1/08/14 Psychology's History & Approaches

• Psychology- the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• Behavior- anything that you do that can be observed.
• Mental processes- internal experiences such as thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions.
• Systematic study- systematic collection and examination of data to support or disprove hypotheses rather than depending on common sense. 
• Key players in the history of psychology
• Roots of psychology can be traced back to 2,000 years ago to the early philosophers, biologists, and physiologist of ancient Greece.
1. Hippocrates- Greek physiologist that thought the mind or soul resided in the brain. He believed that it was not composed of a physical substance.  this is called mind-body dualism, seeing mind and body as two different things that interact.
2. Plato (350 B.C.)- Greek philosopher that believed that who we are and what we know are innate (inborn).
3. Aristotle- Plato's students believed that who we are and what we know are acquired from experience.  He also believed in monism, seeing mind and body as different aspects of same things.  
4. John Locke- Believed that knowledge comes from observation, and what we know comes from experience. He coined the term "tabula rasa", blank slate. "The mind is like a blank slate in which the environment writes upon."
5. Rene Descartes- Believed that what we know is innate.  "I think therefore I am."
• Nature v. Nurture Controversy
• Nature- Certain elementary ideas are innate to the human mind; not gained through experience. 
• Men are born, not made.
• Nurture- Anything that we know, we have learned through experience.
• Our mind is like a blank slate that the environment writes upon.
• The birth of psychology
• Wilhelm Wundt- 1879 University of Leipzig
• Psychology's first experiment, birth of a science
• Established first psychology lab.
• Introspection (looking forward).
• Edward Titchener
• Structuralism
• Wundt, Titchener, Hall (Founders and first president of APA).
• Uses introspection to explore the structural elements of the mind.
• Break down mental processes
• Functionalism- reaction to structuralism
• Sought to explain how our mental and behavioral processes function.
• How do they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish?
• Focused on purpose of behavior
• William James influenced by Darwin.