This is the 1st lecture of [[Keith Campbell]]'s *[[PA Intro to Psychology]]* from [[Peterson Academy]]. *These notes were done on my second listen through. Some bullet point summaries in this document are generated by ChatGPT from the transcript.* ## Etymology of Psychology 'Psyche' meaning soul, + 'Logos' — Rational inquiry of the soul. ## History of Modern Psychology Modern Psychology came out of Medicine, Physiology, and Philosophy. ## Key Ancient Foundations These are the foundational stories that Modern Psychology could trace back to: - **Plato’s Allegory of the Cave** - We live by models of reality, not direct truth - Seeing “truth” often leads to social conflict - Early expression of human growth, development, and return (proto-hero’s journey) - **Plato’s Allegory of the Chariot** - Humans are pulled in different directions - Precursor to later models of internal conflict (Freud: ego/id; Jung: shadow/ego) - **Heraclitus:** - “You can’t step in the same river twice” - Self and world are constantly changing - **Ancient medical models:** - Humors (e.g., black bile → melancholy/depression) - Early medical attempts to understand mental illness ### Philosophical Influences (Renaissance to 19th Century)** - **Descartes:** - Cogito (“I think, therefore I am”) - Mind-body dualism, which greatly influenced the West's perception of the human - **Shakespeare** - Hamlet's "to be or not to be," which later influences Freudian thought (e.g., oedipal conflict) ### Four Fathers of Modern Psychology (Mid to Late 1800s) Structuralism, Functionalism, Psychoanalysis, Behaviourism - Wilhelm Wundt—structuralism; father of modern psychology; memory decay; "just noticeable differences" which later gets imported into measurement of attitudes - William James—functionalism; father of US psychology; religious experience and psychedelics; "Varieties of Religious Experience"; the idea of habits that came from reflex arc in frogs - Sigmund Freud—psychoanalysis; talking cure aka psychotherapy; influenced Schopenhauer and Nietzsche → eros and thanatos - Ivan Pavlov—behaviorism; association is learning aka classical conditioning ### 20th Century Behaviorism, Social Psychology, Humanistic Psychology - John Watson—operant conditioning - B. F. Skinner—operant conditioning; Wrote a utopian book called Walden Two - L. L. Thurstone—measurement of attitudes→Thurston Scale - Kurt Lewin (30s)—father of social psychology - Abraham Maslow (40s-50s)—father of humanistic psychology; motivation theory - Cognitive revolution with the introduction of computers in the 60s - "Decade of the brain" with the introduction of brain-imaging or neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG) in the 90s ### Levels of Analysis in Psychology The same problem can be looked at from a lot of different levels of analysis in Modern Psychology - Molecules: neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin) - Genetics: hereditary patterns - Brain circuits and structures - Physiology: heart rate, vagus nerve - Cognition: Thinking processes and patterns - Attitudes and values - Self-concept and personality - Relationships, social groups - Culture and nation-state - Environmental factors (e.g., light exposure) - Spiritual or collective dimensions (e.g., Jungian archetypes) ### The Scientific Method in Psychology This is what ties all of Modern Psychology together 1. Define constructs (e.g., happiness, depression) 2. Develop measurements and assessments 3. Use correlational and experimental methods 4. Explore mechanisms, causality, moderation 5. Build simplified models or “maps” of human behavior 6. Avoid overcommitting to models; stay open to revision ### Major Fields of Modern Psychology - **Basic research:** - Behavioral neuroscience (animals) - Cognitive neuroscience - Cognitive psychology - Social psychology - Personality psychology - Developmental psychology - **Applied fields:** - Clinical psychology - Industrial/organizational/workplace psychology - Neuroscience cuts across all ### Two Broad Approaches - **Outside psychology:** understanding, predicting, controlling behavior (Skinnerian tradition) - **Inside psychology:** human growth, self-improvement, fulfillment (humanistic tradition) ### Personal Journey of the Speaker - Background: - Interest from philosophy, [[Sigmund Freud]], Buddhism, [[Carl Jung]] - Studied mood, memory, narcissism, self-enhancement - Worked with researchers like [[Roy Baumeister]], [[Jean Twenge]], [[Josh Miller]] - Interests include shamanic medicine, wealth science - Key lesson: - Science is slow, uncertain, collaborative, and models are always provisional Back to: [[PA Intro to Psychology]] Next lecture: [[Mental Models and Sense Making]]