Chapter one Flashcards
Psychology:
the scientific study of thought and behaviour
Psychologists have 4 main goals
Describe
Explain
Predict
change
Cognitive psychology
the study of how people, perceive information, solve problems, learn and remember
Developmental psychology:
studies how thought and behavior change as we develope over the span of our lives
Behavioral neuroscience:
studies link of brain, mind and behavior
Biological psychology
study of bodily systems and chemicals and how they affect behavior
Personality psychology:
studies what makes us unique and consistencies in people’s behavior
Social psychology
studies how the real or imagined presence of others influences people’s behavior
Clinical psychology:
focuses on diagnosing and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders
Health psychology:
examines role of psychological factors in physical health and illness
Educational psychology:
studies how students learn, effectiveness of teaching techniques, psychology of teaching
Industrial/ organizational psychology:
matching employees to jobs and trying to improve work performance
Sports psychology:
examining how psychological factors influence performance
Forensic psychology
Blends psychology, law and criminal justice. Make legal evaluations of a witness mental competency to see if they are fit for trial, see if a parent is fit to have a kid under their custody
Prehistoric views
Humans tried to cure mental problems
Most cultures had medicine people known as shamans
Shamans tried to treat the possessed with exorcisms, incantation and prayer
Sometimes they wore scary wooden masks to drive spirits away
Sometimes the shamans practiced trephination (drilling small holes into heads either for medical or psychological purposes, we don’t know)
Ancient views
Ancient CHINESE moved away from supernatural explanations and into natural and PHSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
They made connections to a person’s organs and that person’s emotions
Greek physicians moved to physiological explanations, fighting common belief mental disorders came from the gods
NATIVE NA (north american) medicine relied on SPIRITUAL HEALING but also used herbs and botanicals to treat both mental and physical problems
Medieval to Early Modern Views
In MEDEVIL EUROPE –> SUPERNATURAL CAUSES (possessed by spirits, demons etc)
WITCHCRAFT seen as work of devil so they used the float test
First asylum in 16th or 17th century
Treatment meant removing the people from society, not helping them adjust to society, placed in filthy, horrible rooms and conditions
MORAL TREATMENT came later (dignity and care) ← Philippe Pinel was first to do this
Late 19th to Early 20th Century Views
Simply one form of medical illness that needed medical treatment and therapy, LIKE ANY OTHER MEDICAL ILLNESS
Emil Kraepelin BEGAN CLASSIFYING DISORDERS and diagnosing people, also first to distinguish thought from mood disorders
In early 20th century, Sigmund Freud developed a form of therapy called psychoanalysis which assumes the unconscious mine is the most powerful force behind thought and behaviour and dreams are the most direct link to the unconscious mind
Modern views
By mid 20th century, 3 major modern developments of CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY EMERGED: psychotherapy, drug therapy and modern criteria to diagnosing mental disorders
Currently two systems for classifying disorders :
The International Classification for Diseases
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
North american psychologists tend to use the Diagnostic and statistical manual
Empiricism
the view that all knowledge and thoughts comes from experience; the mind comes as a blank slate
Psychophysics:
the study of how people experience physical sensations
William James :
considered the founder of psychology in North America
Mary Calkins
A student of William James, Mary Calkins was the first female president of the APA (American Psychological Association)
- Because Mary Caulkin was a woman, She and William James did course work at home as at the time, Harvard was an all-male University. She did all the requirements of a PhD but Harvard wouldn’t give it to her because she was a woman
Margaret Washburn
was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in psychology
Structuralism vs Functionalism
Structuralism: breaking down experience into its elemental parts is best way to study the mind. Detailed analysis of experience
Functionalism: better to look at why the mind worked the way it did rather than the part of the mind.
Structuralism
breaking down experience into its elemental parts is best way to study the mind. Detailed analysis of experience
Main method of structuralism: introspection
Looking into one’s own mind for information and the nature of conscious experience
Eventually died out
Functionalism
Functionalism: better to look at why the mind worked the way it did rather than the part of the mind.
Influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection
Functionalists used introspection as well
Famous functionalist is William James
Functionalism eventually faded as a “school of thought” a lot of modern psychology is based off of elements of functionalism
Eventually, introspection failed as a method of science because it’s difficult to pinpoint what experiences are.
John Watson founded________
Behaviorism
Says psychology can only be a real science if it only examines observable behavior, not thoughts, feelings, motives, etc
John Watson thought mental experiences could not be directly measured and if psychology focused on internal states it would forever be a false science
Behaviorism is an extreme form of the school of psychology: environmentalism
Little albert experiment
Environmentalism
View that all behaviour is a result of experiences interacting with the world
Most famous person who believed in this was B.F Skinner
B.F Skinner
Believed psychology should have two main goals: prediction and control of behaviour
Modified Watson’s views and argued consequences shaped behavior
Humanistic psychology
: an approach that focused on personal growth and meaning in order to reach one’s true potential
Positive psychology:
thought that psychology should focus on studying, understanding and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning
Gestalt psychology:
Gestalt psychology: perception occurs in unified wholes. Where the whole is more than the sum of its parts
Neuroscience:
: the interdisciplinary study of the structure and function of human and animal brains
Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield
Burnt toast
Destroying nerve cells where seizures originated
Psychologist Donald Hebb
“What fires together, wires together”
Repeated stimulation of brain cells leads to physical change in those cells
Hebb’s student Brenda Milner
Studied the case of H.M
Had to introduce herself to him everytime
Individualist culture
a culture where individuals needs are emphasized and important to have a strong sense of identity and feel good about yourself
Collectivist culture:
where people tend to view themselves as connected to others; the needs of the group are more important than the needs of the individual
Evolutionary psychology
: applying evolutionary principles to explain the development of mental characteristics and behaviors
Nature vs nurture
Nature: who we are comes from inborn tendencies
Nurture: we become who we are through experiences, we are all the same at birth
Soft Wiring
Soft Wiring
Biological systems are inherited however they are still open to environmental influence/ modification
Hard wiring
not learned
Mind-body Dualism
French philosopher and mathematician, Rene Descartes, proposed an idea that the mind and body are separate entities: mind-body dualism
Allows for many ideas of western thinking
Soul survives death
Humans are superior to animals
Ted Talk→ Molly Crockett : Beware Neuro Bunk
Studies decision making though experiments testing how different chemicals in the brain influences the choices we make
See how serotonin affects how people reacted when treated unfairly
No serotonin vs normal serotonin
No serotonin as lemon drink lowered levels of tryptophan
No serotonin: more likely to take revenge
Normal amount serotonin: less likely to take revenge
Interpreted in magazines as cheese sandwich takes away all tough decisions or bad problems
Brain on product, people are more likely to buy it
Picture of brain on article→ people agreed with article
No picture of brain → people didn’t agree as much with article
Neuro bunk
You can use brain scans to read people’s thoughts and emotions→ false
Can’t just pick and choose info off list from insula → love iphone
The Evolution of Behavior
Change overtime in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species
Natural selection- Charles darwin
