Overview of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt gets it started First Experimental Psych Lab (1879)

Then Freud & Psychoanalysis enter the scene Proposes the idea of the UNCONSCIOUS

The I.B Curriculum breaks Psychology into 3 core fields: Biological Level of Analysis Cognitive Level of Analysis Sociocultural Level of Analysis

I.B then examines in brief, other branches of Psychology Abnormal Psyc Developmental Psyc Health Psyc Psyc of Human Relationships Sport Psyc

Abnormal Psychology Brainstorm 1: 10 traits of a “normal” person

Abnormal Psychology Brainstorm 2: 10 traits of a “abnormal” person

Diagnosing Abnormalities: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Published by the American Psychological Association

DSM IV

Developmental Psychology Changes in behaviour from womb to tomb Investigates human growth

Health Psychology Explores relationship between psychological factors and physical ailments or disease “An ounce of prevention to avoid years of cure”

Psychology of Human Relationships Social responsibility Interpersonal relationships Violence

Sport Psychology Emotion & Motivation Skill development & performance Problems in sports

1. The Biological Level of Analysis Specializes in the biological bases of behaviour Behaviour is dictated by: -Genetics -Hormones -Neurotransmitters in the brain -Changes in brain activity

2. The Cognitive Level of Analysis Emphasis on higher mental processes The stuff that you can’t see- how you process inputs

2. The Cognitive Level of Analysis 1.Humans have mental representations of their world and these representations differ from person to person 2.These mental representations can be scientifically investigated 3.“Cognition” is the hidden world of mental processing

3. The Sociocultural Level of Analysis Principals that define the Sociocultural LOA: 1.The social and cultural environment influences human behaviour 2.We want connectedness with, and a sense of belonging to others 3.We construct our conceptions of the individual & social self (who am I?)

Clinical Psychology Diagnosis of mental disorders Treatment of mental disorders The application of all the areas we talked about… to help people