PS101 Final: PSYCH FINAL NOTES
Document Summary
Psychology: discipline concerned with behaviour and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism s physical/mental state and external environment. Psychology vs. pseudoscience: essentially a myth; psychobabble (unsupported popular opinion) Phrenology detailed study of shape/size of cranium as indication of character and mental ability. Notion that brain s impact on skull tells us about personality. Considered pseudoscience due to lack of evidence: modern. Examines structure of one s experience, analyzed using basic elements, known as introspection (analyze sensations, images, and feelings into basics. Wundt trained people to self-examine experiences and parse them. Emphasis on causes/consequences of behaviour, stream of consciousness , thought flow. Conscious (function of experience) is static; ask how and why . Flow varies across time/situations; learn how behaviour/mental processes allow for adaptation. Examines effects of unconscious motives (desires) and conflicts on behaviour; psychotherapy method. Criticism theories are not falsifiable; cannot be disproved; if not is always correct, it s not science.
