Introduction to Psychology

Study Notes

Psychology is the systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental processes.
Behavior refers to observable actions, including eating, speaking, and sleeping.
Mental processes are internal, unobservable activities such as thinking and imagining.

Key features of scientific research: objectivity, repeatability, communication, and systematic approach.
Objectivity: using clear, precise definitions and accurate observations to avoid personal biases.
Repeatability: others should be able to repeat a study and get the same results.
Scientific research is crucial for ensuring reliable results and avoiding bias.

Clinical Psychology: Diagnoses and treats mental health issues (depression, anxiety, PTSD).
Counseling Psychology: Helps people deal with everyday life challenges.
Developmental Psychology: Studies how people change and grow throughout their lives (physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development).
Educational Psychology: Examines how people learn, improving teaching methods.
Experimental Psychology: Uses scientific methods to study basic psychological processes (perception, memory, learning, and motivation).
Industrial-Organizational Psychology: Studies workplace behavior and organizational processes.
Personality Psychology: Studies individual differences in behavior and emotions.
Health Psychology: Explores how psychological factors affect health and illness.
Neuropsychology: Studies the relationship between brain function and behavior.

Positive Psychology: Focuses on strengths and virtues to help individuals and communities thrive.
Cognitive Psychology: Investigates internal mental processes like perception, memory, and problem-solving.
Environmental Psychology: Studies how people interact with their physical surroundings.
Community Psychology: Focuses on social issues and community well-being. Also, promotes social justice, improvements in community health and addressing community development problems, collaboration with communities.
Quantitative Psychology: Involves developing and applying statistics to study psychological phenomena, creating new techniques for analyzing data, and designing experiments and surveys to ensure reliable results.
Community Mental Health: Focuses on providing mental health services to communities and underserved populations, offering care for mental health, early intervention, and prevention services.
School Psychology: Combines educational and clinical psychology to support student learning and mental health.
Human Experimental Psychology: Studies basic human behaviors through controlled experiments.
Animal Experimental Psychology: Studies animal behavior to understand psychological processes.

Experiments and observational studies, offering various approaches for understanding human behavior and mental processes.

Structuralism: An early school of thought that aimed to understand the structure of the mind by breaking down mental processes.
Behaviorism: Focuses on observable behavior, rejecting subjective experiences, with major principles of observable behavior and conditioning (classical and operant).
Psychoanalytic Approach: Explores the impact of unconscious desires and childhood experiences on behavior.
Humanistic Approach: Emphasizes personal growth, self-actualization, and the inherent goodness of people, focusing on individual potential and self-improvement.
Social-Cognitive Approach: Examines how people's thoughts, beliefs, and social interactions influence their behavior, focusing on learning by watching others and modeling through cognitive and social factors.