1.1.

Looking at the Word Psychology: From Ancient to Modern Meanings

The word psychology has had several different meanings from ancient to modern times. Here is
its present definition: Psychology is the science that studies the behavior of organisms.
Three words in the definition merit special attention: (1) science, (2) behavior, and (3)
organisms. Modern psychology is considered a science because it bases its conclusions on data,
information obtained by systematic observations. Behavior has three aspects: (1) cognitive processes,
(2) emotional states, and (3) actions. Cognitive processes refer to what an individual thinks. Emotional
states refer to what an individual feels. Actions refer to what an individual does.
An organism is any living creature. Consequently, the behavior of dogs, rats, pigeons, and
monkeys can be legitimately included in the study of psychology. Such organisms have indeed been
subjects in psychology experiments. However, traditionally the principal focus of psychology has been
humans. When animals are used in experiments, the implicit goal is often to explore how such basic
processes as learning and motivation, as studied in animals, can cast a light on our understanding of
human behavior.
Although you now know the modern definition of psychology, it is important to realize that the
word psychology has its roots in ancient meanings associated with philosophy. The Greek word psyche
means soul. Consequently, to philosophers living 400 to 300 B.C., psychology was the ―study of the
soul.‖ This was the meaning given by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In view of the fact that these
thinkers, particularly Socrates and Plato, did not believe that animals have souls, it becomes evident why
for many centuries psychology‘s main attention has been given to human beings. The ancient
philosophers asserted that the soul is the seat of consciousness. It is consciousness that makes mental
life possible. This is why psychology is often thought of as the science of the mind. Indeed, this meaning
is the one given to it by William James, the dean of American psychologists. Working at Harvard a little
more than one hundred years ago, James defined psychology as ―the science of mental life.‖ He
believed that the purpose of psychology should be to investigate such mental processes as thinking,
memory, and perception.
Although psychology no longer is thought of as the study of the soul, this original meaning colors
our present-day approach, with its emphasis on human behavior and the importance of cognition.
Contemporary scientific psychology has four explicit goals: describe, explain, predict, and control
behavior.

1.2. The Classical Schools of Psychology: Five Great Thinkers and Their Ideas
It has been said that psychology has a long past and a short history. This statement should be
taken to mean that although psychology has its roots in philosophy, as a scientific discipline psychology
is only a little over 120 years old. As noted earlier, the roots of psychology can be easily traced back
about 2,400 years to ancient Greek philosophers. However, the beginning of scientific psychology is 10
usually associated with the date 1879, the year that a German scientist named Wilhelm Wundt founded
the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Modern psychology arose in
the context of what are known as schools of psychology.
From a historical perspective, the first school of psychology to be established was structuralism.
Its founding personality was Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). He became interested in studying not so
much the physiology of the sense organs such as the eyes and ears, but in how simple sensations
associated with the sense organs combined to form what we call human consciousness.
 Wundt trained assistants in the art of introspection, a skill characterized by paying attention not
to the whole pattern of a stimulus, but to an elemental part of a stimulus. Wundt‘s studies of vision
suggested that there are only three basic kinds of visual sensations.
First, there is hue, or color. Second, there is brightness. Third, there is saturation. This refers to
the ―richness‖ or ―fullness‖ of a color.
No matter what visual stimulus Wundt‘s subjects looked at, there were no other kinds of
sensations experienced than the three identified above. Consequently, Wundt concluded that all visual
experiences are structured out of these same three types of elemental experiences. Similar statements
can be made about the other senses such as hearing, taste, and touch. According to Wundt, the primary
purpose of psychology is to study the structure of consciousness. By the structure of consciousness,
Wundt meant the relationship of a group of sensations, a relationship that produces the complex
experiences we think of as our conscious mental life. This approach to psychology has been called
mental chemistry.
William James (1842–1910), teaching at Harvard in the 1870s, was following Wundt‘s research
with interest. James had an interest not only in psychology, but also in physiology and eventually in
philosophy. James founded a psychological laboratory at Harvard; he also authored The Principles of
Psychology, the first psychology textbook published in the United States. The book was published in
1890, and this can also be taken as the date when the school of psychology known as functionalism was
born. The principal personality associated with it is James, and he is said to be the dean of American
psychologists.
According to James, psychology should be more interested in how the mind functions, or works, than
how it is structured. Consequently, James stressed the importance of studying such processes as
thinking, memory, and attention. You will recall that James defined psychology as ―the science of
mental life.‖ In brief, functionalism as a school of psychology asserts that the primary purpose of
psychology should be to study the functions of human consciousness, not its structures.
The German psychologist Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), like James, was also dissatisfied with Wundt‘s
structuralism. Wertheimer believed that Wundt‘s emphasis on the importance of simple sensations as
the building blocks of perceptions was misguided.
The general pattern that induces a complex perception is described with the German word
Gestalt. Gestalt is usually translated as a ―pattern,‖ a ―configuration,‖ or an ―organized whole.‖ In
1910 Wertheimer published an article setting forth the basic assumptions of Gestalt psychology, and this
is usually taken to be the starting date of the school. The article reported a series of experiments using
two of his friends, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler, as subjects. These two men went on to also become
well-known Gestalt psychologists.
In the experiments, Wertheimer demonstrated that the perception of motion can take place if
stationary stimuli are presented as a series of events separated by an optimal interval of time. This
sounds complicated.
Returning to the United States, behaviorism is a fourth classical school of psychology. Its
founding personality is John B. Watson (1878–1958). A wave of enthusiasm for Watson‘s ideas swept
him to the presidency of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1915, and this can be taken as
the starting date for behaviorism. Doing research first at the University of Chicago and then at Johns
Hopkins University, Watson came to the conclusion that psychology was placing too much emphasis on
consciousness. In fact, he asserted that psychology is not a mental science at all. The ―mind‖ is a
mushy, difficult-to-define concept. It can‘t be studied by science because it can‘t be observed. Only you
can know what‘s going on in your mind. If I say I‘m studying your mind, according to Watson, it‘s only
guesswork.
Consequently, Watson asserted that the purpose of psychology should be to study behavior
itself, not the mind or consciousness. Some critics of Watson say that he denied the very existence of
consciousness. Others assert Watson was primarily saying that references to the consciousness, or
mental life, of a subject don‘t provide solid explanations of behavior. In either event, Watson‘s view is
today thought to be somewhat extreme and is referred to as radical behaviorism, a psychology that
doesn‘t employ consciousness as an important concept.
In order to identify a fifth classical school of psychology, it is necessary to return to the European
continent, specifically to Austria; the school is psychoanalysis. The father of psychoanalysis is Sigmund
Freud (1856–1939). Freud was a medical doctor with a specialty in neurology. His findings and
conclusions are based primarily on his work with patients.
Freud‘s original work was done with a colleague named Josef Breuer (1842– 1925). Breuer and
Freud collaborated on the book Studies on Hysteria. Published in 1895, it is the first book written on
psychoanalysis. This can also be taken to be the starting date for the school. After the publication of this
first book, Freud went on alone without Breuer; it was a number of years before he worked again with
colleagues.
In order to explain chronic emotional suffering, Freud asserted that human beings have an
unconscious mental life. This is the principal assumption of psychoanalysis. No other assumption or
assertion that it makes is nearly as important. The unconscious mental level is created by a defense
mechanism called repression.
Its aim is to protect the ego against psychological threats, information that will disturb its integrity. The
kind of mental information repressed tends to fall into three primary categories: (1) painful childhood
memories, (2) forbidden sexual wishes, and (3) forbidden aggressive wishes.
Psychoanalysis is not only a school of psychology, but also a method of therapy. Freud believed that by
helping a patient explore the contents of the unconscious mental level, he or she could obtain a
measure of freedom from emotional suffering. It is important to note that of the five classical schools of
psychology, psychoanalysis is the only one that made it an aim to improve the individual‘s mental health

1.3. Fields of Psychology: Of Laboratories and Clinics

Psychology as a profession expresses itself in different fields, or domains of interest. There are a
number of fields of psychology, such as clinical, experimental, counseling, developmental, physiological,
human factors, and industrial.
Clinical psychology is the field associated with psychotherapy and psychological testing. A clinic
is a place where sick people go for help; consequently, clinical psychologists try to help persons with
both well-defined mental disorders and serious personal problems. The word psychotherapy, in terms
of its roots, means a ―healing of the self.‖ In practice, a clinical psychologist who employs
psychotherapy attempts to work with a troubled person by using various methods and techniques that
are designed to help the individual improve his or her mental health. This is done without drugs. An
informal description of psychotherapy refers to it as ―the talking cure.‖
 A clinical psychologist should not be confused with a psychiatrist. A fully qualified clinical
psychologist has earned a Ph.D. degree (doctor of philosophy with a specialization in psychology).
Psychiatry is a medical specialty that gives its attention to mental disorders. A fully qualified psychiatrist
has earned an M.D.15 degree (doctor of medicine). Although psychiatrists can and do practice
psychotherapy, they can also prescribe drugs. Clinical psychologists, not being medical doctors, do not
prescribe drugs. Clinical psychology is the largest single field of psychology. About 40 percent of
psychologists are clinical psychologists.
Experimental psychology is the field associated with research. Experimental psychologists
investigate basic behavioral processes such as learning, motivation, perception, memory, and thinking.
Subjects may be either animals or human beings. Ivan Pavlov‘s experiments on conditioned reflexes,
associated with the learning process, used dogs as subjects.
The great majority of experimental psychologists are found at the nation‘s universities. Their duties
combine research and teaching. In order to obtain a permanent position and achieve academic
promotion, it is necessary for the psychologist to publish the results of experiments in recognized
scientific journals. Experimental psychology is not a large field of psychology in terms of numbers of
psychologists. Only about 6 percent of psychologists are experimental psychologists.
On the other hand, experimental psychology represents a cutting edge of psychology; it is where much
progress is made. The overall concepts and findings in a book such as this one have been made possible
primarily by experimental work.
The remaining fields of psychology will be briefly described in terms of what psychologists associated
with them do.
A counseling psychologist provides advice and guidance, often in a school setting. Sometimes he or she
will, like a clinical psychologist, attempt to help individuals with personal problems. However, if the
problems involve a mental disorder, the individual will be referred to a clinical psychologist or a
psychiatrist.
A developmental psychologist is concerned with maturational and learning processes in both children
and adults. Although a developmental psychologist is usually thought of as a ―child psychologist,‖ it is
important to realize that a given developmental psychologist might have a particular interest in changes
associated with middle-aged or elderly people.
A physiological psychologist, like an experimental psychologist, does research. Subject areas include the
structures and functions of the brain, the activity of neurotransmitters (i.e., chemical messengers), and
the effect that hormones produced by the endocrine glands have on moods and behavior.
A human factors psychologist combines a knowledge of engineering with a knowledge of psychology.
For example, he or she may be part of a team that is attempting to redesign an aircraft control panel in
an attempt to make it more ―user friendly‖ in order to reduce pilot error associated with
misperceptions.
An industrial psychologist usually works for a corporation. The principal aim is to provide a work
environment that will facilitate production, reduce accidents, and maintain employee morale. A theme
that guides industrial psychology is ―the human use of human beings‖.
 2.1. The Scientific Method: Do the Facts Support Your Educated Guess?
In the days of psychology‘s long philosophical past, the method used to investigate the behavior of
human beings was rationalism. This is the point of view that great discoveries can be made just by doing
a lot of hard thinking. This is still a workable approach in some fields of philosophy, and it has certainly
been a workable method in mathematics.
In psychology, however, rationalism alone can lead to contradictory conclusions. At an informal level,
rationalism is sometimes called ―armchair philosophizing.‖ Using only writing and thinking, the British
philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) decided that there are no inborn ideas. Using the same approach
as Locke, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) concluded that the human mind does
have some a priori information, meaning that there are inborn ideas of a certain kind. So you can see
that rationalism alone is an unsatisfactory method for psychology if it claims to be a science.
Contemporary psychology combines rationalism with empiricism. Naturally, thinking is used. However,
facts are gathered. Empiricism is the point of view that knowledge is acquired by using the senses—by
seeing, hearing, touching, and so forth. Empiricism represents what William James called a tough-
minded attitude. The attitude can be expressed with the words ―I‘m stubborn. I can be convinced—
but you‘ve got to show me.
Today‘s researchers do their best to gather data, information relevant to questions they ask about
human behavior. In order to gather data, various methods are used. And these methods are the
principal subjects of this chapter.
Before we look at the various individual methods used to gather data, let‘s take a look at the general
approach that inspires all of the methods. This general approach is called the scientific method. It is a
systematic approach to thinking about an interesting possibility, gathering data, and reaching a
conclusion. There are three main steps in the scientific method. The first step is to form a hypothesis, a
proposition about a state of affairs in the world. Informally, a hypothesis is an educated guess about the
way things are.
Let‘s say that Nora is a teacher. She observes at an informal level that students seem to do better on
tests when the room is slightly cool than when it is too warm. She forms this hypothesis: Room
temperature has an effect on test performance. Let‘s say that she‘s interested enough to explore the
merits of the hypothesis. Nora takes the second step in the scientific method. She gathers data.
Probably she will compare student test performance under at least two different conditions. We‘ll
return to this aspect of data gathering when the experimental method is presented later in this chapter.
The third step in the scientific method is to accept or reject the hypothesis. If the data support the
hypothesis, Nora will accept it. If the data do not support the hypothesis, Nora will reject it.
Unfortunately, it is possible to make decision errors. Sometimes a hypothesis is accepted that should not
be accepted. This is called a Type I error. Sometimes a hypothesis is rejected that should be accepted.
This is called a Type II error. The history of science, unfortunately, provides many examples of both
kinds of errors. The astronomer Percival Lowell (1855–1916), based on his observations, concluded that
there were canals and probably an advanced civilization on Mars. Later research showed that there are
neither canals nor an advanced civilization there. He made a Type I error.
 For many years, before the research of the French biologist Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), medical doctors
rejected various versions of the hypothesis that some diseases can be caused by germs. They were
making a Type II error.

2.2. Psychological Methods to Collect Data

Naturalistic Observation: Looking at behavior without interference requires a researcher to study
behavior as it is happening in its own setting. The researcher 30 should have a ―no interference‖ policy.
When people or animals know they are being observed, they may not behave in the same way as when
they‘re not being observed. Sometimes it is necessary for the researcher to allow for a period of
adaptation to his or her presence.
Let‘s say that Clayton, an anthropologist, is interested in studying the behavioral patterns of a certain
tribe. He lives among its people for a span of time, is accepted by them as a friend, and they grow to
trust him. He takes field notes as objectively as possible. Eventually he publishes his findings for other
scientists to read. This is the essence of naturalistic observation as a method. (Anthropology, like
psychology, studies human behavior. Anthropology tends to focus on physical, social, and cultural
development.) Naturalistic observation has also been used extensively to study the behavior of animals
in their own habitats in the wilderness.
Although psychology occasionally employs naturalistic observation, in practice, research in psychology
has tended to favor other methods.
The Clinical Method is a research technique associated primarily with the treatment of individuals with
mental or behavioral disorders. It arose within the associated frameworks of psychiatry and clinical
psychology. For example, a therapist may treat a troubled person for a span of time. Initially, research
may not be the goal. However, at the conclusion of the case, the therapist may decide that the case has
many interesting features that make a contribution to our understanding of either the therapy process,
behavior, or both. Consequently, the therapist writes up the case, and it is published in a professional
journal.
You will recall from chapter 1 that Freud once worked with a colleague named Josef Breuer. One of
Breuer‘s patients was a young woman identified as Anna O. Anna suffered from various symptoms of
hysteria. ―The Case of Anna O.‖ is the first case in psychoanalysis, and it was published together with
other case histories in Breuer and Freud‘s book Studies on Hysteria in 1895. Consequently, it can be said
that psychoanalysis has its roots in the clinical method.
The Survey Method: large samples from larger populations. A survey attempts to take a large, general
look at an aspect of behavior. Examples of topics include sexual behavior, eating behavior, how people
raise children, spending habits, and so forth. A researcher may be interested in studying a population. A
population is a well-defined group. It need not be large. For example, a home aquarium with ten fish is
correctly said to have a population of ten. However, in practice populations are often large (e.g., the
population of the United States, the population of California, the population a particular city).
Consequently, it is common to conduct the survey taken on a sample of the population. The sample
should be taken at random from the population. A random sample allows the laws of chance to operate
and provides an equal opportunity for any member of the population to be included in the sample.
Members of the population fill out questionnaires, are interviewed, or are otherwise evaluated. This
constitutes the survey.
Among the more famous surveys conducted during the twentieth century are the Kinsey surveys of
sexual behavior published about fifty years ago. Conducted by the Indiana University researcher Alfred
Kinsey, the surveys, first of males and then of females, provided valuable information concerning sexual
behavior. These studies gave a great impetus to the survey method as a way of studying behavior.
A serious drawback of the survey method is the problem of bias in the sample. In 1936 Alfred (―Alf‖)
Landon, the Republican governor of Kansas, ran for president against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the
incumbent. It was widely expected that Landon would win because a telephone poll conducted by a
magazine called The Liberty Digest predicted Landon‘s victory. Although the survey method used by the
poll took names at random from the phone book, it appears that during the Great Depression, with the
nation plagued by 30 percent unemployment, more Republicans than Democrats had telephones.
Consequently, the survey made an incorrect prediction.
The difficulty associated with biased sampling from a population of interest is a general problem, one
that is not limited to surveys. Most research is conducted on samples, not populations. A researcher, no
matter what research method he or she employs, needs to assess the quality of the sample obtained.
The Testing Method explores human behavior by using psychological tests of attributes such as
intelligence, personality, and creativity. These tests are often of the paper-and-pencil variety, and the
subject completes the test following a set of instructions. In some cases the test is given in interview
form on a one-to-one basis by an examiner. Individual intelligence tests are often administered in this
manner.
An example of the testing method is provided by the research of Lewis Terman (1877–1956) on gifted
children. Using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale as a research tool, Terman studied subjects with
very high intelligence quotient (IQ) scores from childhood to late adulthood. (Associates continued the
study after Terman‘s death.) The research supported the hypothesis that high intelligence is desirable.
On the whole, gifted children had better health and lower divorce rates than most people.
Two problems associated with psychological testing are validity and reliability. In order for a
psychological test to be useful it needs to be both valid and reliable. A valid test measures what it is
supposed to measure. If a test that is given to measure the intelligence of subjects instead actually
measures the individual‘s motivation to take the test, the test is invalid.
A reliable test gives stable, repeatable results. If a subject is tested twice with the same instrument
within a few days, the two scores obtained should be very close to each other. One of the functions of
the next method to be identified, the correlational method, is to establish both the validity and
reliability of psychological tests.
The Correlational Method: When X is associated with Y. The word correlation refers to the relationship
between two variables. These are usually designated as X and Y on a graph. If scores on one variable can
be used to predict scores on the second variable, the variables are said to covary. Let‘s say that X stands
for shoe size on the right foot. Y stands for shoe size on the left foot. If the both feet are measured on
one hundred subjects, it is obvious that a measurement on the right foot will predict, with some
variations, a measurement on the left foot (and vice versa). This example also illustrates that a
correlation does not necessarily provide a basis to conclude that causation is present. The size of the
right foot does not cause the size of left foot. The sizes covary because they both probably have the
same genetic cause in common; they don‘t cause each other.
In the above example, a positive correlation is said to exist. This means that increases in variable X
suggest increases in variable Y. On the other hand, if increases in variable X were to suggest decreases in
variable Y, a negative correlation would be said to exist. Of course, in some cases there is no
relationship. Then a zero correlation is said to exist.
 2.3. The Experimental Method: A Tool with Great Power
Of all of the methods presented, the experimental method is the one that gives a researcher the most
confidence when making the decision to accept or reject a hypothesis. The experimental method is a
research tool characterized by a control over variables, the identification of a cause (or causes), and a
welldefined measure of behavior. These aspects of the experimental method give it great power.
Four key concepts will help you understand the experimental method: (1) the control group, (2) the
experimental group, (3) the independent variable, and (4) the dependent variable. Definitions will be
presented followed by an example incorporating all four concepts into an experiment. The control
group receives no treatment; it is dealt with in a more or less conventional manner. It provides a
standard of comparison, a set of observations that can be contrasted with the behavior of the
experimental group.
The experimental group receives a novel treatment, a condition (or set of conditions) that is presumed
to affect behavior. It is the target group, the one that will perhaps provide original or particularly
interesting data.
The independent variable is one that is assigned to the subjects by the experimenter. There will be at
least two values, or measures, of this variable. It is the variable that is thought of as a cause of behavior.
The dependent variable is a measure of the behavior of the subjects. In most experiments, this variable
can be expressed as a set of scores. The dependent variable is associated with the effect of a cause.
Scores make it possible to compute statistical measures and make evaluations based on the data.
You will recall that near the beginning of this chapter a teacher named Nora was said to have formed
the hypothesis that room temperature has an effect on test performance. Let‘s say that Nora wants to
do an experiment to evaluate this hypothesis.
Nora writes the names of sixty students on a set of cards. The cards are shuffled and then dealt into two
groups, Group A and Group B. A coin is flipped. She says in advance that if heads comes up, Group A will
be the control group. If tails comes up, Group B will be the control group. Heads comes up, and Group A
becomes the control group. By default, Group B is designated the experimental group.
It is important to note that the process by which subjects are assigned to groups is a random process,
meaning all subjects have an equal chance of being included in either group. The aim of this procedure is
to cancel out the effects of individual differences in the subjects that may have an effect on the
experiment. Such variables as age, sex, weight, intelligence, and income level are not, for the moment,
under study. A practical way to minimize the effects of such variables is to assign subjects randomly to
conditions.
The independent variable will be room temperature. Let‘s say that most of the time Nora‘s students
take tests in a room that is 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The control group will be tested in a room at this
temperature.
Up until now Nora has been thinking that a ―cool‖ room will have a positive effect on test performance.
The time has come to define ―cool‖ more precisely. An operational definition is required, a definition of
a variable such as ―cool‖ in terms 36 of its measurement operations. Nora decides that her operational
definition of ―cool‖ will be a temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The word cool is an imprecise,
subjective term. On the other hand, 55 degrees Fahrenheit is precise and objective. The experimental
group will be tested at this temperature.
Let‘s say that subjects in both groups are given the same twenty-question multiple-choice test. Scores
range from a low of 5 to a high of 20 correct. The mean (i.e., average) score for subjects in the control
group is 11. The mean score for subjects in the experimental group is 14. On the surface, it appears that
Nora will make the decision to accept her experimental hypothesis. It appears that a cool room does in
fact facilitate test performance.
Before a firm decision can be made to accept or reject a hypothesis, a statistical evaluation of the data
must be made. A difference between means is sometimes due to chance. An experiment can, of course,
be much more interesting than the one described, and there can be two or more independent variables.
However, Nora‘s experiment was presented because it reveals the essentials of the experimental
method.