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CHAPTER 1: EVOLUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY
** → means important / test question
DEFINING PSYCHOLOGY
- about understanding the things, we do.
- definition: scientific study of mind, mental processes and behaviour.
- scientific approach-> systematic methods to identity, analyse and
describe phenomena (e.g. Experimentation and it helps us to optimise
our understanding of the mind, mental processes and behaviour
- 2 Greek words: Psyche meaning soul and logos referring to study of a
subject
THE MIND
- Originates in brain
- Fosters human consciousness → the state of being aware and
responsive to one’s surroundings
- Produces mental processes → conscious and unconscious; and the
capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectivity
MENTAL PROCESSES
- Are the activities in the brain that are required to produce a sequence of
systematic actions, changes and functions (i.e. thoughts, memory,
perception and reasoning)
- Disturbance/disruption of mental processes – indicative of disorder in
the mind.
BEHAVIOUR
- Any response carried out by an organism
- Behaviour is an action – either reaction or functional pattern in a system
- Reaction is the response to a stimulus
- Functional pattern is how the brain and body performs normal
automatic actions
,BIRTH OF PSYCHOLOGY
- Historical evidence on probable mental illness at around 9000 BCE –
trepanation
- In ancient times, health was conceived as integrated construct –
physical, mental, social and spiritual health wasn’t separated
- Plato – described brain as seat of mental processes and the soul being
served by the body
- Aristole – Tabula rasa = blank slate** and on a more comprehensive
account on the concept of the mind
TYPES OF MADNESS
- Halfway through 1st century:
▪ Encyclopaedia released in which Aulus Celsus discussed mental
behaviour
▪ Introduced the term insania – modern term today is insanity
19th CENTURY
- Surge of science and philosophy towards better understanding of human
beings
- Franz Joseph Gall – suggested that bumps on a persons head could
describe their personality, this was proven false
- Hegel – introduced phenomenology which is the study of the structured
of experience and consciousness and the term psychiatry was
introduced
- 1848 – neurosciences took centre stage (Phineas Gage case)
- Science in psychology was beginning to feature mor prominently in the
era
- In early 1870’s experimental psychology was introduced by William
James
,NEW SCIENCE IS BORN
- Psychology seen as a bridge between philosophy and physiology
- 1879 – Wihelm Wundt **
▪ Established first formal laboratory for research in psychology
▪ 2 years later he established the first journal – publishing research
psychology
▪ Developed science of psychology
▪ Main subject matter was consciousness
- This orientation kept psychology focused on the mind and metal
processed but also demanded scientific methods
- Stanley Hall
▪ Briefly studied with Wundt
▪ Founded first psychology research laboratory in America in 1883
▪ Started first American psychology journal
▪ 1892 – The first president of American Psychological Association
(APA) ** which he helped set up
STRUCTURALISM VS. FUNCTUALISM
STRUCTURALISM
- Edward Titchener
- Revised Wundt’s version of psychology
- Based on notion that the task of psychology is to analyse consciousness
into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related
- Want to examine fundamental components of conscious experience
- Work concerned sensation and perception in vision, hearing and touch
FUNCTIONALISM
- Emerged through William James
- Investigated function or purpose of consciousness rather than analysing
its structure
- Book: Principles of Psychology
- James was impressed with the work of Charles Darwin and his Natural
Selection whereby hereditable characteristics that provide a uvival or
reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics
to be passed onto other generations
, - Suggested that typical characteristics of species must serve some
purpose
- Suggested that consciousness consists of a continuous flow of thoughts
- Focus on how people adapt their behaviour in the real world
- Structuralism: consciousness = static focused on laboratory- based
research
STRUCTURALISM THEORY: studies the
varied elements of consciousness
FUNCTIONALISM THEORY: studies how
consciousness changes according to
the environment
SIGMUND FREUD
- Spent decades exploring patient’s lives
▪ Gathered material by looking inward and examining his own
anxieties, conflicts, desires
- Exploration persuaded him of the existence of the unconscious
- Unconscious – contains thoughts, memories and desires that are well
below the surface of conscious awareness, but that nonetheless exert
great influence on behaviour
- Concluded that psychological disturbances are largely caused by
personal conflicts existing at an unconscious level
▪ He also held that other elements of personality, behaviour and
motivation can be explained by exploring the role of the
unconscious
- People are not masters of their own minds
- Behaviour greatly influenced by how people cope with their sexual urges
CARL JUNG
- 1913 – a number of psychological modalities were introduced – 2
particularly prominent:
▪ Behaviourism
▪ Analytic psychology (introduced by Jung)
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