s tendency to be introverted?

A social-cultural psychologist might explain a person’s tendency to be extroverted
by examining his or her culture’s rules about social interaction.
01
Other Perspectives……

Cognitive neuroscience
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception,
thinking, memory, and language).

Biopsychosocial Approach
This modern perspective acknowledges that human thinking and behavior results from
combinations of biological, psychological, and social factors.
01
How they shed light on anger:

Behavioral Perspective

Biological Perspective:

Cognitive Perspective

Evolutionary Perspective

Humanist Perspective

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Social-Cultural Perspective
How
01 they shed light on anger:

• behavioral perspective: attempt to determine what triggers (increases) angry responses or

aggressive acts.
• biological perspective: might study brain circuits that cause us to be red in the face or how
heredity influence our individual differences in temperament.
• cognitive perspective: might study how our interpretation of a situation affects our anger.
• evolutionary perspective: analyze how anger facilitated the survival of our ancestors’ genes.
• humanistic perspective: might be interested in understanding how angry feelings affect a person’s
potential for growth.
• psychodynamic perspective: might view an outburst as an outlet for unconscious hostility.
• social-cultural perspective: explore how expressions of anger vary across cultural contexts.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

3. The humanistic approach to psychology emphasizes the importance of

(A) childhood experiences Psychoanalytic Perspective

(B) biological predispositions Biopsychology Perspective

(C) maladaptive thoughts Cognitive Perspective

(D) free will and conscious awareness D

(E) cultural experiences Social-Cultural Perspective
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

4. Psychologists who emphasize the importance of repressed memories and

childhood experiences subscribe to which of the following perspectives?
(A) Cognitive
(B) Behavioral
(C) Psychodynamic C
(D) Social cultural
(E) Medical/biological
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

5. Psychologists who believe behaviors are learned most likely ascribe to

(A) Abraham Maslow
(B) B.F. Skinner Pavlov
Watson
(C) Carl Rogers
(D) Sigmund Freud
B
(E) Wilhelm Wundt
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

6. _____ set up the first psychological laboratory

(A) Wilhelm Wundt
(B) John Locke
(C) John Watson A
(D) Sigmund Freud
(E) RenéDescartes
 PRACTICE QUESTIONS
D
7. In what way might a behaviorist disagree with a cognitive psychologist about the cause of aggression?
A. behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about aggressive
behavior, while a cognitive psychologist might say aggression is caused by a past repressed experience.
B. A behaviorist might state that aggression is a behavior encouraged by our genetic code, while a
cognitive psychologist might state that aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about
aggressive behavior.
C. A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards for aggressive behavior, while a
cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by an expressed desire to fulfill certain life
needs.
D. A behaviorist might state that aggression is caused by past rewards for aggressive behavior, while a
cognitive psychologist might believe aggression is caused by memories or ways we think about
aggressive behavior.
E. A behaviorist would not disagree with a cognitive psychologist about aggression because they both
believe that aggressive behavior is caused by the way we cognitively process certain behaviors.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

8. The research methodology Wilhelm Wundt used is called

(A) introspection.
(B) structuralism.
(C) naturalistic observation.
(D) inferential. A
(E) scientific.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

9. Which of the following psychologists wrote the first psychology textbook?

(A) William James
(B) Wilhelm Wundt
(C) B. F. Skinner
A
(D) John Watson
(E) Albert Bandura
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

10. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has been criticized for being
(A) appropriate for female patients, but not male patients.
(B) only applicable to research settings, not therapy settings.
(C) based on large groups, not individual cases.
(D) unscientific and unverifiable. D
(E) too closely tied to behavioristic thought.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS

11. Which of the following psychologists might have described himself as a humanist?
(A) B. F. Skinner

C
(B) William James
(C) Abraham Maslow
(D) John Watson
(E) Ivan Pavlov
Subfields in Psychology
01
Basic research
basic research pure science
that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

developmental psychology
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.

educational psychology
the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.

personality psychology
the study of an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

social psychology
the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another
 Applied research
01
industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology 工业组织心理学
the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces.
leadership/job satisfaction/employee motivation……

human factors psychology 人类因素心理学

an I/O psychology subfield that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and
physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

positive psychology
The scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths.
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.
community psychology 社区心理学
a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how
social institutions affect individuals and groups.
E.g. Preventive mental health
01
Applied research

counseling psychology
a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to
school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being.

clinical psychology Dorothea Dix

a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological
disorders.

psychiatry 精神病学 （ Dorothea Dix ）

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians
who sometimes provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy.
What is Psychology ?
Psychology

The science of behavior, mental processes and brain.

• science

• behavior, mental processes, brain

Summary

Philosophical and physiological view 本章学习Tips：

✓ 关注有特殊身份的人物，比如“fist”

✓ 流派的 key word

The History of Psychology
✓ 有一些学派或术语不完全理解，没
关系，学完全部再倒回来看。

The Field of Psychology Today

作业：1-1
Subfields in Psychology
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