PSY111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wilhelm Wundt, Behavioral Neuroscience, Individualism
What is psychology?
- Psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking,
remembering and feeling), behaviour and the interaction between them.
- Biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think, feel
and act.
- Concerned with all aspects of behaviour and with the thoughts, feelings and motivations
underlying that behaviour.
- Both a thriving academic discipline and a vital professional practice.
- We are all interested in what makes people tick and how this understanding can help
solve major problems in society.
- Psychology is a science.
- Psychologists study human behaviour by observing, measuring and testing, then arriving
at conclusions based on scientific methods.
- Applied or practising psychologists use the knowledge gained from this research in a
wide range of settings
Boundaries and borders of psychology
- Biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think, feel
and act.
- All psychological processes occur through the interaction of cells in the nervous system
(micro level)
- All human action occurs in the context of cultural beliefs and values that give it meaning
(macro level)
- To understand psychology we are constantly moving between these levels.
Biopsychology
Biopsychology or Behavioural Neuroscience:
- is the biological boundary of psychology.
- seeks to understand the mind through understanding the biological activity of the brain.
Localisation of function is the notion that discrete brain regions play a significant role in discrete
aspects of mental functioning.
Philosophical issues of psychology
- Free will versus determinism?
- Nature (biology) versus nurture (environment)?
- Rationalism versus empiricism?
- Reason versus emotion?
- Continuity versus discontinuity with other animals?
- Individualism versus relationality?
- Conscious versus unconscious?
- Mental versus physical (mind/body)?
Document Summary
Psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering and feeling), behaviour and the interaction between them. Biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think, feel and act. underlying that behaviour. Concerned with all aspects of behaviour and with the thoughts, feelings and motivations. Both a thriving academic discipline and a vital professional practice. We are all interested in what makes people tick and how this understanding can help solve major problems in society. Psychologists study human behaviour by observing, measuring and testing, then arriving at conclusions based on scientific methods. Applied or practising psychologists use the knowledge gained from this research in a wide range of settings. Biology and culture provide possibilities and constraints within which people think, feel and act. (micro level) All psychological processes occur through the interaction of cells in the nervous system.
