Psychology Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology Psychologists Explain Human Behaviors in Real-Life Contexts: Psychological Science: the study of mind, brain and behavior - Mind refers to mental activity - Mind in action: perceptual experiences (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch)- Mental activity results from biological processes within the brain - The psychical brain enables the mind: the mind is what the brain does - Behavior refers to a wide variety of observable actions Psychological Science Teaches Critical Thinking: - Amiable skepticism: what makes a good scientist of a savvy consumer of scientific research… Can be skeptical but is not fond of new research if it is not properly evident - Critical thinking: involves looking for holes in evidence, using logic and reasoning to see whether the information makes sense and considering alternative explanations The Mozart Effect: In 1993, a research team found that playing Mozart to research participants led the participants to score higher on a test related to intelligence What are the Scientific Foundations of Psychology? - Originated in philosophy - Found in early Muslim philosophers and scientists (Al-Kindi and Confucius) - 19th century, psy became a discipline Schools of Thought: - Nature vs Nurture (Ancient Greeks… Aristole and Plato) o Through biology or through culture, education or experience? - Nature vs Nurture Debate: The arguments concerning whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or acquired through education, experience and culture- Mind/Body Problem: A fundamental psychological issue: are mind and bodyseparate and distinct or is the mind simply the psychical brain’s subjective experience? o Mind is separate from the control of the body o Da Vinci theorized that all sensory messages (vision, touch, smell, ect) comes from one location in the brain o Sensus Communis: home of thought and judgment Latin root for common sense - Rene Descartes: created the first influential theory of dualism o The mind and body are separate yet intertwined o The body was nothing more than an organic machine governed by “reflex” o Mental functions such as memory and imagination was from the bodies functionso Deliberate action is controlled by the rational mind… concluded that the rational mind is divine Experimental Psychology Began with Introspection John Stuart Mill - Psy isn’t philosophy and is instead a science of observation and experiment - Defined psy as “the science of the elementary law of the mind” Wilhelm Wundt- Established the first psy lab and institution (In Germany)- Realized that psy processes take time to occur and created a mathematical equation: subtracting the time a participant took to complete the simple task from the time the participant took to complete the more complex task - Wanted to measure conscious experiences - Introspection: a systematic examination of subjective mental experiences that requires people to inspect and report on the content of their thoughts (EX: what someone finds more pleasant)Introspection and Other Methods Led to Structuralism Structuralism: pioneered by Edward Titchener (a student of Wundt’s). an approach to psy based on the idea that conscious experience can be broken down into its basicunderlying components- Wundt rejected the use of introspection - The general problem with introspection: the experience is subjective - Soon abandoned and concerned not reliable Functionalism Addressed the Purpose of BehaviorWilliam James - Critic of structuralism - More philosophical than physiological - Mind is too complex and cant be broken down - Stream of consciousness: a phrase coined by William James to describe each person’s continuous series of ever changing thoughts - Minds usefulness > minds elements - Functionalism: An approach to psy concerned with the adaptive purpose, or function, of mind and behavior - Helps humans adapt to environmental demands Evolution, Adaption and Behavior- Major work of functionalism done by Charles Darwin - Evolutionary Theory: A theory presented by the naturalist Charles Darwin; it views the history of a species in terms of the inherited, adaptive value of psychical characterizes of mental activity and behavior - Species change over time - Their abilities increase their chances of surviving and reproducing - Adaptions: In evolutionary theory, the psychical characteristics, skills, or abilities that increase the chances of reproduction or survival and are therefore likely to be passed along to future generations- Natural Selection: In evolutionary theory, the idea that those who inherit characteristics that help them adapt to their particular environment have a selective advantage over those who do not - Adaptive behavior is passed along, non adaptive isn’t - “Survival of the Fittest” Gestalt Psychology Emphasized Patterns and Context in Learning - Gestalt School founded by Max Wertheimer in 1912 - Gestalt Theory: A theory based on the idea that the whole of personal experience is different from simply the sum of its consistent elements… The whole isn’t made up of an equation (the sums put together) - Perception of objects is subjective and dependent on context - Helped founded the understanding of human personality Women Have Helped Shape the Field Mary Whiton Calkins- Worked under James, as a student privately due to protests of coeducation - 1905, elected the first women president of American Psychological Association - Mainly studied the self Margaret Floy Washburn- First woman to be officially granted a PhD in psy in 1894- Became second woman president after Calkins - Men were only allowed to be research participants - Today, most PhDs are awarded to women in psychology Freud Emphasized the Power of the Unconscious Sigmund Freud - Worked with neurological disorders - Unconscious: The mental processes that operate below the level of conscious awareness. - Ex: troubled childhood and the participant wanting to block the memory - Psychoanalysis: A method developed by Freud that attempts to bring the contents of the unconscious into conscious awareness so that conflicts can berevealed- Free association: a technique in which a patient would talk about whatever he or she wanted to for as long as he or she wanted to - Eventually people would reveal unconscious conflicts - No longer considered valid Behaviorism Studies Environmental Forces John B Watson - 1913 challenged unconscious vs conscious mental