Chapter 1 & Lecture 1 Flashcards
Definition psyche and logica
Psych - breath/soul
Logica - study of
How old is psychology
about 150 years old
Very early philosophers who dealt with this
Aristotle - de anima, on the soul.
Believed in the tabula rasa - blank slate
Psychology is
The scientific study of behavior and mind
Roots of psychology
Muslim scholar
understanding the mind, was initially a philosophical subject but eventually became part of the medial/biological field as well. ‘Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi (often Latinized as Haly Abbas) was a Persian physician who wrote The Complete Art of Medicine which explored neuroanatomy and mental health issues.
What disciplines combined make up psychology?
Philosophy and physiology
Empericism
the view that knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience. As such, psychology (as with all scientific disciplines) is inherently observational in nature.
What are the problems in using empericism in psychology and how might they be overcome?
The mind is not observable.
We use behaviour to infer mind.
What is behaviour
Any observable action, including words, gestures, responses, and more that can be repeated, measured, and are affected by a situation to produce or remove some outcome. Behavior can also refer to biological activity, including actions on the cellular level.
The relationship between mind and body is
An important and still debated topic in psychology
Dualism is
philosophical position that the mind and the body are separate entities
Rene Descartes
argued that the mind is inherently immaterial. He believed that thought could not be explained in terms of the physical body, although the mind could exert its influence over the body through the pineal gland (a small pinecone-shaped structure located near the center of the brain that is now believed to regulate circadian rhythms).
Reflexes
(such as blinking in response to an object moving toward the face or jerking your knee in response to being tapped in a certain way) are handled entirely by the spinal cord
Psychologists today treat the mind and body
As the same thing
Steven pinker expressed that
the mind is what the brain does
Materialsim
Brain = mind and mind = brain
This is the current position of psychology
Mind substance and brain substance
Mind substance = res cogitans
Brain substance = res extansa
According to descartes
Epiphenomenalsim
Brian activity produces mind but the mind cannot influence brain activity
Is a form of dualism
Interactionism
he mind can influence the brain and vice versa
Is a form of dualism
Basic research
Work done by psychologists to understand the fundamental principles of behavior and mind.
Abnormal psychology -
Research is interested in explaining how and why unusual and maladaptive behavior patterns develop by examining thoughts and emotions as well as the underlying biology of mental illness.
basic
Behavioral Genetics
research attempts to explain individual differences in behavior patterns in terms of variation in genetic structure and expression
basic
Cognitive psychology
research is broadly interested in how people process information and includes areas such as attention, perception, memory, problem solving, language, and thought.
basic
Comparative psychology
is the study of the behavior of non-human animals, and it is often (but not always) interested in making a comparison to human psychology in an effort to discover underlying universals.
basic
Developmental psychology
studies the way that people develop across the lifespan, including how our thoughts and behaviors change as we age.
basic
Behavioural Neuroscience
(sometimes called cognitive neuroscience or neuropsychology) tries to understand how specific brain regions or activities produce behavior, allowing psychologists to understand the physical underpinnings of their observations.
basic
Personality psychology
studies individual differences, investigating how and why people act differently based on their enduring characteristics or traits.
Basic
Social psychology
is interested in how an individual’s thoughts and actions are influenced by the social environment and the presence of others.
Basic
Applied psychology
The use of psychological principals to solve practical problems, typically by influencing behavior or changing the environment to match existing behavior
Applied psych - applied research
Research done in an effort to discover a new or more effective way to solve a specific practical problem.
Applied psych - applied practice
refers to the actual application of techniques to the problems themselves
Translational research
Research that attempts to take basic findings and turn them into solutions for practical problems
The distinction between translational and applied research can be confusing at first. Translational research is applied research, but it is necessarily based on an attempt to apply discoveries from basic research to practical problems
Clinical psychology
A form of applied psychology that focuses on identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction that is psychological in origin.
Psychiatrist
A medical doctor who is trained to assess and treat psychological disorders. Psychiatrists often prescribe and manage psychiatric medications.
Counselling psychology
Psychologists who focus on helping people deal with ongoing situations, or on the adjustment from one situation to another.
Nativism
The view that some forms of knowledge are inborn, or innate.
Children who were born blind and receive surgical correction for their vision are still susceptible to the Ponzo illusion immediately after surgery, despite not having any visual experience
Biological Determinism
The view that all human behavior is controlled by genetic and biological influences.
Adaptive traits
Darwin called traits that are advantageous for survival and reproduction (such as a thick fur coat in an environment that is consistently cold) adaptive traits
Natural selection
Does this apply to behaviour?
The principle that traits which contribute to improvements in survival and reproduction are more likely to be passed down to later generations
Darwin also recognized that these inherited traits could extend to behavioral tendencies, including human behavior
Heritability
a trait must be able to be passed down from one generation to the next in order for it to be selected?
Social brain hypothesis
This is called the social brain hypothesis, and is an example of how we can think about psychological traits evolving over the course of human history – humans often use behavioral solutions to problems in the world around them. It’s likely that human behavior has been shaped by evolution over the course of human history to help us survive and reproduce more effectively.
Genotype and phenotype
Genotypes describe the genes an organism inherits, while phenotypes decribe how those genes are expressed in an environment.
Modern views on nature vs nurture in psychology
psychologists generally agree that most psychological phenomena are the result of interactions between nature and nurture rather than one over the other, and instead they argue over the extent to which nature and nurture are responsible. The recent boom in studies related to epigenetics attests to this tension
Phrenology
The pseudoscientific study of the shape of the human skull in an attempt to associate brain areas with specific characteristics, thoughts, or abilities.
Nativism vs empericism
Nativism is the belief that humans have many inborn tendencies or “instincts”. Empiricism is the opposite – the belief that humans begin as a “blank slate” and experiences shape who we become. The truth lies somewhere in between.
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany, although he had already been conducting research in psychology prior to the lab’s founding.
Was a doctor
father of modern psychology
Used introspection whilst titchener developed this into a systematic thing
Structuralism
The first movement in the history of psychology, which focused on breaking down immediate conscious experience (such as sensations and feelings) into their constituent parts.
Famous structuralists
Titchener
Wundt
Systematic introspection
Who came up with it?
One of the first strategies to make inferences about the contents of the mind, it was an effort to standardize the way that people reported their own experiences.
Titichener
William James
William James was an American physician and philosopher, and he was the first person to offer a course on experimental psychology in the United States beginning in 1875 at Harvard University. These courses educated students on work that was being done in Germany prior to the official establishment of Wundt’s lab in 1879.
James’ position was that the structuralist movement was fundamentally misguided.
father of American psychology
G. Stanley Hall
Hall was James’ student and the first person in the United States to receive a doctorate degree in psychology in 1878 (and also the first president of the American Psychological Association; Thorne & Henley, 2004)
Famous Functionalists
William James
G. Stanley Hall
Functionalism
An early movement in psychology whose proponents believed that an understanding of a behavior or process’ function was critical to understanding its operation
Strongly influenced by the theory of evolution
Behaviourism
How conducted?
Did anything delay it?
Is there valid stuff today?
An approach to psychology that suggests observable behavior should be the only topic of study, ignoring conscious experience.
Often done with animals
WW1 delayed its provenance
Experimental psychology owes a lot of its empiricism to behaviorism today. Operant conditioning is also used extensively
John B. Watson
(James Watson)
Famous conditioning study
Watson popularized the notion that the mind and internal mental states were beyond the scope of psychology, rebuking introspection as a meaningful technique and proposing that psychology should focus its efforts solely on the study of observable behavior
little albert
B. F. Skinner
Skinner is best known for his work on operant conditioning in particular—the study of how behavior can be modified using a system of rewards and punishments (1953). Many of his basic theories on operant conditioning are still valid, and they continue to be influential today.
Famous behaviourists
B. F. Skinner
John B. Watson
The cognitive revolution
What tech helped this?
In reaction to behaviorism
refocuses on the mind
the development of the computer was influential
so was the development of imaging techniques
Freud
What is behind psychosocial model?
Neurologist
Freud believed that these illnesses originated from the unconscious mind—a portion of the mind that is closed off from conscious analyst
Freud’s development of psychoanalysis was greatly influenced by his understanding of Darwinian evolutionary theory, which led him to focus on “base” unconscious urges related to sexual frustration and aggression
Psychoanalsyis
A form of psychotherapy coined by Sigmund Freud that seeks to help clients gain more insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivations.
he believed patients needed to gain insight into the unconscious factors that were causing them distress
Humanistic psychologists
Arose in opposition to what?
Differences between it and the thing it opposed?
An approach to psychology that emphasizes the ability of humans to make their own choices and realize their own potential.
In opposition to psychoanalysis
believed in free will and change
Famous humanistic psychologists
Carl Rogers
Abraham Maslow,
Person centered
Rogers’ person-centered approach to therapy refocusing the clinical environment on the needs of the client rather than the expertise of the clinician (1951). In person-centered therapy, the role of the therapist is to support and listen, in contrast to a psychoanalyst’s need to analyze and direct
Maslows hierarchy vs freud
Abraham Maslow (see Figure 1.22) similarly reconstructed Freud’s view of human nature, choosing to emphasize the internal driving force for humans to satisfy their basic needs for survival. He went further than Freud, however—once basic needs are met, Maslow believed that people are motivated to fulfill their psychological needs and ultimately strive for self-actualization, which is an ideal state of reaching one’s fullest potentia
Positive psychology
Famous positive psychologists
Christopher Peterson
An outgrowth of humanistic psychology, positive psychology studies specific virtues of the human experience, including topics such as happiness, trust, charity, and gratitude.
Martin Seligman
What do positive psychologists focus on?
Positive psychologists are interested in understanding and improving upon the best aspects of humanity, virtues including but not limited to kindness, generosity, and ethical behavior.
Modern approaches to Psychology
today’s psychologists are generally more likely to identify with the kinds of work they do rather than the approaches they adopt. Further, most psychologists reject the notion that there is one “true” way to study or practice psychology and instead acknowledge that different schools of thought can offer different insights and strengths.
Eclectic approach
An approach to clinical psychology that uses different therapeutic techniques based on their effectiveness for the current situation.
Levels of explanation
For any psychological phenomenon, there are multiple ways of explaining its cause.
Levels of explanation is an acknowledgment that different explanations for a phenomenon can complement one another. These often use ultimate and proximate explanations, borrowed from Biology.
Ultimate Explanations
Crying example
Explanations that seek to describe the reasons why a trait, behavior, or mental process exists by appealing to its role in the process of evolution.
eg crying signals to the carer an infant needs attention
Proximate explanations
Crying example
Explanations that seek to describe an immediate cause of a trait, behavior, or mental process
eg Proximate explanations of infants’ crying would include both specific, functional reasons (such as getting a caregiver to provide food) as well as explanations that appeal to specific mental or physical processes (such as the experience of fear or the activation of biological systems that cause tears to well up in the eyes)
Proximate - functional explanations
Crying example
A kind of proximate explanation that seeks to identify a specific problem as the cause of a trait, behavior, or mental process.
such as getting a caregiver to provide food or remove a painful object in our crying example
Proximate - process orientated
Crying example
A kind of proximate explanation that focuses on how a specific mental or physical process directly explains a trait or behavior.
how crying is the result of biological processes happening in the tear duct.
Ultimate AND proximate explanations
Ultimate and proximate explanations are complementary in nature, as they explain different aspects of the same phenomena. Generally, knowing the ultimate explanation (the “evolutionary function”) for a phenomenon in psychology helps us make predictions about its proximate explanations, including specific situational functions for the phenomenon and the mental and physical processes involved in its execution.
Do all things in psychology have ultimate explanations?
An example of this
Not all phenomena in psychology are products of evolution—these phenomena do not have truly ultimate explanations (as ultimate explanations must be rooted in evolutionary theory) and instead have only functional or process-oriented explanations.
For example, some psychologists believe that motion sickness is simply a byproduct of how our nervous systems happen to be arranged: our balancing circuitry and our vomiting circuitry just happen to be close together. Because this explanation for motion sickness stems from the arrangement of the nervous system (a process-oriented explanation) and not the functional or evolutionary purpose of motion sickness, no functional or ultimate explanation is necessary.
What is the unit of selection for evolution?
Who famously did this?
The discovery of DNA and genetic transfer revolutionized the way biologists understand evolution. While natural selection was originally thought to act primarily on individuals and their traits, the study of genetics allowed scientists to treat individual genes as the unit of selection instead.
Dawkins
Writing and evolution
Writing and written language is an excellent example. While the mental and physical processes involved in language and communication almost certainly have evolutionary origins (Chomsky, 1986), it is difficult to say the same for written forms of language. While writing is certainly functional and serves important uses in society, it is likely just a useful combination of verbal and motor skills rather than its own unique genetic creation.
Evolutionary Psychology
The study of psychology from an evolutionary perspective, it proposes that many mental processes have developed in response to natural selection to solve adaptive problems.
Problems and solutions for evo psych
Famous evo psych?
because it is incredibly difficult to gather definitive evidence for ultimate explanations—there are no fossilized mental processes or behaviors to collect and analyze. Still, many evolutionary psychologists persist by attempting to accumulate evidence for adaptation from a variety of sources to support their claims. Others, such as James Nairne, attempt to flip the process on its head by first identifying adaptive problems humans would have had to solve, and then proposing ways to test for mental processes that solve these problems (Nairne, 2015). For example, Nairne and his colleagues hypothesized that information about people and animals would likely be more important to remember than information about non-living things and have collected data that support their position (Nairne, VanArsdall, & Cogdill, 2017).
Culture
Early and modern perspectives on culture in psychology
A shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and customs belonging to a specific group or community.
In the early days of psychological research, much of the focus was on the attempt to uncover “psychological universals” that apply to everyone.
Is not so now
Feminist psychology
An approach to psychology that is critical of cultural influences on gender and gender differences in behavior.
Intersectionalist approach
An approach to studying cultural influences that emphasizes examining how multiple social identities intersect at the level of the individual person to alter their experiences.
Biological approaches
Recent scans have allowed for the investigation of bio processes. These often allow the study of process-orientated explanations
Cognitive influences on behaviour
depression example
primarily process-oriented explanations about mental processes.
Eg depression is mal adapted thought processes
Where evolutionary approaches often speak to more nativist explanations of psychology, knowing about the influence of experience on behavior is useful for understanding the “nurture” component of the human experience. Cognitive psychologists often use computer-related metaphors in their models of information processing, relating the mental states and processes of the mind to analogs in computer systems. While the computer metaphor for mental processes isn’t perfect, it’s generally seen as an effective way to think about them.
Functional explanations describe ______________, whereas process-oriented explanations describe ______________.
Specific proximate causes; specific proximate mechanisms
Who developed the scientific method
Francis Bacon
Psychology origins
ORIGINS
‣ Roots: “psyche” + “logia”
‣ ψυχή: breath, spirit, soul
‣ λογία: study of
‣ History: Disciplines contributing to the birth of psychology
‣ Philosophers asked questions about the mind
‣ Physiologists/biologist detailed the anatomy and physiology of the brain
‣ Therefore: Psychology = philosophy + biology
Definitions
1) Scientific study
2) Behavior
3) Mind
4) Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY IS SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF BOTH BEHAVIOUR AND MIND
‣ Scientific study: Knowledge is discovered through empirical observation
‣ Behaviour: Any kind of observable action, including words, gestures,
responses, and biological activity
‣ Mind: The contents of conscious experience, including sensations,
perceptions, thoughts, and emotions
‣ One modern definition:
Psychological science is a discipline concerned with the study of behaviour and mind and their underpinning cognitive and physiological processes.
Educational psychology
how people learn and methods of teaching, various
components of the educational process
applied
Health psychology
factors that promote and maintain physical health and
the causation, prevention, and treatment of illnesses.
applied
Clin psyc
psychological dysfunctions and their treatment
applied
Industrial psychology
psychological aspects of work, management,
companies.
applied
Forensic psychology
psychological aspects of legal matters (criminal and civil
law).
Military psychology
research and practice of psychological principles within a military environment (war strategy, intelligence,
organisational aspects, etc)
Left sided stroke
Left-hemisphere stroke. Taylor describes this as losing her “linear” mind, or
conceptual mind. Loss of language, planning, concepts, certain analytical
functions, notably loss of “ego”/“self”
‣ Promoted dominance of right hemisphere functions. Taylor describes this as a
“nirvana” experience (loss of object/subject separation?)
Constructed reality
What is the relation between our mind and reality?
‣ Mind constructs world out of sensory signals. Can we only “mind” what we can sense?
If we only know reality based on our senses then…
Are we for ever ignorant of everything else?
‣ Are we living in a predominantly conceptual mind-world? Can this make us
ignore even things we sense? Can we readily perceive what we do not already
know?
‣ Can we make statements about “world” or only about mindgenerated world?
‣ If we only know world through mind, is all science in principal a mind science?
‣ Is logic a set of operations yielding true and false statements within the
boundaries of the human mind?
‣ Is physics describing laws valid within the world generated by the human mind?
‣ Does this really matter? If all we can know is the mind, then this is reality for
us.
