Intro to Psych - Lesson 1 and 2

Introduction & Neuroscience

Psyche

Greek word meaning ***soul***

Logos

Greek word meaning ***study***

Ancient Greece

Where did the interest in people’s behavior and minds started with?

Plato

* In his ***Theory of Forms***, he introduced the concept of “psyche”, which describes the soul of an individual.


* In ***The Republic***, he proposed a ***Tripartite View of the Soul***.

Soul

It gives individuals the capacity to think, feel, and have volitions according to Plato.

Logistikon, Thumos, Epithumetikon

According to the Tripartite View of the Soul, the mind is divided into three parts:

Logistikon

Reason and intellect

Thumos

Emotions, feelings, passions, and motivations

Epithumetikon

Desires and appetites

Aristotle

* Was the ***first to acknowledge*** that the ***soul can be a separate entity from the physical body.***


* In his book, ***De Anima***, he provided a rich ***description of the psyche, which gives essence and faculties to living organisms.***

Plant soul

Involves the capacity for ***nourishment and reproduction.***

Animal soul

Have the ***capacity of the plant soul***, and additionally, the capacity for ***sensation and perception.***

Humans

Have ***all the capacities***, with an added element of ***intellect***.

The Dark Ages

Due to the ***decline of the Roman Empire,*** the ***culture and sciences declined*** during this period. The ***Catholic Church was a major catalyst*** in suppressing advances in the scientific field.

Cartesian Dualism

Proposes that the world exists in two entities:

• ***The physical world*** (including our physical bodies)

• ***The mental world***

Rene Descartes

* Known for his ***Cartesian Dualism***
* ***Revived the idea of the “psyche”*** in his philosophical writings. He would now refer to the ***“soul”***
* ***I think, therefore I am.***

Cartesian Dualism

Provided the ***first acknowledgement*** that a ***study of the mind, separate from the study of the physical body, is possible.***

Age of Enlightenment Major Thinkers

* Rene Descartes
* John Locke

British Empiricism (John Locke)

The ***philosophical movement*** that emphasizes that the ***mind is not an innate entity, but something that develops through experiences*** (later called as tabula rasa).

1590

The word “psychology” was first used in?

Christian Wolff

***German philosopher*** who ***popularized the word “psychology***” in his work in ***1732***

During his time, the ***physical sciences*** (biology, chemistry, physics) ***dominated the intellectual culture in Europe.***

Paul Broca

Different parts of the brain had specific mental, emotional, and physiological functions.

Localization of Function (Paul Broca)

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt

* **Father of [Modern] Psychology** who separated the field of “Psychology” from philosophy and the natural sciences.
* Utilized the ***scientific method in studying the human mind*** called this as ***psychology.***
* Psychology for him was the examination of the ***elements and compounds of consciousness,*** as well as the ***internal mechanisms*** that operate with it such as ***affect (emotion)*** and ***volition (motivation).***

Why Wundt is the Father of Psychology

* opened psychological lab in 1879 at the University of Leipzig, Germany
* trained scholars
* popularized the use of scientific method in studying the human mind
* first to acknowledge that psychology is a separate entity from neuroscience, psychophysics, and philosophy

Introspection

Coined by ***Edward B. Titchener,*** ***participants*** were required to ***identify their reactions to a stimuli.***

Edward B. Titchener

He referred to the experimental approach in ***psychology popularized by Wundt as structuralism.***

Margaret Floy Washburn

First woman to receive a PhD in psychology.

American Psychology

American scholars, during this time, was ***heavily influenced*** ***by*** ***Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution.***

Characteristics of consciousness according to ***William James***

* dynamic
* ever-flowing
* ever-changing
* cannot be broken down into pieces

G. Stanley Hall

* He ***founded the American Psychological Association (APA***) in ***1909*** and made the ***first journal of Psychology*** in America, the ***American Journal of Psychology*** in ***1887.***


* He was known for his studies child development and adolescence.

• “Adolescence is a time of storm and stress.”

Francis Cecil Summer

Father of Black Psychology

James McKeen Cattell

***Eugenics:*** a scientific movement in the early 1900s advocating for ***selective breeding of the “intelligent”***.

Gestalt Psychology

A school of thought in psychology that emphasized the ***study of wholes rather than parts (as opposed to structuralism).***

Sigmund Freud

Human mind is made up largely of contents that are inaccessible to us, called as the ***unconscious (hidden desires, wishes, impulses).***

Three personalities of human mind according to Freud

* Id
* Ego
* Superego

Abraham Maslow

* ***Humanistic Psychology***
* He believed that humans have the autonomous capacity for ***self-actualization.***
* We are motivated and driven to be the best version of ourselves.
* ***People are innately good-natured.***

Behaviorism

Psychology must focus on ***behavior*** and reject hypothetical concepts like consciousness and cognition. Coined by ***John B. Watson.***

Cognitive Psychology

The ***study of cognitive processes*** such as attention, memory, and language.

Flashbulb Memory

Is a vivid memory of a shocking and/or surprising event in the past. Coined by ***Roger W. Brown***

George A. Miller

Wrote ***“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”*** that claimed that our ***short-term memory can only hold 7 bits*** of information at a time.

Psychology

Is the scientific study of ***human behavior*** and ***mental processes.***

Affect

Emotions, emotional processes, moods, coping, stress

Behavior

Overt and cover behavior, habits, motivation, personality, normal and abnormal behavior

Cognition

Thinking, memory, attention, language, reasoning, decision-making

Positive Psychology

Gives focus to ***character strengths, happiness, and well-being***, not just psychological disorders. Coined by ***Martin Seligman.***

Two Types of Discipline in Psychology

* basic psychology
* applied psychology

Basic Psychology

Focuses on ***developing concepts***, theories, and methods ***through psychological research.***

Applied Psychology

Concerned with ***applying psychological theories and methods in applied settings*** (e.g., industry, clinics, medicine, education).

Development Psychology

It is concerned with the development of human behavior from infancy to death.

Cognitive Psychology

It is the study of mental processing such as attention, memory, perception, language, decision-making, and thinking

Physiological/Biological Psychology

Investigates the biological basis of behavior, emphasizing the role of the nervous and endocrine system

Abnormal Psychology (Psychopathology)

It is the study of mental illnesses, its causes, etiology, and classification, and treatment

Personality Psychology

It studies the nature of personality: its structure, dynamic processes, and variations

Social Psychology

The study of people’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in the context of social groups

Comparative Psychology

The study of behavior and mental processes of non-human animals

Cultural Psychology

The study of how cultural practices, traditions, and norms shape human behavior and cognition.

The study of similarities and differences of cultures in terms of their behavior and thinking

Cross-Cultural Psychology

The study of unique native concepts and beliefs in a culture.

Indegenous Psychology

Sikolohiyang Pilipino

The scientific study of the experience, consciousness, and orientation of the Filipino person

Quantitative Psychology

A field that tackles issues on quantitative methodology, design, and statistical analyses of psychological processes.

Psychological Statistics

The application of the field of statistics in psychological research

Psychometrics

The scientific study of how psychological constructs can be measured

Experimental Psychology

A subdiscipline of psychology that utilizes experiments in testing psychological hypotheses

Phrenology

Involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. ***Franz Joseph Gall***

Physiognomy

Involves the assessment of a person’s characteristics through facial features

Mesmerism

also called as ***animal magnetism,*** the belief that fluids in our body are influenced by magnetic and gravitational forces in the environment, which in turn, changes our mood, behavior, or thinking. ***Franz Anton Mesmer***

Graphology

the practice of determining one’s personality through handwriting

Astrology

the application of horoscopes to predict one’s life and to describe one’s personality.

Palmistry

refers to the reading of one’s personality as well as one’s destiny through one’s palms.

Neurons (nerve cells)

The building blocks of the nervous system

Central Nervous System

commands and coordinates all human activities in the body. It is made up of the brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System

these are nerve cells attached from the spinal cord to the different organs in the body

Somatic Nervous System

***Subsystem of peripheral nervous system*** that pertains to ***nerves attached too the muscles.***

Autonomic Nervous System

***Subsystem of*** ***peripheral nervous system*** that pertains to ***nerves attached to the organs***. ***Involuntary*** and ***automatic*** movements (heat beat, digestion, etc.)

Sympathetic

Subsystem of Autonomic Nervous System that ***expands energy.***

Parasympathetic

Subsystem of Autonomic Nervous System that conserves energy. Commands organs to rest (homeostasis).

Electro magnetic signals

How do nerve cells communicate with each other?

.

Sensory Neurons

A type of neuron also called as ***afferent neurons***, from sense organ to brain.

Motor Neurons

A type of neuron also referred as ***efferent neurons,*** from ***brain to spinal cord.***

Interneurons

A type of neuron that ***connects sensory neuron to motor neurons.***

Node of Ranvier

Part of the nerve cell found in ***between the myelin sheath.***

Glial Cells

The myelin sheath is composed of what?

Dendrites

Part of the nerve cell that receives the signal

Axon

Part of the nerve cell that sends away electricity

Myelin Sheath

Serves as lubricator for faster process of electricity in the axon.

Synapse/ synaptic gap

Space in between every axon and dendrite.

Sodium, potassium, calcium

Three chemical elements involved in neural activity

Neurotransmitters

chemicals at the end of every axon terminal that is transported to the dendrites of another axon to determine if it will fire or not.

Dopamine

Feelings of pleasure and reward, learning, and movement.

Serotonin

Involved with emotions, moods, sleep, dreaming, and arousal.

Norepinephrine

a.k.a adrenaline; involved in alertness, fight-or-flight response, and stress

Acetylcholine

Primarily involved with memory formation and retention

Glutamate

Excitatory neurotransmitter

GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid)

Inhibitory Neurotransmitter associated with anxiety.

Endorphin

Reduces the feelings of pain and stress.

* hugs!!!

The brain

Forebrain

* cerebral cortex
* limbic system

Two main regions of the Forebrain