Introduction to Psychology
Kei Sanico | AB PSY1-D | Introduction to Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY
1.1 SCHOOL OF THOUGHT:
STRUCTURALISM
★ Psychology is the Scientific Study
of Behavior and Mental Processes.
★ Focus on the Building blocks of the
★ Psychē/ψυχή Life/soul
mind (structure)
★ Logia/λογία - study
★ Done through Introspection:
★ Behavior - As long as you see
psychology’s first attempt at scientific
someone doing a thing, it’s
methods.
behavior
★ Introspection - analyzing
★ Mental Process - What someone
yourself/someone else.
is thinking while doing something
★ A structuralist looks at a person and
thinks about WHAT BUILDS a person.
Innate Knowledge.
2 WILLIAM JAMES
Rene Whoever you are, it’s
Descartes already ingrained to you
since the start. ★ Father of American Psychology
★ Established the first psychology
Tabula Rasa or Blank course.
Slate. When people are
John Locke born, they are like tablets
2.1 SCHOOL OF THOUGHT:
or paper; empty from the
FUNCTIONALISM
beginning.
★ Focuses on what the behaviors do
(function)
★ Perspectives have differences.
Something ‘hard to understand’ can These schools of thought continue to
become constructive/comprehensive influence contemporary psychological
if you think about it outside of the box. perspectives and psychologists
3 SUBFIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY
1 WILHELM WUNDT
PSYCHOLOGY SUBFIELDS
★ Father of Psychology
★ Pioneer of psychology’s first school of Theorizes about the
Personality
thought: “Structuralism”; First to set unique and enduring
Psychology
up a psychology laboratory. personal traits of
an individual who
differentiates them from
others;
identifies, understands,
and predicts patterns of
behaviors
in individuals
Introduction to Psychology
Kei Sanico | AB PSY1-D | Introduction to Psychology
Experimental The application of to work-related issues
Psychology empirical methods to the and problems
study of behavior and
mental processes Educational Applies psychological
Psychology principles to teaching and
Behavioral Focuses on the biological learning processes
Neuroscience bases of behavior and
mental processes, and
how our body influences
behavior
4 MAIN ISSUES OF PSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive The scientific study of
Psychology higher mental processes
such as thinking, ★ NATURE vs NURTURE
perception, attention, ➔ How much of our behavior is
memory, problem solving, determined by Nature (heredity;
judgment making, and we were born with it) or Nurture
language. (environment; we were
influenced by our experiences
Developmenta The study of how people growing up)
l Psychology grow and change
throughout their life-span;
★ CONSCIOUS vs UNCONSCIOUS
how life experiences have
➔ Is our behavior caused by forces
formed and shaped an
we are not aware of, or by factors
individual
that are fully accessible to our
conscious mind?
Counseling Trains mental health
Psychology professionals to help
individuals deal and cope ★ OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR vs INTERNAL
with short-term and MENTAL PROCESSES
specific problems; ➔ Should psychology focus on
commonly seen as outward behaviors that can be
“coaches” that help seen or on the inner structure of
individuals with various the mind?
context-related problems
(school, work, marriage, ★ FREE WILL vs DETERMINISM
etc.) ➔ Is our behavior a matter of free
will (freely chosen by an
Clinical Deals with the individual) or of determinism
Psychology understanding, diagnosis, (chosen by factors beyond an
and treatment of individual’s control)?
psychological disorders;
linked with psychotherapy:
★ INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES vs
long-term psychological
UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES
intervention
➔ Should psychology focus on the
Studies how people’s unique and special psychological
Social
thoughts, actions, and qualities of each person or on
Psychology
feelings are affected by discovering the psychological
the people around them similarities between all human
beings?
Industrial or Studies human behavior
Organizationa in the work environment
and applies general
l Psychology
psychological principles