Prologue - study guide PDF

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1. D ESCRIBE WHAT’S INVOLVED IN CRITICAL THINKING - Smart thinking based on scientific attitude: o curiosity (does it work?) o skepticism (What do you mean? How do you know?) o humility (welcome new ideas) - A critical thinker will not blindly believe in any kind of arguments or conclusions before: o Examine assumptions o Evaluate the credibility of evidence and sources o Recognize any biases o Assess the conclusions

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First women o Calkins: first female president of the American Psychological Association. o Washburn: first woman to receive an official psychology Ph.D.

3. HOW DID BEHAVIORISM , FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY, AND HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE ?

2. W HAT EVENT DEFINED THE START OF SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY? - First laboratory: 1879 o Professor Wundt and 2 other graduate students were measuring “atoms of the mind” – the fastest and simplest mental process o By experimenting of how long it took for people to press a telegraph key after hearing a ball hit a platform o Results: to be aware of one’s awareness takes a little longer - First school of thought o Structuralism: use self-reflective introspection (looking-inward) – report sensations, feelings, images when looking at a rose, listen to music, smell a scent.  to reveal the structure of the human (Wundt and Titchener)  Result: unrealisable – require smart, verbal people, variation of results from person to person  People’s self-reports varied, depending on the experience and the person’s intelligence and verbal ability o Functionalism: explore the evolved function of thoughts and feelings. (why does brain think and nose smell? – adaptive: to survive and reproduce)

How mental processes enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

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Behaviorism: 1920s-1960s o Psychology: the scientific study of observable behavior. o What cannot observe, cannot scientifically study. o One of 2 major forces in psychology Freudian psychology: o How the unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect our behavior. Humanistic psychology: after 1960s o Human growth potential o

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needs of love and acceptance / the environments that nurture or limit personal growth. Reject the other two forces above

4. CONTEMPORARY P SYCHOLOGY - Cognitive psychology (the science of mind): the study of mental processes o perceive, process, remember info o interaction between thinking and emotion in anxiety, depression, other disorders) - Cognitive neuroscience: study of brain activity with mental activity. - Psychology: science of behavioral and mental processes. o Behavioral: action we can observe and record (organism does) o Mental processes: internal, subjective experiences we infer from behaviors. (sensation, perceptions, beliefs, feelings, dreams, thoughts)

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Nature-nurture issue: o The relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Natural selection: o Outstanding traits that allow organism to survive and reproduce will be passed on to later generations Evolutionary psychology: o How are we humans alike because of our common biology and evolutionary history? o Evolution of mind and behavior using natural selection principle. Behavior genetics: o How do we individually differ because of our differing genes and environments? o Power and limit of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Contemporary psychology’s position on the nature-nurture issue o Nurture works on what nature provides o Every psychological event is a biological event. (interaction) Positive psychology: human flourishing. o Strengths and virtues that helps human thrive

5. 3 MAIN LEVEL OF ANALYSIS - Biopsychosocial approach: influences of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors. neuroscience

Evolutionary Behavior genetics Psychodynamic Behavioral Cognitive Social-cultural

How the body & brain enable emotions, memories, sensory experiences Natural selection of traits => survival of genes Individual differences (genes and environment) Behavior...