Chapter 1: What is Psychology?

Philosophical issues in psychology

o Free will vs. Determinism
o Nature vs. Nurture
o Mind-Brain problem
Dualism: mind is separate from the brain but controls brain and
therefore body
Contradicts the law of conservation of matter and energy
If the mind isn't made of matter or energy, it can't
do anything
Monism: Conscious experience is inseparable from the physical
brain
What psychologists do
Be able to identify various types of psychologists based on descriptions of
their education and what services they provide/activities they engage in.
o Clinical Psychologist
PhD with clinical emphasis or PsyD plus internship, 5+ years
after UG
Specialty in understanding and helping people with
psychological problems
How can people overcome severe anxieties?
o Psychiatrist
MD plus psych residency, 8 years after UG
Deals with emotional disturbances
Can prescribe drugs
Tend to deal with more severe disorders
o Psychoanalyst
Either of the above, plus 6-8 years in a psychoanalytic institute
Rely on the theories and methods of Freud
o Psychiatric nurse
2 year degree to master's degree plus supervised experience
o Clinical social worker
Master's plus 2 years supervised experience
Similar to clinical psychologist, but with different training
Less formal education, so cheaper hourly
o Counseling psychologist
PhD, PsyD or EdD plus supervised counseling experience
Help people with educational, vocational, marriage, health-
related and other decisions
Deals mostly with life decisions and family or career
readjustments
Should this person consider changing careers?
o Forensic psychologist
Doctorate, usually in clinical or counseling psychology plus
training in legal issues
Provide advice and consultation to police, lawyers and courts
Advise on defendant's mental competency to stand trial
o Biopsychologist
Relationship between brain and behavior
 What body signals indicate hunger and satiety?
o Cognitive psychologist
Study the processes of thought, knowledge, and memory
Do people have several kinds of memory?
o Community psychologist
Organizations and social structures
Would improved job opportunities decrease psychological
stress?
o Developmental psychologist
Changes in behavior time, as a person ages
At what age can a child first distinguish between appearance
and reality?
o Educational psychologist
Improvement of learning in school
What is the best way to test a student's knowledge?
o Environmental psychologist
How factors such as noise, heat, and crowding affect behavior?
What building design can maximize the productivity of those
who use it?
o Evolutionary psychologist
Evolutionary study of behavior
How did people evolve their facial expressions of emotion?
o Human factors specialist (ergonomist)
Communication between person and machine
How can an airplane cockpit be redesigned to increase safety?
o Industrial/organizational psychologist
Study of people at work
Should jobs be made simple and foolproof or interesting and
challenging?
o Learning and motivation specialist
Learning in humans and other species
What are the effects of reinforcement and punishment?
o Personality psychologist
Personality differences
Why are certain people shy and others gregarious?
o Psychometrician
Measuring intelligence, personality, and interests
How fair are current IQ tests? Can we devise better tests?
o School psychologist
Problems that affect schoolchildren
How should the school handle a disruptive child?
o Social psychologist
Group behavior, social influences
What methods are most persuasive for changing attitudes
Structuralism: key ideas and key people
o An attempt to describe the structures that compose the mind
(sensations, feelings and images)
"Look at a lemon and describe its yellowness, brightness, shape,
etc"
 o Kinda sucked because good science is interesting and answerable
o Edward Titchener of Cornell University
Functionalism: key ideas and key peoples
o Learn how people produce useful behaviors
o What the mind does rather than what it is
o Williams James
Posed some cool and interesting questions
But then like, didn't do any research and left other people to find
answers
Behaviorism
o Field of study that concentrates on observable, measurable behaviors
and not on mental processes
o John B Watson
Sigmund Freuds psychodynamic perspective on mental illness
o Analyzing patients' dreams and memories
o Tried to trace current behavior to early childhood experiences
Basic vs. applied research
o Basic research: seeks theoretical knowledge for its own sake
o Applied research: deals with practical problems
Positive psychology
o Studies the predispositions and experiences that make people happy,
productive, and successful