EXP PSYCH PRELIMS

PSYCHOLOGY

The scientific study of the mental processes and behavior

Mental Processes

Refers to all the stuff happening inside our mind that we can’t see from the outside.

Content

The information or knowledge we have about something.

Process

Refers to how we go about doing something, especially when we are doing it in a systematic or organized way.

Clinical Practice

Services provided in therapist’s offices, schools, hospitals, and businesses.

Science

Research, empirical data.

psyche

“soul/mind”

logia

meaning “study of”

Physical Science

The study of nonliving natural phenomena, encompassing subjects such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geology. Often employs quantitative experiments and mathematical models.

Biological Science

Involves the study of living organisms and their interactions, covering fields like botany, zoology, ecology, genetics, and microbiology. Often utilizes laboratory experiments, fieldwork, and genetics studies.

Social Science

Focuses on the study of human behavior, societies, and institutions, including disciplines like psychology, sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology. Often employs surveys, interviews, experiments, and statistical analysis.

PSYCHOLOGISTS CAN READ MINDS

Human thoughts are intricate and can’t be directly observed.

PSYCHOLOGY IS AN EASY MAJOR

Psychology covers various complex topics, including neuroscience, statistics, research methods, and different psychological theories.

Psychologists

typically hold a doctoral (PhD or PsyD) or master’s degree in psychology

Psychiatrists

are medical doctors (MD or DO).

Psychologists

focuses on therapeutic interventions and behavior.

Psychiatrist

specializes in mental health, including medication and medical treatments.

EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

It is primarily concerned with laboratory research on basic psychological processes including perception, learning, memory, thinking, language, motivation, and emotion.

PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

It emphasizes the biological basis of overt behavior and mental processes.

COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

It is a study on similarities and differences in psychology, the behavior and abilities, including human beings.

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

All about understanding why people are the way they are and how they behave in different situations

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

It looks at the influence at social institutions on human thoughts and actions.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Studies how to further improve the curriculum, the teaching methods, and administrative procedures.

INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

It applies psychological principles to improve productivity in business, industries, and government agencies.

ENGINEERING PSYCHOLOGY

It applies psychological principles to the design of equipment and instruments. ● Focuses on optimizing human-machine interactions and designing user-friendly technology interfaces.

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

It applies psychological principles to improve the physical environment including the design of buildings and the reduction of noise, crowding, and other sources of stress

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

● It applies psychological principles to the prevention and treatment of physical illness.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

It involves planning the design and data analysis or experiments that require the kind of complex calculations that can only be done with ease on a computer.

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

It is the intersection of psychology and the law.

HUMAN FACTORS PSYCHOLOGY

It focuses on a range of different topics including ergonomics, workplace safety, human error, product design, human capability, and human-computer interaction.

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

It focuses on how psychology influences sports, athletic performance, exercise, and physical activity

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

It deals with psychopathology and abnormal behavior.

Psychology

employs empirical methods such as experiments, surveys, and observations to collect and analyze data.

Psychology

focuses on empirical questions about human behavior, cognition, and mental processes.

Psychology

aims to apply its findings in practical contexts, such as therapy and education.

Psychology

gives intervention such as counseling, psychotherapy, psychological assessment, etc.

Philosophy

primarily uses conceptual analysis, thought experiments, and logical argumentation.

Philosophy

addresses more abstract and conceptual questions about reality, knowledge, ethics, and existence.

Philosophy

often focuses on developing a comprehensive philosophical framework.

Philosophy

aims to search for knowledge through the development of ethical theories, or ethical, moral, and political discussions.

MENTAL PHILOSOPHY

The study of consciousness and mental processes

MENTAL PHILOSOPHY

○ What is the nature of human consciousness?

Consciousness

Ordinarily identified with awareness. ● It’s the state of being aware and perceiving the world around you or your internal thoughts and feelings.

Cognition

Involves all the mental activities in our brain.

Emotion

Refers to our feelings and states of mind.

Sensation

About the physical feelings we experience.

Perception

Involves the way we interpret and make sense of what we see, hear, touch, smell, and taste.

Quasi-Perception

Includes experiences like hallucinations, dreaming, and imagining.

Conations

Relates to our will or intention to act, try, want, or intend to do something.

Cosmo-centric

There is a fundamental principle or thing that underlies everything else, including the human self.

Main Concern —

Their primary focus was on figuring out where the universe came from because they thought that by understanding the origin of everything, including the universe, they could better understand themselves.

Democritus

He thought everything was made up of tiny, invisible particles called atoms.

Heraclitus

He thought that the fundamental substance of the universe is fire.

Anaxagoras

He believed that a powerful mind, called “nous,” guides everything in the universe.

Phytagoras

He saw the world as fundamentally based on numbers.

The Golden Age of Philosophy —

Each philosopher made foundational contributions to various branches of philosophy. Their ideas not only had an enduring influence on Western philosophy, but also on fields such as science, politics, ethics, and education.

“Know Thyself”

Understanding and exploring your own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs

Socrates

Knowledge is within, inherent in man; not outside.

Reason

is the soul’s tool to achieve wisdom and perfection in our lives.

Socratic Method

Dialogue between the soul and itself; between a student and his teacher.

Physical World

Changing, transient, imperfect, world of senses/matter.

Spiritual World

Unchanging, eternal, perfect, world of ideas/form

Plato

3-Part/Self (Psyche)

Reason —

The thinking and wisdom part of our inner self that helps us make wise decisions and understand eternal truths

Physical Appetite

Deals with biological needs, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desires.

Spirit/Passion

Responsible for our basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness, and empathy.

Harmony

Justice in the individual, social, and political levels.

Aristotle

The mind (self) is Tabula Rasa

happiness

The goal of the human self is to reach —— through moderation or balance of things; finding middle ground between various aspects of life.

Stoicism

Maintaining a calm and indifferent attitude toward pleasure and pain

Hedonism

Centers on seeking pleasure and satisfying desires as the primary goal in life.

Epicureanism

Teaches that the highest form of pleasure is found in moderation

Epicureanism

Excessive desires are avoided.

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Considered the “Dark Ages” because a lot of people were in crisis:

MODERN PHILOSOPHY

Anthropocentric

MODERN PHILOSOPHY

Genuine knowledge has to be based on independent rational inquiry and real world experimentation,

Anthropocentric

Centered on human beings. ○ Thinkers began to reject the scholastics’ (medieval thinkers) excessive reliance on authority and focused on looking for proof

Paganism

Belief in multiple gods or nature-based spiritual practices

Barbarism

Behavior or practices considered uncivilized or savage

St. Thomas Aquinas

Self-knowledge is dependent on our experience of the world around us (objects in our environment).

Empiricist

Knowledge begins with sensory experiences, meaning that we gain understanding by interacting with the external world through our senses.

Rationalist

All knowledge originates in the mind through reasoning and rational processes, such as evaluating and rationalizing.

John Locke

Knowledge originates in our direct sense experience

John Locke

Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding the self.

Rene Descartes

“Cogito Ergo Sum.”

Rene Descartes

The self is a thinking thing which can exist independent of the body.

Physical self

Governed by the laws of nature.

Paul Churchland

The mind/self is the brain

Eliminative Materialism

Grounded in neuroscience

Folk psychology

What we use in our daily lives to make sense of people’s actions and motivations.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY

More humanist as a response to the so-called alienation of the human person

Edmund Husserl

Father of Phenemenology

PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC REMEDIES

The primary adversary of mental philosophy

Pseudoscience

Ideas or claims that may seem scientific but lack real evidence and reliable methods; a false science

PHRENOLOGY

Franz Joseph Gall

PHRENOLOGY

Involved assessing traits and dispositions by measuring the size and location of bumps on the skull.

Physiognomy

It involved using facial features particularly the appearance of the eyes, nose, chin, and forehead to evaluate the traits, mental capacity, and skills of a person.

MESMERISM

Invented by Austrian Physician, Franz Mesmer.

Franz Mesmer

○ A colleague of Sigmund Freud

SPIRITUALISM

Involved purported contact with ghosts and spirits of the dead