PSYC 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Behavioral Neuroscience, Psych, Empiricism
14 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 1
Psychology: the science of behavior and the mind.
Behavior: observable actions of a person or an animal.
Mind: refers to an individual’s sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, dreams,
motives, emotions and other subjective experiences. Also refers to all of the
unconscious knowledge and operation rules that are built into and stored in the brain
that help organize behavior and conscious experience.
Most data in psych are based on observations of behavior bc behavior is observable
and the mind isn’t; these observations help make inferences into the mind.
Psych is an applied discipline; “helping profession”
3 Fundamental Ideas of Psychology: 1. Behavior and mental experiences have physical
causes that can be studied scientifically. 2. The way people behave, think, and feel is
modified over time by their experiences in their environment. 3. The body’s machinery
which produces behavior and mental experience is a product of evolution by natural
selection.
Dualism: there’s a human body and soul (conjoined entities)
Materialism: nothing exists except matter and energy
The Idea of Physical Causation of Behavior: Descartes “we have thought, otherwise
same as animals”
Thomas Hobbes: conscious thought is purely a product of the brain’s machinery and
therefore subject to natural law.
Sechenov: human actions are initiated by stimuli in the enviro.
Empiricism: refers to the idea that human knowledge and thought ultimately derive from
sensory experience.
Nativism: the view that the most basic forms of human knowledge and the basic
operating characteristics of the mind are innate
Immanuel Kent: priori and posteriori knowledge, need prior knowledge to learn new
knowledge
Darwin: basic forms of human emotion are inherited and may evolve to support survival
Level of analysis: refers to the level, or type, of causal process that is studied.
Neural: behavioral neuroscience, physiology: biopsychology (chemical functions
affectation)
Genetic explanations: behavioral genetics (genes affect behavior) evolutionary:
evolutionary psych (how characteristics came about over the course of evolution)
learning psychology (how behaviors are affected by past or learned experiences)
cognition, or cognitive psychology (relate items of mental info that underlie an action or
experience) social psych: how mental experiences or behaviors are influenced by
people and other things.cultural psych (how culture affects mental experiences or
behaviors) developmental psych (how development affects behavior and such) ALL
Document Summary
Psychology: the science of behavior and the mind. Behavior: observable actions of a person or an animal. Mind: refers to an individual"s sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, dreams, motives, emotions and other subjective experiences. Also refers to all of the unconscious knowledge and operation rules that are built into and stored in the brain that help organize behavior and conscious experience. Most data in psych are based on observations of behavior bc behavior is observable and the mind isn"t; these observations help make inferences into the mind. Behavior and mental experiences have physical causes that can be studied scientifically. The way people behave, think, and feel is modified over time by their experiences in their environment. The body"s machinery which produces behavior and mental experience is a product of evolution by natural selection. Dualism: there"s a human body and soul (conjoined entities) The idea of physical causation of behavior: descartes we have thought, otherwise same as animals .
