The Science of Psychology – Chapter 1
The Nature of Psychology
People fall in love, are extroverts, get depressed, and the curse associated with
Tutankhamun was originally blamed to be down to voodoo, but a culturally based belief that
wired people psychologically, ending up affecting their biological health
Attraction and hatred are all based on psychology of our minds and how it makes us feel
Think critically: Psychodynamic approaches do not include much scientific research compared to
neuropsychology and biological research, Sigmund Freud still has his followers, but most modern day
science approves of empirical research
We should criticise and evaluate any valid form of research, no matter how valid it is, asking
questions regarding evidence, references and how up to date it is. We listen to those providing facts,
due to the seeming authority they possess. We do not know everything, so we should trust outside
knowledge, but we should still be critical
False news: Some news stories are often clear fabrications or believable fibs. Speed of circulation of
these lies is easy due to social media. Financial gains from the fake news delivery. By navigating
through what is fake and what is real in real life, we enhance our day to day critical thinking skills,
from which our evaluation analysis is better
Social constructivism: Knowing what dictates adolescence and being a child is due to knowing their
current human rights, educational level and age. They are essentially a collection of character traits
present from the origins of a growing phase of society, that just end up sticking. The analogy of
prison can be applied to childhood. We have social constructs of gender and masculinity too
according to modern day knowledge
We must talk about research from older times as it still has prevalence today. Growing from older
research is always a good way to develop scientific research
Basic research is for knowledge of general knowledge, applied research applies to practical problems
Robber’s cave and Jigsaw Between basic research and applied research, we can dispute
Classroom which has more significance; without basic principles, we would
have no research to apply to a practical situation; we observe
Prejudice increased when
behaviour or conduct mini tests in labs, for maybe reaction time
there is competition
or IQ, without these basic principles and observations, we
between two groups of
cannot begin to assess or analyse a theory or begin to find data.
people, which introduces
Although the secondary stage gets us to our findings, the
hostility; Sherif (1961) pitted
primary stage is the most important due to the base information
Eagles and Rattlers together.
we have that lets us onto the second stage
They got along until
competition was introduced. Goals of Psychology
Then telling them to get
, Psychology’s broad scope: We are biological creatures living in a social world, thus we are very
complex beings, allowing broad models to help analyse us, from biological (genetic and brain
injuries) to psychological and environmental. Voodoo practiced in countries like Haiti is believed
to have deep rooted psychological impacts, as someone of authority or supposed knowledge is
bestowing a curse or spiritual harm onto someone, inducing fear and irrationality, which cause
physical symptoms like eyes dilating, muscles twitching and heartbeat hastening; without any
counter knowledge to help calm the subject down, their own fears consume them and inevitably
lead them to death. Biology involves stress hormones and a rapid loss of blood pressure, and the
environmental shows how the community believes in the curse. Death in this way refers to
psychogenic death Walter Cannon (1942) came up with this theory
Mind – Body and Nature – Nurture:
The stress hormones secreted due to an emotional response cause the body to function
abnormally
Martens et al (2010) – Relationship between anxiety and cardiovascular disease, even
though the patients did not have any history
Debate of Nature vs Nurture; is our behaviour a product of our environment or biological
factors?
Zaky (2015) – The physical health we are born with allows us to develop, but where we are
born helps us grow into individual beings, potentially affecting our biological growth too, as
some environmental factors affect our growth. We should consider how much of each
feature is affecting someone’s behaviour rather than which one
Perspectives on behaviour – Psychodynamic, Behaviour, Cognitive, Biological,
Humanistic, Socio-cultural
Mind and Body dualism, implies that the mind’s effect on the body will be unknown due to how our
conscious is not observable; it can be analysed through behaviour, but the true control behind the
mind is unknown. The mind is spiritual, it is there and we have thoughts (Descartes)
The Nature of Psychology
People fall in love, are extroverts, get depressed, and the curse associated with
Tutankhamun was originally blamed to be down to voodoo, but a culturally based belief that
wired people psychologically, ending up affecting their biological health
Attraction and hatred are all based on psychology of our minds and how it makes us feel
Think critically: Psychodynamic approaches do not include much scientific research compared to
neuropsychology and biological research, Sigmund Freud still has his followers, but most modern day
science approves of empirical research
We should criticise and evaluate any valid form of research, no matter how valid it is, asking
questions regarding evidence, references and how up to date it is. We listen to those providing facts,
due to the seeming authority they possess. We do not know everything, so we should trust outside
knowledge, but we should still be critical
False news: Some news stories are often clear fabrications or believable fibs. Speed of circulation of
these lies is easy due to social media. Financial gains from the fake news delivery. By navigating
through what is fake and what is real in real life, we enhance our day to day critical thinking skills,
from which our evaluation analysis is better
Social constructivism: Knowing what dictates adolescence and being a child is due to knowing their
current human rights, educational level and age. They are essentially a collection of character traits
present from the origins of a growing phase of society, that just end up sticking. The analogy of
prison can be applied to childhood. We have social constructs of gender and masculinity too
according to modern day knowledge
We must talk about research from older times as it still has prevalence today. Growing from older
research is always a good way to develop scientific research
Basic research is for knowledge of general knowledge, applied research applies to practical problems
Robber’s cave and Jigsaw Between basic research and applied research, we can dispute
Classroom which has more significance; without basic principles, we would
have no research to apply to a practical situation; we observe
Prejudice increased when
behaviour or conduct mini tests in labs, for maybe reaction time
there is competition
or IQ, without these basic principles and observations, we
between two groups of
cannot begin to assess or analyse a theory or begin to find data.
people, which introduces
Although the secondary stage gets us to our findings, the
hostility; Sherif (1961) pitted
primary stage is the most important due to the base information
Eagles and Rattlers together.
we have that lets us onto the second stage
They got along until
competition was introduced. Goals of Psychology
Then telling them to get
, Psychology’s broad scope: We are biological creatures living in a social world, thus we are very
complex beings, allowing broad models to help analyse us, from biological (genetic and brain
injuries) to psychological and environmental. Voodoo practiced in countries like Haiti is believed
to have deep rooted psychological impacts, as someone of authority or supposed knowledge is
bestowing a curse or spiritual harm onto someone, inducing fear and irrationality, which cause
physical symptoms like eyes dilating, muscles twitching and heartbeat hastening; without any
counter knowledge to help calm the subject down, their own fears consume them and inevitably
lead them to death. Biology involves stress hormones and a rapid loss of blood pressure, and the
environmental shows how the community believes in the curse. Death in this way refers to
psychogenic death Walter Cannon (1942) came up with this theory
Mind – Body and Nature – Nurture:
The stress hormones secreted due to an emotional response cause the body to function
abnormally
Martens et al (2010) – Relationship between anxiety and cardiovascular disease, even
though the patients did not have any history
Debate of Nature vs Nurture; is our behaviour a product of our environment or biological
factors?
Zaky (2015) – The physical health we are born with allows us to develop, but where we are
born helps us grow into individual beings, potentially affecting our biological growth too, as
some environmental factors affect our growth. We should consider how much of each
feature is affecting someone’s behaviour rather than which one
Perspectives on behaviour – Psychodynamic, Behaviour, Cognitive, Biological,
Humanistic, Socio-cultural
Mind and Body dualism, implies that the mind’s effect on the body will be unknown due to how our
conscious is not observable; it can be analysed through behaviour, but the true control behind the
mind is unknown. The mind is spiritual, it is there and we have thoughts (Descartes)
