PSYC 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: B. F. Skinner, Edward B. Titchener, Evolutionary Psychology
27 Jun 2018
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Psychology is defined as the specific study of mental processes and behavior.
Behavior: anything an organism does (directly observable)
Mental processes: internal subjective experience inferred from behavior, activities of our brain when
engaged in thinking, observing the environment and using language.
Mental process and behavior when studied have one of four goals in mind.
Description: describe very specifically the things that they observe
Explanation: telling what, where, when and how isn’t enough they search for “why” develop hypotheses
and theories
Prediction: seek to predict the circumstance under which a variety of behaviors and mental process are
likely to occur.
Control: we often encounter situations in which we limit in increase certain behavior and mental
process are likely to occur controlling our behavior
Culture: a set of common beliefs, practices, values and a history that transmits across generation.
Levels of analysis:
Sociology: groups of individual
Psychology: the individual
Biology: biological system within the individuals
Chemistry: compound and elements within the biological systems
Physics: forces within chemicals
Math: quantitative expression forces
Three main levels
Social: friends, family, culture
Psychological: personality, life experiences
Biological: brain, neural activity
Psychology must occur at levels:
The brain: how brain cells activity differs from person to person
The person: how the content of individual’s mental process form and influence behavior
The group: how behavior is shaped by social and cultural environments
Module 2 Roots of philosophy
Metaphysics: study of reality
Mind-body problem, are the mind and body the same? Where do mental processes occurs in the body
Epistemology: study of knowledge
Mostly innate or is it gained from experience
Aristotle: mind and body are the same (not separable)
Knowledge comes through the senses that Is learned
Rene Descartes: dualist: proposed min and brain are distinct but interact
Thought that the brain controlled the body via the movement of fluids within the tube that ran
throughout the body
John Locke: tabula rase: mind a blank slate, all knowledge comes through the senses
Johannes Muller: nerves contain specific types of energy that give rise to particular sensations “specific
nerve energy”
Herman von Helmholtz: measured the speed of neural impulses. Discovered that neural impulses were
not instantaneous.
Gustav Fechner: Described mathematical relationships between physical stimuli and perception.
Devised techniques for psychophysical experiments.
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Document Summary
Psychology is defined as the specific study of mental processes and behavior. Mental processes: internal subjective experience inferred from behavior, activities of our brain when engaged in thinking, observing the environment and using language. Mental process and behavior when studied have one of four goals in mind. Description: describe very specifically the things that they observe. Explanation: telling what, where, when and how isn"t enough they search for why develop hypotheses and theories. Prediction: seek to predict the circumstance under which a variety of behaviors and mental process are likely to occur. Control: we often encounter situations in which we limit in increase certain behavior and mental process are likely to occur controlling our behavior. Culture: a set of common beliefs, practices, values and a history that transmits across generation. Chemistry: compound and elements within the biological systems. The brain: how brain cells activity differs from person to person.
