PSYC 4039 Chapter : Introduction Powerpoint
Document Summary
What is psychology: scientific study of behavior and mental processes, behavior, mental processes. Goals of psychology: description, explanation, prediction, control. Psychologist identify the problem (md) and psychiatrist prescribe medication (phd) Areas in psychology: clinical, developmental, experimental, cognitive, industrial, social, personality, neuropsychology, comparative. History of psychology: philosophers, medical doctors, physiologist, entered the realm of sciences: approximately 130 years ago. Structuralism: focused on the structure or basic elements of the mind: sensations, feelings, and images. Functionalism: how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play: william james, believed it was too early to study consciousness as it is like a ever changing stream. Max wertheimer: studied sensation and perception, these things could not be broken down farther and still be properly understood, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts , focus on patterns rather than the pieces. Other viewpoints: psychoanalysis, sigmand freud, behaviorism, john b. watson, focus on observable behavior.
