Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology

© 2015 of 97 Gestalt Psychology By the 1920s, German scientists had formed a school of thought known as Gestalt psychology, which examined how the mind organizes elements of experience into a unified or whole perception. They argued that perceptions are organized so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt psychology stimulated interest in topics such as perception and problem solving. Pavlov and Classical Conditioning In the early 1900s, experiments by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov revealed how learning occurs when events are associated with one another. Pavlov found that dogs automatically learned to salivate to the sound of a new stimulus, such as a tone or bell, if that stimulus was repeatedly paired with a known stimulus, such as food. This particular type of psychology examines how organisms learn through the consequences of their actions. Thus, learning is the key to understanding how experience molds behavior. Watson, Skinner, and Behaviorism The behavioral perspective emphasizes how the external environment and learning shape behavior. Watson and Skinner believed that psychology should study only observable stimuli and responses, not unobservable mental processes. Behaviorism is a school of thought which emphasizes environmental control of behavior through learning. Behaviorists sought to discover laws that govern learning, and they believed that the same basic principles of learning applied to all organisms. Skinner was a leading 20th century behaviorist who believed that the real causes of behavior reside in the outer world: “A person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him”. Skinner believed that through social engineering, society could harness the power of the environment to change behavior in beneficial ways. His approach, known as radical behaviorism, was esteemed for its scientific contributions and for focusing attention on how environmental forces could be used to enhance human welfare. Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective The psychodynamic perspective searches for the causes of behavior within the inner workings of our personality (our unique pattern of traits, emotions, and motives), emphasizing the role of unconscious processes. Sigmund Freud developed the first and most influential psychodynamic theory. Freud was convinced that an unconscious part of the mind profoundly influences behavior, and he developed a theory and form of psychotherapy called psychoanalysis - the analysis of internal and primary unconscious psychological forces. Achieve Page 7