Discovering psychology Intro to Psych Discovering psychology

Psychology is the systematic scientific study of behaviours and mental processes Behaviours: observable actions or responses in humans and animals Mental processes: not directly observable, includes such processes as thinking, imagining, dreaming and studying Definition

Goals Describe the different ways organisms behave Explain the causes of behaviour Predict how organisms will behave in certain situations Control an organism’s behaviour Goals

Understanding behavior includes biological, cognitive, behavioural, psychoanalytic, humanistic and cross- cultural approaches Major Approaches

How genes, hormones, and the nervous system interacts with our environments to influence learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions and coping techniques Differences between normal and autistic brains Biological

How we process, store, and use information and how the information influences what we attend to, perceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel Can use MRIs to take pictures of the living brain while performing different functions Structural approach Cognitive

How we learn new behaviours and modify old ones depending on the environment Rewards and punishments Social cognitive approaches also see the observed behaviours of others as influencing our own Behavioural

Stresses the influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts, behaviours, and the development of personality traits and psychological problems later in life Freud Unconscious Psychoanalytic

Each human has great freedom in directing his or her future, a large capacity for personal growth, a considerable amount of intrinsic worth and potential for self-improvement Maslow Positive approach Humanistic

Examines the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on psychological and social functioning of a culture’s members. Cultures differ in expectation and learning: this creates different understandings of social behaviour Cross-cultural

A brief history of psychology

A brief history of psychology Structuralism Functionalism Gestalt Behaviourism Who won? A brief history of psychology

Structuralism Wilhelm Wundt – “father” of psychology 1879 Thought analyzing sensation was the key to analyzing mind structure “Structuralism” studies primary sensations and perceptions that make up mental experiences “Introspection” explores conscious mental processes by asking subjects to look inward to report sensations and perceptions Criticisms: biased and unscientific, as based on self-reports Structuralism

Functionalism William James; published “Principles of Psychology” 1890 Looked at goals, purposes and functions of the mind as adaptive “Functionalism”: study of function (not structure) of consciousness and how minds adapt to environment Had lots of impact on educational psychology and looked at many current areas of psychology Criticised by Gestalt as not holistic enough Functionalism

Functionalism (example) You see a wolf You run away The act of running makes you feel fear Physiological changes create emotion Functionalism (example)

Gestalt Experience results from analyzing patterns (gestalts) Perception is more than the sum of its parts and studies how sensations are assembled into meaningful experiences ie. Fixed lights flashing in sequence appear to be moving Gestalt ideas used to explain many of our perceptions today Wertheimer (1912) Gestalt

Watson (1930) believed psychology should be an objective experimental science. Analyze behaviours to predict and control them Was the dominate theory of psychology from 1920s to 1960s Surpassed by cognitive approach in the 1990s. Behaviourism

Psychologist Psychiatrist Counsellor Therapist Professions

Areas of study Social and Personality Developmental Experimental Biological Cognitive Psychometrics Areas of study