PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Progressive Education, Information Processing, Operational Definition

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Ingrid Johnsrude

Document Summary

Chapter one: psychologists study a wide variety: nervous systems, genetics, environmental events, personality characteristics, mental abilities and social interactions. Psychology: a science with a focus on behaviour, the ultimate goal of psychology is to understand human behaviour and why people act the way they do. Physiological psychology: examines the physiology of behaviour, learning, memory, sensory processes, emotional behaviour, motivation, sexual behaviour and sleep, study non humans as a model to understand casual events in humans. Comparative psychology: study of behaviour of members of a species to explain behaviour, evolutionary adaptation to the environment. Behaviour analysis: studies the effect of the environment on behaviour, primarily interested in learning and motivation. Important cause of behaviour is the relationship between behaviour and consequent event: pleasant behaviours= repeated, unpleasant= less likely to be repeated. Behaviour genetics: studies role of genetics in behaviour, examines similarities in physical and behavioural character between blood relatives, what aspects of behaviour are passed down through generations.