心理学专业英语讲稿1-什么是心理学what is psychology

English for Psychology（心理学专业英语）

Perspectives in Psychology（心理学纵览）

What is psychology ?

什么是心理学？

1.DEFINITIONS:

定义：

The word "Psychology" is derived from two Greek roots: "Psyche", meaning "mind" or "soul" and "Logos", meaning "study of".

心理学这个单词是由psyche和logos这两个希腊词派生出来的，psyche的意思是心灵或精神，logos的意思是对……研究。

Psychology, therefore,literally means "study of the mind".

因此，从字面意思上来讲（顾名思义），心理学就是对于心灵/精神的研究。However,a more recent definition by Atkinson et al(1991) suggests that psychology is:"The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes" 然而，阿特金森（1991）等人提出了一个较新的定义，“心理学是对于行为与心理过程的科学研究”。（心理学是研究行为和心理过程的科学。）

Just giving this simple definition, however, is a bit misleading, since psychologists now and throughout their history have not only disagreed about the definition of psychology but have also strongly disagreed about what should be studied in the subject and how it should be studied. 然而，仅仅给出这样一个简单的定义，会有一点误导，因为无论是在历史上还是

现在，心理学家不仅对于心理学的定义没有达成一致，而且对于在这个学科中应该研究什么以及应该如何研究也存在巨大的分歧。

2. THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

心理学的历史

Where did psychology come from?

心理学的源头？

Psychology developed from three main areas of study:PHILOSOPHY、BIOLOGY、PHYSICS

心理学是从三个主要的研究领域发展而来的：哲学、生物学、物理学。

1.PHILOSOPHY

哲学

Many of the problems which psychology has investigated were first most clearly outlined by Greek philosophers such as Socrates,Plato, and Aristotle in the 5th century BC.

心理学研究的很多问题，是由希腊哲学家最先清晰提出（概要）的。比如说公元前5世纪的苏格拉底、柏拉图和亚里斯多德等。

Two more recent philosophical influences on the development of psychology as a science were:

当今对于心理学作为科学的发展，对于它的两个哲学性影响是：

1 Empiricism - which argued that humans should only measure data that is objectively observable, such as behaviour.

1）经验主义——认为人们只能去测量可以客观观测的数据，比如说行为。

2 Positivism - which argued that the methods and principles of science should be applied to human behaviour.

2）实证主义——认为科学的方法和原理应该被应用于人类行为的研究中。

2.BIOLOGY

生物学

Biology has two important influences:

生物学有两个重要的影响：

1）Evolution - Darwin's suggestion that humans have evolved from other animals. The discoveries in genetics that followed from his evolutionary theroy have had many important implications for the study and understanding of behaviour.

1.进化论——达尔文认为人类是从别的动物进化而来的。遗传学是由其进化理论发展而来的，遗传学的发现，对于研究和理解行为有重大的影响。

2Physiology - the discoveries, mostly by the medical profession, of the structure and function of the brain, nervous, and endocrine system have significantly contributed to the understanding of behaviour.

2）生理学——尤其是医疗行业，对脑，神经，内分泌系统的结构和功能的发现，对于理解行为有重大的贡献。

3.PHYSICS

物理学

A subject that because of its great success has been adopted as the ideal model by scientist in psychology, who have borrowed its scientific methods

and principles.

由于这一学科的巨大成功，在心理学领域的许多科学家借鉴其科学方法和原则，将其作为理想模型。

Physicist, such as Fechner started applying their subject to huaman behaviour and experience(psychophysics) in the nineteenth century, with some success.

物理学家，比如说费希纳在19世纪开创了针对人类的行为与经验的学科——心理物理学，并取得了一些成功。

WHEN DID PSYCHOLOGY STARTED?

心理学的伊始？

The date 1879 is usually said to be the start of psychology as a separate scientific discipline, since it was when Wilhelm Wundt created the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig.

1879年通常被认为是心理学作为一个独立的科学学科的开始时间，因为这时威廉·冯特在莱比锡创建了第一个心理学实验室。

Wundt is, therefore, regarded as the “founding father” of psychology, although Americans tend to suggest that William James should have this honor since his 1890 book (which took 12 years to write) entitled Principle of Psychology was a major landmark in psychology’s literature and he began teaching a course on the relationship between physiology and psychology at Harvard University in 1875.

因此，冯特被认为是心理学之父，但美国人倾向于认为应该是威廉·詹姆斯拥有

这个荣誉。因为他在1890年出版了，用12年写成的《心理学原理》，这本书在心理学著作史上是一个重大的标志性事件。此外，詹姆斯在1875年就开始在哈佛大学教授一门关于生理学与心理学的关系的课程。

HOW DID PSYCHOLOGY DEVELOP?

心理学是如何发展的？

●Structuralism

●Functionalism

●Psychoanalysis

●Behaviorism

●Cognitive psychology

●Humanistic approach

●Biological approach

●结构主义

●功能主义（机能主义）

●精神分析

●行为主义

●认知心理学

●人本主义

●生物学研究方法（生理心理学）

1.Structuralism

结构主义

Structuralism-was the first approach to investigating psychology,

pioneered by Wundt himself, who thought that the object of psychological investigation should be the conscious mind, and that it should be studied by introspection (looking inwards at one’s own mental experience) in order to break it down into its component parts (such as images, sensations and feelings) like the science of chemistry had done with chemicals.

结构主义是第一个研究心理学的方法，是由冯特本人提出来的，他认为心理学的研究对象应该是意识，而且应该是用内省（向内探查自己的体验）的方法去研究，目的是将其分解为各个部分（比如说，表象，感觉，情感），就像化学家研究化学一样。

One structuralist, Titchener, claimed there were a total of 46,708 basic sensations that combined to form the structure of the human mind, but the approach was very limited in its ability to explain and was replaced by functionalism.

结构主义者之一，铁钦纳声称共有46078种基本的感觉，联合起来构成了人类意识的结构，但是这种方法在解释方面存在很大的局限，因此被功能主义取代了。

2.Functionalism

机能主义

Functionalism-the approach William James advocated. James was influenced by Darwin’s views and argued that the workings of the mind are functional, to survive and adapt, so we should investigate what behavior and thought are for.

这种方法是由威廉·詹姆斯提出的。詹姆斯受达尔文观点的影响，认为意识的工

作方式是功能性的，也需要去生存与适应，因此，我们应该研究行为和思想的原因。

Many of James’s insights remain valid today, but functionalism was superseded by the next two very powerful approaches that both started around the turn of the century.

詹姆斯的很多观点在今天看来仍然是有用的，但是功能主义却被始于世纪之交的两种更强大（有说服力）的方法取代了。

3.Psychoanalysis

精神分析

Psychoanalysis-was in fact a method of the therapy developed by Sigmund Freud in Austria, but in many major books, such as The interpretation of dreams(1900), Freud began describing in detail an underlying theory of the human mind and behavior that has had an enormous (and controversial) impact on psychology.

精神分析—实际上是由奥地利西格蒙德·弗洛伊德发展出来的一种治疗方法，但是在他很多主要的书中，例如《梦的解析》（1900），弗洛伊德开始详细描述一个关于人类思想与行为的隐含的理论，对于心理学产生了重大的（并且是有争议的）影响。

Freud argued that the proper object of psychological investigation should be the unconscious mind, and that our behavior is determined by processes of which we are not aware.

弗洛伊德认为心理学的研究对象应该是无意识（潜意识），我们的行为是由我们

没有意识到的心理过程所决定的。

4.Behaviorism

行为主义

Behaviorism-Behaviorists, such as John Waston, were extremely critical of all the approaches that concerned themselves with“mind”, and proposed that psychology should only investigate observable behavior if it want to be an objective science.

行为主义—行为主义者，像约翰·华生，对所有以意识为研究对象的方法极为不满，并且认为心理学如果想成为一门客观的科学，就应该研究可以观测的行为。This approach dominated experimental psychology until the 1950s, when a strong resurgence of interest in the “mind” developed in the form of cognitive and the humanistic approaches, which suggested that behaviorism ignored all the most important and interesting things that go on in our heads.

这种方法一直控制着实验心理学，直至十九世纪五十年代。在此期间，一股强大的研究“意识”的回潮，开始以认知和人本主义方法的形式发展起来。他们认为行为主义忽视了在我们大脑里那些最重要的和最有意义的东西。

5.Cognitive psychology

认知心理学

Cognitive psychology-aims to investigate the mind by using computer information processing ideas to arrive at testable models of how the brain works, and then applying scientific methods to confirm these models. The

cognitive approach has enjoyed much success and is a very dominant one in psychology today.

认知心理学，目的是用计算机信息处理方式的观点去研究意识，建立起可验证的关于脑是如何工作的模型，然后利用科学的方法去证实这些模型。认知的方法取得了很多成功，是在当今心理学中占主导地位的研究方法之一。

6.Humanistic approach

人本主义的研究方法

The Humanistic approach, however, has had less of an impact on psychology, since it has deliberately adopted a less scientific view of the human mind by arguing that psychology should focus on each individual’s conscious experience and aims in life.

然而，人本主义的研究方法，对于心理学的影响较小，主要是因为对于人类意识它故意采取了不怎么科学的观点，认为心理学应该关注于每个个体在生活中的的意识经验和目标。

7.Biological approach

生物学的研究方法

The Biological approach has advanced evolutionary, physiological, and genetic explanations for human behavior throughout the history of psychology.

在心理学的历史上，生物学的研究方法（生理心理学）则发展了关于人类行为的进化的、生理的和基因的观点。