ALHT106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Noam Chomsky, Ethology, Sociobiology
ALTH online lecture 1 Introduction to Psychology
- Psychology is concerned with the information-processing and behaviour-controlling
mechanisms of animate, living creatures
- Why do allied health practitioners need to learn psychology?
oParts of Allied Health theory and practice are grounded in scientific insights
from psychology
oModern conceptions of health must be inclusive of mental and social factors
in talking about health, it includes mental state and how well they function
in a social interpersonal domain
oMany Allied Health Practitioners will work closely in health teams that
include professional psychologists
oAll health professionals need to work extensively with real people during
some of the most stressful and vulnerable times of their lives when you
have a duty of care to your clients, the insights of psychology will help you
help them while avoiding harm
- Folk vs scientific psychology
oFolk psychology humans possess a set of intuitions, desires and cultural
sensitivities that function as a kind of everyday psychology Humans’
everyday tendency to form intuitive theories about themselves and those
around them, to predict or explain the things they do
oScientific psychology the systematic and formalised study and thought and
behaviour employing the methods and institutions of empirical science
oScientific psychology functions as a verification of folk psychology
oFolk psychology is flawed and prone to biases and heuristic errors that can be
disastrous when placed in a position of trust
- History and Current Perspectives
oThe traditions of contemporary psychology grew out of the related fields of
speculative and natural philosophy, back when the European scientific
revolution started gaining momentum after the Enlightenment Period
oPsychology is considered a younger science than other fields (chem, physics,
etc) because it took many generations before empirical methodologies could
be applied to the domain of the mind
oEarly psychologists: Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, John Lock
- Current perspectives (in chronological order): psychodynamics, behaviourism,
cognitive psychology, humanistic psychology, evolutionary psychology
- Psychodynamics first, which behaviourism responded to, etc – as each of these
perspectives unfolded over time, they each added key ideas/insights to the way we
think about human nature
- Psychodynamics
oThe school of thought introduced in the works of Sigmund Freud
oThe central insight is the notion that the mind is not a unitary entity (you
don’t have one mind that has only one set of intentions), but is comprised of
functional parts that can sometimes come into contact with each other
oWhile weakly empirically grounded, introduced key concepts
oKey insights:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Alth online lecture 1 introduction to psychology. Psychology is concerned with the information-processing and behaviour-controlling mechanisms of animate, living creatures. Why do allied health practitioners need to learn psychology: parts of allied health theory and practice are grounded in scientific insights from psychology, modern conceptions of health must be inclusive of mental and social factors. Current perspectives (in chronological order): psychodynamics, behaviourism, cognitive psychology, humanistic psychology, evolutionary psychology. Psychodynamics first, which behaviourism responded to, etc as each of these perspectives unfolded over time, they each added key ideas/insights to the way we think about human nature. People experience a wide range of sometimes contradictory desires and impulses, which can cause behavioural conflict not only between the desires themselves but with the constraints of reality. Much of psychology activity occurs outside of conscious awareness, but still influences what we think and feel. Our minds must develop techniques and mechanisms to cope with internal conflict, while preserving function and self-esteem.
