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Lecture 2

This document provides an overview of the history and major schools of psychology. It discusses how Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in Germany in the late 19th century. Early schools included structuralism, which used introspection to study the mind's basic elements. Gestalt psychology emerged, arguing the mind results from whole sensory patterns. Functionalism viewed the mind as adaptive. Behaviorism, led by Watson, rejected the study of the mind and focused only on observable behavior. Psychoanalysis and Freud emphasized unconscious drives influencing behavior and thoughts. Modern perspectives include behavioral, biological, cognitive, social, developmental, humanistic, and psychodynamic views.

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Raja Awais Liaqaut
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48 views27 pages

Lecture 2

This document provides an overview of the history and major schools of psychology. It discusses how Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in Germany in the late 19th century. Early schools included structuralism, which used introspection to study the mind's basic elements. Gestalt psychology emerged, arguing the mind results from whole sensory patterns. Functionalism viewed the mind as adaptive. Behaviorism, led by Watson, rejected the study of the mind and focused only on observable behavior. Psychoanalysis and Freud emphasized unconscious drives influencing behavior and thoughts. Modern perspectives include behavioral, biological, cognitive, social, developmental, humanistic, and psychodynamic views.

Uploaded by

Raja Awais Liaqaut
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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History of Psychology

Lecture 2
Content:
EarlySchools of Psychology,
Schools of Psychology,
Modern Perspective.
Early Schools of Psychology:
ClassicalGreek Philosophers,
Pioneers of Psychology,
Early Schools of Psychology,
Modern Perspective.
Pioneers of Psychology:
German Psychologist named Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920) at University of Leipzeg,
established first laboratory.

John Hopkins University in United States set up


first psychological laboratory in 1883.

William James recognized Psychology as a


separate field of study at the end of 19th century.
Area of Research:

Psychology as study of mind,

Conducted experiments to evaluate laws in the


physical world which have an influence on
person’s mind,

They studied attention, and did experiments in


the area of memory, imagery, thinking and
emotion.
Schools of Psychology:

Structuralism,
GestaltPsychology,
Functionalism,
Behaviorism,
Psychoanalysis,
Modern Perspective.
Structuralism:
The school of thought established around the
ideas of Wilhelm Wundt at Cornell University,
by one of his students.

The goal of the structuralists was to identify


units or elements which make up the mind.

To study mind, there should be description of


basic elementary units of sensation, image and
emotion.
Structuralism (contd.):

Method used was Introspection.

Subjective evaluation of the experiences due to


certain stimulus.

Useful Information was collected about the kind


of sensations people have.

Shortcomings.
Gestalt Psychology:

German Psychologist named Max Wertheimer


(1880-1943) and his colleagues challenged the
idea of structuralists.

According to them, study of mind can be


understood in terms of the ways elements are
organized.
Gestalt Psychology (contd.):

Mind should be thought of as resulting from


whole pattern of sensory activities and
relationships and organizations within such
pattern.
Functionalism:

John Dowey (1873-1954) and his colleagues at


University of Chicago challenged Gestalts.

They proposed that Psychology should study


“what mind and behavior do”.

They were mainly interested in the fact that


mind and behavior are adaptive.
Functionalism (contd.):

Adaptive behavior means that individuals have


the ability to adjust to changing environment.

The Functionalists did experiments on the way


of learning, memory, problem solving,
motivation and thus help people adapt to their
environment.

Focus is on the functions of mind and behavior.


Behaviorism:

John B. Watson (1879-1958) at John Hopkin


University in United States rejected mind as
subject of psychology.

According to him, psychology should be


restricted to the study of behavior i.e. both
observable and potential activities of people.
Characteristics of Behaviorism:

Conditional responses,

Learned behavior rather than unlearned


behavior,

Focus on animal behavior.


Psychoanalysis:

Sigmund Freud (1856-1938) a known


Psychiatrist from Austria, was the pioneer of
Psychoanalysis.

He proposed a theory of behavior and mind


stating that what we do and think results from
urges and drives which seek expression in
behavior and thoughts.
Psychoanalysis (contd.):

These urges and drives are hidden from the


awareness of individuals, i.e. unconscious
motivation or drive.

Unconscious motivation describes the key ideas


of Psychoanalysis.

System of Psychotherapy is based on the


concept of Psychoanalysis.
Modern Perspective:

In the last 50 years, psychologists have a variety


of viewpoints to choose from, in their task of
describing and understanding behavior.

The perspective taken depends partly on:


1). Bias of individual psychologist,
2). What aspect of behavior is under study
Modern Perspective (contd.):

Behavioral Perspective,
Biological Perspective,
Cognitive Perspective,
Social Perspective,
Developmental Perspective,
Humanistic Perspective,
Psychoanalytic Perspective.
Behavioral Perspective:

A psychologist with behavioral perspective


might be interested in teaching skills so as to
compensate for behavioral problems.

Learning and behavioral perspective can be


applied to overcome problematic situations.
Biological Perspective:

Psychologists try to relate behavior to functions of


the body, i.e. nervous system and glandular
systems in particular.
Cognitive Perspective:

Differences in the way we process information


leads to differences in behavior,

Social learning theory,

How the processing of information change


overtime.
Social Perspective:

Social Psychologists try to understand normal


social interactions.

Adapting cognitive framework described in


Cognitive perspective.

Focus is to get the cause of the behavior by


obtaining more information about participants.
Developmental Perspective:

Concerned with characteristic changes that


occur in people as they mature, i.e. Changes in
the way they think.

Cognitive Egocentrism.
Humanistic Perspective:

Emphasizes the person’s sense of self.

What does a person feel about his/her own


behavior and how can that behavior be
improved.
Psychoanalytic Perspective:

Broader perspective of psychodynamics.

Psychodynamics is a perspective that focuses on


the role of feelings and impulses which are
thought to be unconscious.
Key Aspects of
Psychodynamics:
Defense mechanism to reduce anxiety, one of
defense mechanism is displacement.

Accidents or slips happens for a reason.


Reference:

Morgan, King, Weisz and Schopler (2009)


Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Prentice
Hall.

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