Chapter 1

• Psychology


  The scientific study of behaviour and the mind
• Behaviour


  • Directly observable activity (e.g. actions, responses, etc.)
• Mind


  • Internal states and mental processes (e.g. memory, problem solving, motivation, etc.)
• Goals of Psychology


  • Describe behaviour and mental processes
  • Explain/understand causes of these behaviours
  • Predict behaviours
  • Influence/control behaviours under certain conditions
• Basic Research


  Knowledge for its own sake
• Applied Research


  Solutions to practical problems
• Most common to take results from basic research and fit them into applied work, though the reverse can also happen
• Levels of Analysis in Psychology

  • Biological level (e.g. brain processes, genetic influences)
  • Psychological level (e.g. thoughts, feelings, motives)
  • Environmental level (e.g. past/current physical and social environments)
• Scientific Method


  Systematically gathering and evaluating empirical evidence (gained through experience and observation) to minimize bias and provide a useful framework to solve specific practical problems
• Folk Psychology


  The commonly held beliefs the average person has about people, psychological processes, and behaviour, often relying on observation and anecdotal evidence, typically not very reliable
• Common Errors of Judgment

  • Relying on heuristics (mental shortcuts)
  • Failing to consider alternative explanations
  • Confirmation bias (selectively looking for evidence that confirms your prior beliefs)

  
• Critical Thinking


  Taking an active role in evaluating information by asking questions about the claim, source credibility, evidence, alternative explanations, and appropriate conclusion
• The example provided illustrates a claim about jumbled letters that is unsubstantiated, lacks references, and has other possible explanations
• Mind-body dualism


  Views the mind as a spiritual entity that is not affected by the same physical laws and causal factors as the rest of the body (/the rest of the natural world)

  
• Monism


  Views the mind as a product of the same physical events that affect the body (e.g. chemical reactions in our brain produce emotions, etc.)
• Monism implies the mind can be studied from a scientific perspective (just like the rest of the natural world)
• British empiricism


  All ideas/knowledge are gained empirically (i.e. through the senses/direct observation), which can be a more effective approach for understanding things than pure reason alone (because relying exclusively on reason/logic can be misleading, susceptible to various kinds of errors, etc.)
• Localization of function


  Various lines of evidence began emerging in the 19th century that specific brain regions mediate particular aspects of behaviour/experience (e.g. damage to the back of your brain is likely to produce visual impairments because that is where our visual cortex is located)

  
• Psychophysics


  The study of how perceptual experiences relate to physical properties of stimuli (e.g. the perceived loudness of sounds changes as the physical intensity of pressure waves, or amplitude, increases)
• Darwin's Theory of Evolution implied that the mind was not a spiritual entity but rather the product of evolution and that studying other species can help us understand ourselves
• Structuralism


  • Took a reductionist approach, similar to chemistry, in which it was assumed the more complex aspects of the mind could be broken down into more basic elements
  • By focusing their work on these more basic elements, the hope was it would then be possible to scale up and understand more complex experiences
• Analytic introspection


  Participants trained to systematically describe their experience when exposed to various stimuli (e.g. emotions, thoughts, sensations, etc.) and report the contents of that experience as objectively as possible
• Functionalism


  • Concerned with the function and purpose of behaviour and thought, rather than structure ('why', not 'what')
  • Emphasizes how mental/behavioural processes help us survive, rather than simply describing what they are (i.e. structuralism)
  • Influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution, also influenced modern evolutionary approaches to understanding the mind/behaviour
• Psychodynamic perspective


  • Assumed causes of behaviour can be understood by looking within an individual
  • Viewed unconscious desires, motives and past conflicts as particularly relevant causal factors
  • Often employed free association (e.g. saying whatever comes to mind in response to certain words)
  • Hypothesized various defence mechanisms (e.g. repression: in which upsetting thoughts stay in the unconscious)
  • Expanded study/treatment of psychological disorders
• Behaviourism


  • Started with the premise that behaviour is what really matters (and can be studied objectively, unlike mental events), and therefore should be the focus of research
  • Viewed behaviour as a product of the environment
  • Emphasized controlling behaviour by altering the environment
  • Led to the development of behaviour modification therapy
• Cognitive behaviourism


  • Emphasizes the link between behaviour and cognition
  • Assumes humans are thinking creatures that do more than just 'mindlessly react' to their environment (i.e. as in the behaviourist approach)
  • While the environment influences us, we can in turn can also influence the environment
• Humanistic approach


  Emphasizes conscious motives, freedom, choice and self-actualizing (reaching one's full potential)
• Gestalt psychology


  • 'The whole is more than the sum of it's parts', or in other words, simply understanding the individuals parts/pieces of something is not sufficient for a complete understanding of the whole
  • The particular way the pieces come together can have a big impact on (for example) how we perceive something and simply understanding the building blocks doesn't necessarily always lead to a greater understanding of the whole
• Cognitive perspective


  • Concerned with the nature of the mind and understanding how mental processes influence behaviour (e.g. memory, attention, perception, problem solving, reasoning, language, etc.)
  • Finding ways to directly measure/observe 'invisible' mental processes a great challenge for science (which the behaviourists thought couldn't be done!)
  • The Cognitive Revolution (1960/70's) contributed to a renewed interest in studying internal, unobservable mental processes, with the 'computer analogy', leading to new perspectives on the mind as an information processing system
• Cognitive neuroscience


  • Relies on physiological measures (typically related to neural activity, e.g. fMRI) as a compliment to understanding mental processes using a more traditional cognitive approach
• Sociocultural perspective


  Focuses on the range of socially-mediated influences on behaviour, thoughts and feelings, including (but not limited to) presence, culture, and social norms
• Biological perspective


  • Focuses on various underlying physiology relevant for understanding human nature, including brain structure and function, biochemical processes, and genetic factors
  • Associated with the idea of 'localization of function'
• Behavioural Neuroscience


  Investigates brain processes (and other physiological functions) influence our behaviour, sensory experience, emotion, and thoughts
• Behaviour Genetics


  Examines how behavioural tendencies are affected by genetic factors
• Evolutionary psychology


  Concerned with how behaviour and mental processes evolved