Intro to Psych Notes 1

How to Improve Your Memory

- Positive attitude
o Make the course your own
o Engage yourself
- Have a Plan of attack
o Plan your study time
o Know your goals
o Review concepts daily
- Get help
o Ask questions and get answers in class
- Talk to classmates
o Find a study buddy
o Get different perspectives
o Quiz yourself and each other
o Help each other out
- Before Class
o Read the assignment
o Preview the text
o Link the material
o Understand the vocabulary/jargon
o Make your own summary
- In Class
o Written notes are more effective than types notes
o Notes are not the same as the textbook
They are reminders to yourself
o Structure your own notes
o Share and examine your notes
- Out of Class 1
o Repeat your studying
o Ensure minimal interference
No music OR only instrumental music
o Form mental images of names and ideas
- Out of Class 2
o Distribute your study time
Do not cram
o Continue to study afterwards
o Study in different places at different times
- Out of Class 3
o Test yourself
Rehearse, find ignorant points
o Say things out loud, production effect
o Sleep
Chapter 1 Notes
- Module 1
o Vocabulary:
Biopsychosocial model
Critical thinking
hypothesis
Pseudoscience
psychology
scientific literacy
scientific method
theory
o Applications of the scientific method in psychology
o Breakdown of psychology into biopsychosocial model
o using critical thinking, scientific literacy to evaluate claims in real-
world
o Real-life applications of psychology
- Module 2
o Vocabulary:
Empiricism
Determinism
Zeitgeist
Materialism
Psychophysics
Clinical psychology diagnosis/treat psych disorder
Psychoanalysis explain that behave/pers unconscious
Nature and nurture relationship
Structuralism
Functionalism
Behaviorism
Humanistic psychology Unique human, free will, etc.
Gestalt psychology focus on whole rather than parts
o History of psychology
o Societyal acceptance of psychology
o Behaviour affected by environment, pbrain
o Certain locations of brain affect certain abilities
o Using the scientifically to find conclusions in the brain
o Freud, Darwins contributions to psychology focused on subconscious
o The study of behaviors was main focus throughout era.
o
- Module 3
o Vocabulary:
Applied psychology
psychiatry medicine for mental/behavioral disorders
Forensic psychology criminal justice system
School psychology special needs
 health psychology how ind/bio/environ factors affect health
Industrial organizational psychology
o There are many ways to apply psychology in many fields.
o Medicine (psychiatry) and mental approaches (clinical psychology)
are both used in the treatment of psychology problems.

Day 2 Notes A History of psychology

What is psychology?
- The study of the interaction between the mind, brain, and behavior
o They correlate to the thoughts, physical effects, and actions of people.
- Social science to derive principles about people
o New concepts build on old
- A method to measure and predict thought, behavior, and brain processes
o Factors of difficulty
Each person is different
People change over time
Experience changes a person
o Factors of stability
The mind and brain are tuned to the world
E.g. we each see the same colors
There are observable casual events
- Explanation and analysis breakdown
o Social
Cultural, interpersonal (behavior, interaction)
o Individual
Individual differences, cognition (mind, behavior)
o Biological
Brain systems, neurological/genetic study (brain, mind)

Brief History of Psychology

- Product of philosophy and physiology
o A study of the mind-body relationship
Began with animism: belief in spirit
Dualism: you cannot study the mind
- Descartes
o Animals dont have souls
o But animals have reflexes controlled by brain
o Postulated that the pineal gland serves nutritive purpose
- Evolved to materialism, empiricism
o Study of knowledge acquisition
- Asked, what is the effect of sensory experiences?
o Nature v. Nurture arguments
o DNA v. Experience

Developments in Psychology 19th Century

- Scientifically developing the theory of Natural Selection
 - Studying the effects of behavior to influence selection
- Biological psychology
o Galvani (frog muscles), Mller (nerve energies), Flourens
(ablation/brain dissection), Broca (Tan, language centers)
o Fritsch, Hitzig, Penfield (motor/sensory corticles
o Helmholtz (psychophysics: speed of neural transmission)
o Weber (sensory magnitudes, Webers law)

Structuralism: analyze conscious experience by breaking it down to basic elements

- Wundt establishes Laboratory to Study the Mind (1879)
o Studies sensation, perception, response times
- Titchner (structuralism)
o Developed components of thought
o trained research participants
used introspection to develop responses
dangerously only proved method for a time

Functionalism: the study, purpose of function behavior and conscious experience

- William James
o emphasized the role of thoughts in survival context
o behaviors in environmental adaptation
- Cult of Freud, Jung
o Psychoanalysis
o Analyzed the active unconscious on a conscious experience
- Gestalt
o Focus on shape/form
- Wertheimer/Kohler/Lewin
o The whole is not equal to the sum of its parts
o E.g. song sum of its notes
o this is important to develop the context and explanation for behaviors
o Lewin established that individual behavior is determined by
individual and environment

Behaviouralism
- Pavlov, Watson, Skinner
o Behavior is the only measureable data
o Led focus on observable things
o The mind is not the subject of the body

Psychology
- Applied psychology
o Human factors
o Clinical counseling
o Education/school
o Industrial/organizational
- Research psychology
o First principles
o cognitive studies
o neuroscience
o Quantitation
o Social/personality
o developmental