Myers-Story of Psychology
G11B Mugi Kito
Structuralism
A psychological theory developed by William Wundt and his student Edward B. Titchener in which researchers tried to understand the basic elements of consciousness using method of introspection.
Functionalism
A psychological theory influenced by William James and Charles Darwin which tried to explain the mental process in a way of its function and purpose
Behavioralism
A psychological theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning (John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner)
Humanistic Psychology
A psychological theory emphasizing the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential rather than the early childhood and conditioning. (Abraham Maslow)
Cognitive neuroscience
The study of brain activity linked with mental activity
Psychology
Scientific study of mental process and behavior
Nature-nurture issue
The controversy over the relative contributions of biology (inborn: gene: nature) and experience (nurture).
Natural selection
The environmental process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring; it is developed by Charles Darwin
Levels of analysis
It has main three levels for analyzing people’s psychological events; biological, psychological, and sociocultural levels
Biopsychosocial approach
- Biological influences – traits, gene, hormones, brain
- Psychological influences – learning, emotion, cognition
- Sociocultural influences – presence of others, culture and society, media
Basic research
It is a study and research on pure science that is meant to increase our scientific knowledge base, focusing on fundamental principles and testing theories.
Applied Research
It examines a specific set of circumstances, and its ultimate goal is relating the results to a particular situation. Taking a research and applying to the real life.
Counseling psychologists
The counseling psychologists use psychological theories and researches in therapeutic work to help clients with a variety of problems (basically they do the counselling)
Psychiatrists
The psychologists who can give medicines and diagnose the psychological disorders to the clients. It is also a physician who specializes in psychiatry and treatment of the mental problems.
Oxford 1.1 What is Psychology?
Pop psych
Popular psychology is a wide ranged of popularized psychological theories and concepts that may or may not have a basic in psychology.
Psychobabble
Buzz words taken from psychological terminology but used out of context.
Neuroeconomics
One of the new areas of cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary field that seeks to explain human decision making, the ability to process multiple alternatives and to follow a course of action. Relating psychology to economics.
Social cognition
The way we perceive a person and world; it is very much related to gender.
Philosophy of the mind
Literally, psychology means “reasoning about the soul”, and over the centuries philosophers have speculated on the nature of the soul-that.
Epistemology
Study of how human beings come to understand the world. ways of knowing
Cognitive Psychology
Study of internal mental process such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity and thinking
Ethics
An integral part of philosophy and psychology.
Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity
Theories
Building blocks of scientific study; ideas which explain why something happens or exists
It makes references to empirical study
It is an explanation for a psychological phenomenon.
Empirical studies
Building blocks of scientific study, using direct and indirect knowledge
Concepts
hypothetical constructs that must be carefully defined so that they can be tested.
Self-efficacy
Found by Bandura. one’s own belief as to Whether one will succeed in something, based on previous experiences.
Mindset
A set of attitudes or fixed ideas that someone has and that are often difficult to change
Fixed mindset
People with this idea believe that the intelligence is static. Narrow minded
Growth mindset
People with this idea believe that intelligence is not fixed: they think that it Can be developed and therefore they do not mind challenges. Open minded
Important Figures in Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt:
The one who launched the first psychological experiment at Germany’s University of Leipzig.
William James:
The one who found functionalism (study of the function of brain, emotion, etc) under the influence of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin.
B.F. Skinner:
The one who did the experiment of reinforcement, operant conditioning (Behaviorist) Used rats for the lab
Sigmund Freud:
The one who suggested psychoanalysis and dream analysis. He suggested that the ways emotional responses to childhood experience and our unconscious thought process affect our behavior. ID Ego Superego
John B. Watson:
The one who found behaviorism which suggests that psychology is about observing the behavior and dismissed introspection because inner consciousness is not observable.
Ivan Pavlov:
The one who pioneered the study of learning (classical conditioning: using dogs to train the dog (bell and food))
Edward Bradford Titchener:
He is Wundt’s student and he introduced structuralism using the process known as introspection to search for mind’s structure.
Charles Darwin:
Father of evolution; he suggested the idea of natural selection (principle of the survival: the stronger one survive)
Miscellaneous vocabulary/terms/people
Critical Thinking Questions
1. In your own words, define psychology.
Psychology is a study of the mental process such as what we think or feel in a certain situation and is also a study of behavior such as how we act in a certain situation. By studying those, psychologists may be able to analyze and know more about the human.
2. Explain how you think psychological principles can benefit you as a student.
Psychological principle, such as the developmental psychology, can benefit me as a student because now I know how each stage is important to be an educated adult. For example, the children who have not developed well or been educated are less likely to succeed intheir life. Knowing about the basic of psychology also benefits me in a way of understanding myself. For example, I sometimes do not know why I’m in a sad mood but it is just an emotion and now I don’t care about it that mucH because we are adolescents. Also, studying psychology principles benefits me because now i sometimes can understand why people act the way they do. Now I know that every action has a reason (such as ego, id, and superego). Therefore, i could have a wider perspective about the life and others.
3. After looking at the history and fundamentals of psychology, what questions come up in your mind? What would you like to research or delve into this year in terms of psychology (ie. theories, topics, fields of psychology, etc.)?
- What does the structuralism mean? (I don’t get it because if you separate the mind into pieces, then they might have another meaning)
- In the study of structuralism, Titchener used a process introspection to see people’s inner feelings and consciousness. But how to analyze what people said after the introspection? How is it related to the structuralism
- How can we apply the psychological theories to our real life?
4. Choose one of the following “Be a thinker” exercises below to complete.
Yes, it does. For instance, I have a friend who always says “I’m jealous of you, you have a good brain so don’t need to study hard…” when having a test. However, I think she just does not study hard enough for the test because she puts the responsibility to other things (such as her brain and ability). This person comes under the first case (fixed mindset). For the second example, my another friend once got very low score on the test but she said that “I did not study hard this time…” and then she tried really hard on another test, resulting the higher score. Because she did not rely on her ability, relied on her own effort, the test score became higher. This corresponds to the second case (growth mindset), knowing that effort can chage something, not the inborn ability.
Their way of thinking might change thriugh learning about this theory. Through knowing about this theory, people who have never tried hard on something (people who come under the first case, fixed mindset) may be encouraged to try harder in something. Probably they could know what is their strongest field on education, too. After all, they would be able to achieve something and keep trying. Everyone in the world has an oppotunities to try hard; the difference between people who succeed and don’t is either they have fixed mindset or growth mindset. Therefore, if people with fixed mindset realize they actually can try harder, they can succeed in something, too.
IB Psychology 