Lesson 1

 Many things that happen to us leave no record in memory True or False? True: Most of the information around us never reaches memory, and what does reach memory often gets distorted

 You are born with all the brain cells you will ever have True or False? False: Recent research shows that some parts of the brain continue producing new cells throughout life

 Intelligence is a purely genetic trait that does not change throughout a person’s life True or False? False: Intelligence is the result of both heredity and environment, and may change throughout your life

 The most common form of mental disorder occurs in 30% of the population True or False? True: Depression, the single most common disorder, may affect up to a third of the population at some point in their lives

 Repeated exposure to the same face leads us to like it less False: Familiar people (and their faces) are generally liked more than less familiar people True or False?

Psychology is a broad field, with many specialties, but fundamentally, psychology is the science of the brain and mental processes

 Psychology – The scientific study of the brain and mental processes  Psychology is not  Mere speculation about human nature  A body of folk wisdom about people that “everybody knows” to be true

Pseudopsychology – Erroneous assertions of practices set forth as being scientific psychology  Psychology disputes unfounded claims from pseudopsychology

Psychology is a broad field with many specialties, grouped in three major categories: experimental psychology, teaching of psychology and applied psychology

 Experimental psychologists Conduct most research across psychological spectrum May work in private industry or for the government Often teach at college or university

I/OSports School Counseling Forensic Psychobiology Use knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems Clinical  Applied psychologists

Modern psychology developed from several conflicting traditions, including structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis

Devoted to uncovering basic structures that make up mind and thought History Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology Behaviorism

 German Wilhelm Wundt ( )  Generally acknowledged as establishing modern psychology as a separate field of study  Structuralist: Focused on the basic elements of human mental experience  Very important was his systematic approach to draw others to psychology

Believed mental processes could best be understood in terms of their adaptive purpose and function Tradition Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology Behaviorism

 American William James ( )  ‘Father of Psychology’ in the USA  Functionalist: focused on the actions of the conscious mind and goal of behaviours  Functionalists study how animals and people adapt to their environments

Interested in how we construct “perceptual wholes” Tradition Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology Behaviorism

 A group of German psychologists who disagreed with the structuralism and functionalism  Argued that perception looks at the whole not a sum of its parts; “whole pattern” is Gestalt in German  Studied how sensation is assembled into perceptual experiences  A forerunner to other, later, cognitive approaches

Argued psychology should deal solely with observable events Tradition Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology Behaviorism

 Russian Ivan Pavlov ( ) started the movement  Famous for Pavlov’s Dog’s experiment -- conditioning  Led to research exploring the development of behaviour  Behaviourists: believe psychology should concern itself only with observable facts of behaviour

Asserted mental disorders arise from conflicts in the unconscious mind Tradition Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology Behaviorism

 Austrian Sigmund Freud ( )  More interested in the unconscious mind unlike other psychologists of the time  Theorized to use free-association to reveal unconscious processes  Psychoanalyst: studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human behaviour  His views remain a tool in many applications today