AP Exam Review:Psychological Approaches

Psychological Science is Born

Wilhelm Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students studied the “atoms of the mind” by conducting

experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. This work is considered the birth of psychology as we know it

today.

Wundt’s student, Edward Titchner, introduced structuralism at Cornell University. He wanted to discover

the structural elements of the mind, so he trained people in introspection

(looking inward) and reporting elements of their experiences.

Generally speaking, the structuralists focused on inner

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Psychological Science is Born

American philosopher William James looked at the evolved functions of our thoughts and

feelings.

James believed that thinking, like smelling and seeing, developed because it was adaptive. He studied how mental and behavioral processes function and enable us to adapt, survive, and

flourish. This approach to psychology is called functionalism.

James was better known for teaching at Harvard and for writing Principles of

Psychology (1890), the first psychology textbook, a task that took him 12 years to

complete.

Mary Calkins, James’s student, became the APA’s first female president.

Margaret Floy Washburn was the first female psychology Ph.D., the second female APA president, and a distinguished writer (The

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Margaret Floy Washburn

Psychological Science DevelopsThose involved in the birth of

psychology, dubbed “Magellans of the mind,” developed from

more established fields. Many, like Wundt, were physiologists.

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, and his followers

emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior. This approach is known as

psychoanalysis.

Psychology originated in many disciplines and countries. It

was, until the 1920s, defined as the science of mental life.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Psychological Science DevelopsBehaviorists

Watson and later Skinner dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” from the 1920s through the 1960s.

The behaviorists emphasized the study of overt behavior as the subject matter of scientific psychology.

John Watson (1878-1958) B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Both Watson and Skinner were

influenced by classical conditioning which

was discovered by Ivan Pavlov.

Like the behaviorists, Pavlov had a distain

for “mentalistic concepts” such as

consciousness.

Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)

Psychological Science Develops

Humanistic PsychologyThe humanists thought behaviorism’s focus on learned behaviors was too mechanistic and that psychoanalysis

focused too much on the meaning of childhood memories.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

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Maslow and Rogers emphasized current

environmental influences on our

growth potential and our need for love and

acceptance.

Psychological Science Develops

The Cognitive RevolutionIn the 1960s, psychology went through a cognitive

revolution where the focus returned to earlier ideas like the importance of how our mind processes and retains

information.

The new definition of psychology from this revolution was “the science of behavior (what we do) and mental

processes (inner thoughts and feelings).”

This revolution has continued to evolve (with technology) into multiple fields including cognitive neuroscience (the study of brain activity linked with mental activity).

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Today, psychology is analyzed using the biopsychosocial approach. Each of psychology’s perspectives is helpful, but each

by itself fails to reveal the whole picture.

Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Neuroscience How the body and brain enables emotions?

How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes?

How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

Behavior genetics

How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences?

To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?

How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

Behavioral How we learn observable responses?

How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Cognitive How we encode, process, store and retrieve information?

How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?

Social-cultural How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?

Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Psychologist What she does

BiologicalExplore the links between brain and mind.

DevelopmentalStudy changing abilities from womb to tomb.

CognitiveStudy how we perceive, think, and solve problems.

PersonalityInvestigate our persistent traits.

SocialExplore how we view and affect one another.

Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Data: APA 1997

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Psychologist What she does

ClinicalStudies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

CounselingHelps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

EducationalStudies and helps individuals in school and educational settings

Industrial/Organizational

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Data: APA 1997

A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with

psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use

treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients.

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry