PY1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Behavioral Neuroscience, Wilhelm Wundt, Classical Conditioning
14 Jun 2018
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EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY FROM BRAIN TO PRACTICE
Introduction
Week 9 – all classes are cancelled
Psychology Society Club
• Careers Night Psychology
• 4th Year Q&A
Resources:
• Contact InfoHelp
• Psychology LibGuide
What is Psychology?
• Psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking,
remembering and feeling), behaviour and the interaction between them.
• Biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think,
feel and act
Boundaries and Borders of Psychology
• Biopsychology = examples of the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as
motivation, emotion and stress
• Cross Cultural Psychology = tries to distinguish universal psychological specific to
particular ___.
History of Psychology
• Philosophical tools of psychological questions
o Free will or determinism – do we freely choose our actions or is our
behaviour caused – determined by things outside out control?
o Mind – Body problem – the question of how mental and physical events
interact
• From philosophical speculation to scientific investigation
o William Wundt Founded the first psychological lab in 1879
o All psychological processes occur through the interaction of cues in the
nervous system, and all human actions occurs in the context of cultural
beliefs and values that render it meaningful. Psychological understandings
requires a constant movement between the micro level of biology and the
macro level of cultural.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Psychology seeks to answer questions about why we do the things we do. To paraphrase
on theorist, Erik Erikson (1963) – Psyhologists ust pratie ore ook keepig to
understand an individual or any given time, simuntanesly tracking biological events,
psychological experience and the cultural and historical context.
Philosophical Foundations
• The roots of modern western psychology are based in western philosophy, with the
great thinkers trying to answer the big questions of their time (Aristole, Descartes,
PiagetBurton et al)
• Big uestios haet eall haged – increase understanding of evidence help
answer the questions.
• Understanding that logical factors contribute to outcomes, understanding reflexes
(how people move and operate in different ways), how do we generate abstract
though processes, philosophical issues are still relevant to psychology
Philosophical Issues of Psychology
• Free will (not everything can be predicted) versus determinism (every action has been
determined, identified and tracing it back to the beginning of the world). Science =
cause effected / predict behaviour thoughts and feelings in order to improve
outcomes for people. The complexity of human behaviour, as there is so many
variables to calculate – meaning the cause may be different for every individual.
• Nature (biology) versus nurture (environment)?
• Rationalism versus empiricism?Reason versus emotion?Continuity versus
discontinuity with other animals? Individualism versus relationality?Conscious
versus unconscious?Mental versus physical (mind/body)? – not everything can be
measurable, therefore we have to think about what cannot be seen.
Major Sub-Disciplines of Psychology
• Social
• Forensic
• Personality
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Psychology society club: careers night psychology, 4th year q&a. What is psychology: psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering and feeling), behaviour and the interaction between them, biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think, feel and act. Boundaries and borders of psychology: biopsychology = examples of the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as motivation, emotion and stress, cross cultural psychology = tries to distinguish universal psychological specific to particular ___. Psychological understandings requires a constant movement between the micro level of biology and the macro level of cultural. Psychology seeks to answer questions about why we do the things we do. To paraphrase on theorist, erik erikson (1963) psy(cid:272)hologists (cid:373)ust pra(cid:272)ti(cid:272)e (cid:858)(cid:373)ore (cid:271)ook keepi(cid:374)g(cid:859) to understand an individual or any given time, simuntanesly tracking biological events, psychological experience and the cultural and historical context.
