HPS111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, Monism
HPS111 WEEK 1
Psychology is the scientific study of:
– behaviour (observable actions and responses)
– mind (unobservable thoughts and feelings)
It relies on scientific methods to gain empirical evidence and achieve four central goals:
1. Describe how people behave, think and feel
2. Understand and explain why people act the way they do
3. Exert control by designing research to test whether explanations are accurate
4. Apply psychological knowledge to enhance human welfare and experience
Empirical evidence is evidence gained through experience and observation, including evidence obtained
from manipulating with things and then observing what happens. These observations needs to be
systematic, i.e. conducted according to a system of rules or conditions so that they will be as unbiased and
precise as possible.
Subfields of psychology:
Biopsychology or behavioural neuroscience – focuses on the biological influences on behaviour. It looks at
how the brain processes information, and how genes and hormones influence our actions, thoughts and
feelings.
Development psychology – focuses on human physical, psychological and social development across your
lifetime.
Experimental psychology – focuses on basic processes like learning, sensory systems (e.g. hearing, vision),
perception and motivational states (e.g. sexual motivation, hunger, thirst).
Industrial-organisational (I/O) psychology – looks at people’s behaviour at the workplace.
Personality psychology – focuses on the study of human personality. Tries to determine core personality
traits and the way different traits relate to one another and influence behaviour.
Social psychology – looks at people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour related to society, i.e. how people
influence one another, how they behave in groups and form attitudes and impressions. It also involves
studying social relationships like love and prejudice.
Types of Research in Psychology
Basic – ‘basic research’ examines how and why people behave, think and feel the way they do. Basic
research can be carried out in labs or in real life settings, with human participants or other species.
Applied – ‘Applied research’ involves psychologists designing interventions using basic scientific
knowledge. E.g. designing and implementing HIV/AIDs prevention programs based on research findings.
Levels-Of-Analysis Framework
Mind-body interactions – the relationship between mental processes in the brain and the functioning of
other bodily systems. E.g. from a mental picture of a favourite food, you may trigger feelings of hunger.
Nature and nurture – just as our biological capacities (nature) influence how we behave and experience
the world, our experiences (nurture) influence our biological capacities.
Mind-body dualism – the belief that the mind is a spiritual entity not subject to physical laws that govern
the body.
Monism – the belief that mind and body are one and that the mind is not a separate spiritual entity.
Psychophysics – the study of how psychologically experienced sensations depend on the characteristics of
physical stimuli, e.g. how the perceived loudness of a sound changes as its physical intensity increases).
Structuralism – the analysis of the mind, in terms of its basic elements, i.e. studying the mind by breaking
it down to its basic components. Structuralists used the method of introspection in their experiments, where
participants were exposed to all sorts of sensory stimuli e.g. lights, sounds, tastes, and asked to describe
their inner experiences.
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Document Summary
Empirical evidence is evidence gained through experience and observation, including evidence obtained from manipulating with things and then observing what happens. These observations needs to be systematic, i. e. conducted according to a system of rules or conditions so that they will be as unbiased and precise as possible. Biopsychology or behavioural neuroscience focuses on the biological influences on behaviour. It looks at how the brain processes information, and how genes and hormones influence our actions, thoughts and feelings. Development psychology focuses on human physical, psychological and social development across your lifetime. Experimental psychology focuses on basic processes like learning, sensory systems (e. g. hearing, vision), perception and motivational states (e. g. sexual motivation, hunger, thirst). Industrial-organisational (i/o) psychology looks at people"s behaviour at the workplace. Personality psychology focuses on the study of human personality. Tries to determine core personality traits and the way different traits relate to one another and influence behaviour.
