Textbook Reading Chapter 1 Intro to Psychology 1 1 Psychology Psychology the scientific study of thought and behavior Useful to many fields relevant to your life 1 2 Subdisciplines of Psychology Cognitive Psychology the study of how people perceive remember think speak and solve Developmental Psychology the study of how thought and behavior change and remain stable problems experimental psychologists across the life span Behavioral Neuroscience the study of the links among brain mind and behavior Biological Psychology the study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and Personality Psychology the study of that makes people unique and the consistencies in people s how they influence thought and behavior behavior across time and situations Social Psychology the study of how living among others influences thought feeling and behavior Clinical Psychology the diagnosis and treatment of mental emotional and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health career and vocational interests o Counseling Psychology treat and assesses relativity healthy people and assist them with Health Psychology the study pf the role of psychological factors play in regard to health and issues Educational Psychology the study of how students learn the effectiveness of a particular teaching technique the social psychology of schools and the psychology of teaching o School Psychology practiced by counselors in school settings Industry Organizational I O Psychology the application of psychological concepts and questions to work settings Sports Psychology the study of psychological factors in sports and exercise Forensic Psychology the field that blends psychology law and criminal justice 1 3 Origins of Psychology Prehistoric Views Stone Age o Shamans medicine men or women who treat people with mental problems by driving out their demons with elaborate rituals such as exorcism incantations and prayers Ancient Views 2600BCE o Chinese Egyptians and Greeks moved away from supernatural explanations of psychological disorders to natural and physiological explanations o Connections between person s bodily organs and emotions Medieval to Early Modern Views 400 1400CE o Psychological disorders attributed to supernatural causes o Thought to be possessed by demons o Asylums facilities for treating the mentally ill in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 19th century o Moral Treatment the 19th century approach to treating the mentally ill with dignity in a caring environment Europe and United States Modern Views o Psychical disorders they are simply one form of illness and should be treated as medical conditions with appropriate diagnosis and therapy medical model Textbook Reading Chapter 1 Intro to Psychology o Emil Krapelin 1880s 90s Dementia praecox premature dementia Schizophrenia split mind thought disorders Melancholia depression mood disorders Manic Depression bipolar disorder o Sigmund Freud 20th Century Psychoanalysis a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological orders it assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior Diagnostic and Statistical Manual The Philosophy of Empiricism the view that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience John Locke 1690 The Psychophysics of Human Perception the study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli such as light sound waves and touch Relationship between physical and psychosocial worlds Ernst Weber 1795 1878 laid groundwork for psychophysics Gustav Fechner 1801 1889 realized you could study physical and physiological worlds Herman von Helmholtz 1821 1894 established psychology as a science Wilhelm Wundt 1832 1920 1879 birthplace of Psychology in Leipzig Germany William James considered founder of American Psychology G Stanley Hall 1844 1924 founded American Psychological Association APA o American Journal of Psychology Structuralism and Functionalism Structuralism a 19th century school of psychology that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offered the best way to understand thought and behavior o Introspection the main method of investigation for structuralists it involves looking into one s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience Functionalism a 19th century school of psychology that argued it was better to look at why the mind work the way it does rather than to describe its parts Behaviorism a school of psychology that proposed that psychology could be a true science only if it examines observable behavior not ideas thoughts feelings or motives Humanistic and Positive Psychology Humanistic Psychology a theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching ones highest potential Maslow Positive Psychology a scientific approach to studying understanding and promoting healthy and positive psychological functions Cognitivism Textbook Reading Chapter 1 Intro to Psychology Gestalt Psychology a theory of psychology that maintains that we perceive things as wholes rather than as a compilation of parts Max Wertheimer Mental cognition 1 4 Ways of Thinking About Mind Body and Experience Nature Nurture Debate Innate biology vs life experience o o Nature view personality comes from inborn tendencies and genetically based traits o Nurture view we are all the same at birth product of our experiences o Softwiring in contrast to hardwiring biological systems genes brain structures and brain cells are inherited buy open to modification from the environment o Nature through Nurture position that the environment constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do Mind Body Dualism o Mind and body are separate entities Evolution of Human Behavior o Evolution the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species o Natural Selection a feedback process whereby nature factors one design over another because it has an impact on reproduction Charles Darwin 1809 1882 Chance Mutations spontaneous changes in genes that can alter the design of a structure or a set of behaviors Adaptations inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been selected for because they contribute in some way to reproductive success o Evolutionary Psychology the branch of psychology that studies humans behavior by asking what adaptive problems it may have solved for our early ancestors