Chapter 1 The Science of Mind The Discipline of Psychology PDF

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1 CHAPTER- 1 The Science of Mind: The Discipline of Psychology INTRODUCTION Intr Introspection ospection → the personal observation of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors 1.1- WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY -

The “mind” is a way of talking about the activities of the brain: thought, emotion, behaviour Psychology is all about people It’s 1/7 of the major hub sciences Early attempts to study mental processes weren’t great b/c psychologists relied on the use of introspection 1.2- WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGY'S ROOTS?

1. Philosophical Roots - One of the most significant q’s b/w psy & phl is whether the mind is inborn or is formed via experience - Aristotle: believed all knowledge is gained via sensory experience - Locke: viewed mind as a “blank slate” @ birth & was filled w/ ideas gained by observing (empiricist) - Contemporary psychologists believed experience interacts w/ inborn characteristics (eg. intelligence influenced by genetics & experience) 2. Natural Sciences Roots - Physicians laid the foundation of our biological knowledge of the brain - Demonstrated that a single sensory nerve carried on type of info instead of multiple - Scientists began by asking q’s about relationships b/w physical stimulation & resulting sensations Highlights in the Philosophical & Scientific Roots of Psychology: Person/Group

Things to R Remember emember

Ancient Greek philosophers

Observations can be accounted for via natural (not supernatural) explanations

British empiricists

Knowledge is the result of experience

Ancient physicians

The brain is the source of the mind

17th- & 18th-century natural scientists

Discoveries about sensation & movement showed that the mind was physical

Hermann von Helmholtz

Studies of reaction time reinforced the idea of the mind as physical 1.3- HOW DID THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY BEGIN?

1. Wilhem Wundt & Structuralism - Wundt was the first psychologist - Ball drop & telegraph key experiment ; possible to “time” mental processes? - Viewed reaction time as mental chronometry

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Believed reaction time provided a measure of the amount of mental processing required to do something More complex decisions = ↑ reaction time Experience was viewed as a hierarchy - Mind constructs an overall perception out of the building blocks of separate sensations; structuralism Structuralism Structuralism→ → the mind could be broken down into the smallest elements of mental experience

2. Gestalt Psychology - Gestalt Psychology→ experience is dif from the sum of its elements - Emphasized the role of context - ABC & 121314 experiment 3. William James & Functionalism - Functionalism→ views behaviour as purposeful & contributing to survival - Emphasized role of evolution - Value of an activity depends on its consequences - Coined stream of consciousness - Str Stream eam of consciousness→ describes the flow of ideas that people experience while awake 4. Clinical Roots: Freud & the Humanistic Psychologists - Most common view of psychological disorders in history has been the supernatural approach - Actions of psychological disorders were actions of evil spirits or other external, magical forces - Supernatural explanations for psychological disorders gave way to 2 scientific approaches: 1. Medical model of psychological disorder: emphasized physical causes of abnormal behaviour & magical treatments (ie. medication) 2. Psychological model of psychological disorder: suggested that abnormal behaviour can result from life experiences, leading to fear, anxiety, & other counterproductive emotional responses

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--FREUD-Freud believed life experienced impacted behaviour The work on consciousness, sexuality, abnormal behaviour, & psychotherapy played a dominant role in psychology during the first half of the 20th century His ideas about the existence of the unconscious mind, the development of sexuality, dream analysis, & psychological roots of abnormal behaviour influenced psychology & culture Founded the study of personality in psychology (almost single-handedly) His methods were NOT scientific; his theories were based on observations & could not be experimented --HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY-Functionalism & Gestalt psychology were no longer distinct schools of thought Humanistic psychology→ an approach that saw people as inherently good & motivated to learn & improve - Only behave badly when corrupted by society Abraham Maslow contributed a theory of motivation & ideas about exceptional people to the growing humanistic psychology movement His emphasis on what is good about people (opposed to Freud’s what’s wrong w/ people) reemerged in the form of contemporary +ve psychology Carl Rogers developed a new approach to therapy called client-centered therapy Client-center Client-centered ed therapy→ people receiving treatment are called clients opposed to ‘patients’, & they play an active role in the therapy process

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Humanistic approaches to therapy have also influenced communication, group processes, parenting, & politic

5. The Behaviourists & the Cognitive Revolution - Behaviourism→ an approach that features the study & careful measurement of observable behaviours - Focuses on observable, measurable behaviours - Behaviourists fascinated by learning & lacked interest in mental states - Classical conditioning (aka. Pavlovian conditioning) - Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with a dog salivating when it noticed the signals for the arrival of food - Many of our emotional responses associated w/ environmental cause as a result of this classical conditioning - John Watson emphasized the role of experience in forming human behaviour & restricted psychology to be the study of observable behaviour - Focused on relationships b/w environmental cues & behaviour - Believed that psychology didn’t benefit from consideration of conscious or internal mental states - Edward Thorndike proposed the law of efect - Law of efect→ suggested that behaviours followed by good outcomes were more likely to occur in the future, & behaviours followed by unpleasant/harmful outcomes would be less likely to occur - B.F Skinner was interested in the efects of consequences on how frequently behaviours were performed - Skinner boxes --COGNITIVE REVOLUTION-- Cognition covers the private & internal mental processes (information processing, thinking, reasoning, & problem solving)- the stuf behaviourists avoid - Ulric Neisser called this cognitive psychology SUMMARY Foundation of psychology

Things to rremember emember

Wilhelm Wundt

Structuralism

Behaviour can be broken down into its components

Max Wertheimer

Gestalt psychology

Breaking behaviour into components loses meaning

William James

Functionalism

Behaviour is purposeful & contributes to survival

Sigmund Freud

Psychodynamic theory

Ideas about the unconscious mind, the role of experience in abnormal behavior, and new approaches to therapy laid a foundation for later study in personality and therapy.

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychology

People are naturally good and are motivated to improve.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

Behaviourism

Experience is the primary source of behavior.

Ulric Neisser

Cognitive revolution

Private mental processing can be studied scientifically.

GESTALT PRINCIPLES 1.

Proximity - Things that are near one another seem to belong together 2. Similarity - People tend to group stimuli that are alike

4 3. Continuity - People tend to connect points that result in straight or gently curved lines that create smooth paths - Preference for continuity 4. Closure - We tend to ignore gaps in figures to create a sense of closure, or completeness 5. Simplicity - People tend to organize & interpret forms of the simplest ways possible 1.4- WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES? 1.4a FIVE PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY 1.

Biological psychology/behavioural neuroscience - focuses on the relationships b/w mind & behaviour, as well as their underlying biological processes (genetics, biochem, anatomy, & physiology) - Interested in the physical mechanisms associated w/ behaviour 1b. Evolutionary psychology - a branch of biological perspective that investigates how physical structure & behaviour have been shaped by their contributions to survival & reproduction - Extension of James’s functionalism

2. Cognitive psychology - Investiates info processing, thinking, reasoning, & problem solving - A lot to say about the storage & retrieval of memories - Might ask why processing seems dif. b/w trying to remember names vs dates vs how to ride a bike 3. Developmental psychology - Explores the normal changes in behaviour that occur across the lifespan - Might look @ how memory functions in people of dif ages 4. Social & personality psychology describes the efects of the social environment, including social & cultural diversity, & individual diferences on the behaviour of individuals 5. Clinical psychology - Seeks to explain, define, & treat psychological disorders - Freud believed that traumatizing experiences were more difficult to remember, a process he called repression 1.4b A NEW CONNECTIVITY: INTEGRATING PSYCHOLOGY’S FIVE PERSPECTIVES - Using multiple perspectives can help us better understand complex phenomena 1.5- WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PSYCHOLOGIST? -

Some people w/ undergrad degrees in prefer employment in fields that are directly related to psychology (eg. working in research facilities or rehabilitation centres for drug abuse or brain damage) People holding graduate degrees in psychology work in health care, counseling, financial services, or legal

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services Graduates w/ a master’s degree can teach @ the community college (yr 2) level & obtain licensing as therapists in most states School psychologists w/ a master’s degree typically work on elementary, middle, or high school campuses - Participate in academic & career counseling & identification & remediation of problems that interfere w/ student success Doctoral programs traditionally identify w/ one of the major perspectives (social, cognitive, or biological) The most rigid distinction occurs b/w graduate students who plan to specialize in clinical or counseling psychology & those who do not Clinical/counseling track includes expensive internships & supervised training prior to gov-regulated licensure Important to distinguish b/w therapists w/ doctoral degrees in psych & psychiatrists who are med. Doctors Biggest dif b/w is that psychiatrists can prescribe meds but psychologists usually cannot Perspective

Things to rremember emember

Biological & evolutionary psychology

Investigates the connections among mind, behavior, and biological processes, and asks how our evolutionary past continues to shape our behavior

Cognitive psychology

Investigates mental processes, including thinking, problem solving, and information processing

Social & personality psychology

Asks how our behavior is afected by the presence of others; Recognizes that behavior varies around averages and that individual diferences often interact with environments

Developmental psychology

Investigates the normal changes in behavior that occur across the lifespan

Clinical psychology

Explains, defines, and treats psychological disorders and promotes general well-being...