Psychology Overview
What is psychology?
Study of behavior and cognitive activities
Observable
We can’t see psych, but we can still study it and its effects.
Social Science
Stems from philosophy (Metacognition and epistemology)
Why learn psychology?
To understand behavior and cognitive activities
How does our brain work?
To predict them
What will happen if we do x?
To modify them
If y happens when x is present, can we make z happen also?
To control them
Can we make a-z from just one x?
Why is it a science?
Tests ideas
Create theories
Predicts behavior/cognition?
Why is it social?
Focuses on individual
Individual functions in society
Major Issues in Psychology
Change vs. Stability
Will change or not change; progression or is it always the same?
Nature vs. Nurture
Are behaviors and traits because you were born that way or did someone teach you?
Types of Psychology/Psychologist
Neuroscientist
AKA Bio Psychologist
What type of work do they do?
Biological in nature
General health
Is not affected by nurture
What questions are they trying to answer?
Hormones, how do they work?
Neurotransmitters, what are they and what do they do?
How to neurons communicate?
What parts of the brain do what?
Cognitive Psychologist
What type of work do they do?
Things you can’t see (THINKING!)
Reasoning, problem solving, emotions, memory, dreaming, language, decisions
What questions are they trying to answer?
How do these functions happen?
What is going on during these functions?
Experimental Psychologist
Conducts experiments about the other branches
Developmental Psychologist
Studies how the brain changes over life
Clinical Psychologist
Works with diagnosis and treatment of abnormal behavior (Disorders)
Psychiatrist
Is the only one who can prescribe drugs
Counselling Psychologist
This is the prototypical person who listens to your problems
School Psychologist
Deals with things that could affect academics in a specific school
Work with teachers and also children who have learning disabilities
They work at the school
Educational Psychologist
Work for the district, government, or testing agency
Ask “How is the best way to learn?”
Social Psychologist
Ask “Why/what are affected by others?” and “Is the mind based on other people?”
Industrial/Organizational Psychologist
Work with businesses and often in the workplace
Study the best way to work and how to have a good workplace
Sports Psychologist
Study the motivation of athletes
Health Psychologist
Study how to get people invested in living a healthy life
Ask what makes a healthy life
Forensic Psychologist
Work with the legal system
Help investigate cases
Think about the main characters in Criminal Minds
Rehab Psychologist
Work with patient to manage and cope with Chemical (Drugs) and Physical (Injuries) issues

History of Psychology
The Greeks
Plato
“Know thyself” is his mantra of psychology
Created the practice of introspection (He didn’t create it, of course, but he used it for the psychological study)
Dualism
The belief that the mind and body are separate
Aristotle
Data-oriented
Even so, he was not always correct!
Wrote the book Peri-Psyches
His idea of the human condition is that they avoid pain, seek pleasure
Believed that people did things based on association (predecessor for learning theory)
Monism
The belief that the mind and body are one
Middle Period
Rene Descartes (1600’s)
Believed in Dualism, but believed that they communicate
He thought this idea was proved by the existence of reflexes
Found that nature was predictable because it was observable
Humans were an exception to this rule because of the mind
Pineal Gland
This was Rene’s obsession in his ideas
He believed that it was the “principal seat of the soul”
It was not controlled by the conscious mind
Enlightenment
Hobbes
Materialism
Belief that we do not have a mind or a soul, but rather we are just energy and matter
Locke
Tabula