psychology ch 1

the scientific study of Mind and behavior 

our private inner experience or perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings

Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman aminals

psychologists know that all of our subjective experiences arise from the electrical and chemical activities of our brains.

the function of the mind is to help us do what we have to do in order to prosper, such as acquiring food, shelter, and mates.

the mind often trades accuracy for speed and versatility

Plato argued in favor of Nativism.

the philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn

(nature)

• Aristotle believed that a child's mind was a blank slate, on which experiences were written.
• the philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience.

(nurture)

• A now defunct theory
• that specific mental abilities and characteristics, ranging from memory to the capacity for happiness, are localized in specific regions of the brain

the study of biological processes, especially in the human body

sensory input from the environment

the amount of time taken to respond to a specific stimulus

a person's subjective experience of the world and the mind

the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind

the subjective observation of one's own experience

the study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment

Wilhelm Wundt

first to teach a university course in physicological psychology. 

came out with a book physiological psychology in 1874 

opened the first laboratory devoted to psychological studies (1879) which marked psychology as an independent field of study

Wilhelm Wundt developed this prespective

• 1) believed that psychology should study consciousness- mind
• 2) believed that scientific laboratory was the best method to use to study the mind
• 3) borrowed from chemistry, in trying to break consciousness down into elemental sensations and feelings
• 4) used the method of introspection,which involved the research participants reporting their own experience upon being presented with a stimulus (such as a color or sound)

the fundamental problem with his perspective is that the observations couldn't be replicated

William James developed this prespective

• 1) he agreed with wundt, that psychology should be studying the consciousness-mind
• 2) he believed that it should be studied using the rational method - setting out to understand the functions of mental processes and what they served
• 3) he borrowed from biology, he used Darwin's principle of natural selection, and reasoned that mental abilities must have evolved because they were adaptive, and helped people solve problems and increased their chances of survival....

4)he reasoned that consciousness must serve an important biological function and that the task for psychologist was to understand what those functions are.

Charles Darwin's theory that the features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations.

a temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally upsetting experiences.

Patients became blind, paralyzed, or lost their memories, even though there was no known physical cause of their problems.

a connection between the mind and the brain

he recorded Reaction Time by applying stimuli to different parts of the legs

Structuarlism

Functionalism

The part of the mind that operates outside of the conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions

Sigmund Freud's approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

A therapeutic approach that focuses on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological discorders

an approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings.

pioneered by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

he studied patients with psychological disorders

Psychoanalytic theroy

• 1) Psychoanalysis believed that psycholoy should study the unconscious mind
• 2) used a therapeutic approach (clinical method)
• 3) Borrowed from medicine, specifically borrowed from physician Jean-martin Charcot and his work on hysteria
• 4) assumed that problems and troublesome behaviors are produced by unconscious forces
• 5) Developed by Sigmund Freud

Humanistic psychology

• 1) believed that psychologists try to understand human nature as a whole
• 2) they used the Rational method, humanistic therapists sought to help people realize their full potential
• 3) philosophy, business, viewed people as "clients" not as patients
• 4) assumed that people weren't prisoners of events, but that people need to develop, grow, and attain their full potential
• 5) was developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

an Approach that advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior

an action or physiological change elicited by a stimulus

the consequences of a behavior that determine whether it will be more likely that the behavior will occur again

• 1)behaviorist advocated that psychologist should study observable behavior
• 2) they focused only on what can be studied, and used all of science
• 3) borrowed from nature
• 4)the central premise is that free will is an illusion, and that we are actually responding to present and past patterns of reinforcement
• 5) devolped by Ivan Pavlov, john watson, and b.f. skinner

it involves observable actions and responses

stimulus and response

B. F. Skinner (with his Skinner Box where rats learn to press a lever to receive food)

Errors of perception, memory, or judgment in which subjective experience differs from objective reality

A psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts

The scientific study of mental processes, including perception, though, memory and reasoning

An approach to psychology that links psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes

a feild that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity

A psychological approach that explains mind and behavior in terms of adaptive value of abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection

Cognitive psychology

Cognitive neuroscience

Adaptive functions

a sub-field of psychology that studies the causes and consequences of interpersonal behavior