PSYC 2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Scientific Method, Gestalt Psychology, Operant Conditioning

• School: Auburn University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2010
• Professor: Murphy

Document Summary

Why study psychology: most people are i(cid:374)terested i(cid:374) figuri(cid:374)g out others" (cid:271)eha(cid:448)ior. Humans are intuitive psychologists: psychological science: The study of mind, brain, and behavior: goals of psychology: understand mental activity, social interactions, and how behavior is acquired. Amiable skepticism: open to new ideas, but wary of findings not supported by good evidence and sound reasoning. Psychological science teaches critical thinking: can people intuitively know if claims related to psychology are fact or fiction, critical thinking: Systematically evaluating information to reach reasonable conclusion. Baby mozart: researchers found that listening to mozart led research participants to score higher on a test related to intelligence. Subsequent research largely failed to get the same results. A review of studies testing the mozart effect showed that listening to mozart is unlikely to increase intelligence: factors of critical thinking: If you agree (cid:449)ith a perso(cid:374)"s (cid:448)ie(cid:449)poi(cid:374)t, you"ll agree (cid:449)ith everything they say. Just (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause so(cid:373)eo(cid:374)e says they"re (cid:272)redi(cid:271)le does(cid:374)"t (cid:373)ea(cid:374) they really are.