PSYC101

• PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology
• Psychology


  The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering and feeling) and behaviour
• Structuralism


  • One of the earliest schools of thought
  • Breaking down mental experiences
  • Focus is the consciousness
  • Introspection is central
• Limitations of Structuralism


  • Reliance of subjective introspection
  • Unable to measure conscious process
• Applications of Structuralism


  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience
• Functionalism


  • School of thought in psychology emerging late around 1900s
  • Understand functions and purposes of mental process and behaviour
  • Focus on adaptation
  • Evolutionary theory
  • Individual differences
  • Variety of research methods
• Applications of Functionalism


  • Groundwork for many modern approaches
  • E.g. clinical psychology, industrial-organisational psychology
• Free will


  Acting on freely chosen intentions
• Determinism


  Actions are caused or determined by physical processes in their bodies, or in the environment they live
• Types of determinism


  • Causal: cause and effect
  • Biological: genes, evolutionary processes
  • Environmental: childhood, socialisation, culture and life experiences
  • Psychological: personality traits, cognitive processes
  • Neurological: brain activity and neural processes
• Psychodynamic perspective


  • Most behaviour – unconscious processes
  • Awareness is like an iceberg (conscious above, unconscious below)
  • Mental processes may conflict with one another therefore leading to compromises
  • Early childhood experiences
• Psychodynamic perspective


  • Origins: Sigmund Freud
  • Powerful unconscious motives that underlie intentions
  • Clinical approach: Psychology seek to interpret meanings, infer underlying wishes, fears and thought patterns
• A 2014 study suggests psychodynamic approach is effective for some conditions, e.g. mood, anxiety and personality disorders
• Criticisms of psychodynamic perspective: Lack of scientific grounding and empirical evidence, Retrospective accounts
• Behaviourist perspective


  • Focuses on the way objects or events in the environment (stimuli) come to control behaviour via learning
  • Relationship between external events and observable behaviours
  • Rejects the concept of 'mind'
  • Requires experimental methods
• Main contributions of behaviourism


  • Focus on learning (reward and punishment, consequences of actions shape behaviour)
  • Empiricism (scientific knowledge comes from systematic observation)
• Origins of behaviourism


  • Ivan Pavlov (classical conditioning)
  • BF Skinner (operant conditioning)
• Clinical approach of behaviourism


  • Examine how our learning has influenced how we behave in certain situations
  • Principles of operant conditioning and classical conditioning
  • Helpful for those who have phobias, PTSD, OCD, panic attacks
• Criticisms of behaviourism: Does not account for free will or other internal influences – mood, thoughts, feelings
• Humanistic perspective


  • Humans are motivated to reach their full potential, i.e. self actualisation
  • Humans are innately good and strive to reach goals and ambitions
  • Optimistic view of the human experience
  • Person-centred
  • Focuses on aspects of personality that are distinctly human, not shared by other animals
• Humanistic perspective


  "How do we find meaning in life?" "How do we remain true to ourselves?"
• Origins of humanistic perspective


  • Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
• Clinical approach of humanistic perspective


  • Helping to work towards the best they can be
  • Requires therapist to show empathy
  • Emphasises freedom to make choices and immediate experiences
  • We experience problems when there is a discrepancy between our self-concept and ideal self
• Criticisms of humanistic perspective: Assumption that all people are basically good, All people if given the opportunity wish to reach their potential
• Cognitive perspective


  • Focuses on how people process, store and retrieve information
  • The mind is like a computer (information processing model)
  • Uses experimental methods to infer mental processes at work
• Origins of cognitive perspective


  Philosophical, Questions raised by Descartes and other rationalist philosophers (emphasis on the role of reason in creating knowledge)
• Clinical approach of cognitive perspective


  • Often incorporated with the behavioural approach
  • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): Efforts to change thinking patterns, Efforts to change behavioural patterns
• Criticism of cognitive perspective: Relies on inference, Ignores other factors that influence behaviour
• Evolutionary perspective


  • Behaviors evolved because they helped our survive and reproduce
  • Some behaviours are biologically determined
  • Most enduring human attributes helped us to survive at some point
• Origins of evolutionary perspective


  Charles Darwin: Natural selection, Adaptive traits
• Criticisms of evolutionary perspective: Difficult to test, Discounts other factors
• Key Psychological Perspectives


  • Psychodynamic: Unconscious processes, motivation and early experiences
  • Behaviourist: Learned by its environmental consequences
  • Humanistic: Shaped by need for self-actualisation
  • Cognitive: Product of information processing
  • Evolutionary: Evolutionary process of natural selection
• Example of Key Psychological Perspectives applied to Procrastination


  • Psychodynamic: Defence mechanism to cope with unconscious conflicts or anxieties
  • Behaviourist: Learned behaviour through reinforcement and punishment
  • Humanistic: Hindrance to personal growth and self-actualisation
  • Cognitive: Attributed to cognitive biases, irrational beliefs and faulty thought patterns
  • Evolutionary: Evolved tendency shaped by our ancestor's environment

  
• Motivation


  A process that is reflected in the initiation, direction, magnitude and continuation of goal directed behaviour

  
• Types of Motivation


  • Intrinsic Motivation
  • Extrinsic Motivation
  • Amotivation

  
• Perspectives on Motivation


  • Psychodynamic
  • Behaviourist
  • Cognitive
  • Humanistic
  • Evolutionary

  
• Psychodynamic perspective on motivation

  • Unconscious mind (drives, instincts, conflicts) motivation (behaviour, thoughts and emotions)

  
• Behaviourist perspective on motivation


  • Results from reinforcement and conditional processes
  • Behaviours are governed by the environment
  • Key concepts: Reinforcement, Punishment, Operant conditioning
• Example: Studying for an exam


  • Positive reinforcement (good grades, praise) → more likely to be motivated to study in future
  • Negative consequences (poor grades, criticism) → less motivated
• Cognitive perspective on motivation


  • Early theorists suggested behaviour was governed by instincts → fixed pattern of behaviour produced without learning