PSY321H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ashkenazi Jews, Subculture, Human Brain
Document Summary
Goal of psychology: is to look at behaviours, looking for an objective truth, the focus is the study of the organ that produces everything which is the nervous system. Why does the nervous system exist : interface between brain and environment, we need an organ to respond to the fact that our environment is variable, responding to the environment is a critical importance to our survival. Most research relies on western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic participants: weird (acronym, not entirely representative of humanity, also overwhelmingly based on america, even more problematic: 70% of participants are psychology undergraduates. Western vs. non-western cultures influences by western philosophical movements. Fuzzy boundaries: often unclear where one culture ends and another begins, what constitutes similar vs. different cultures, holistic approach: a culture is defined in terms of the unique combination of all cultural elements.
