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Chapter 1: science of psychology (What is Psych Science? (1.1. Studie of…
Chapter 1: science of psychology
What is Psych Science?
1.1. Studie of mind, brain and behavior
mind
mental activity
memories
thoughts
feelings
perceptual exp (sights, smells, ...)
resulting from biological prosesses within brain
behavior
totality of observable human/animal actions
psychologist
career involves
understanding mental life
predicting behavior
humans intuitively
predict behavior
cannot know claims are fact or fiction
1.2 teaches critical thinking
improves how people think
amiable skepticism
requires careful examination of how well evidence supports a conclusion
info biased?
holes?
logic and reasoning: info makes sense?
own beliefs outdated?
intuition often wrong
combi
wariness to scientific findings without
good evidence
sound reasoning
open to new ideas
important for evaluating research
critical thinking skills
ability to think amiable skeptically
understanding the methods of psychological science
reported in popular media
1.3 helps understanding biased or inaccurate thinking
common errors in thinking
evolved along with ability to
quickly categorize info
noticing patterns
making connections
make quick decisions
result (often)
faulty conclusions
non-existent relationships
dangerous actions (sometimes)
include
ignoring evidence (conformation bias)
studies matching own beliefs "have"higher importance and merit
selective memory: info supporting belief
selective sampling/restricting evidence
accepting after-the-fact explanations
hindsight bias
outcome known
good at explaining why things happened
reinterpret old evidence to make sense of outcome
bad at predicting
important factors are known
mental shortcuts
'heuristics': simple rules
good decisions without too much effort (mostly)
problems
inaccurate judgments
biased outcomes
availability heuristic
things coming most easily to mind guide our thinking
seeing non-existent relationships
believing events are related
can lead to superstitions
1.4 think like a psych:
people often fail to see their own inadequacies
need expertise to recognize the difference between
good performances
bad performances
lack of skill prevents
producing good results
knowing what good results are
people generally start with extremely positive views about their abilities
strategie:
crediting personal strengths for their successes
blaming outside forces for failures
popularity of psych
personal relevance
excellent training for many professiosn
satisfy need to understand mental activity and behavior
Scientific Foundations of Psych
1.5 many psych questions have a long history
nature/nurture debate
nature
biologically innate
nurture
education
experience
culture
acquired
roots of psych characteristics
depend on each other: cannot be separated
mind/body-problem
dualist notions
is mind subjective experience of ongoing brain activity?
are mind and body separated?
new notion
(physical) brain enables the mind
1.6 experimental psychology initially focused on the structure, not the function, of mental activity
start
formal discipline
1878, Wilhelm Wundt's labatory, Germany
techinque of introspection
scientist
to try to understand conscious experience
structuralist
identify the basic underlying components of conscious exp
functionalists
best way to understand is examining
purpose
functions
not structure
1.7 different schools of thought reflect different perspectives on mind, brain and behavior
psychoanalytic approach
unconscious processes
not readily available to awareness
influence behavior
Freud
Gestalt psychologists
whole experience
different from sum of it's parts
(the gestalt)
behaviorism
behavior is changed by its consequences
dominated psych until 1960's
humanism
people are free to choose activites
bring fulfillment
make happy
cognitivism and computer analogy
emphasis on mental activity
Latest Developments
1.8 Biology is increasingly emphasized in explaining psychological phenomena
advances in neuroscience
revealed working brain
increrase our knowledge
mind
brain
behavior
mapping of human genome
furthered role of genetics
analyzing behavior
disease
1.9 Evolutionairy thinking is increasingly influential
evolution of brain
solve problems
survival related
reproduction rel
adapt to envirionment
modern behaviors
reflect adaptations
environmental pressure
faced by ancestors
1.10 Culture provides adaptive solutions
culture norms
how people should behave
in different contexts
solutions
adaptive problems
worked out by group of indiv
transmitted through
1.11 Psych Sci examine behavior from varous analytical levels
biological
brain systems
neurochemistry
genetics
individual
personality
perception
cognition
sociol
interpersonal behavior
cultural
single culture
several
1.12 Subfields in psyc
focus on different levels
one or more levels of analysis
psych work in many diff settings