2. Distinguishing Between Terms Beginning with the Letters, Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. “Scientific” means... beliefs are based on empirical evidence—careful, systematic observations. Psychiatry: the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders. Most similar to clinical psychology. Psychotherapy: the treatment of psychological disorders using psychological rather than biological methods. Psychoanalysis: a field introduced by Sigmund Freud consisting of a theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy; emphasizes the unconscious mind. PSYCH

3. Some Specialty Areas Within Psychology Clinical Psychology: concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of relatively severe mental and behavioral disorders. Counseling Psychology: deals with problems of adjustment in everyday life (marital, social, occupational). Developmental Psychology: focuses on how people change and grow over the lifespan—infancy, childhood (child psychology), adolescence, adulthood, and old age (gerontology). Social Psychology: studies how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are affected by other people. Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O): focuses on behavior in the workplace. Psychometrics: designs tests to measure mental abilities, personality traits, and symptoms of psychological disorders.

4. Scientific Versus Nonscientific Approaches to Psychology

5. Problems with Carnegie’s Nonscientific Approach to Psychology Makes broad, sweeping statements about human nature, like “Nobody ever blames himself for anything.” Relies on historical events and personal experiences to support his views. Reasons to be skeptical: Bias: He only presents examples that support his views. Accuracy: The examples may not accurately represent what really happened.

6. Characteristics of a Scientific Approach to Psychology Qualifies its statements about human nature; states the conditions under which a generalization holds up. Quantifies its statements about human nature; uses numbers to describe how much of something there is. Follows rules of evidence to establish facts; key point... We must distinguish between observations (facts) and interpretations (theories).