Chapter 1- Introduction to Psychology

Subtopic

In psychology, the main schools of thought were Structuralism, Functionalism, and Behaviourism.

Structuralism was created by Edward Titchener, and the main idea surrounding it was to analyze consciousness into basic elements and see how they are related. They wanted to understand more conscious experiences such as sensations, feelings and images

Functionalism was heavily influenced by William James. This School of Thought was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function of consciousness rather than structure.

Behaviourism founded by John B. Watson is a theory based on the idea that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour.

Freud was quite a revolutionist when it came to psychology because he unpacked something nobody else ever thought of: the unconscious mind

He created something called the unconscious which contained thoughts, memories, and desires that were below the surface of conscious awareness. Concluded that psychological disturbances are caused by personal conflicts at an unconscious level. He was also controversial because he proposed that behaviour is influenced by coping with sexual urges.

Skinner emphasized how environmental factors contribute to one's behaviour. He believed that organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend to not respond to negative outcomes.

He asserted that all behaviour is fully governed by external stimuli. According to Skinner, we are all controlled by our environment, so in essence free will is an illusion.

Nine research areas in psychology are:

1) Developmental Psychology

2) Social Psychology

3) Experimental Psychology

4) Behavioural neuroscience/Biological Psychology

5) Cognitive Psychology

6) Personality Psychology

7) Psychometric Psychology

8) Educational Psychology

Health Psychology

William Wundt, a German professor was the father of psychology.

Wundt's creation of what psychology was so popular that it lasted for two whole decades. According to Wundt, the surrounding concept of psychology should be consciousness. So psychology became the study of conscious mind

Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. Due to the domanice of behaviorism, it discouraged the study of cognition or the unobservable. The cognitive perspective points out that people's manipulation of mental images influence their behaviour

Advocates of the behavioural neuroscience perspective maintain that much of our behaviour can be explained in terms of structures and processes in the brain.

Theme 1: Psychology is Empirical

Theme 2: Psychology is Theoretically Diverse

Theme 3: Psychology Evolves in a Sociohistorical Context

Theme 4: Behaviour is Determined by Multiple Causes:

Theme 5: Behaviour is Shaped by Cultural Heritage

Theme 6: Heredity and Environment Jointly Influence Behaviour

Theme 7: People's Experience of the World is Highly Subjective

People usually are subjective to viewing their world the way they want to. Human subjectivity is very normal as people do not want to distort the way they see life. People actively choose to ignore different types of stimulation and focus on others because it all depends on what they want to expose themselves to.

This theme discusses the concept of nature versus nurture. If an individual is who they are based on their environment or genetics. In the past, it always had to be one or the other but now psychologists agree that a combination of heredity and environment are both important.

Cultural factors are very prominent to determining human behaviour. People's cultural backgrounds help influence their behaviour. The definition of culture is the widely shared beliefs, norms, institutions, customs of a community that is spread across generations.

Psychologists found that behaviour is controlled by a complex network of interacting factors, an idea referred to as the multifactorial causation of behaviour. Most aspects of behavior are determined by multiple causes

Many connections exist between what happens in psychology and what happens in society. Trends and societal issues influence psychology's evolution. Culture belonging to entire societies or broad groups within societies but this concept can also be applied to small groups.

Psychologists do not just collect facts, but seek to explain and understand what they have observed. No theory can properly explain everything known about behaviour, so psychologists recognize that theoretical diversity is a strength

Empiricism is the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. This means that its conclusions are based on observation rather than reasoning, beliefs, or speculation. This approach usually requires a certain amount of skepticism.