Introduction:

Spirit/Mind + Science = Psychology.
Welcome to the study of psychology.

Psychology traces its origins to the writings of ancient Greek philosophers about the nature of life; Especially from the works of Aristotle. Aristotle B.C. He was born in 384. He was very curious about living things! He used to collect various plants and animals and dissect them to see that; How are they sustaining life? He gained knowledge of reproduction by observing the method of perpetuating the heredity of each generation.

He gained knowledge about their language, logic, vitality, education by observing the strange deeds of more living people. In the following year; Aristotle discusses philosophy with his students. The name of his school was Lyceum! What he discussed with his students about the nature of life was;

“You will understand what life is, if you think about dying! When I die, what changes will happen to me; Which am I now? At the first moment of death, my body will remain physically as it was just before death ! But I can’t go on anymore; I can’t feel ; can’t say These things are life. The moment the soul departs with its last breath. “

Aristotle uses the word psyche to refer to life. The word soul is a translation of the ancient Greek “mind”. But; The word is very closely related to breath. Aristotle believed that the soul dies with the last breath! Modern psychologists have studied the same function, thought; which fascinated Aristotle. In fact, Aristotle’s use of the word soul (psyche) and the Greek word “logos” (Logos) combined psychology (psychology); Which means “research” (the study of).

Aristotle learned the psychological method from Plata. But he disagreed with Plato; “A man can easily gain a complete understanding of a subject by mere thought.” Aristotle thinks that; To gain knowledge about something, it must be seen, heard and touched.

Although, Aristotle was not like the scientists of today’s world, his contemporary scientific method emphasized observation. Since Aristotle’s time, modern scientists have developed more accurate and efficient methods of observation! Aristotle thus began the study of life, which eventually evolved into modern psychology.

Definition of Psychology

Psychologists still define psychology as the study of life. However, that definition is not sufficient to distinguish the modern discipline of psychology from other life sciences, such as biology. Therefore, psychology is defined as the science of mental-processes and behavior.

Note that this definition contains 3 words/terms, namely – science, behavior and mental-process. Looking at these 3 terms separately, psychology can be considered as a science . Because psychologists aim to understand individuals through careful, complex thinking and well-controlled observation. This reliable and rigorous scientific method of observation is the foundation of all science, including psychology.

Behavior refers to the direct actions of an individual that can be directly observed by others. When you walk, talk, or throw a baseball, you are behaving in this sense.

By the term mental-processes , is meant hidden thoughts, emotions, feelings, intentions, or motives, which cannot be directly observed by other people. So psychologists observe Karo’s overt behavior, making inferences about his mental processes.

Goals of Psychology

Psychology has four goals. For example, being able to describe, predict, understand and influence someone’s mental processes.

1. Describe – Collecting data through scientific research helps psychologists to accurately describe someone’s behavior and mental processes .
2. Predict – In some cases , research suggests psychologists can predict someone’s future. As such, psychologists have helped or improved employers in this way; So that the employers can predict very precisely who among the job candidates is more suitable.
3. Understand – Understanding someone’s behavior and mental processes when someone can be explained. Because; There is much more to understand or learn, current explanations are always provisional. In other words the explanations may not be true; Because in future research this test may be improved or may be canceled altogether.
4. Influence – At the final level, psychologists hope to influence behavior through anticipation beyond description, understanding, and prediction.

Psychology – Nature of Conscious Experience

Early psychologists discussed the experience of individual consciousness . Everything you are thinking at this moment is part of your personal consciousness. First, psychologists try to understand the basic components of the conscious mind and how they work together.

Wundt, Tichener and structuralism :
William Wundt taught biology in Germany; Who was very interested in human consciousness. His student Edward Titchner furthered his work! who later taught at Cornell University.

He was only a chemist, but tried to discover the main ingredients of physical substances! Unt and Tichner wanted to identify the key components of conscious experience. Because; They were quite interested in the material of this conscious experience and the formation of this material! Their view is known as structuralism .

J. _ Henry Aston:

Although Unt and Tichner were the first psychologists to study conscious experience, yet another scientist attempted this! Notably, Aston was also a contemporary structuralist. Aston, is best known for his research on cold and hot sensations. He discovered that we feel cold only when it is stimulated or sensed by nerves ending in the skin. Again we feel heat only when heat is felt by nerves ending in the skin.

Most interestingly, Aston observed that; We feel cold or hot the most when the cold and hot sensation receptors in our skin are simultaneously stimulated! He also conducted an experiment on this subject in 1920 .

In the experiment, he flows cold water through one pipe and hot water through the other. when; When people touched it they felt a greater heat difference. Because; This hot and cold sensation on the skin was simultaneously sharpened or felt.

J.Henry Aston was a notable figure in the history of psychology. Because; He was the first African-American psychologist whose; The paper was published in the American Psychological Association.

Max Ridheimer and Gestalt Psychology (Max Wertheimer and Gestalt Psychology) :
Max Ridheimer was a professor at Frankfurt University in 1900. He was also very interested in conscious experience. His idea; The structure mentioned above was completely different! He led a group of psychologists known as Gastel Psychologists .

Gastel psychologists believed that human consciousness could not be meaningfully broken down, which the structuralists tried to show. For example; They said – the whole of mathematics is different from its small parts.

Gastel psychologists have also tried to show the phenomenon of Pi ; All parts are different from small parts of the pie.

Function of the Conscious Mind :

William James and functionalism (William James and Functionalism) :
In 1875, William James of Harvard University; A young professor of biology and philosophy first began teaching psychology. He was an ideologue of Charles Darwin .

Darwin’s thesis states that; Each trait evolves within a species; Because it serves a purpose. He doubts that this is the same thing; Whether it can be said about the characteristics of the human mind?

He believes that thinking, feeling, cognition, memory, and other mental processes exist only to help us survive as a species. Because; We can think logically; For example, I can say; We collect food well; can avoid danger and take care of children; All of which help sustain the human species! Because these works depend on the work or action of the conscious mind, William James’s thinking is called Functionalism.

Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory

In the late 1890s a third group of psychologists contributed to the establishment of psychology in various ways. Like William James, Inara was also a follower of Darwin in teaching the psychological process, which is useful for survival. Unlike James; They were not interested in the act of conscious experience. Their idea was known as Behaviorism .

Because they thought that conscious experience could not be studied scientifically. On the other hand; Behaviorists study adaptive values ​​acquired from experience.

Ivan Pavlov :
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist interested in the study of digestion. He collected the saliva of the dogs in his laboratory as they fed them. As he recorded it, he noticed that they actually started salivating before the food arrived! He thought, it is not natural! The dogs knew that food was coming, because they heard footsteps as the food came; This learned response is called a “conditioned” response.

Pavlov began further experiments on the subject. For example, he started ringing a bell before serving food. Sure enough, after ringing this bell several times, the dogs got used to being fed by ringing the bell.

The ringing of bells became an event where; When the bell started ringing, the dogs started salivating! Even if they rang the bell without giving them food, they would salivate! Because; They had a habit of eating as soon as the bell rang.

Through this, Pavlov attempted to show that instinctual responses can be dramatically altered by knowledge gained through experience .

Nature of Unconscious mind:

While most of the founders of psychology were more concerned with the structure of the brain or mental processes or direct behavior; Many were still thinking about different things. They think; Neither mental processes nor conscious use can be the dominant view of human psychology.

Rather, they think the process of anonymous submission is key. For this reason, this group of psychology founders emphasized the unconscious mind .

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis :

Simon Freud was an Australian physician. He treated neurology or neurology! In the early 1890s, Simon Freud regularly wrote periodicals! Where he says that the importance of conscious actions is negligible compared to unconscious actions.

The solution of the main psychological problem, he tries, is to do with instinctive aversion. In particular; One’s aggression and sexuality reside as part of the subconscious mind. He thinks that; These subconscious desires and the conflicts that surround them, even if we are not aware of their existence, we are influenced by them.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic method has been revised many times since his death! Modern psychoanalysts still adhere to Freud’s view that; The main source of psychological problems is the conflict of the subconscious mind. Some modern psychoanalysts have accepted all of Freud’s ideas.

Humanistic Psychology and Unconscious Mind :
Another movement in the 1950s focused on the principles of unconscious development in human psychology. The founders of this movement; For example: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl could not agree with Freud ; That only subconscious processes matter. On the other hand; They believe that people decide their own destiny through conscious decisions, not subconscious mind .

Sociocultural Perspective

From a sociocultural point of view, the same behavior can be seen in two ways in two cultures; To better understand the socio-cultural perspective we will look at examples; Japan is quite small in size! But its population is more. Therefore; When the Japanese get up to take the local train during office hours; There are often no seats on the train. So then the train staff pushed them inside! They are happy with this push and thank them.

The citizens of Newark City, on the other hand, will never be happy to be pushed onto a train; Rather they will be angry and react differently than the Japanese.