Chapter 1: Introduction and the History of Psychology

Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. ex. Behavioral psychology, Developmental Psychology, Experimental psychology, Teaching of psychology, Applied psychology, Research psychology

Focusing only on information that coincides with your beliefs or opinions and ignoring information that proves your ideas false ex. Listening only to political candidates who you already agree with while ignoring the opposing party

Unrealistic psychology, makes you skeptical ... Unsupported information (no experimental data), used as scientific facts ... Can not be reliable or tested/proven ex. Palm readers, horoscopes, astrology, psychics

Observations and results compiled in a study that allow scientists to draw conclusions ex. Before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a new drug on the market, a thorough and controlled test must occur, proving that the medicine is safe.

Research psychologists gather material for applied psychologists to use as the guide to their practices ... Experimental psychologists are the psychologists that test the hypothesis with an actual experiment. ex. Ivan Pavlov classically conditioned dogs in the Pavlovs Dogs Experiment.

Psychologists that work with human problems like training and psychological treatment ... Psychologists who work to solve everyday problems ex. * Sports psychologists -- Psychologists who work with athletes to help them maximize their performance. This is dealt with using emotional treatments. * School psychologists -- Psychologists that diagnose learning and behavioral problems when working with teachers, students, and parents. * Rehabilitation psychologists -- Psychologists that serve with physicians, nurses, counselors, and social workers to treat patients with both physical and mental disorders.

Psychiatrists are licensed to prescribe medications & perform medical procedures that involve mental illness. ex. Psychiatrists can treat depression by prescribing anti-depressants to patients ... Psychiatrists can perform actual medical procedures on patients

Separates the mind into different components ... Studies what each component is responsible for ex. Attempts to reveal the most basic structures of the mind ... It was influenced by Darwin (biology) and the Periodic Table (chemistry).

Looking within yourself to examine your thoughts, emotions, and needs ex. Saying something and thinking, "Why did I say that?" afterwards

Including the function of consciousness ... The way consciousness adapts to the environment, "Stream of Consciousness" ... Compares consciousness to Darwin's evolutionary perspective. ex. Development of learned habits and emotions ... Used to understand how people adapt to new situations. ex 2. Characterize pain as a state that tends to be caused by bodily injury, to produce the belief that something is wrong with the body and the desire to be out of that state, to produce anxiety, and, in the absence of any stronger, conflicting desires, to cause wincing or moaning

The theory that we perceive concepts as a whole rather than perceiving the individual parts ex. Perceiving a square as a single figure rather than four individual lines ... Perceiving a face, not an eye, ear, and nose

How stimuli from the environment relates to one's response ... Analyzes a person based off their behavior, not their thoughts ex. If one's environment is altered then their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are as well.

Release conflicts and memories from the unconscious ... Make the unconscious conscious ex. A woman suffers from depression because she was physically and mentally abused as a child. ... You were chased by a dog during your childhood and grew to have a phobia of dogs.

A way of looking at psychological topics by studying the physical basis for animal and human behavior. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, immune system, nervous system, and genetics ... A way of looking at psychological topics by studying the physical basis for animal and human behavior

Understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings and other mental processes ex. Neuroscientist Radiologist Psycho-surgery Neurologist Neurosurgeon

The way we act today is based on the behaviors that have developed from our ancestors ... Its an approach to the study of human behavior and why it occurs ... Has allowed us to inherit survival skills ex. Fears are thought to be evolutionary. For example, we are afraid of the dark because there was a time when our ancestors couldn't see in the dark and could have been eaten by wild animals, thus, even though we have lights, we are afraid of the dark because it is unknown.

A branch of psychology that attempts to explain the development of humans over time, both in the micro sense, as they develop from babies to mature adults, and in the macro sense, as the culture itself evolves through the years and decades ... The sequence of changes over the full life span of an organism.

The way you learn influences the way you think and perceive the world around you. ex. Partying vs. studying = failing vs. good grades = minimum wage job vs. college acceptance.

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering. As you can tell, any of your ideas, thoughts, memories, etc., are all types of cognitive processes. What you are doing (reading and learning this explanation) is a type of cognition.

A variety of sciences, new tools, and the curious matter of how the brain processes information and creates conscious experience ... A field that deals with the processes of the mind and the brain itself. It mainly combines cognitive psychology and biology

The idea that psychology is based on the idea of being mentally healthy or ill ex. When Jim goes to a mental therapist for his unexpected changes in behavior, he is diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

An approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience

Emphasizes human growth and potential ... Focuses on the influence of self-concept, perceptions, and interpersonal relationships, and on need for personal growth

They view people (and animals) as controlled by their environment & specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment ... Our behavior is primarily shaped by our learning.

Behavior is influenced by culture, social norms, expectations, and social learning. ... You do things based on what is observed and learned from external stimuli. ex. People buy ipods because people see other people with ipods and see it as the norm.

Behavior has developed and adapted over time.

Individual differences result from differences in our underlying patterns of stable characteristics (traits).