notes

Reading Notes Chapter 1 21:22
 Psychology: scientific study of behaviour and the mind
 Behavior: actions and responses we can directly observe
 Mind: internal states and processes (ex: feelings, thoughts) that can’t be seen
and must be inferred
 Clinical psychology: study and treatment of mental disorders
 Cognitive psychology: study of mental process from a view that the mind is an
information processor
 Examine consciousness, attention, memory, decision making and problem
solving
 Psycholinguistics: psychology of language

Psychology Subfields
 Biopsychology: how brain processes, genes and hormones influence our actions,
thoughts, and feelings.
 Some psychologists­ explain how evolution has shaped out psychological
capabilities, capacity for advanced thinking, and behavioural tendancies.
 Developmental psychology: examines human physical, psychological and social
development cross lifespan
 Experimental psychology: basic processes such as learning, sensory systems (ex:
vision, hearing), perception and motivational states (ex: sexual motivation, hunger,
thirst)
 **researchers in many psychological subfields other than this conduct
experiments as well
 Industrial­organizational (I/O) psychology: people’s behavior in workplace (ex:
leadership, teamwork, job satisfaction, work motivation, performance)
 Develop tests to help employers identify the best job applicants
 Personality psychology: study of human personalities. Identify core personality
traits and how different traits relate/influence one another.
 Develop tests to measure personality
 Social psychology: Examines peoples thoughts, feelings and behavior. How
people influence one another, behave in groups, form impressions and attitude.
Social relationships involving attraction and love, prejudice, and discrimination,
helping, aggression.
 Empirical evidence: evidence gained through experience and observation

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Psychology’s Goals
1. To describe how people and other animals behave
2. To explain and understand the causes of these behaviors
3. To predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions
4. To influence or control behavior through knowledge and control of its causes to
enhance human welfare

Psychology As a Basic and Applied Science
 Basic Research: Knowledge gained purely for its own sake. The goals are to
describe how people behave and to identify factors that influence it.
o Research maybe carried out in lab or real world
 Applied Research: Knowledge gained to solve specific practical problems. Uses
principles discovered via basic research to solve practical problems.

Levels of Analysis
Behavior and its causes can be examined at the:
 Biological level – ex: brain processes, genetic influences, hormones
 Psychological level – ex: thoughts, feelings and motives, cognitive perspective,
memory
 Environmental level – ex: past and current physical/social environments that we’re
exposed to, sociocultural perspective, stimuli in the environment
 Mind­body Interactions: the relations between mental processes in brain and
functioning of other bodily systems. Interplay between the psychological and
biological levels of analysis.
 Nature­Nurture Interactions: Nature­ or biological endowment (genes). Nurture­
our environment and learning history (experiences).
 Mind­body dualism: belief that mind is a spiritual entity not subject to psychical
laws that govern the body
 Dualism: implies that no amount of research on the physical body(and brain)
could ever hope to unravel the mysteries of the nonphysical mind.
 Monism: mind and body are one, mind is not separate spiritual entity.

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 Thomas Hobbes: stated that all ideas and knowledge is gained through the
senses.
 Structuralism: analysis of mind in terms of its basic elements
 Exposed to stimuli, then asked to describe experiences
 HOW we function/parts work
 Functionalism: study functions of consciousness rather than its structure
 Why do we have these parts, how do they help us adapt

Psychological Perspectives
 Psychodynamic perspective: searches for causes of behavior within inner
workings of our personality, focusing on role of unconscious processes
 Sigmund Freud developed first and most controversial psychodynamic theory
 Psychoanalysis: Analysis of internal and primarily unconscious
psychological forces
o Freud treated his patients using a technique called free association:
patient expresses any thoughts that come to mind.
 Modern Psychodynamic Theory: explores how unconscious and conscious
aspects of personality influence behaviour
 Behavioral perspective: focuses on role of external environment in governing our
actions
 Behaviorism: school of thought that emphasizes environmental control of
behavior through learning. John B Watson 1913.
 Behaviour Modification: techniques aimed at decreasing problem behaviors
and increasing positive behaviour through alterations in environment.
 Cognitive Behaviorism: learning experiences and the environment affect our
behaviour by giving us the information we need to behave effectively.
 Humanistic perspective: free will, personal growth and attempt to find meaning in
one’s life
 Self­Actualization: the reaching of one’s individual potential.
 Positive Psychology Movement: emphasizes the study of human strengths,
fulfillment, and optimal living. Focuses on nurturing whats good within
ourselves rather than looking at what’s wrong with the world.
 Cognitive perspective: examines nature of mind and how mental processes
influence behavior