What is Psychology? – Chapter 1

Psychology: study of the mind

Mental process: an individual’s thoughts and feelings that are personal and cannot be exactly observed

Behaviour: any observable action made by a living person. I.e. body language

Psychologist: uses counselling and cognitive behaviour therapies

Psychiatrist: qualified medical doctor that is able to diagnosis treatment for mental illness and emotional problems

Philosophy: Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems

Physiology: the science of the mechanical, physical, bioelectrical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health

Structuralism: the study of human consciousness.

Functionalism: the study of ones adaptability of consciousness and our ability to change out behaviour when necessary to function effectively in a constantly changing environment

Psychoanalysis: focuses on the roles of unconsciousness conflicts and motivations in understanding and explain behaviour and mental process

Behaviourism: involves understanding and explaining how behaviour is learned and moulded by experience.

Humanism: explaining behaviour and mental process that focuses on the uniqueness of each individual person and the positive qualities and potential of all human beings

Neurons: neurons are the basic building blocks of the nervous system.

Neurotransmitters: neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse.

Cognition: knowledge acquired through reasoning, intuition, or perception

Scientific method: advancing knowledge by formulating a question, collecting data about it through observation and experiment, and testing a hypothetical answer

Empirical evidence: based on or characterized by observation and experiment instead of theory

Telepathy: supposed communication directly from one person's mind

Clairvoyance: the supposed ability to perceive things that are usually beyond the range of human senses

Precognition: the ability to know what is going to happen in the future

Barnum effect: The Barnum effect is the name given to a type of subjective validation in which a person finds personal meaning in statements that could apply to many people.

Philosophical roots of psychology:
• 2000 years ago Greek philosopher Socrates and his followers Plato and Aristotle wrote extensively about all kinds’ human thoughts, feeling and behaviour, and human nature in general.

Nature vs. nurture debate:
• The influence of the genes we inherit from our biological parents compared with that of our various life experiences.

Mind-body problem:
• Involves the relationship between the human mind and body.
• The question of whether out mind and body are distinct, separate entities or whether they are one and the same thing.

Mind-brain problem:
• Involves the questions about the relationship between brain activity and conscious experience; relationship between what our brain does and our awareness of our own existence and activities, and events in the external world.

Descartes and ‘dualism’:
• French philosopher proposed his theory that the mind and body are two different things. He reasoned that the mind in non- physical, spiritually entity, whereas the body is a physical, fleshy structure.

Scientific roots of psychology:

Structuralism:
• Study of human consciousness
• German psychologist named Wilhelm Wundt

Functionalism:
• William James was interested in the study of functions purpose that mental process serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment

Psychoanalysis:
• Sigmund Freud focused on the roles of unconscious conflict and motivations in understanding and explaining behaviour and mental processes.

Behaviourism:
• John B. Watson an American psychologist that was interested in behaviourism which involved understanding and explaining how behaviour is learned and moulded by experience

Humanism: