Chapter one Flashcards
(46 cards)
Psychology:
the scientific study of thought and behaviour
Psychologists have 4 main goals
Describe
Explain
Predict
change
Cognitive psychology
the study of how people, perceive information, solve problems, learn and remember
Developmental psychology:
studies how thought and behavior change as we develope over the span of our lives
Behavioral neuroscience:
studies link of brain, mind and behavior
Biological psychology
study of bodily systems and chemicals and how they affect behavior
Personality psychology:
studies what makes us unique and consistencies in people’s behavior
Social psychology
studies how the real or imagined presence of others influences people’s behavior
Clinical psychology:
focuses on diagnosing and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders
Health psychology:
examines role of psychological factors in physical health and illness
Educational psychology:
studies how students learn, effectiveness of teaching techniques, psychology of teaching
Industrial/ organizational psychology:
matching employees to jobs and trying to improve work performance
Sports psychology:
examining how psychological factors influence performance
Forensic psychology
Blends psychology, law and criminal justice. Make legal evaluations of a witness mental competency to see if they are fit for trial, see if a parent is fit to have a kid under their custody
Prehistoric views
Humans tried to cure mental problems
Most cultures had medicine people known as shamans
Shamans tried to treat the possessed with exorcisms, incantation and prayer
Sometimes they wore scary wooden masks to drive spirits away
Sometimes the shamans practiced trephination (drilling small holes into heads either for medical or psychological purposes, we don’t know)
Ancient views
Ancient CHINESE moved away from supernatural explanations and into natural and PHSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
They made connections to a person’s organs and that person’s emotions
Greek physicians moved to physiological explanations, fighting common belief mental disorders came from the gods
NATIVE NA (north american) medicine relied on SPIRITUAL HEALING but also used herbs and botanicals to treat both mental and physical problems
Medieval to Early Modern Views
In MEDEVIL EUROPE –> SUPERNATURAL CAUSES (possessed by spirits, demons etc)
WITCHCRAFT seen as work of devil so they used the float test
First asylum in 16th or 17th century
Treatment meant removing the people from society, not helping them adjust to society, placed in filthy, horrible rooms and conditions
MORAL TREATMENT came later (dignity and care) ← Philippe Pinel was first to do this
Late 19th to Early 20th Century Views
Simply one form of medical illness that needed medical treatment and therapy, LIKE ANY OTHER MEDICAL ILLNESS
Emil Kraepelin BEGAN CLASSIFYING DISORDERS and diagnosing people, also first to distinguish thought from mood disorders
In early 20th century, Sigmund Freud developed a form of therapy called psychoanalysis which assumes the unconscious mine is the most powerful force behind thought and behaviour and dreams are the most direct link to the unconscious mind
Modern views
By mid 20th century, 3 major modern developments of CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY EMERGED: psychotherapy, drug therapy and modern criteria to diagnosing mental disorders
Currently two systems for classifying disorders :
The International Classification for Diseases
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
North american psychologists tend to use the Diagnostic and statistical manual
Empiricism
the view that all knowledge and thoughts comes from experience; the mind comes as a blank slate
Psychophysics:
the study of how people experience physical sensations
William James :
considered the founder of psychology in North America
Mary Calkins
A student of William James, Mary Calkins was the first female president of the APA (American Psychological Association)
- Because Mary Caulkin was a woman, She and William James did course work at home as at the time, Harvard was an all-male University. She did all the requirements of a PhD but Harvard wouldn’t give it to her because she was a woman
Margaret Washburn
was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in psychology
