PSYB30H3 Chapter 1: CHAPTER 1.docx
Document Summary
Definition: scientific study of what makes people who they are. Study of individual differences: for identifying ways in which people are similar and different, how they became that way. Psychologists usually agree that understanding human psychology = understanding traits, genetics, neuroscience, self/identity, intrapsychic events, regulation/motivation, and cognition. Added to this: environmental forces (culture, society, socialization by peers/parents) and social. : a person"s typical way of thinking/feeling/acting in various situations, at different times. These are consistent across lifetime and expressed in many ways. : study of how genes and environment affect personality/behaviour. Evolution has selected behaviours that improve survival of species/individual and their close genetic relatives. : study of how brain and nervous system affect personality/behaviour through the study of bodily responses, brain structure, brain activity, and biochemical activity. Some research in this field suggests that extroversion/neuroticism/impulsivity are related to physiological and neurological differences that may be present at birth or develop later.
