PSYCH100H Lecture 1 Introduction a Science the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment Tests assumptions and answers questions related to theory Based on previous research clinical observations and experiment b Psychology the science of behavior and the mind c Fields of psychology d Nature vs Nurture Case Charles Whitman Behavior observable actions of a person or animal Mind individual sensations perceptions memories thoughts dreams motives emotional feelings and other subjective experiences Also includes all of the unconscious knowledge and operating rules that are built into and stored in the brain and provide the foundation for organizing behavior and conscious experience Neuroscience the study of the brain and the nervous system Developmental behavior and experience over time Cognitive mental processes Social how the individual interacts within a group Applied Clinical wellbeing disorders therapy and counseling Industrial psychology in business and organizations A former UT student and marine Charles Whitman murders his mother and then murders his wife then goes to University of Texas and commits a mass shooting of students Some say that this is who he always was and it was in his blood nature Others say that this could have been prevented nurture Another group believes that it was biological nature Nurture Grew up with an abusive father harbored a lot of anger Worked in marines and was often threatened by coworkers Abusive towards wife and felt regret for it Excelled in academics Parents divorce caused him much stress Killed wife and mother to set them free from evil acted on nurture Nature Some say he was bred to explode Autopsy found that he had a brain tumor that caused intense Took the drug Dexedrine which may have changed his emotional responses behavior Leaves a question of nature vs nurture Did the tumor cause this change in behavior or was it a mixture of his past and the tumor Lecture 2 Psychology Philosophy and Physiology a The Astonishing Hypothesis Book written by Frances Crick who studies the central dogma and hypotheses about the brain A person s mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of nerve cells glial cells and the atoms ions and molecules that make them up and influence them We are cells and molecules associated together Joy sorrow memories ambitions sense of personal identity and free will are more than the behavior of an assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules The Astonishing Hypothesis goes against the ideas of dualism b Dualism philosophy that all religion is based upon It views the body as a machine and the mind as an immaterial controller Humans are souls attached to bodies There is no one place in the body for the soul I think therefore I am Descartes Descartes didn t believe in physical self but could never doubt that he had the ability to think Thought is the foundation of human existence Mind and soul are connected to the body and influence each other Most people believe they will go to heaven even atheists Shows that dualism isn t a hard theory to accept People believe others have souls
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