PSYC 2000 Chapter : Chapter 1
Document Summary
What is psychology: psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, behavior- any action, mental processes: perceptions, thoughts, feelings. Goals of psychology: describe, explain, predict, control. History: pre psychology (ancient philosophy, aristotle (384-322 bce, tabula rasa: mind is a clean state that"s written upon by experiences (wax board, plato, mind pre exists: born with traits, tendencies, personalities- disagreed with. Just noticeable difference (jnd: fechner, stimulus intensity (ebbinghaus is part of this group, structuralism (mentalism, wilhelm wundt (1879): started a lab, father of modern psychology: head of "academia family tree, e. b. Tichner: student of wundt, functionalism translated alot of wundt"s works into english said to have brought psych into america- started first lab in america, william james, behaviorism. Limitation: no control of situation: laboratory observations: watching animals or people in an artificial or controlled environment, advantages: control over environment, allows the use of specialized equipment.
