BUILDING BLOCKS OF PSYCHOLOGY MS. CARMELITANO

What is this?

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?? Word comes from Greek:  Psyche: of the mind or soul  Logos: Reason  Reasoning about the soul  Psychology is: The scientific study of mental processes and behavior and how these are affected by internal processes and the environment Started in the field of Philosophy  Philosophers aim to answer questions as to human nature  They answer questions relating to the mind and the brain

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGY Scientific Psychology  Empirical study of why people do what they do  Based on data and facts Folk Psychology  Common Sense psychology  Used everyday to explain human actions  Based on observations of beliefs, motives, love, childhood experiences, etc  It is not scientific Pop Psychology  Psychobabble  Using psychological buzzwords out of context  Based on unsupported claims or believes  IE: astrology

A BRIEF HISTORY Epistemology: The study of how humans come to know the world “Episteme”: knowledge “Logos”: Reasoning  Sensation, perception, memory, language, reason  Today this is cognitive psychology Ethics: Questions whether people are good or evil by nature, what motivates people

HISTORY CTD Beginning of modern psychology  1879: German Wilhelm Wundt = father of modern psychology  Conducted the first psychological experiment  Studied lag time between people hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a button

DIVERSITY OF PSYCHOLOGY Psychology is “multi-disciplinary”  Includes knowledge from the natural and social sciences  Biology, sociology, anthropology Biology Anthropology Psychology Sociology Psychologists will gather data from all of these sciences through various research methods Experiments, brain scans, interviews

DIVERSITY OF PSYCHOLOGY Typically psychologists specialize in one field  For example, the social psychologist will research group processes while the neuropsychologist will carry out brain scans to get a picture of memory When scientists work together between fields, real strides are made  For example, a cognitive neuroscientist combines the study of knowledge from cognitive psychology, and the advanced brain scanning from neuroscience.

PSYCHOLOGY VOCABULARY WordDefinitionExample Biological PsychologyA branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior. A neuropsychologist studies how the brain affects our behavior. A genetic psychologist studies how our genetics affect our behavior. Cognitive PsychologyA branch of psychology concerned with the structure and functions of the mind. A cognitive psychologist studies how the human mind comes to know things about the world and how it uses knowledge. Sociocultural Psychology A branch of psychology concerned with the link between society and culture and human behavior. A sociocultural psychologist studies how culture and group dynamics affect human behavior.

LEVELS OF ANALYSIS It is almost impossible fully understand human behavior without studying it from multiple “lenses”  This year we will look at psychology on three levels of analysis:  Biological level – which focuses on physiology and genetics  Cognitive Level – which focuses on mental processes like memory, thinking, perception, and attention  Sociocultural level – which focuses on how environment and culture affect behavior and thinking.

THE INTEGRATION OF DISCIPLINES (TRIANGULATION)

ACTIVITY Define each of the types of analysis GALLERY WALK!!!!