PSY 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-8: Belief Perseverance, Confirmation Bias, Pseudoscience
Document Summary
Psychology: the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour. The mind is really just the brain in action. Human behaviour is difficult to predict because actions are multiply determined (produced by many factors) Individual differences explain why each person responds in a different way to the same objective situation. Reciprocal determinism: we mutually influence each other"s behaviour. People"s behaviour is often shaped by culture. Westerners view emotion as stemming from the individual. Easterners see an individual"s emotional state as highly tied to the emotional state of the group. Cultural difference place further limits on the broad generalizations about human nature. Emic approach: investigators study the behaviour of a culture from the perspective of a native. Etic approach: study the behaviour of a culture from the perspective of an outsider. Why can"t we always trust our common sense. Our common sense can lead us to believe two things that can"t be true simultaneously.
