Abigail Lewis August 22nd 2014 Chapters 1 2 3 9 Frustrations with Psychology 1 Language of Psychology 2 Things are complex 3 Disagree multiple languages of psychology that can be difficult to understand psychologists tell you because it s true an ordered complexity psychologists don t all agree with each other because of 1 Persons Psychologists cannot agree on how to define the word person When do per sons begin abortion controversy When does a person end euthanasia controversy mercy killing Psychologists are experts in persons but since different psychologists de fine the person differently they are experts in different things 1 There are real world consequences divorce v no divorce 2 Science will never solve this problem can t prove disprove value systems 3 Social life is full of these definitional problems conflicts between religious 2 Causes that which produces an effect An antecedent before that leads to a conse groups defining love in different ways quence after A necessary factor in explanation 1 The problem is not definitional 2 Almost all psychologists agree Persons are caused by variables anything that can vary Between person variable Within person vari 1 Variable ables 1 Hormones circulating in the blood supply male vs female 2 The love we receive in life varies financial physical attraction 3 Self Confidence varies within people and among people 4 Political affiliation 3 The problem Things are complex Causality is so complex there is wide room for disagreement 3 The Scientific Method 1 What three reasons explain why you might experience frustration when you go to psychology to better understand yourself or to solve personal problems the language of psychology things are complex and psychologists often disagree 2 Relative to our day to day language how might the language of Psychology be described In other words do psycholo gists speak plain English when they operate as psychologists Is there only one language of Psychology There are many different languages of psychology and many of them are different from normal everyday English 3 Why do psychologists frequently say Things are complex Does this statement mean that psychologists believe the sub ject matter of Psychology really cannot be explained or organized they tell you that just because it s true It s just an ordered complexity not complete chaos 4 One of these three reasons for your potential frustration with psychology is most important because if you can understand this reason then basically you can understand psychology Which of these three reasons is most important Psychologists disagree because of PERSONS cannot agree on how to define a person 5 What three things contribute to the disagreements that exist among psychologists persons causes and the scientific method 6 What is it about the concept person that causes psychologists to disagree psychologists cannot agree on HOW to define the word person 7 What do conflicts over the person most importantly reflect and how do controversies over abortion and euthanasia re flect this issue It shows peoples different values this conflict reflects real world problems and consequences and debate over when a person begins and ends Controversies over abortion reflect how people don t agree when a person begins and there fore if abortion should be legal and euthanasia controversies reflect how people don t agree when a person ends when they re mentally gone or physically gone 8 How might disagreements over the person have an impact on therapy and the decision of whether or not to file for a di vorce We will discuss this in the next lecture Abigail Lewis August 22nd 2014 since psychologists disagree over what a person is they disagree on what a person should do in certain situations such as divorce whether they are an independent person who needs to fully embrace their own rights and therefore get divorced or if they re a Christian psychologist telling them to work on each other s sin and expect apology and try to work it out Persons and Causes What is the cause of a person There are many different answers between psychologists Model of Causality suggests there are 5 basic answers to what are the causes of a person Physiopersonal Variables physiology the functioning of the body the entire body is rel evant Intrapersonal Variables intra means within the mind opinions attitudes beliefs ideas Psyche logos mind self soul breath Narrative the whole personality can be understood as a story Interpersonal Variables between person variables Significant others Face to face rela tions Metapersonal Variables culture and history causes things you cannot help affect you in huge ways Nonpersonal Variables the physical environment Principle of Parsimony stingy things are simple trying to simplify things are 1 The Nature Nurture Controversy each side develops argument that things Nature persons are caused by their nature inborn biological characteristics Nurture Persons are caused by their life experience Psyche logos mind self soul breath The problem Things are complex Causality is so complex there is wide room for disagree ment simple Assuming that psychologists are experts in persons what is it about being this kind of expert that causes them to disagree Since psychologists define persons differently they are experts in different things Can the problem that psychologists have with defining the person be solved scientifically Explain your answer No because there will always be this disagreement between people and you cannot prove the defini tion of a person Illustrate how problems in defining fundamental concepts are not specific to psychologists by talking about the similar problems of religious leaders and lovers Psychologists are all experts and believe in different things so one psychologist might suggest to work out the marriage while another may suggest divorce just has to do with the values and view points of that specific psychologist Can psychologists define the concept cause How can this concept be defined Yes that which produces an effect an antecedent that leads to a consequence or a necessary factor in explanation What is the one statement about causality with which almost all psychologists will agree Abigail Lewis August 22nd 2014 persons are caused by variables What is a variable Give some examples of between person and within person variables that might be of interest to psychologists A variable is anything that can vary Ex between person the love we receive in life Ex