Intro/History Flashcards
Psychological Science
-study of the mind, brain, and behaviour
Unifying Themes
1. Psychology evolves in a socio-historical context
–affected by real world
–after/during World War II: research on social influence, prejudice, obedience
–zeitgeist: spirit of the times, intellectual thinking of the day
Unifying Themes
2. Psychology is an empirical science.
–The scientific method: based on empirical research
•test hypothesis
–Scepticism
–Critical thinking: open mindness, not accepting anything at face value
•psychology is not common sense
Unifying Themes
3. Multiple factors influence behaviour.
–Behavioural processes are complex
•biological, social, culture, personality
•multifactorial causation of behaviour
•never simple
Unifying Themes
4. People’s experience of the world is highly subjective.
–experiences shaped by beliefs, biases, history, culture, etc.
•filter everything through experience, personalities, biases, expectations
•no two ppl have same experiences
Unifying Themes
5. The mind is adaptive.
–Evolutionary sense: shared human mind adapted through evolutionary history
–Personal experience: brains change based on experiences
•brains adapt + change when learning
Unifying Themes
6. People are often unaware of the influences acting upon them.
–Often unaware of how events, memories, environment, other people influence thoughts, feelings + behaviours
History of Psychology
- psyche + logos-study of the soul/mind
- Philosophical and physiological influences
- mind separate from body
- perception + sensation separate
Wilhelm Wundt
–Psychology scientific study of
conscious experience
-formally founding experimental psychology
•Took him while to convince ppl that conscious could be scientifically studied
•Fraction of a second for him to look and hear
•Couldn’t process both sound + sight
•Studying reaction time
Edward Titchener
- student of Wundt’s
- should study consciousness (total of mental experience at any given moment)
- more interested in describing conscious experience than explaining
Charles Darwin
natural selection significant role in development of functionalism and behaviourism
Structuralism
- Introspection, ask ppl about it
- Break it down into sensations, components
- conscious experience can be broken down into diff. components + sum makes up consciousness
Functionalism
•Stream of consciousness: mind consisted of an ever changing, continuous series of thoughts
-adaptive purpose/function of mind + behaviour
William James
–understand function of mind rather than static description of its contents
–mental processes + behaviour as legitimate subject matter for psychology
•consciousness was personal, functional, and could not be ‘divided up for analysis’
Behaviourism
- Stimulus response psychology
- Learn behaviours through environmental factors: stimuli to predict response
- Behaviour result of response of external stimulus
John Watson
–believed goal of psychology should be prediction + control of behaviour
•How could we study mental events we can’t see
•Should focus on observable behaviour
B. F. Skinner
•Free will is an illusion: behaviour due to external forces
-repeated behaviours shaped by events/consequences
Sigmund Freud
–unconscious contains thoughts, memories + desires below surface of conscious awareness, but exert great influence on behaviour
• Psychoanalytic theory
•Subconscious unobservable
Humanism (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow)
–against psychoanalytic theory + behaviourism
-seen as unappealing, dehumanizing
–Emphasizes unique qualities of humans: freedom + potential for personal growth
•focus on positive things
•didn’t like using research on animals, unlike behaviourists
Cognition
–Mental functions important for understanding behaviour (“cognitive revolution”)
–cognitive psychology: study of how people think, learn + remember (mental processes involved in learning + using knowledge)
•what goes on in our minds when we make decisions, when we perceive something
Physiology
–Interrelations among mind, body, and behaviour
–Donald Hebb’s research on cell assemblies + focus on biological basis of behaviour
-importance of physiological + neuropsychological perspectives
•Advance in understanding of brain, neuroscience
History of Mental Illness
- Supernatural explanations
- Biological: Hippocrates, humors, hysteria
- When uterus moved around, created chem inbalances
- Middle Ages: return to supernatural,witch hunts, magic after fall of Roman empire - asylums, mental disorders locked away
History of Mental Illness
- 18th century:“Moral Management”, humane treatment: treat it better by focusing on social, environmental factors
- group therapy sessions, improving environment
- Return to the brain, naturalism: pros & cons
- Prevalence of organic/medical model: we can explain disorder in physical way=imbalances
- focused purely on biological issues: didn’t allow for psychological/social factors
History of Mental Illness
- Biopsychosocial model: consideration of the whole person, in context
- have to look at whole person in context, social/cultural
