PSYCO104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Falsifiability, Pseudoscience

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO104
• Professor: Eric Legge

Document Summary

Psych 104 lecture #1 introduction to psychology. Psychology: scientific study of behaviour and mind: behaviour: action and responses that can be directly observed, mind: internal states and processes (thoughts/feelings) cannot be seen directly. 3 levels of analysis for behaviour: biological: genetics, neurons, brain structure, psychological: motives, thoughts, feelings, emotions, environmental: relationships, social. 6: personality: human personality traits, social: thought/feelings/behaviour in social world. Basic vs applied research: basic: obtain knowledge for own sake, applied: solve specific practical problems. Psychology"s goals: describe how people and animals behave, explain and understand causes of behaviour, predict behaviour under certain conditions. Major themes of psychology: psychology is empirical, knowledge acquired through observation. Scientific investigation: psychology is theoretically diverse, links apparent unrelated ideas/observations together. Different phenomena multiple theories: psychology evolves in sociohistorical context, transformation of psychology. Trends, issues, values: behaviour is determined by multiple causes, processes: different elements.