PSYC 1020H Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Evolutionary Psychology, Quackery, Pseudoscience
14 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Psychology- the discipline concerned with behaviour and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism"s physical state, mental state, and external environment; the term is often represented by the greek letter psi. Empirical- relying on or derived from observation, experimentation, or measured. Psychobabble- pseudoscience and quackery covered by a veneer of psychological and scientific- sounding language. Critical thinking- the ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgements on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence, rather than emotion or anecdote. Guidelines to critical thinking: ask questions; be willing to wonder, define your terms, examine the evidence, analyze assumptions and biases, don"t oversimplify, consider other interpretations, avoid emotional reasoning, tolerate uncertainty. Psychology"s past: from the armchair to the laboratory. Psychologists want to describe, predict, understand and modify behaviour to add to human knowledge and increase human happiness. John locke- mind works by associating ideas arising from experience. Hippocrates said the brain is our source of emotions.
