LECTURE 1

15/01/15

LECTURE 1- INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY- BSC 101

Learning outcomes

Ø  Define psychology

Ø  Discuss the importance of psychology in Nursing

Ø  Describe the historical development of Psychology as a science

Ø  Outline the three early perspectives of psychology

Ø  Outline the five modern perspectives of psychology

Overview

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Thus it focuses on

ü  what people do

ü  their thinking

ü  emotions (feelings)

ü  reasoning processes

ü  memories

ü  perceptions

ü  biological processes

Psychologists describe, predict and explain human behavior and mental processes as well as help change and improve human lives as well as the world.

Historical development of psychology

Psychology can be traced back to the ancient Greek times through to the 18^th century.

Formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline developed in the late 19^th century with the following developments in sequence

1.Wilhelm Wundt set up the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena in Germany in 1879 to study the building blocks of the mind. This led to the development of the psychological perspective known as structuralism.

2. William James set up his own laboratory in the USA in the early 1900s and developed the psychological perspective functionalism

3. Hermann Ebbinghaus and Max Wertheimer in Germany developed the perspective Gestalt psychology

Early psychological perspectives

There are three main psychological perspectives

1. Structuralism developed by Wundt

2. Functionalism developed by James

3. Gestalt psychology developed by H. Ebbinghaus and M. Wertheimer

Structuralism (focused on the structure of the mind)

It is defined as Wundt’s’ psychological approach which focuses on uncovering the fundamental mental components of consciousness, thinking and other kinds of mental states and activities.

This was developed using a procedure known as introspection which is:

A procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulus.

Due to lack of sufficient evidence to support these perspective, other approaches were developed to replace it.

Functionalism (focused on the function of the mind)

It is defined as an early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does- the functions of mental activity and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environments.

-The focus was on what the mind does and how behavior functions

Gestalt (geh SHTALLT)

It is defined as an approach that focuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a whole sense rather than on the individual elements of perception.

-Looked at how people look at things as a whole rather than the individual parts that make up thinking.

Modern Psychological perspectives

There are five major perspectives emphasising different aspects of behavior and mental processes taking our understanding of behavior in different directions.

1. Neuroscience

2. Psychodynamic

3. Behavioural

4. Cognitive

5. Humanistic

These try to explain and predict human behavior based on certain scientific bases.

Neuroscience perspective

-The approach that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system and other biological functions.

-It considers how humans functions physiologically that is how nerve cells are joined together, how the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents influence behavior

Psychodynamic perspective (Sigmund Freud)

-The approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control.

-The approach views dreams and slips of the tongue as indication of what a person is truly feeling within the unconscious.

Behavioral Perspective (John B. Watson and B.F.Skinner)

The approach that suggests that observable behavior, measurable behavior should be the focus of study.

The approach looks at behavior from the outside rather than the inside. Watson believed that it was possible to elicit any desired type of behavior by controlling the person’s environment. For example he said if given any offspring’s he could train them to be anything from a beggar to lawyers.

Cognitive perspective

The approach that focuses on how people think, understand and know about the world.

The emphasis is on learning how people comprehend and represent the world within themselves and how our ways of thinking about the world influence our behavior.

Humanistic perspective (Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow)

The approach that suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop and be in control of their lives and behavior.

People will always try to reach their potential if they are given the opportunity, in other words they have free will (the ability to freely make decisions about one’s behavior.

TUTORIAL 1 Psychological Issues and Controversies

As psychology is about human behavior and mental processes, debate on the extent to which human behavior is influenced by

a.     Nature  and nurture

b.     Conscious and Unconscious

c.      Observable behavior  and  internal mental processes

d.     Free will  and determinism

e.     Individual differences and Universal principles