Introduction to Psychology Philosophical Foundations of the Psychological Sciences

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Introduction to Psychology Philosophical
Foundations of the Psychological Sciences
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What comes to mind when you think of psychology?
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Common myths from psychological psuedo-science

• Our lives are determined by our childhood
  experiences (its all Moms fault)
• Our desires are hidden in our unconscious and
  emerge in our dreams

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Science can answer some questions but not others

• The best things in life are free.
• Shakespeares Richard III is a better play than
  Romeo and Juliet.
• The death penalty is wrong.
• There is a genetic predisposition to
  schizophrenia.
• Attitudes affect the course of cancer.
• 2 2 4

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Folk wisdom can be contradictory

• Opposites attract vs birds of a feather flock
  together
• Better safe than sorry vs nothing ventured,
  nothing gained
• Look before you leap vs he who hesitates is
  lost
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder vs out of
  sight, out of mind

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True or False?

• Opposites generally attract
• We use only 10 percent of our brain power
• If you dont vent your anger youll explode
• Most of us suffer from low self-esteem
• Talking about your depression only makes it worse
• Women crave chocolate when they have PMS

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Psychology is

• A set of questions
• A set of theories and procedures for asking and
  answering questions
• A product of history

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What is psychology?

• The science of behavior and mental processes
• Also
• Explanation
• Understanding
• Scientific investigation

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Before PsychologyA classical view of the bodys
control centers

• Liver ? metabolic processes
• Heart ? emotions perception
• Brain ? thought reason

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Personality determined by bodily fluids

• The theory of Humors
• Black bile ? moody
• Blood ? optimistic
• Yellow bile ? hot-tempered
• Phlegm ? passive

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Philosophical developments

• Descartes
• Dualism human body contains 2 distinct entities
• Material body
• Mind/soul
• What separates man from animals is thought (which
  requires having a soul)
• Soul and mind are used interchangeably, here.
• Mind-body movie

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Problems with Descartes

• How can a non-material entity (soul/mind) have a
  material effect on the body?
• How can the body follow natural laws, yet be
  moved by a mind that does not?
• Precludes a scientific investigation of the mind.

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Hobbes Materialism

• Basic axiom everything (behavior, thought, etc.)
  can be understood in terms of the bodys physical
  processes, especially the brain.
• Sort of the anti-Descartes
• Paved the way for empiricism
• Founder of materialism

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Roots of Psychology
Empiricism
Rationalism
Philosophy
Emphasis on reason and logic
Emphasis on data
Emphasis on data
Emphasis on theory
Psychology
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Willhelm Wundt

• Considered the founder of scientific psychology
• Interested in the speed of mental processes
• Used reaction-time tests to determine the amount
  of time it took to perform cognitive tasks.
• Basis for cognitive psychology

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Wilhelm Wundt

• "we learn little about our minds from casual,
  haphazard self-observation...It is essential that
  observations be made by trained observers under
  carefully specified conditions for the purpose of
  answering a well-defined question

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Experimental Psychology Begins with Structuralism

• Edward Titchener used methods such as
  introspection to develop a new school of thought
  that became known as structuralism.
• The basic idea of structuralism is that conscious
  experience can be studied when it is broken down
  into its underlying components or elements.
• Focused on sensation using introspection

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Rules of Introspection

• 1. Be impartial. Do not form a preconceived idea
  of what you are going to find by the experiment
  do not hope or expect to find this or that
  process. Take consciousness as it is.
• 2. Be attentive. Do not speculate as to what you
  are doing or why you are doing it, as to its
  value or uselessness, during the experiment. Take
  the experiment seriously.
• 3. Be comfortable. Do not begin to introspect
  till all the conditions are satisfactory do not
  work if you feel nervous or irritated, if the
  chair is too high or the table too low for you,
  if you have a cold or a headache. Take the
  experiment pleasantly.
• 4. Be perfectly fresh. Stop working the moment
  that you feel tired or jaded. Take the experiment
  vigorously.

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What are the problems with the method of
introspection?

• The problem with this approach is that experience
  is subjective.
• Each person brings to introspection a unique
  perceptual system, and it is difficult to
  determine whether subjects are using the criteria
  in a similar way.
• Accordingly over the course of time introspection
  was largely abandoned in psychology.

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Functionalism Addresses the Purpose of Behavior

• Functionalism, was more concerned with how the
  mind operates than with what the mind contains.
• The mind came into existence over the course of
  human evolution, and it works the way it does
  because it is useful for preserving life and
  passing along genes to future generations

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William James and Functionalism

• Inspired by biology, Darwinism
• What is the purpose of the behavior?
• Focused on the purpose and function of the mind.
• Behaviors serve adaptive function
• Influenced by Darwin
• Paid lip service to the experimental method, but
  relied on introspection

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William James

• A great many people think they are thinking when
  they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
• Believe that life is worth living and your belief
  will help create the fact.
• The greatest discovery of any generation is that
  a human being can alter his life by altering his
  attitude.

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Gestalt Psychology

• Mind must be understood in terms of organized
  wholes, not parts.
• Looking at a duck, you first recognize it as
  duck, not a collection of wings, feathers, and
  a bill.

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Gestalt Psychology Emphasizes Patterns and
Context in Learning
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Psychodynamic Approach

• Founded by Freud
• Emphasizes unconscious motivations (often
  sexual) early childhood experiences

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3 levels of mind
Id Ego Superego
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Behaviorism

• Took over psychology for the first half of the
  20th century
• Experience reinforces behavior
• Possessed scientific qualities

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Behaviorist Approach
Watson
Skinner (smiling)

• Rejected Freuds dependence on unobservable
  phenomena
• Should study directly observable behaviors

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Cognitive Approach
George Miller

• Displaced behaviorism
• Focuses on ability to acquire, organize,
  remember, and use knowledge to guide behavior
• Magic number 7

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Modern Psychology

• Return to cognitive psychology in late 20th
  century
• Cognition mental processing
• Fundamental cognitive abilities

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Current fields in psychology

• Biopsychology
• Cognitive
• Developmental
• Health
• Clinical
• Social
• Evolutionary

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Psychological Science Crosses Levels of Analysis