Wilhelm Wundt
DATE: 1832-1920
- Set up the first psychological laboratory in an apartment near the university at Leipzig, Germany
- Trained subjects in introspection. Subjects were asked to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli.
Introspection
- Technique used by Wilhelm Wundt who asked subjects to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli.
- Through this process, Wundt hoped to examine basic mental processes.
William James
DATE: 1842-1910
- Published The Principals of Psychology, the sciences first textbook.
Functionalism
- Theory described by William James
- Examines how the mental processes described by Wilhelm Wundt function in our lives
Max Wertheimer
DATE: 1880-1943
- Gestalt psychologist
- Argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures
- Gestalt psychology tried to examine a person's total experience because the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulatio
Sigmund Freud
DATE: 1856-1939
- Believed he discovered the unconscious mind- a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control that determines, in part, how we think and behave.
- Proposed that we must examine the unconscious mind through dream analysis, w
Psychoanalytic Theory
-Described by Sigmund Freud
-Based on the unconscious mind: a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control that determines, in part, how we think and behave.
Ivan Pavlov
DATE: 1849-1936
- Performed pioneering conditioning experiments on dogs
- These experiments led to the development of the classical conditioning model of learning
John Watson
DATE: 1878-1958
- Declared that psychology must limit itself to observable phenomena, not unobservable concepts like the unconscious mind, if it is to be considered a science.
- Wanted to establish behaviorism as the dominant paradigm of psychology.
- Beh
B.F. Skinner
DATE: 1904-1990
- Expanded the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement- environmental stimuli that either encourage of discourage certain responses.
- Helped establish and popularize the operant conditioning model of learning.
- Sk
Behaviorism
- Maintains that psychologists should look at only behavior and causes of behavior- stimuli (environmental events) and responses (physical reactions) - and not concern themselves with describing elements of consciousness.
- Dominant school of thought in p
Humanist Perspective
- The humanists including theorists Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers (1902-1987), stressed individual choice and free will. This contrasts with the deterministic behaviorists who theorized that all behaviors are caused by past conditioning.
- Hu
Psychoanalytic Perspective
- Psychoanalysts believe that the unconscious mind- a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control over or access to- controls much of our thoughts and actions
- Psychoanalysts would look for impulses or memories pushed into the unconsciou
Biopsychology (or neuroscience) perspective
- Biopsychologists explain human thought and behavior strictly in terms of biological processes.
- Neuroscientists believe that human cognition and reactions might be caused by effects of our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters in the brain or by a com
Evolutionary (or Darwinian) Perspective
- Evolutionary psychologists (also sometimes called sociobiologists) examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection.
- Darwinian psychologists stress that some psychological traits might be advantageous for survival and these traits woul
Behavioral Perspective
- Behaviorists explain human thought and behavior in terms of conditioning.
- Behaviorists look strictly at observable behaviors and what reaction organisms get in response to specific behaviors.
Cognitive Perspective
- Cognitive psychologists examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember environmental events.
- Cognitive psychologists believe that the rules that we use to view the world are important to understanding why we thi
Social-Cultural (or Sociocultural) Perspective
- Social-cultural psychologists look at how our thought and behaviors vary from people living in other cultures.
- Sociocultural psychologists emphasize the influence culture has on the way we think and act.