PSYC 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ulric Neisser, Spiritualism, Wilhelm Wundt
26 Jun 2018
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Week Two (Sept. 18 -22, 2017)
Introduction to Psychology/Behavioural Sciences
Lecture 02: How Psychology Became a Science
What is Psychology?
- In Greek, “Psyche” means Soul. -ology” means study of.
- Scientific Psychologists systematically study the mind, brain and behaviour.
- They attempt to answer many exceptionally difficult questions (ie.
consciousness).
-Mysterians believe that certain questions regarding human nature are
unanswerable.
Levels of Analysis
Ten Things that make Psychology Challenging
1. Behaviour is difficult to predict (Meehl’s Maxim - people are likely to behave in a
way that they’ve behaved before.).
2. Behaviour is multiply determined.
3. Psychology influences are rarely independent of one another (Multicollinearity →
overlap of behaviour → Interaction between white lab coat, red pill and laboratory
has a greater impact than those things would have singularity; on their own).
4. Psychological influences are often unknown → tend to focus on one aspect of
things and miss the whole picture → Scientists were just focused on the box, not
that the rat would press the green button to get out of the box.
5. People affect each other (reciprocal determinism). → People affect each other.
For instance if an employer is very traditional, those applying for the job will dress
conservatively; not because they find it fulfilling but because they want the job.
6. Many psychological concepts are difficult to define (ie. intelligence).
7. The brain didn’t evolve to understand itself (paradox of reflexivity).
8. People in the psychological experiments usually know they’re being studied
(problem of reactivity). → when people know they’re being monitored, they
change their behaviour.
9. People differ from each other (ie. thinking, emotion and behaviour).
10. Culture influences people’s behaviour (Emic (insider) vs. etic (outsider)
approaches to studying a culture’s behaviour).
What Really Exists?
- Ontology: The search for “what is real”; the study of what “is”.
- Materialism (Marx): Only material things (those that can be derived from
the senses) exit.
- Idealism (Hegel): Some of “reality” exists separately from the sensible
world (what we can see). → Even if your material existence is terrible,
you can still feel good in your heart “a slave can be happy in their chains”
How Do We Discover/Create the Answers?
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Week Two (Sept. 18 -22, 2017)
- Epistemology - the study of knowledge and how individuals gain knowledge.
- Empiricism (Hume): Belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory
experience. Take that knowledge and build up from it; bottom-up
theorizing.
- Rationalism (Descartes): Belief that at least some knowledge can be
known independent of the senses; eg., by thinking,deducing , or inferring.
Top-down theorizing.
How do Facts Differ from Theory?
- Realist View (Popper):
- Sees theories as soft mental images involving values and beliefs while
facts are heard, settled and observable (failing to confirm the null
hypothesis = portable truth).
- Relativist View (Foucault):
- The idea that the powerful influence of our thoughts often dictates what
we observe as facts. We only know the world through our consciousness,
and it is coloured by our language and subcultures.
Two Approaches to Knowledge
Logical Positivism Social Constructionism
- Assumes reality is independent of the
knower.
- If the researcher is careful, it is
possible to arrive at unbiased truth.
- Assumes researchers construct/craft
knowledge that is influenced by the
social context of their inquiry.
- There is no such thing as pure,
“unbiased” truth, it is always from a
perspective. → What one person calls
biased could just be one person’s
perspective.
What is Objectivity and Subjectivity?
- Objectivity: “A view of truth or reality which is free of any individual’s influence”
→ Existing independent of mind; belonging to the sensible world and being observable or verifiable
especially by systematic methods; expressing or involving the use of facts; derived from sense
perception without personal biases, a priori commitments, and emotional involvement.
- Subjectivity: “The condition of being a subject: possessing, perspectives,
experiences, feelings, beliefs, desires, and/or power”.
→ The collection of the perceptions, experiences, expectations, personal or cultural
understandings, and beliefs specific to a person that influences and informs the person’s
assessments about truth or reality.
→ Can’t have objectivity without subjectivity.
Historical Perspectives of the Field
- In the past, psychology was indistinguishable from philosophy.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Scientific psychologists systematically study the mind, brain and behaviour. They attempt to answer many exceptionally difficult questions (ie. consciousness). Mysterians believe that certain questions regarding human nature are unanswerable. When people know they"re being monitored, they change their behaviour: people differ from each other (ie. thinking, emotion and behaviour), culture influences people"s behaviour (emic (insider) vs. etic (outsider) approaches to studying a culture"s behaviour). Ontology: the search for what is real ; the study of what is . Materialism (marx): only material things (those that can be derived from the senses) exit. Idealism (hegel): some of reality exists separately from the sensible world (what we can see). Even if your material existence is terrible, you can still feel good in your heart a slave can be happy in their chains . Epistemology - the study of knowledge and how individuals gain knowledge. Empiricism (hume): belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
