Psychology - Chapter 1 - summary

Psychology, pseudoscience, and popular opinion

Psychology is a discipline concerned with behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by organisms and internal environment. Psychology's methods and reliance on empirical evidence distinguish it from pseudoscience and "psychobabble."

Psychologists have many pseudoscientific competitors, such as astrologers and psychics. But when put to the test, the claims and predictions of these competitors turn out to be meaningless or just plain wrong. Psychobabble is appealing because it confirms our beliefs and prejudices; in contrast, psychology often challenges them, although it also seeks to extend our understanding of familiar facts.

Thinking critically and creatively about psychology

One benefit of studying psychology is the development of critical thinking skills and attitudes. Critical thinking helps people evaluate competing findings on psychological issues that are personally and socially important.

The critical thinker asks questions, defines terms clearly, examines the evidence, analyzes assumptions and biases, you point emotional reasoning, avoids oversimplification, considers alternative interpretations, tolerates uncertainty. Critical thinking is an evolving process rather than a once and for all accomplishment.

Psychology's past: from the armchair to the laboratory

Psychologies forerunners made some valid observations and had useful insights, but without rigorous empirical methods they also made serious errors in the description and explanation of behavior, as in the case of phrenology.

The official founder of scientific psychology was Wilhelm Wundt, who formally establish the first psychological laboratory in 1879, in Leipzig, Germany. His work led to structuralism, the first of many approaches to the field. Structuralism emphasize the analysis of immediate experience into basic elements. It was soon abandoned, in part because of its reliance on introspection.

Another early approach, functionalism, was inspired in part by the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin; it emphasize the purpose of behavior. One of its leading proponents was William James. Functionalism, too, did not last long as the distinct school psychology, but it greatly affected the course of psychological science.

Psychology as a method of psychotherapy has roots in Sigman Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, which emphasizes on conscious causes of mental individual problems.

Psychologies present: behavior, body, mind, and culture

Five points of view predominate today and psychology. The biological perspective emphasizes bodily events associated with actions, thoughts, and Felix, and also genetic contributions to behavior. Within this perspective, a popular new speciality, evolutionary psychology, is following in the footsteps of functionalism. The learning perspective emphasizes how the environment and the person's history affect behavior; within this perspective, the Haiti arrests reject mentalistic donations and social cognitive learning theorists combined elements of behaviorism with the study of thoughts, values, and intentions. The cognitive perspective emphasizes mental processes of perception, problem-solving, Lee formation, and other human activities. The sociocultural perspective explores how social contexts and cultural rules affected individuals beliefs and behavior. And the psychodramatic perspective, which originated with Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, emphasizes on conscious motives, conflicts, and desires some accord it differs greatly from the other approaches and its methods and standards of evidence.

Not all approaches to psychology fit neatly into one of the five major perspectives. For example, too important movements, humanist psychology and feminist psychology, have influenced the questions researchers asked, the methods they use, and their awareness of biases in the field.

What psychologists do...

Psychologists do research and teaching colleges and universities, provide mental health services, and conduct research and apply findings in a wide variety of nonacademic settings. Applied psychology is concerned with the practical uses of psychological knowledge. Basic psychology is concerned with knowledge for its own sake. Among the many psychological specialties are experimental, educational, developmental, industrial/organizational, psychometric, counseling, school, and clinical psychology.

Psychotherapist is an on regulated term for anyone who does therapy, including persons who have no credentials were trading at all. Licensed therapists differ according to their training approach. Clinical psychologists have a Ph.D. , en Ed.D., or a Psy.D.; psychiatrists have an M.D.; psychoanalysts are trained in psychoanalytic institutes; and licensed clinical social workers, counselors with various specialties, and marriage, family, and child counselors may have a variety of postgraduate degrees. Many psychologists are concerned about an increase in poorly trained psychotherapists lack credentials or a firm understanding of research methods and findings.

Beyond the borders

Many, if not most, psychologist draw on more than one school psychology. Indeed, there is a growing trend in psychology to cross the borders that have traditionally divided one specially from another.

Although psychologists differ in their perspectives and goals, psychology scientists, whatever their specialty, generally agree on which methods the study are acceptable, and all psychologists are united by their fascination with the mysteries of behavior.