Chapter 1

• John B. Watson (1878 - 1958) opposed "mentalism" from earlier schools
• Major Themes in Psychology

  • Psychology is empirical
  • Psychology is theoretically diverse
  • Psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context
  • Behavior is shaped by cultural heritage
  • Behaviour is influenced by both heredity and environment
  • People’s experience of the world is highly subjective
• How people influence one another in groups

  Study of social influence
• Each perspective in psychology

  Is not mutually exclusive, they interact and combine to make up the complex field of psychology
• Mind-body Dualism is the belief that the mind is a spiritual entity that is not govered by same rules as physical body
• Rene Descartes believed in mind-body dualism. He thought that the mind and body interacted via the pineal gland
• Dualism Is the belief that no amount of studying the physical body can provide information about the non-physical mind- meaning we can never understand the mind
• Monism is the belief that the mind and body are one
• Thomas Hobbes believed in monism and thought that mental events are a product of physical events
• Empiricism is the idea that all concepts are gained through experiences of the senses
• John Locke supported empiricism and believed that philosophy should focus on the capabilities of the mind
• Physiology is an area of biology that examines bodily functions
• Structuralism is the study of the mind in terms of basic elements. Used introspection
• Introspection is the idea of looking within yourself and understand experiences
• Functionalism was the study of the function of the consciousness not the structure
• Sigmund Freud believed in psychoanalysis the investigation of internal and unconscious psychological forces
• Cognitive perspective looks at the nature of the mind and how mental processes influence behaviour