U09 Psych 100 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Resting Potential, Central Nervous System, Somatic Nervous System
Document Summary
Psychological science: the study through research of the mind, brain, and behavior. Behavior = the totality of observable human (or animal) actions. Based on empirical evidence (things we can observe) It creates controlled conditions and observations to see what variables might change. Behavior is multiply determined (multiple things drive a certain behavior) Psychological influences are often related to each other. Nature/nurture debate: the arguments concerning whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or acquired through education, experience, and culture. Both dynamically interact in human psychological development. Leonardo da vinci"s dissections led him to theorize that all sensory messages arrived at one location in the brain which he called the sensus communis. Rene descartes: promoted the influential theory of dualism. Dualism: the idea that the mind and the body are separate yet intertwined. Argued that the body was nothing more than an organic machine governed by reflex. Mental functions (memory and imagination) resulted from body functions.
