PSYC 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Jean Piaget, Edward B. Titchener, B. F. Skinner
27 Jun 2018
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What is Psychology?
The scientific study of mind, brain and behavior. It spans multiple levels of analysis.
The crucial and important challenges of studying psychology:
Most actions are multiply determined and cannot be determined by a single factor and thus,
single-variable explanations should be ignored. Bad human behavior can be explained in terms of
a single factor like poverty, genes, etc. but we must avoid jumping to such conclusions because
there is a huge array of factors involved in it.
Most psychological influences are dependent on each other for their meaning and thus, you
cant explain one without taking help from another. Thus, you cant focus on one and label it as the
cause. For example, anorexia nervosa is closely linked to anxiety-proneness, compulsive exercise,
perfectionism. However, perfectionist women tend to be more nervous, exercise more and overly
concerned with body image, Thus, we cant determine which contributes to the other.
People have individual indifferences and have different emotions, feelings, personalities and
thus, we cant evaluate them all on the same basis. These differences give rise to their different
actions and reactions to circumstances and set each individual different from the other.
People influence each other and this makes it difficult to point out what causes a certain trait in
a person. If a person is extraverted, he can influence people around him to be extraverted and the
extraversion around a person can make him more extraverted. Thus, there is no clear cut way to
decide what causes this behavior.
People's behavior is shaped by culture. Culture places restrictions on determining what causes a
person's action just like individual differences because different cultures have generalizations of
human beings behave.
Naïve realism:
The belief that we see the world precisely as it is. Appearances can be deceiving. Our tendencies
towards naïve realism can lead us to draw incorrect conclusions about human nature.
Psychological Science:
Empiricism: Knowledge should be initially acquired through observation
Scientific theory:
A scientific theory is an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world, including the
psychological world.
Hypothesis:
For a theory to be scientific, it must make certain predictions that researchers can test. This is called a
hypothesis. Theories are general explanations and hypotheses are predictions derived from these
explanations.
Confirmation Bias:
The tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss or distort evidence that
contradicts them.
Example: Dartmouth v/s Princeton, topics of gun control, psychologist carrying out an experiment.
Belief Perseverance:
The tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.
Example: real and fictitious (fake) feedback, good and bad (fake scores)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The scientific study of mind, brain and behavior. The crucial and important challenges of studying psychology: Most actions are multiply determined and cannot be determined by a single factor and thus, single-variable explanations should be ignored. Bad human behavior can be explained in terms of a single factor like poverty, genes, etc. but we must avoid jumping to such conclusions because there is a huge array of factors involved in it. Most psychological influences are dependent on each other for their meaning and thus, you cant explain one without taking help from another. Thus, you cant focus on one and label it as the cause. For example, anorexia nervosa is closely linked to anxiety-proneness, compulsive exercise, perfectionism. However, perfectionist women tend to be more nervous, exercise more and overly concerned with body image, thus, we cant determine which contributes to the other.
