Foundations of Psychology
Define psychology and describe the most famous psychologists
The main foundation is etymology which is based on the psyche, from the Greek work for soul and
ology which is a branch of knowledge. Psychology is the science of behavior, observable actions of a
person, and the mind, individual sensations, perceptions, and memories.
Explain three fundamental ideas for psychology.
There are three fundamental ideas of psychology.
Body vs Mind where behaviors and mental experience have physical causes which can be studied
scientifically. The base of this theory is dualism where each human consists of two distinct entities a
material body and an immaterial soul. Descartes challenges this view as he argued that complex
behaviors can occur through mechanical means without the involvement of the soul. The only
essential activity humans have been thought which was the only function which came from the soul.
Moving forward in time there was Materialism where Hobbes argues that the soul is a meaningless
concept, and nothing exists but matter and energy. Meaning that human behaviors can be understood
in terms of the physical processes in the body and the conscious thoughts which are products of the
brain. Then there is physiological research where the view of reflexology was introduced. It suggests
that human behaviors occur through reflexes. Human actions are initiated by stimuli in the
environment, with this localization of function in the brain arose. This meant that certain parts of the
brain serve as specific functions in the production of mental experiences and behaviors. This
developed phrenology where all functions can be localized and there are 27 organs in the brain. This
was confirmed through science however pseudoscience argues that by feeling bumps on the skull you
can infer psychological characteristics. Another example of pseudoscience is the Criminal man 1876,
Lombroso stated that a criminal man has a small skull, deep-set eyes, low forehead and merging
eyebrows.
Broca’s area is for language production expressive aphasia
Wernicke’s area is for language comprehension receptive aphasia
Shaped by experience, meaning that the way people behave think and feel is modified overtime by
their experiences in their environment. The base of this theory is empiricism, which states that human
knowledge and thought derived from sensory experience. Locke viewed a child’s mind as a blank
state and experience serves to grow. There is the idea of association by contiguity where if a person
experiences two environmental events at the same time those will become associated. Then there is
Nativism which, opposite from empiricism, the most basic form of human knowledge and the
operating characteristic of the mind are native to the human mind. Kant stated that we have a priori
knowledge which is built into the human brain and does not have to be learned, whilst a posteriori is
Locke’s view.
Natural selection which is the body’s machinery which produces behaviors and mental experiences is
a product of evolution by natural selection. Charles Darwin states that all behavior is aimed towards
survival and reproduction. Individuals who inherit characteristics are well adapted to their local
environment and are more likely to reproduce. There are changes in the genes which can cause better
adaptation or intinction. Behavior also have functions because it helps us to survive and reproduce,
, thus evolutionary thinking can lead to a better understanding of human behaviors. A example is that
humans pick mates with different immune systems which produce healthier offspring and it is from
the T-shirt sniff study. This is reversed when women are on the pill. Men also find women more
attractive when they are ovulating.
Explain how psychology relates to other scholarly fields
Freud did not use the scientific method, he based it on ideas not observation and there was no attempt
at falsification.
Describe how behaviour can be explained from different psychological perspectives.
The levels of analysis in psychology.
Neural level where behaviors and experiences are products of the nervous system and activation of
specific brain areas. There is the cortical homunculus which controls the sensory and motor. There are
also specialized processing of visual stimuli in the brain. There is prosopagnosia which is face
blindness due to damage to fusiform face area and dyslexia which is savage to visual word from area.
Physiological level where behaviors and experiences are products of hormones and drugs. Some
examples include lust from testosterone and estrogen, attraction by dopamine and attachment by
oxytocin. There are four styles of thinking and behaving.
Genetic level is a nature-nurture debate where in identical environments there is 100% of differences
due to genes and in identical genes there is 100% of differences due to environment.
Evolutionary level is about natural selection, all forms of behaviour and mental experience are
modifiable by learning they can be influenced by prior experiences.
Cognitive level related to behaviours and experiences related to cognitions through thoughts, beliefs,
and memories. Thought suppression experiment, think about something, now don’t think about it
anymore. The suppression group is the one who thinks more about the thing.
Social level is about the influence people have on behaviour and experiences. Prejudice is reduced by
contact with stigmatized individuals.
Cultural level is when behaviour and experiences are influenced by cultural background.
Developmental level is when behaviours and experiences are influenced by a personas age and
cognitive development. The ability to attribute mental states and understand that others have beliefs
and attitudes different from one’s own.
Motivation and Emotions
General principles of motivation
Motivation comes in two ways, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation involves doing something
because its personally rewarding to you. Extrinsic motivation involved doing something because you
want to earn a reward or avoid punishment. There is the overjustification effect where providing
rewards can have a counterproductive effect particularly when the task is initially enjoyed for its own
sake. This makes people see the task as a job not as play.
Describe different classifications of drives
There are five main types of drives.
Regulatory drives which promote survival by helping to maintain homeostasis. They are physiological
needs.
Define psychology and describe the most famous psychologists
The main foundation is etymology which is based on the psyche, from the Greek work for soul and
ology which is a branch of knowledge. Psychology is the science of behavior, observable actions of a
person, and the mind, individual sensations, perceptions, and memories.
Explain three fundamental ideas for psychology.
There are three fundamental ideas of psychology.
Body vs Mind where behaviors and mental experience have physical causes which can be studied
scientifically. The base of this theory is dualism where each human consists of two distinct entities a
material body and an immaterial soul. Descartes challenges this view as he argued that complex
behaviors can occur through mechanical means without the involvement of the soul. The only
essential activity humans have been thought which was the only function which came from the soul.
Moving forward in time there was Materialism where Hobbes argues that the soul is a meaningless
concept, and nothing exists but matter and energy. Meaning that human behaviors can be understood
in terms of the physical processes in the body and the conscious thoughts which are products of the
brain. Then there is physiological research where the view of reflexology was introduced. It suggests
that human behaviors occur through reflexes. Human actions are initiated by stimuli in the
environment, with this localization of function in the brain arose. This meant that certain parts of the
brain serve as specific functions in the production of mental experiences and behaviors. This
developed phrenology where all functions can be localized and there are 27 organs in the brain. This
was confirmed through science however pseudoscience argues that by feeling bumps on the skull you
can infer psychological characteristics. Another example of pseudoscience is the Criminal man 1876,
Lombroso stated that a criminal man has a small skull, deep-set eyes, low forehead and merging
eyebrows.
Broca’s area is for language production expressive aphasia
Wernicke’s area is for language comprehension receptive aphasia
Shaped by experience, meaning that the way people behave think and feel is modified overtime by
their experiences in their environment. The base of this theory is empiricism, which states that human
knowledge and thought derived from sensory experience. Locke viewed a child’s mind as a blank
state and experience serves to grow. There is the idea of association by contiguity where if a person
experiences two environmental events at the same time those will become associated. Then there is
Nativism which, opposite from empiricism, the most basic form of human knowledge and the
operating characteristic of the mind are native to the human mind. Kant stated that we have a priori
knowledge which is built into the human brain and does not have to be learned, whilst a posteriori is
Locke’s view.
Natural selection which is the body’s machinery which produces behaviors and mental experiences is
a product of evolution by natural selection. Charles Darwin states that all behavior is aimed towards
survival and reproduction. Individuals who inherit characteristics are well adapted to their local
environment and are more likely to reproduce. There are changes in the genes which can cause better
adaptation or intinction. Behavior also have functions because it helps us to survive and reproduce,
, thus evolutionary thinking can lead to a better understanding of human behaviors. A example is that
humans pick mates with different immune systems which produce healthier offspring and it is from
the T-shirt sniff study. This is reversed when women are on the pill. Men also find women more
attractive when they are ovulating.
Explain how psychology relates to other scholarly fields
Freud did not use the scientific method, he based it on ideas not observation and there was no attempt
at falsification.
Describe how behaviour can be explained from different psychological perspectives.
The levels of analysis in psychology.
Neural level where behaviors and experiences are products of the nervous system and activation of
specific brain areas. There is the cortical homunculus which controls the sensory and motor. There are
also specialized processing of visual stimuli in the brain. There is prosopagnosia which is face
blindness due to damage to fusiform face area and dyslexia which is savage to visual word from area.
Physiological level where behaviors and experiences are products of hormones and drugs. Some
examples include lust from testosterone and estrogen, attraction by dopamine and attachment by
oxytocin. There are four styles of thinking and behaving.
Genetic level is a nature-nurture debate where in identical environments there is 100% of differences
due to genes and in identical genes there is 100% of differences due to environment.
Evolutionary level is about natural selection, all forms of behaviour and mental experience are
modifiable by learning they can be influenced by prior experiences.
Cognitive level related to behaviours and experiences related to cognitions through thoughts, beliefs,
and memories. Thought suppression experiment, think about something, now don’t think about it
anymore. The suppression group is the one who thinks more about the thing.
Social level is about the influence people have on behaviour and experiences. Prejudice is reduced by
contact with stigmatized individuals.
Cultural level is when behaviour and experiences are influenced by cultural background.
Developmental level is when behaviours and experiences are influenced by a personas age and
cognitive development. The ability to attribute mental states and understand that others have beliefs
and attitudes different from one’s own.
Motivation and Emotions
General principles of motivation
Motivation comes in two ways, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation involves doing something
because its personally rewarding to you. Extrinsic motivation involved doing something because you
want to earn a reward or avoid punishment. There is the overjustification effect where providing
rewards can have a counterproductive effect particularly when the task is initially enjoyed for its own
sake. This makes people see the task as a job not as play.
Describe different classifications of drives
There are five main types of drives.
Regulatory drives which promote survival by helping to maintain homeostasis. They are physiological
needs.
