Psychology began as early philosophy that sought to understand human nature and behavior. It emerged as a formal science in the 19th century with Wundt establishing the first psychology laboratory. Early approaches included structuralism, which used introspection, and functionalism, which studied behavior's purpose. Freud developed psychoanalysis while behaviorism only considered observable behavior. Modern psychology integrates these approaches and uses various methods including cognitive, humanistic, and biological perspectives.

1. STARTING PSYCHOLOGY Learning Objective : To explain the importance of studying Psychology?

2. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? There are many ways that we could answer this question. However, try to decide for yourself what you understand psychology to be. What do you think the man in the street understands when he/she hears the word ‘psychology’? Can you make some suggestions? Introduction to Psychology

3. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychologists look at one aspect of behaviour. Psychology is about understanding people. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about Psychiatrists. Culture explains psychology. Psychology looks at reasons why people act in the way that they do. Psychology explains everything. Mental processes are important to psychology. Psychology is about people’s minds. Psychology is a science. Psychology is about animals only. Explanations of Psychology WHICH OF THESE STATEMENTS IS CORRECT?

4. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology is about psychiatrists. Psychology is about understanding people. Psychology looks at reasons why people act in the way that they do. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Psychology explains everything. Mental processes are important to psychology. Psychologists look at one aspect of behaviour. Psychology is a science. What is the truth? TRUE FALSE Culture explains psychology. Psychology is about animals only.

5. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The word ‘psychology’ comes from the Greek word ‘psyche’ which means the soul or mind. Psychology is about understanding people. Psychologists carry out research into people’s experience and behaviour, just like a scientist would do. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. The second part of the word indicates knowledge or study. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. If you take the two together, it implies the science of the mind.

6. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychologists have a difficult task of understanding people. After all, you cannot get inside someone’s mind. Psychology is about understanding people. Psychology tries to understand the way in which human beings and sometimes animals behave and experience the world. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. You can observe their behaviour though and draw conclusions from those observations. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. Psychologists are interested in understanding the mind and behaviour of people.

7. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology has been described as a science. Psychology is about understanding people. Psychologists, like pure scientists, have to conduct experiments and collect evidence to make conclusions. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. Psychologists have to undertake research to make their conclusions. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. Psychologists take the individual and his/her experiences and behaviour as the focal point for research and data.

8. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology does concern the mind but also the behaviour of people. Psychology is about understanding people. Psychologists attempt to understand human beings. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. Psychologists consider mental processes too and our interaction with others. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. Psychologists consider why we are what we are and the person that we become.

9. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Our interaction with other people interests psychologists. Psychology is about understanding people. We all live within social groups and they influence our thoughts and behaviour. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. Different cultures can make assumptions about people. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. Being part of a particular culture has a profound effect on people.

10. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Consciousness is a part of human experience. Psychology is about understanding people. It’s a scientific study. Psychology is about people’s minds. Mental processes are important to psychology. Mental processes explain why we behave and act as we do. Psychology is a science. True Statements TRUE TRUE Culture explains psychology. When studying humans or animals, psychologists record their observations to understand and predict mental processes.

11. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? For enjoyment - hopefully you will gain a great deal from the course To understand yourself more, what you are and why you have become what you are To understand others more, the way they think feel and behave and how they experience the world they live in. Ask the person next to you what they aim to get out of the course. Why study psychology?

12. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychologists undertake research Psychologists work with individuals to improve their mental and physical health Psychologists contribute to the community to improve the world of work and to help people learn What does a psychologist do?

13. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? There are different types of psychologists and specialisms of psychology. Can you name any? What does a psychologist do?

14. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Health psychology Occupational psychology Forensic psychology Educational psychology Consumer psychology Sports psychology Counselling psychology Research psychology Clinical psychology Specialist areas of psychology are:

15. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Clinical Psychology This involves helping people who have mental health concerns or problems. The aim is to help people cope more successfully with their lives.

16. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Occupational Psychology This involves improving people’s performance in the work place, by reducing stress factors, for example, or by making sure that the best candidate is chosen for a specific job.

17. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Forensic Psychology This involves working with criminals in an effort to understand and/or change their behaviour. It usually involves working closely with the police and prison staff. It can cover the rehabilitation of criminals as well as finding the perpetrators of an individual crime.

18. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Research Psychology This involves undertaking research both academically and in other areas such as in industry, for example.

19. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Educational Psychology This involves working with school aged children and young adults. Educational support is offered to pupils, parents and teachers.

20. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Health Psychology This involves improving mental health, particularly when people are adjusting to or recovering from physical illness that has drastically changed their lifestyle.

21. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Counselling Psychology This involves dealing with people who have personal problems or problems in relationships. The aim is to help people deal with the stresses of their everyday life.

22. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Sports Psychology This involves enhancing and improving personal sports performance. The psychologist works with sportsmen and women, teams, coaches and sports clubs. He /she devises better training programmes to improve competitive performance.

23. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Specialist areas of psychology Consumer Psychology This involves working with businesses and within industry to promote an understanding of how and why consumers behave and choose products. Marketing and advertising are areas that use this type of psychology. Ask the person next to you what area of Psychology they would pursue as a career and why?

24. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The five approaches are: Psychology has five different approaches. What is an ‘approach’ in psychology? It is a school of thought or a particular way of viewing things concerning the origin and development of behaviour and mental processes. biological behaviourist cognitive humanistic psychoanalytic

25. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of Psychology you will be studying Developmental psychology Physiological psychology For your AS these approaches or schools of thought have been split up into the following areas: All of the areas help us to understand people.

26. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of psychology Developmental psychology Physiological psychology Cognitive psychology deals with gathering and using information. We perceive things, take in information and process it. We then remember, recognise, think and reason. These mental processes are called cognition and help us to understand why someone is acting in a particular way.

27. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of psychology Developmental psychology Physiological psychology Developmental psychology looks at how we change as we grow and age and how this affects us.

28. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of psychology Developmental psychology Physiological psychology Physiological psychology looks at how our psychological state influences us. A physiological psychologist might consider how we are affected by drugs or stress, for example. Or how sleep patterns affect us.

29. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of psychology Developmental psychology Physiological psychology Individual psychology looks at how we are different from each other. It considers abnormalities. It also concerns the different motivation that different people have.

30. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Cognitive psychology Social psychology Individual psychology (also known as individual differences) Areas of psychology Developmental psychology Physiological psychology Social psychology looks at how we act when we are with other people. Our body language when we are with others falls into this category. It looks at areas like why we obey people in authority, for example or why we conform.

32. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The study of the mind, which is what psychology is, has a long history. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? We can track writers back two thousand years, such as the great Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who were philosophers but spent much of their time trying to analyse feelings and experiences in an effort to understand what it meant to be a human being. Philosophy existed for literally ages. It involved the process of introspection, which means looking within yourself.

33. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Psychology is a relatively new subject in historical terms. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? It has only been considered a formal scientific subject since the nineteenth century. 1879 is often said to be the start of psychology as we now know it. Since early times, writers had considered behaviour and particularly abnormal behaviour and tried to offer explanations. Due to the lack of medical knowledge that we have today, their theories were simplistic. However, the idea that an imbalance of bodily fluids in the body could bring about abnormal behaviour or disease was held for some time.

34. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Philosophers considered many of the issues and problems that later psychologists would also consider. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Philosophy did not have all the answers because biological aspects of humans and animals had to be considered as well. The fact that we evolved from animals had implications for our behaviour. Considering the function and structure of the brain and nervous system all add to our understanding of behaviour.

35. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The other subject that was influential to the basis of psychology was physics. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Psychologists use many methods and principles that physicists use in their scientific work. Physicists began to apply their scientific principles to human behaviour. So, you can see that there is not one simple answer to the question ‘where did psychology start?’ Let’s look at this in more depth.

37. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Britain also played an important role in developing theories which would develop into psychology as we know it. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? In the seventeenth century John Locke and Thomas Hobbes founded the empiricist movement. Empiricism tries to understand the mind in a factual way. It relies on collecting evidence of reality and objective data. The empiricists believed that what we thought came about as a result of what we had experienced. Locke believed that we are born with our minds being a blank slate, a tabula rasa, as he called it. Our consciousness is made up of all the experiences that we have during life.

38. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? There were many debates about whether our abilities were present at birth, in other words they were innate abilities. This was Decartes’ idea and it is known as a nativist idea. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Locke and Hobbes held the opinion that we become what we are because of our environment. The debate continued and still continues to rage about how much do we inherit and how much does our environment influence us. This is known as the nativist-empiricist debate.

39. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? In the early nineteenth century German physiologists Weber, Helmholtz and Fechner contributed to the beginnings of the subject. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Weber looked in detail at our ability to touch. The fact that we could identify differences in weight by holding objects. Helmholtz worked on theories about nerves and their impulses, colour vision and hearing. Fechner looked at our senses and perception and put forward ideas about using experimental methods to make conclusions.

40. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? 1879 is said to be the date that psychology emerged as a separate science to consider behaviour and mental processes, rather than as previously when it had been a mixture of physics, medicine, biology and other forms of science. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), a German professor, founded the first laboratory for the scientific study of psychology at the University of Leipzig. Wundt’s technique was to measure and record data about people’s actions and reactions. This is known as introspection. Introspection involves you considering your actions and reactions. Wundt was observing, controlling, and measuring experiences when people were exposed to a stimulus.

41. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Wundt’s school of thought was known as Structuralism. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Wilhelm Wundt wanted people that he studied to analyse their feelings and the sensations or images that accompanied experiences. Structuralists did, however, have some difficulties with this approach since the results that were recorded were not based on scientific methods but on introspection which meant, of course, that the results could be subjective. and personal. Structuralism declined because of its inability to offer scientific confirmation of its findings in its use of introspection. Psychology today relies on scientific evidence.

42. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Functionalism, another early school of psychology, was prevalent in the late nineteenth century. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? William James (1842-1910), an American, wrote Principles of Psychology. He had been influenced by Charles Darwin’s book On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection. James agreed with Darwin that we must have evolved with characteristics that served a purpose. So types of behaviour, emotions and thoughts must have a particular function or they would not have been retained by the species. Functionalists looked at different aspects of our behaviour and tried to analyse the function of behaviour that occurs in all human beings, regardless of their culture, e.g. we smile if we are happy.

43. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud in Austria developed psychoanalysis, which was a means of therapy. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Feud offered a theory of the human mind and behaviour which was controversial at the time. Freud believed that the unconscious mind should be the object of investigation. He believed that we are often controlled by processes that we just do not realise are acting on us. Another approach to psychology that was critical of all except approaches which investigated behaviour that could be observed was the school of behaviourism.

44. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? John Watson, (1878-1958) introduced psychology as the study of behaviour. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? His aim was to describe, predict, understand and to control behaviour. For behaviourists the mind and consciousness were difficult to observe and therefore did not assist in a scientific approach to psychology. This approach dominated experimental psychology until about the 1950s.

45. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Gestalt psychology also featured at the same time. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? This developed in Germany and focused around the brain’s ability to structure and organise what was being perceived. The various approaches to psychology added a wealth of interest to the subject in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All of the approaches have made psychology what it is today.

46. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Other approaches include cognitive psychology which developed to investigate the mind using artificial intelligence, such as computers. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? Machines were led to make models of how the brain might work and then to adapt them using scientific methods. Due to the fact that computers have many human-like processes such as remembering and problem solving, it was felt that they could offer models of how people function. There are two other approaches of psychology, the humanistic approach and the biological approach.

47. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The humanistic approach offers the view that we are essentially productive and healthy people. The approach argues that people only need guidance to come to this state if things have gone wrong in their lives. So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? This approach has not had such an impact on modern psychology as, for example, behaviourism. The biological approach offers the theory that evolution, physiology and genetics are the reasons for our behaviour. These are all a variety of approaches to psychology that have emerged since its birth. All have influenced the makings of what it is today: the study of behaviour and mental processes.

48. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? So what exactly is psychology and how did it start? PLENARY PAST THE BALL/PARCEL WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS THE PERSON WITH THE PARCEL HAS TO SAY SOMETHING THEY HAVE LEARNT.