Module 1 preview
Psychology traces its roots back to early recorded history when scholars reflected on the relationship between mind and body. Psychologists’ initial focus on the mind’s structure was later replaced by the study of its functions. As the science of behavior and mental processes, psychology has its origins in many disciplines and countries. The discipline is growing and globalizing.
Psychology’s important issues include questions regarding stability versus change in personality, human rationality versus irrationality, and the relative contributions of biology and experience. Although the different perspectives on human nature have their own purposes and questions, they are complementary and together provide a fuller understanding of mind and behavior.
Some psychologists conduct basic or applied research; others provide professional services, including assessing and treating troubled people. With its perspectives ranging from the biological to the social, and settings from the clinic to the laboratory, psychology has become a meeting place for many disciplines.
Mastering psychology requires active study. A preview-read-think-review study method boosts students’ learning and performance.
general instructional objectives
1. To introduce psychology as a discipline and to trace its historical roots.
2. To identify psychology’s most important issues.
3. To describe the different perspectives from which psychologists examine behavior and mental processes as well as its most important subfields.
4. To discuss effective learning strategies for mastering psychology.
MODULE guide
Lectures: Introducing Psychology With the Worth Videodisc
Exercises: Fact or Falsehood?
Project: Introducing APA and APS on the World Wide Web
Psychology’s Roots
1. Define psychology and trace its historical development.
Contemporary psychology’s ancestors include Aristotle, John Locke, and Charles Darwin. Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. Using introspection, Wundt focused on sensations, feelings, and thoughts. Until the 1920s, psychology was defined as the science of mental life.
Other pioneers included Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, Austrian personality theorist Sigmund Freud, Swiss biologist Jean Piaget, and American philosopher William James.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, American psychologists, led by John Watson, redefined psychology as the science of observable behavior. In the 1960s, psychology began to recapture its interest in mental processes and today we define psychology as the science of behavior and mental processes.
Lectures: Psychology's First Experiments; History of Psychology
Exercises: Psychologist as Scientist; Psychology as Science (PAS) Scale
Video: Discovering Psychology: Past, Present, and Promise
Project/Web Sites: What Happened on Your Birthday?
Psychology’s Big Issues
2. Describe psychology’s concerns regarding stability and change, rationality and irrationality, nature and nurture.
The issue of stability versus change addresses the question of whether our individual traits persist or whether we become different people as we age. In short, to what extent does our past reach into the future?
A second issue concerns human rationality and irrationality. In some ways, human capabilities outstrip the smartest computer. At the same time, we are prone to predictable error and bias.
The nature-nurture debate concerns the relative contributions of biology and experience and is psychology’s most persistent issue. Darwin’s concept of natural selection, the organizing principle of biology, has become important in psychology as well. Today’s psychologists recognize that both biological and social factors direct our life courses and that their effects intertwine.
Exercises: Self-Assessment on Psychology’s Big Issues; Incremental versus Entity Theorists
Video: A Science Odyssey: Program 3—In Search of Ourselves
Psychology’s Perspectives
3. Briefly describe the different perspectives from which psychologists examine behavior and mental processes and explain their complementarity.
The neuroscience perspective studies how the body and brain work to create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.
The evolutionary perspective considers how evolution influences behavior tendencies.
The behavior genetics perspective studies the relative influences of genes and environment on individual differences.
The psychodynamic perspective views behavior as springing from unconscious drives and conflicts.
The behavioral perspective examines how observable responses are acquired and changed.
The cognitive perspective studies how we process, store, and retrieve information.
The social-cultural perspective examines how behavior and thinking vary with the situation and culture.
Each perspective has its own purposes, questions, and limits; together, these complementary viewpoints provide a fuller understanding of mind and behavior.
Lecture: What Perspective Is Dominant in Psychology? Complementary Perspectives
Exercise: The Scientific Approach
Transparency: 1 Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Psychology’s Subfields
4. Identify some of the basic and applied research subfields of psychology.
Some psychologists conduct basic research. For example, biological psychologists explore the link between brain and behavior, developmental psychologists study our changing abilities from womb to tomb, and personality psychologists investigate our inner traits.
Other psychologists conduct applied research. For example, industrial/organizational psychologists study behavior in the workplace and suggest ways of improving conditions and performance.
5. Describe the mental health professions of clinical psychology and psychiatry.
Clinical psychology involves mental health professionals who study, assess, and treat troubled people. Psychiatry sometimes involves medical treatments as well as psychological therapy.
Some practitioners in both professions are influenced by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective, which saw problems arising from unconscious desires and unresolved childhood conflicts.
Lectures: Psychology’s Subfields; Challenges to Psychology’s International Development
Videos: Psychology: Career Paths in Psychology; Scientific Problem Solvers—Careers for the 21st Century; Psychology: Understanding Ourselves, Understanding Each Other
Studying Psychology
6. Discuss several principles for effective learning and explain the PRTR study method.
Distributing study time, listening actively, and overlearning boost learning and performance. An acronym for Preview, Read, Think critically, and Review, PRTR encourages the careful evaluation of competing claims and incorporates the principle that people learn and remember material best when they actively process it.
Lecture: Your Teaching Strategies and Critical Thinking
Exercise: Eliciting “Metaphors” for Learning and Teaching
Student Project/Web Sites: Studying Psychology
Transparency: 2 Study Tips