Introduction to Psychology

1. Introduction to Psychology

2. What is Psychology? • Scientific study of the individual • Scientific study of behaviour and mental processes • Attempts to understand human beings and other species “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

3. Subdivisions of Psychology • Developmental psychology • Studies human mental and physical growth from conception to death • Physiological psychology • Investigates the biological basis of human behavior • Experimental psychology • Conducts research on basis of psychological processes like learning, memory, sensation, perception etc • Personality psychology • Personality psychologists study the differences among individuals “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

4. Subdivisions of Psychology • Clinical and counseling psychology • Clinical psychologists are interested primarily in the diagnosis, cause, and treatment of psychological disorders. • Counseling psychologists are concerned primarily with “normal” problems of adjustments in life. • Social psychology • Social psychologists study how people influence one another • Industrial and Organizational psychology • Psychology applied to the workplace “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

5. Major Schools of Thought • Structuralism • Structuralism was concerned with identifying the units of conscious experience. • Physical sensation, Feelings, Image • Wlhelm Wundt • Bradford Titchener • Functionalism • Functionalism was concerned with the ongoing use of conscious experience. • Consciousness cannot be broken into elements. • “Pure sensation without associations-simply do not exist” • William James “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

6. Major Schools of Thought • Psychodynamic • Focused on the unconscious determinants of behavior. • Human beings are not so rational and they are motivated by unconscious instincts & urges. • Freud developed a method of therapy called psychoanalysis. • Personality develop in series of critical stages during first few years of life. • Sigmund Freud • Behaviorism • Behaviorism is only concerned with behavior that can be observed and measured.. • John B. Watson • B.F. Skinner “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

7. Major Schools of Thought • Gestalt • The Gestalt movement was concerned with the perception of “form.” • Against structuralism view. (series of still pictures) • Tendency to see pattern, to distinguish an object from its background, to complete picture from cues. • Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Koffka • Existential and Humanistic • Existentialism is concerned with alienation and apathy in modern life. • Search for sum meaning in this world and guide toward inner sense of identity • Playwright, jean Paul startre • Humanism is concerned with helping people realize their full potential. “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

8. Major Schools of Thought • CognitivePsychology • Concerned with memory, thinking, language, learning, decision making (mental process) • Expanded the concept of “behavior” to include thoughts, feelings, and states of consciousness • Mental processes can and should be studied scientifically. • Evolutionary Psychology • Concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental processes • Their adaptive value and the purposes they continue to serve • Reproductive success: all species are genetically programmed to produce offspring. “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir

9. Enduring Issues • Person-situation • Hereditary-environment • Stability-change • Diversity • Mind-body “Introduction to Behavioral Sciences” Instructor: Saba Nasir