AP Psychology Prologue : The study of Psychology Psychology The scientific stud y of mental processes and behavior.

. - Behavior is anything which an organism doe s. Sensations dreams, feelings, emotions are known as mental process. Prescienti fic Psychology In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and perceptions combined to form ideas. In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and of an educated mind. Hebrew scripture links mind and emotion to the body. Socrates and his stude nt Plato believed the mind was separate from the body, the mind continued to exi st after death, and ideas were innate. Aristotle suggested that the soul is not s eparable from the body and that knowledge (ideas) grow from experience. Rene Desc artes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind) body separation, but wondered how the immaterial mind and physical body communicated. Francis Bacon is one of the foun ders of modern science, particularly the experimental method. John Locke held tha t the mind was blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it. Empiricism th e view that knowledge comes from experience via the senses and science flourishe s through observation and experiment. Psychological science is born Structuralis m - An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the element al structure of the human mind. Wilheim Wundt administrated the first psychology experiments by calculating individual time of response to simple tasks, he also established the first psychology lab in Germany. Edward Bradford Titchner joined the Cornell University faculty and introduced structuralism which tried to figur e individuals thoughts and elements by having the individual report how they feel about an object it was very unreliable. Wundt and Titchner studied the elements (atoms) of the mind by conducting experiments at Leipzig, Germany in 1879. Funct ionalism a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral proces ses function how they enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish. Influe nced by Darwin, William James established the school of functionalism, which opp osed structuralism. James believed that consciousness served as a function. Revealed that memories would reveal our present actions. Mary Calkins became the president of the American Psychological Associations (APA) first female president in 1905. Psychological science develops Wundt was both a philosopher an d a physiologist. James was an American philosopher. Ivan Pavlov, who pioneered the study of learning, was a Russian physiologist. Sigmund Freud, who developed an influential theory of personality, was an Austria n physician. Jean Piaget, the last centurys most influential observer of children, was a Swiss biologist. This list of pioneering psychologists Magellans of the mind, as Morton Hunt has cal led them illustrates psychologys origins in many disciplines and countries. Until the 1920s, psychology is defined as the science of mental life 1920s- John B. Watson and B.F Skinner labeled psychology scientific study of observable behavior. 1 1960s- Care Rogers and Abraham Maslow emphasized the importance of current environmental in fluences on our growth potential, and the importance of meeting our needs for lo ve and acceptance. Cognitive revolution supported ideas developed by earlier psyc hologists, such as the importance of considering internal thought processes, but it expanded upon those ideas to explore scientifically the way we perceive, pro cess, and remember information. Humanistic psychology Historical significant pers pective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people used personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth. Contemporar y Psychology The American Psychological Association is the largest organization o f psychology with 160,000 members worldwide, followed by The British Psychologica l Society with 34,000 members. Psychologys big debate Nurture V.S Nature Nature-Nu rture issue the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that ge nes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors . Darwin stated that nature selects those that best enable the organism to survi ve and reproduce in a particular environment. Plato Assumed that character and i

ntelligence are largely inherited and that certain ideas are also unborn. Aristo tle countered that there is nothing in the mind that does not first come in from the external world through the senses. Locke Mind is blank sheet. Environmentally influenced. Descartes Believe that some ideas are innate. Charles Darwin Argued that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies. Natural Selection The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variati ons, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generation. 2 Psychologys three main levels of analysis. Levels of analysis The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any giving phenomenon. Biopsychosocial approac h An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and soci al-cultural levels of analysis. Psychologys Current Perspectives Perspective Focu s Sample Questions Neuroscience How the body and brain enables emotions? How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives? Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of ones genes? How does evolution influence behavior tendencies? Behavior genetics How much do our genes and our environments influence To what extent are psychological traits such as 3 our individual differences? intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment? Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts? How can someones personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas? Behavioral How we learn observable responses? How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking? Cognitive How we encode, process, store and retrieve information? How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?

Socialcultural How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures? How are we as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ? Different perspectives Neuroscience body and brain enabling sensory experience a nd memories Evolutionary Traits influence behavior through natural selection Behavior Genetics- Genes and environmental influences Psychodynamic Unconscious conflicts spurs behavior Behavioral Observe responses Cognitive Process, store and retrieve information Social- Cultural Behavior caries within different cultures Psychologys subfields Biological psychologist links between brain and mind Developmental psychologist abilities from birth to death Cognitive How do we think? Solve problems? Personality Traits Social Viewing and affecting each other Basic research Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base. Applied research Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. 4 Clinical psychology a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats pe ople with psychological disorders. Counseling psychology a branch of psychology t hat assist people with problems in living (often related to school, work or marr iage) and in achieving greater well- being. Psychiatry A branch of medicine deal ing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy. Psychol ogist What she does Clinical Studies, assesses, and treats people with psycholog ical disorders Counseling Helps people cope with academic, vocational, and marit al challenges. Educational Studies and helps individuals in school and education al settings Industrial/ Organizational Studies and advises on behavior in the wo rkplace. Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) stud ies, assesses, and treats troubled people with psychotherapy. Psychiatrists on t he other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients. Close up Your study o f psychology Survey, Question, Read, Review, and Reflect (SQ3R) Survey: What you are about to read, including chapter outlines and section heads. Question: Ask questions. Make notes. Read: Make sure you read outlines, sections and chapters in entirety. Review: Margin definitions. Study learning outcomes. Reflect: On what you learn. Test yourself with quizzes