PSY 1101: Chapter 1

What is Psychology?

Tabula Rasa

“blank state” of the mind

Abbas al-Majusi

Physician who wrote “The Complete Art of Medicine” during the 10th century

described the neuroanatomy of the brain

dicussed a variety of mental illnesses and their treatments

What is psychology

union of philosophy and physiology

focused on answering questions about the mind through behavioural evidence

Empiricism

the view that knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience

Dualism

idea that the mind and body are separate identities

Rene Descartes

• Argued that the mind is inherently immaterial

• 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

• nature - nurture debate

Basic research in psychology

• attempts to understand the principles that govern behaviour and mind

• research is done with health people (uni students), not clinical populations

• investigates the how and why behaviour without regards for ways the info will be used

Abnormal Psychology

• researches maladaptive behaviour pattern

• examines thoughts and emotions as well as underlying biology and mental illness

Behavioural Genetics

• Researches individual differences in behaviour patterns in terms of variation in genetic structure and expression

Cognitive Psychology

• researches how people process information through attention, perception, memory, problem solving, language, and thought

Comparative Psychology

• researches behaviours of non-human animals

• makes comparisons to human psychology

Developmental Psychology

• researches the way people develop across the life span

Behavioural Neuroscience

• researches specific brain regions that produce behaviour

Personality Psychology

• Researches individual differences

• Investigates how and why people act different based on their traits

Social Psychology

• Researches how a persons thoughts are influenced by the social environment

Applied Psychology

Used to solve practical problems

Applied research

Research a new or more effective way to solve a specific practical problem

Applied practice

refers to the actual application of techniques to the problems themselves

Translational research 

attempts to take basic findings and turn them into solutions for practical problems

Clinical Psychology

form of applied psychology that focuses on identifying preventing and relieving distress or dysfunction in origin

Psychiatrsits

Medical doctors that are trained to assess and treat psychological disorders. They can prescribe and manage psychiatric medications

Counseling psychologist

generally focused on helping people deal with ongoing life problems or stressors

Empiricist

the idea that true knowledge about psychology can be obtained through observations

Nativism

The view that some form of knowledge are inborn or innate

Biological determinism

the view that all human behaviour is controlled by genetic and biological influences

Phrenology

the idea that the shape of the human skill can be associated to specific characteristics

Wilhelm Wundt

• Founded the first psychology lab in Germany 1870

• Regarded as the father of modern psychology because of his efforts to establish psychology as its own discipline 

Introspection

the components of mental processes by relying on trained participants self reports of their thoughts and feelings 

Systemic introspection 

standarized the way conscious experiences were reported so comparison would be easier 

Edward Titchner

• Brought ideas to the united states

• Refined the introspection method —> systemic introspection

• Popularized the idea known as structuralism 

Structuralism

• Breaking conscious experience into elementary parts

• First significant movement in the history of psychology as a science

William James

• “father of American Psychology”

• Offered a course in experimental psychology in 1875 at Harvard university 

• thought that structuralism was fundamentally flawed

• brought the term functionalism 

Functionalism 

• focuses on the function or purpose rather than the structure 

Behaviourism 

suggests that observable behaviour should be the only topic of study

John B Watson

• found behaviourism

• proposed that psychology should focus its efforts solely on the study of behaviour 

B F Skinner

• leading thinker in behaviourist psychology

• best known for his work on operant conditioning

Operant conditioning

How behaviour is strengthened or weakened by reinforcement and punishment

Cognitivists 

use behaviour to make inferences about the internal processes of the mind 

Psychoanalysis 

a form of psychotherapy brought by Sigmund Freud that seeks to help clients gain more insight into their unconscious

Sigmund Freud

proposed the theory of the unconscious mind is a primary driver of behaviour and mental illness.

Human Psychology

approach to psychology that emphasizes the ability of humans to make their own choices and realize their own potential 

Positive Psychology

a branch of humanistic psychology. it stabilizes specific virtues of the human experience

Levels of explanation

the acknowledgement that different explanations for a phenomenon can complement one another

Ultimate explanation

describes the reasons why a trait, behaviour or mental process exists by appealing to its role in evolution

Proximate explanation

seeks to describe an immediate cause for a trait, behaviour or mental process

Functional explanations

a kind of prox explanation that seeks to identify a specific problem as the cause of another trait or behaviour 

Process oriented explanations

a kind of prox explanation that focuses on how a specific mental or physical process directly explains a trait or behaviour 

Evolutionary Psychology 

tries to explain how mental processes and behaviour have developed over the course of evolutionary history 

Feminist Psychology 

Analyzes the role that gender plays in a persons development and behaviours

Intersectional approach

studied issues related to culture and culture identity, emphasizing that people are not defined by any single aspect if their identities