PSYO 1021 Chapter Notes -Gestalt Psychology, Empiricism, Tabula Rasa
23 May 2013
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Ch. 1 psychology: the science of behavior: define psychology and indicate what kinds of behaviors it studies. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind. The term behavior refers to action and responses that we can directly observe. 1- to describe how people and other animals behave. 2- to explain and understand the causes of these behaviors. 3- to predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions. 4- to influence or control behavior through knowledge and control of its causes to enhance human welfare. Moreover, if we can control causes, then we should be able to control the behavior. A distinction is made between basic research, the quest for knowledge purely for its own sake and applied research, which is designed to solve specific practical problems. In psychology, the goals of basic research are to describe how people behave and to identify the factors that influence or cause a particular type of behavior.
