REVIEW The History and Scope of Psychology

Learning Objectives

Test Yourself by taking a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within the module). Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term memory of the concepts (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Question

1-1 How do the scientific attitude's three main components relate to critical thinking?
ANSWER: The scientific attitude equips us to be curious, skeptical, and humble in scrutinizing competing ideas or our own observations. This attitude carries into everyday life as critical thinking, which puts ideas to the test by examining assumptions, appraising the source, discerning hidden biases, evaluating evidence, and assessing conclusions.

Question

1-2 What were some important milestones in psychology's early development?
ANSWER: Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany. Two early schools were structuralism and functionalism.

Question

1-3 How did psychology continue to develop from the 1920s through today?
ANSWER: Early researchers defined psychology as "the science of mental life." In the 1920s, under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviorists, the field's focus changed to the "scientific study of observable behavior." Behaviorism became one of psychology's two major forces well into the 1960s. However, the second major force of Freudian psychology, along with the influences of humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology, revived interest in the study of mental processes. Psychology is now defined as the science of behavior and mental processes.

Question

1-4 How has our understanding of biology and experience, culture and gender, and human flourishing shaped contemporary psychology?
ANSWER: Our growing understanding of biology and experience has fed psychology's most enduring debate. The nature–nurture issue centers on the relative contributions of genes and experience, and their interaction in specific environments. Charles Darwin's view that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies led to evolutionary psychology's study of our similarities because of our common biology and evolutionary history, and behavior genetics' focus on the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Cross-cultural and gender studies have diversified psychology's assumptions while also reminding us of our similarities. Attitudes and behaviors may vary somewhat by gender or across cultures, but because of our shared human kinship, the underlying processes and principles are more similar than different. Psychology's traditional focus on understanding and treating troubles has expanded with positive psychology's call for more research on human flourishing and its attempt to discover and promote traits that help people to thrive.

Question

1-5 What are psychology's levels of analysis and related perspectives?
ANSWER: The biopsychosocial approach integrates information from three differing but complementary levels of analysis: biological, psychological, and social-cultural. This approach offers a more complete understanding than could usually be reached by relying on only one of psychology's current perspectives (neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural).

Question

1-6 What are psychology's main subfields?
ANSWER: Within the science of psychology, researchers may conduct basic research to increase the field's knowledge base (often in biological, developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology) or applied research to solve practical problems (in industrial-organizational psychology and other areas). Those who engage in psychology as a helping profession may assist people as counseling psychologists, helping people with problems in living or achieving greater well-being, or as clinical psychologists, studying and assessing people with psychological disorders and treating them with psychotherapy. (Psychiatrists also study, assess, and treat people with disorders, but as medical doctors, they may prescribe drugs in addition to psychotherapy.) Community psychologists work to create healthy social and physical environments (in schools, for example).

Terms and Concepts to Remember

Page 14

Test yourself on these terms.

Question

critical thinking (p. 3)
structuralism (p. 5)
functionalism (p. 5)
behaviorism (p. 6)
humanistic psychology (p. 7)
psychology (p. 7)
cognitive neuroscience (p. 8)
nature–nurture issue (p. 8)
natural selection (p. 8)
evolutionary psychology (p. 8)
behavior genetics (p. 8)
culture (p. 9)
positive psychology (p. 10)
levels of analysis (p. 10)
biopsychosocial approach (p. 10)
basic research (p. 12)
applied research (p. 12)
counseling psychology (p. 12)
clinical psychology (p. 12)
psychiatry (p. 12)
community psychology (p. 12)
historically significant perspective that emphasized human growth potential.
the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture.
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.
the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy.
the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.
the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.
an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.
the principle that those chance inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.
the science of behavior and mental processes.
scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.
the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.
a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.
a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being.
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).
early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.

Experience the Testing Effect

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 1.1

1. In 1879, in psychology's first experiment, and his students measured the time lag between hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a key.

Question 1.2

2. William James would be considered a(n) ________. Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener would be considered ________.

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 1.3

3. In the early twentieth century, ________ redefined psychology as “the science of observable behavior.”

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 1.4

4. Nature is to nurture as

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 1.5

5. “Nurture works on what nature endows.” Describe what this means, using your own words.
ANSWER: The environment (nurture) has an influence on us, but that influence is constrained by our biology (nature). Nature and nurture interact. People predisposed to be very tall (nature), for example, are unlikely to become Olympic gymnasts, no matter how hard they work (nurture).

Question 1.6

6. A psychologist treating emotionally troubled adolescents at a local mental health agency is most likely to be a(n)

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 1.7

7. A mental health professional with a medical degree who can prescribe medication is a .

Question 1.8

8. A psychologist conducting basic research to expand psychology's knowledge base would be most likely to

A.
B.
C.
D.

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