The Psychology Book

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However, if two ideas are unalike, they may continue to exist without association. This causes them to weaken over time, so that they eventually sink below the “threshold of consciousness.” Should two ideas directly contradict one another, “resistance occurs” and “concepts become forces when they resist one another.” They repel one another with an energy that propels one of them beyond consciousness, into a place that Herbart referred to as “a state of tendency;” and we now know as “the unconscious.” Herbart saw the unconscious as simply a kind of storage place for weak or opposed ideas. In positing a two-part consciousness, split by a distinct threshold, he was attempting to deliver a structural solution for the management of ideas in a healthy mind. But Sigmund Freud was to see it as a much more complex and revealing mechanism. He combined Herbart’s concepts with his own theories of unconscious drives to form the basis of the 20th-century’s most important therapeutic approach: psychoanalysis. ■ An influential science The many branches of psychology that exist today cover the whole spectrum of mental life and human and animal behavior. The overall scope has extended to overlap with many other disciplines, including medicine, physiology, neuroscience, computer science, education, sociology, anthropology, and even politics, economics, and the law. Psychology has become perhaps the most diverse of sciences. Psychology continues to influence and be influenced by the other sciences, especially in areas The beginnings of a differentiation of mental function can be found even in the protozoa. Wilhelm Wundt Even single-celled organisms have some form of consciousness, according to Wundt. He suggested the amoeba’s ability to devour food items indicates a continuity of mental processes. The behaviorists’ studies concentrated almost exclusively on how behavior is shaped by interaction with the environment; this “stimulus–response” theory became well known through the work of John Watson. New learning theories began to spring up in Europe and the US, and attracted the interest of the general public.

Gottfried Leibniz was the first to explore the existence of ideas beyond awareness, calling them petite (“small”) perceptions. As an example, he pointed out that we often recall having perceived something—such as the detail in a scene—even though we are not aware of noticing it at the time. This means that we perceive things and store a memory of them despite the fact that we are unaware of doing so. In the course of normal speaking… the will is continuously directed to bringing the course of ideas and the articulatory movements into harmony with each other. Wilhelm Wundt

Behaviour partly created the environment, and the resultant environment, in turn, influenced the behaviour." Albert Bandura Some areas of research have been the subject of study from psychology’s earliest days, undergoing different interpretations by the various schools of thought, while others have fallen in and out of favor, but each time they have exerted a significant influence on subsequent thinking, and have occasionally spawned completely new fields for exploration. Book Genre: Academic, Education, Health, History, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Reference, Science, Self Help erman physician Emil Kraepelin believed that the origins of most mental illnesses are biological, and he is often regarded as the founder of modern medical psychiatry. In his Textbook of Psychiatry, published in 1883, Kraepelin offered a detailed classification of mental illnesses, including “dementia praecox,” meaning “early dementia,” to distinguish it from late-onset dementia, such as Alzheimer’s. The Psychology Book is the perfect introduction to the science, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover key concepts by psychologists who have significantly enhanced our understanding of the human mind and behaviour. Learn about everyone who's contributed to the big ideas in psychology, incorporating the ideas of today's scientists as well those of the ancient philosophers and pioneers.

The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best. Paul Valéry This book is your visual guide to the complex and fascinating world of human behaviour. Discover how we learn, become emotionally bonded with others, and develop coping mechanisms to deal with adversity, or conform in a group. Get to know key thinkers, from Freud and Jung to Elizabeth Loftus and Melanie Klein, and follow charts and timelines to make sense of it all and see how one theory influenced another. Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton was a polymath who wrote prolifically on many subjects, including anthropology, criminology (classifying fingerprints), geography, meteorology, biology, and psychology. Born in Birmingham, England, into a wealthy Quaker family, he was a child prodigy, able to read from the age of two. He studied medicine in London and Birmingham, then mathematics at Cambridge, but his study was cut short by a mental breakdown, worsened by his father’s death in 1844. Galton turned to traveling and inventing. His marriage in 1853 to Louisa Jane Butler lasted 43 years, but was childless. He devoted his life to measuring physical and psychological characteristics, devising mental tests, and writing. He received many awards and honors in recognition of his numerous achievements, including several honorary degrees and a knighthood. Key works The most famous behaviourists were, obviously, Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner. But what I found fascinating was Joseph Wolpe's research that shows that you can 'unlearn' fear by relaxing and facing your fears head on. In the course of the 20th century, psychology blossomed; all of its major branches and movements evolved. As with all sciences, its history is built upon the theories and discoveries of successive generations, with many of the older theories remaining relevant to contemporary psychologists.

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Observing behavior Wundt believed that “the exact description of consciousness is the sole aim of experimental psychology.” Although he understood consciousness as an “inner experience,” he was only interested in the “immediately real” or apparent form of this experience. This ultimately led him to the study of behavior, which could be studied and quantified by “direct observation.” Wundt said that there are two types of observation: external and internal. External observation is used to record events that are visible in the external world, and is useful in assessing relationships such as cause and effect on Wundt’s laboratory set the style for psychology departments around the world. His experiments moved psychology out of the domain of philosophy and into science. A lecturer in philosophy and psychology, Nigel Benson has written several bestselling books on the subject of psychology, including Psychology for Beginners and Introducing Psychiatry. APPROACH Mind/body dualism BEFORE 4th century BCE Greek philosopher Plato claims that the body is from the material world, but the soul, or mind, is from the immortal world of ideas. This is because thoughts that enter our awareness at the same time form a “pulse” with All the sciences evolved from philosophy, by applying scientific methods to philosophical questions, but the intangible nature of subjects such as consciousness, perception, and memory meant that psychology was slow in making the transition from philosophical speculation to scientific practice. In some universities, particularly in the US, psychology departments started out as branches of the philosophy department, while in others, notably those in Germany, they were established in the science faculties.

and he used various instruments to measure this response exactly. He was also just as interested to hear what his participants reported in common as he was in apparent individual differences. Pure sensations, Wundt suggested, have three components: quality, intensity, and “feeling-tone.” For example, a certain perfume may have a sweet odor (quality) that is distinct but faint (intensity) and is pleasant to smell (feeling-tone), while a dead rat might give off a nauseating (quality), strong (intensity) stench (feeling-tone). All consciousness originates in sensations, he said, but these are not internalized as “pure” sensory data; they are perceived as already collected or compounded into representations, such as a dead rat. Wundt called these “images of an object or of a process in the external world.” So, for example, if we see a face with certain features—mouth shape, eye color, nose size, and so on—we may recognize the face as a person we know. The mind can control the physical body by causing “animal spirits” to flow through the nervous system. considered to stem not from depression, but rather from the alienation of the self. Kierkegaard described several levels of despair. The lowest, and most common, stems from ignorance: a person has the wrong idea about what “self” is, and is unaware of the existence or nature of his potential self. Such ignorance is close to bliss, and so inconsequential that Kierkegaard was not even sure it could be counted as despair. Real desperation arises, he suggested, with growing self-awareness, and the deeper levels of despair stemNurture is that which is experienced from birth onward. Nature is that which is inborn and inherited, and… Napoleon’s overreaching ambition for power, as depicted in this painting of him as a student, led him to lose sight of his true self and all-too-human limitations, and ultimately to despair. As a business psychologist, Voula Grand consults for international corporations on leadership and executive performance. Her first novel is Honor’s Shadow. She is currently writing the sequel, Honor’s Ghost. surgeon James Braid, from the Greek hypnos, meaning “sleep” and osis meaning “condition.” Braid concluded that hypnosis is not a type of sleep but a concentration on a single idea, resulting in heightened suggestibility. After his death, interest in hypnosis largely waned until the French neurologist