PSYC 1000 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Absolute Threshold, Naturalistic Observation, Endocrine System

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1000
• Professor: Benjamin Giguere

Document Summary

The understanding of how mental processes and behaviour are shaped by experience (scientific approach) Aristole- assumption of casualty-thoughts caused by something within our bodies. Needs two key elements: carefully measured observations, experiments. (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iou(cid:396)s a(cid:396)e auto(cid:373)ati(cid:272), a(cid:374)d do(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:374)e(cid:272)essa(cid:396)il(cid:455) (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)e thoughts. Not reliable since most people a(cid:396)e(cid:374)(cid:859)t good at i(cid:374)t(cid:396)ospe(cid:272)tio(cid:374) (cid:894)(cid:271)iased(cid:895) Functionalism: focuses on the outcome of mental processes and behaviour (william james). Focused on why, and how it helps (evolution) Behaviourism: focuses on behaviours as the only way to drive general principles of psychology (skinner) Cognitivism: return to mental processes but using different approaches to introspection (ask over a period of days) To search for causes of mental processes and behaviour. To combat our internal biases create a faulty sense of confidence. Biases help us simplify our thinking, make decisions, protect how we view the world. Factors interact with each other (biological, psychological, social)