Psychology / Unit 1: Introduction and Research Methods
1.1 What Psychology Is and How It Began
Notes
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is what we can observe; mental processes are thoughts, feelings and memories.
- Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. This is usually seen as the start of psychology as a science.
- Structuralism (Wundt, Titchener) tried to break the mind into basic parts. Functionalism (William James) asked what the mind is for.
- Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis stressed unconscious motives. Behaviorism (Watson, Skinner) studied only observable behavior.
- Goals of psychology: describe, explain, predict and influence behavior.
Practice
Who opened the first psychology laboratory in 1879?
Wundt's lab in Leipzig is treated as the birth of experimental psychology.
Early psychologists who asked what the mind and behavior are for, such as how they help a person adapt, were part of:
Functionalism, led by William James, focused on the purpose of mental activity.
Which statement best defines psychology?
Psychology covers all behavior and mental processes, not just disorders or the brain.
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