Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Behaviorism, Ethology, Information Processing

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Atkinson

Document Summary

What is psychology: explanations of behaviour, schools of psychology, pioneers. The official start is 1879, in germany as a separate science subject. Definition: the scientific study of behaviour and the mind. Try to understand people in many different ways. Cultural and environmental factors: value system: certain cultures may value aggressiveness for example or maybe the environment (hot, noise,etc) Individual and psychological: learning, cognitive processesfor violence in home=> violence in the future=> aggressive; Biological factors: for example neural, hormonal levels: of aggressiveness for example. Biological can influence the individual and psychological=> cultural & environmental. Focus on the function or significance of behaviours. How does a behaviour or mental process help us to dapt. Modern example: psychology, neuroscience, ethology (study of behaviours in a totally natural environment) ( guy who went to africa to study ethology: lions are aggressive, but depends on time/ sex of the lion)