Introducing Psychology

11 Key excerpts on "Introducing Psychology"

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  A Student's Guide to Studying Psychology

  • Thomas M. Heffernan(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  1 Introduction to psychology

  This chapter defines psychology, considers the study of psychology as a scientific discipline, and introduces the reader to the major perspectives within psychology.

  What is psychology?

  To the layperson, the term “psychology” might mean something like “the study of people” or “the study of the mind”, both of which are correct but a little vague. A more formal definition of psychology would be the scientific study of human mental processes, motivatiom,and behaviour. Animal research is also conducted so that comparisons can be made between animal and human behaviour—from which many models of behaviour have been developed (Pinel,2003)3. The origins of psychology has been much debated over the years. One school of thought is that psychology really only began when the first experimental study in psychology was carried out (for example, Hermann Ebbinghaus’s experimental investigations into human memory in the late nineteenth century), whereas there are good arguments in support of the roots of psychological thought and inquiry dating back much further (see e.g., Eysenck,1998, chap. 1).

  Early influences include those of the Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle during the fourth and fifth centuries BC, as well as experiments into psychophysics (the study of the relationship between mental and physical processes) carried out in Germany in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Hermann von Helmholtz’s physiological research on colour vision in the nineteenth century has contributed much to physiological psychology. Charles Darwin’s work on the origin of species and the work by Francis Galton on the study of individual differences and intelligence (both developed in the nineteenth century) firmly established the importance of biology to the study of humankind. Sigmund Freud’s work on the psychoanalytic approach to the study of human thought and behaviour (particularly in the current realms of abnormal psychology) in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and the growth in behaviourism during the early to mid part of the twentieth century, have all contributed to the development of psychology.

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  The Student's Guide to Studying Psychology

  • Thomas M Heffernan(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  1 Introduction to psychology DOI: 10.4324/9781315849430-1

  This chapter defines psychology, considers the study of psychology as a scientific discipline, and introduces the reader to the major perspectives within psychology.

  What is psychology?

  To the layperson, the term “psychology” might mean something like “the study of people” or “the study of the mind”, both of which are correct but a litt le vague. A more formal definition of psychology would be the scientific study of human mental processes, motivations, and behaviour. Animal research is also conducted so that comparisons can be made between animal and human behaviour – from which many models of behaviour have been developed (Pinel, 2013 ). The origins of psychology have been much debated over the years. One school of thought is that psychology really only began when the first experimental study in psychology was carried out (e.g., Hermann Ebbinghaus’s experimental investigations into human memory in the late nineteenth century), whereas there are good arguments in support of the roots of psychological thought and inquiry dating back much further (see e.g., Eysenck, 2002 ).

  Early influences include those of the Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle during the fourth and fifth centuries BC, as well as experiments into psychophysics (the study of the relationship between mental and physical processes) carried out in Germany in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Hermann von Helmholtz’s physiological research on colour vision in the nineteenth century has contributed much to physiological psychology. Charles Darwin’s work on the origin of species and the work by Francis Galton on the study of individual differences and intelligence (both developed in the nineteenth century) firmly established the importance of biology to the study of humankind. Sigmund Freud’s work on the psychoanalytic approach to the study of human thought and behaviour (particularly in the current realms of abnormal psychology) in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and the growth in behaviourism during the early to mid-part of the twentieth century, have both contributed to the development of psychology.

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  Revival: An Outline of Psychology (1968)

  • Willam McDougall(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  OUTLINE OF PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY

  Psychology is, or aspires to become, a science, a systematically organized and growing body of knowledge. Entering upon the study of this science, we shall naturally expect to be told what is the class of things or processes with which the science is concerned; what kind of knowledge, what sort of increase of understanding, we may hope to gain from the study of it.

  The most satisfying answer is that it should help us to a better understanding of human nature. The aim of psychology is to render our knowledge of human nature more exact and more systematic, in order that we may control ourselves more wisely and influence our fellow-men more effectively. There is probably no psychologist who would find serious fault with this statement. As a definition of the province of the science it falls short in two respects. Such a definition should indicate all that falls within the province and should exclude everything that does not. And in both these respects the statement falls short of perfection. For one well-established branch of psychology studies animals, and is properly called the study of animal behavior. And, on the other hand, we have anthropology, a study which by its very title claims to be, and in practice is, the science of mankind; but which, as generally understood, includes much that falls outside the province of psychology. We should not attach great importance to these imperfections; for similar difficulties arise when we attempt to define concisely any science or branch of science. The fields of the various sciences overlap. It is inevitable that they should do so; for, if there are sharp divisions in nature, we do not know exactly where to find them, and therefore cannot draw any precise boundaries between the sciences. And such overlapping of the sciences is really advantageous; for it brings the workers in the several sciences into touch and co-operation one with another.

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  Using Psychology in the Classroom

  • Stephen James Minton(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  1

  Introducing Psychology in the Classroom

  The goals for this introductory chapter are two-fold. Firstly, it is designed to provide the reader with an understanding of the scope of psychology as it applies to educational practice. This is undertaken through examining the question ‘What is psychology?’ , before providing a very brief history of psychology . The second aim is to inform the reader about the psychology of education and about this book . This chapter concludes with a selective and annotated list of further reading and useful websites .

  What is Psychology?

  Defining Psychology

  In the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology , under the entry for ‘psychology’, Arthur S. Reber (1995) asserts that ‘psychology cannot be defined; indeed, it cannot even easily be characterised’. He argues that definitions such as ‘“the science of mental life”, “the science of behaviour” . . . reflect the prejudices of the definer more than the actual nature of the field’, but does state that ‘psychology is what scientists and philosophers of various persuasions have created to try and fulfil the need to understand the minds and behaviours of various organisms from the most primitive to the most complex’ (p. 617).

  Reber’s (1995) assertions are certainly well-made, given the diversity of the field of psychology, its areas of inquiry, and it applications. However, a shorter – and, I would argue, broadly acceptable – defining statement is that psychology is ‘the science of mind and behaviour’ (Gross, 2010), which applies to most modern (and especially experimental) psychology. However, even at this early stage we run into problems. The scientific method, to which we shall return below, and again according to Reber (1995), is characterised by: (i) a clearly defined problem being stated in a way that (ii) ties it in with ‘existing theory and known empirical fact’ (p. 458), (iii) leading to the formulation of a testable hypothesis and (iv) the determination of investigatory procedures, which lead to (v) the collection and analysis of data which, when analysed, in turn lead to (vi) the support or rejection of the hypothesis, and ultimately to (vii) the modification of the existing body of scientific knowledge to accommodate the new findings. With this is mind, one can see how the scientific method may be more easily applied to the study of ‘behaviour’, which is, after all, external, physical, observable and measurable, than it might be to the study of the ‘mind’, which is, of course, an internal, metaphysical, non-observable entity with no clear means of direct ‘measurement’. Yet Gross’s (2010) definition comes at least close to incorporating, in a single sentence, an accurate description of the ways in which modern psychology is, or at least should be, conducted (the ‘scientific method’), and the broad areas with which psychologists have concerned themselves. Indeed, the roots of the word ‘psychology’ come from the Ancient Greek psyche , meaning ‘the mind’ (notice this prefix in many related terms, such as ‘psychiatrist’ and ‘psychoanalyst’), and -ology

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  Early Childhood Studies

  A Social Science Perspective

  • Ewan Ingleby(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  1 Psychology and Early Childhood Studies

  Chapter outline Introduction Defining the discipline of psychology Origins of psychology The schools of psychology Behaviourism Humanism Psychodynamic theory Cognitive theory Biological psychology Applying psychology to early years Psychological therapies and the early years

  Learning outcomes After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • identify what the term psychology means;

  • analyse some of the ways that psychology can be used by early years practitioners;

  • critically appraise some of the ways that psychology can be applied to early years.

  This chapter develops your knowledge and understanding of selected psychological theories accounting for children’s growth and development. The material in the chapter explores the idea that an increased awareness of applied psychology enables children to achieve their full potential.

  Introduction

  This opening chapter of the book introduces you to the discipline of psychology and discusses how psychology can be applied to early years in order to improve practice. Each school of psychology has a different understanding of what constitutes the self. This understanding is outlined, analysed and critically appraised in order to explore how psychology can be applied to the early years. Throughout the chapter there are formative activities that reinforce learning in relation to the main psychological models that are of relevance for early years practitioners.

  Defining the discipline of psychology

  Reflective Activity 1.1 What is your understanding of the word psychology? Feedback

  Psychology is an academic discipline that studies a vast range of human and animal behaviour. Psychologists are not mind readers and they do not necessarily have access to our thoughts. They do not work solely with people who are mentally ill or people who are emotionally disturbed. These are common delusions and misinterpretations of the discipline.

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  Education and Psychology in Interaction

  Working With Uncertainty in Interconnected Fields

  • Brahm Norwich(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3 Psychology: study of humanity or science?

  Psychology is a vast and ramified discipline. It contains many mansions. But this does not prevent it from being intellectually divided against itself. Taylor (1985, p. 117)

  Introduction

  I concluded in the last chapter that educational theories are diverse and focus on different aspects of the educational field: what is to be learned, the social and personal aims of learning and the techniques of learning. The latter two aspects relate directly to basic beliefs about the nature of the person and learning, what I called meta-psychological assumptions. When educationalists explore these assumptions conceptually and empirically they begin to ask psychological questions and become involved in problems and questions covered by the field of psychology. This connection also relates to the historical development of psychology by scholars and practitioners involved in education. Education therefore needs psychology as a theoretical and technical resource and guide, as what can be called a contributory discipline. There is the risk, however, that psychology, particularly in its causal scientific version, comes to be applied without the critical role of educational theory and the interpretive participation of teachers. Psychology then assumes the dominant role in the relationship. This raises the question of whether education also contributes to psychology. How much does psychology need practical problems and questions from a field like education? To answer these questions calls for an examination of the contemporary issues and agendas in psychology, which is the focus of this chapter.

  Psychology is an alluring, puzzling and even a mysterious field. It can be seen to contain crucial knowledge and understanding about the mind and human behaviour which can answer many of the questions about human nature which concern us all. Such answers can hold out the promise of solutions to human problems, something which is particularly relevant in a secular age when the traditional answers from religion have become less plausible and acceptable. It is seen (witness the images projected by the media) as offering those who are familiar with its secrets the potential, if not the actual power, to control and perhaps manipulate others. Psychology, focusing on the mind or the psyche, also has associations with what is not physical and material, with ghostly processes which lurk in some immaterial realm. Though there has been a significant growth of a scientific approach to psychology over the last century, and that is now the dominant mode of study, this development has not been welcomed consistently. Put briefly and simply, a scientific mode offers the authority and power associated with science in other fields where it has achieved considerable successes, such as in physics and biology. This arises from an agenda which aims to identify causal mechanisms which can be applied to the control of psychological outcomes. But this very process can also be seen to be dehumanising in denying the role of human meaning and agency. Despite this, psychology has over the last century attracted many hopes and expectations. This was recognised by William James as regards teachers and teaching, as noted in the last chapter. Currently psychology is attracting many students in Higher Education. Figures quoted by Gale (1997), for example, indicate that in the USA psychology produces the second largest number of major graduates, after business administration and management. A world-wide survey indicates a doubling of the number of qualified psychologists between 1982 and 1992. There has been a similar growth in Higher Education psychology places in the UK.

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  The Psychology of Education

  • Martyn Long, Clare Wood, Karen Littleton, Terri Passenger, Kieron Sheehy(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  It is likely that you have some existing ideas about each of these pairs of propositions. However, without getting additional information it is impossible to say which of these opposed views is going to be the most useful to us in understanding the educational process. This can be done by carrying out some form of investigation in a particular area, or by seeing what other people have found out. Each of the areas in these boxes is considered within this book.

  What is educational psychology?

  Psychological knowledge and the techniques of psychological study can help us understand these problems since psychology involves the logical investigation of what people think and what they do. Psychology includes a wide range of topics and can be applied to many different areas such as education, where human thinking and behaviour are important. Educational psychology therefore refers to an area of applied psychology that uses psychological theories and techniques to consider how we think and learn, and how we can address the learning needs of students.

  Ways of investigating

  A key feature of psychology as a discipline is its emphasis on developing theories about human behaviour and carrying out investigations to test and modify them. A theory is a way of trying to explain as simply as possible what we know (or think we know) about a particular area. For example, a theory that most people have about class size and achievement is that ‘smaller classes are better for children and lead to improved achievements’. From this theory we might make the following prediction (hypothesis ): ‘Children taught in classes no bigger than six will have better end of year test results than children who are taught in classes of 30.’ This process of identifying a theory, making a prediction that tests it, and then collecting data to see if the prediction is supported, is known as the hypothetico-deductive method , and has its roots in science. Other techniques, described later in this chapter, are inductive

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  Elements of Applied Psychology

  • Peter Spurgeon, Roy Davies, Antony Chapman(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Academically, psychology became an independent discipline during the 1870s, although it was not until after the Second World War that it was able to survive and prosper as a profession outside the universities. The pioneers of psychology in Europe, especially Germany, and in North America viewed psychology as a branch of the natural sciences, concerned with the discovery of fundamental truths about experience and behaviour in human and non-human organisms. But although psychology’s principal task is generally acknowledged to be the investigation of experience and behaviour, in practice only a relatively restricted range of experiential and behavioural phenomena has been extensively examined, and only rarely have findings in different areas of psychology been related to one another. As Beloff (1973) remarked, in the preface to a review of modern psychology, “… soon as one attempts to say what psychology is about, it becomes clear that one is dealing, not with a single unified science, but with a collection of more or less affiliated disciplines, each with its own peculiar concepts and laws, its own methods and techniques’ (p. ix). Because of the range of organisms, settings and behaviours with which it is concerned, it is extremely improbable that psychology will ever become a conceptually unified discipline (Koch, 1981; Koch and Leary, 1985), and increasing specialisation is generally regarded as inevitable (Bevan, 1982), with psychologists being divided into two cultures, one primarily scientific in orientation, and the other humanistic (Kimble, 1984), a distinction made over 50 years ago (Bruner and Allport, 1940).

  The emergence of scientific psychology

  Until about the 1860s psychology was essentially an ‘armchair’ subject, based on philosophical argument, anecdote and ‘common sense’. The emergence of modem scientific psychology, with its emphasis on experimentation and research methodology, owes much to the enormous growth of scientific activity, the institutionalisation of science and the professionalisation of the scientist during the nineteenth century, all of which are largely attributable to the rise of the modern university, beginning in Germany in the early 1800s (Heamshaw, 1987). German universities founded in the early nineteenth century, such as the University of Berlin, were characterised by a strong commitment to academic freedom, and by the vigorous promotion of research and graduate study in a wide variety of fields. Several thousand Americans studied in Germany during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and the German university model exerted a considerable influence on the development of the numerous American colleges and universities founded during this period.

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  Psychology in Historical Context

  Theories and Debates

  • Richard Gross(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 1 Historical perspectives Psychology as the study of … what?    

  If there’s a logical place to start one’s study of Psychology, it’s by looking at how it came to be where it is now; in other words, its history. But as we shall see below, this isn’t as straightforward as it may sound: there are different ways of ‘doing history’ and different resultant histories. Put another way, there’s more than one history of Psychology.

  Some may disagree with the premise that we should start with Psychology’s past, claiming instead that the logical starting point is to decide what Psychology is about, its subject-matter. But again, this too is a matter of debate and disagreement. In terms of one of its histories, Psychology’s subject matter (its ontology) is defined differently by different schools of thought or theoretical approaches, which have developed over time (roughly, the past 140 years, albeit with considerable overlap between them). Part of this debate relates to similarities and differences between human beings and non-human animals; sometimes this is addressed directly, sometimes it’s ignored altogether.

  These approaches (such as Structuralism, Behaviourism, and Cognitive Psychology) differ not only in terms of what they consider the appropriate subject-matter to be, but also in terms of the methods used (or advocated) for studying this subject-matter. This relates to the debate regarding the nature of science (in general) and the validity and appropriateness of using certain methods to investigate human beings/people (in particular).

  The implication of the preceding paragraphs is that, regardless of how we view Psychology’s history, and regardless of how its subject-matter is defined, Psychology adopts a scientific approach. This, in turn, begs two major questions: (1) What do we mean by science? And (2) what kind of science is/should Psychology be? These questions relate to epistemology and methodology

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  Psychology's Territories

  Historical and Contemporary Perspectives From Different Disciplines

  • Mitchell Ash, Thomas Sturm(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  By themselves such contextualizations have, and must have, the effect of questioning, even dissolving long-held distinctions between “internal” and “external” histories of scientific disciplines, including psychology. Whether that dissolution is actually accepted by nonhis-torian members of a given discipline is another matter entirely. Among psychologists, in so far as they take any interest in history at all, it seems that “internal” history—meaning the stories psychologists tell one another about the development of their discipline—is still very much alive. This is particularly true of the many textbooks on history and systems of psychology produced for required courses in the subject, but not only there. Such histories often edit out precisely the con textual dimensions that historians of science and general historians find most relevant. In addition, they either ignore or construct barriers against the stories other nonpsychologists tell about the subject matter of the discipline.

  Quite similar tensions appear when psychologists and philosophers, or psychologists and neuroscientists attempt to discuss what may appear at first to be similar topics. There have been countless disputes about the nature and workings of the mind, or the relations of mental processes to the operations of the brain. And often enough it seems as though what academic psychologists have discovered or find interesting bears little relation to what nonpsychologists want to know or discover about themselves. A common and understandable, but entirely unhelpful and scientifically unproductive response is to circle the wagons and stick to the tried and true, either paying no attention to what outsiders may say, or declaring such viewpoints uninteresting or even unscientific.

  While introducing the approaches taken in the contributions to this volume, I would like to present a thematically oriented approach combining historiography of psychology in its present form with certain broader considerations from the history of science and general history (see also Ash, 1992). My belief is that such an approach will contribute to clarifying the social and cultural situation of contemporary psycho logical and social science research. In the case of psychology, this approach seems particularly appropriate, in view of the number of disciplines employing psychological methods of various kinds as well as the wide variety of psychological doctrines and practices outside academic settings.

  Foundations

  The approach taken here is based on three propositions:  

  1. The history of psychological thought cannot be reduced to that of the discipline called psychology, narrowly constructed

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  Introducing Psychology for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals

  • Dominic Upton(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  cognitive revolution ’, and grew in part out of increasing dissatisfaction with behaviourist explanations. Cognitive psychology is concerned with human thought processes and the ways in which these processes interact with behaviour (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). There are many facets of cognitive psychology but some of the major areas include memory, learning, intelligence, thinking and language. Like behaviourism it too rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation and maintains that the only true source of knowledge is that which is obtained through observation and experiment (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). Yet somewhat incongruous to this is the fact that it explicitly acknowledges the existence of unobservable mental processes. Although there have been many contributors to cognitive psychology, no specific person can be identified as central to its development. What is more, unlike other approaches cognitive psychology does not yet have a unifying theory.

  Assumptions of the cognitive approach

  	Acknowledges the existence of unobservable mental processes and emphasises their importance in determining and predicting behaviour.
  	Accepts empiricist ideas and use of the scientific method.
  	Is based mainly on laboratory experiments.
  	Views the mind as an information processor, i.e. it computes answers to problems in a manner analogous to a computer.

  Information processing

  Psychologists have often tried to understand human cognition by comparing it with something less abstract and better understood. Hence the advent of the modern digital computer provided psychologists with an ideal metaphor for conceptualising how the mind worked and inspired what is now the main paradigm within cognitive psychology: the information processing approach (e.g. Forgas and Jennifer, 2001). According to this approach, the mind is analogous to an information processing system: inputting, storing and retrieving data. This system is used in flexible ways to handle all kinds of cognitive tasks, from reading the newspaper to playing a game of chess. An early version of the information processing approach is shown in Figure 2.4

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