Psychology Chapter 1: Nature of Psychology

Definition of Psychology

• Psychology is derived from the Greek words "psyche" meaning "soul" and "logos" meaning "study".
• It is the scientific study of the behavior of living organisms, with special attention to human behavior.

Goals of Psychology

• To describe: What is happening?
• To explain: Why is it happening?
• To predict: When will it happen again?
• To control: How can it be changed?

Characteristics of Psychology

• Human behavior follows an orderly pattern.
• Human behavior can be known.
• Knowledge of human behavior is tentative but superior to ignorance.
• Natural phenomena have natural causes.

History of Psychology

• Ancient Period: Explaining behavior through animism.
• Galen (129-216 AD): Believed behavior may be attributed to the humors or vital juices of the body.
• St. Augustine: Considered the next great precursor of the modern psychologist.
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650): Concept of reflex action.
• Wilhelm Wundt (1879): Established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.

Early Theories and Schools

• Structuralism (1875-1930): Focus on the building blocks of the mind, led by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.
• Functionalism (1890-1930): Focus on learning, motivation, and thinking, led by William James, Stanley Hall, and John Dewey.
• Gestalt (1912-1940): Focus on the whole pattern of behavior, led by Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler, and Max Wertheimer.

Modern Perspectives

• Psychoanalysis (1900-present): Focus on the unconscious mind and its role in behavior, led by Sigmund Freud.
• Behaviorism (1913-present): Focus on observable behavior, led by John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner.
• Humanistic (1950-present): Focus on personal growth, freedom, and self-actualization, led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
• Cognitive (1950-present): Focus on mental processes, led by Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, and Herbert Simon.
• Biological (1950-present): Focus on the biological basis of behavior, led by James Olds and Roger Sperry.
• Biopsychosocial (model): Considers the complex interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors.

Types of Psychological Professionals

• Psychiatrist: A medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
• Psychoanalyst: A psychiatrist or psychologist who has special training in psychoanalysis.
• Psychologist: A professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one or more areas of psychology.

Branches of Psychology

• Clinical Psychology: Diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
• Experimental Psychology: Investigation of different types of behavior through observation and experiment in psychological laboratories.
• Community Psychology: Improving the quality of life of individuals in a community through intervention at a social system level.
• Health Psychology: Study of the promotion and maintenance of health, prevention, and treatment of illness.

Methods of Psychological Research

• Introspection: Mental self-analysis method.

• Observation: Study of behavior through naturalistic or controlled observation.

• Life-History Method: Extensive study of individuals by tracing the development of a particular form of behavior.

• Experimental Method: Study of behavior inside the laboratory under controlled conditions.

• Survey Method: Uses data obtained from respondents through written questionnaires or interviews.

• Statistical Method: Deals with the collecting and handling of numerical data and making inferences from such data.

• Correlational Study: Measure of the relationship between two or more variables.

• Indigenous Research Methods: Pakapa-kapa, Pakikiramdam, and Pakikipagkwentuhan methods used in Filipino research.### Limitations of Case Histories

• Rely on a person's memories and reconstructions of earlier events, which can be distorted or incomplete.

Experimental Method

• A scientific method that seeks to confirm cause-and-effect relationships by introducing independent variables and observing their effects on dependent variables.

Types of Variables

• Independent variable: a variable that can be controlled by the experimenter, which represents the hypothesized cause.
• Dependent variable: the effect of the independent variable, which is hypothesized to depend on the value of the independent variable.

Experimental Design

• Experimental group: participants exposed to the independent variable (treatment).
• Control group: participants who do not receive the independent variable (treatment).

Human Development

• Developmental Psychology: the scientific study of systematic processes of change and stability in people.

Domains of Human Development

• Physical Development: changes in the human body, brain, sensory capabilities, skills, and health.
• Cognitive Development: development in learning, memory, attention, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.
• Psychosocial Development: developing emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Periods of Lifespan

• 8 stages of human development:
  1. Prenatal Period (conception to birth)
  2. Infancy to Toddlerhood (birth to 3 years old)
  3. Early Childhood (3 to 6 years old)
  4. Middle Childhood (6 to 11 years old)
  5. Adolescence (11 to 20 years old)
  6. Emerging Young Adulthood (20 to 40 years old)
  7. Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years old)
  8. Late Adulthood (65 years old and above)

Individual Differences

• Differ in gender, height, weight, body build, energy level, intelligence, personality, and emotional reactions.

The Role of Heredity and Environment

• Heredity: internal influences and results of biological processes (nature).
• Environment: external influences such as communities, peers, and social relationships (nurture).

Theories of Human Development

• Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud): emphasizes the role of the unconscious in shaping behavior.
• Psychosocial Development (Erik Erikson): focuses on the development of morality and moral reasoning.
• Cognitive Development (Jean Piaget): emphasizes the role of active learning and construction of knowledge.

Stages of Cognitive Development

• 4 stages corresponding to different ages of the developing child:
  1. Sensorimotor stage (0 to 2 years old)
  2. Preoperational stage (2 to 5 years old)
  3. Concrete operational stage (6 to 11 years old)
  4. Formal operational stage (12 years old and above)

Moral Development

• Kohlberg's Theory: focuses on the development of moral reasoning and justice.
• 6 stages of moral development:
  1. Pre-Conventional Morality (ages 4-10)
  2. Conventional Morality (ages 13 or beyond)
  3. Post-Conventional Morality (early adolescence or young adulthood)

Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

• Vygotsky: emphasizes the role of social interaction and shared activities in learning.
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): the difference between what a child can do alone and what a child can do with the help of others.

Attachment Theory

• John Bowlby: emphasizes the importance of the early bond between an infant and primary caregiver on behavior in later development.
• 4 types of attachment:
  1. Secure Attachment
  2. Ambivalent Attachment
  3. Avoidant Attachment
  4. Disorganized Attachment

Theories of Aging

• Activity Theory: assumes older people are happier if they remain active.
• Cellular Clock Theory: based on the idea that cells only have a limited number of times they can reproduce.
• Wear and Tear Theory: repeated use and abuse of the body's tissues cause it to be unable to repair damage.
• Free Radical Theory: oxygen molecules with an unstable electron cause damage to cell structures.

Stages of Death and Dying

• Kubler-Ross Model: 5 stages of dying:
  1. Denial Stage
  2. Anger Stage
  3. Bargaining Stage
  4. Depression Stage
  5. Acceptance Stage### Stage Restrict Eating and Taking Medications
• The Acceptance Stage is where individuals accept their fate and the reality of death.
• Children may exhibit mixtures of avoidant or resistant behavior, seeming dazed, confused, or apprehensive.

Neurological Bases of Behavior

• Nervous System: an extensive network of specialized cells that carry information to and from all parts of the body.
• Neuroscience: deals with the structure and function of neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue, relating to behavior and learning.

Structure of Neuron

• Neuron: the basic cell that makes up the nervous system and receives and sends messages.
• Parts of a Neuron:
  • Dendrites: branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons.
  • Soma: the cell body of the neuron, responsible for maintaining the life of the cell.
  • Axon: a long tube-like structure that carries the neural message to other cells.
  • Axon terminals: branches at the end of the axon.
  • Synaptic knob: rounded areas on the end of axon terminals.
  • Synaptic vesicles: sack-like structures found inside the synaptic knob containing chemicals.

Neuron Communication

• Neurotransmitters: chemicals found in synaptic vesicles that, when released, affect the next cell.
• Synapse/synaptic gap: microscopic fluid-filled space between the rounded areas on the end of the axon terminals of one cell and the dendrites or surface of the next cell.
• Receptor sites: holes in the surface of the dendrites or certain cells of the muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain neurotransmitters.

Generating the Neural Impulse

• Inside neuron: negatively charged.
• Resting potential: the state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse.
• Action potential: the release of the neural impulse, consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon.

Neurotransmitters

• Excitatory neurotransmitters: cause the receiving cell to fire.
• Inhibitory neurotransmitters: cause the receiving cell to stop firing.
• Agonists: mimic or enhance the effects of a neurotransmitter on the receptor sites of the next cell.
• Antagonists: block or reduce a cell's response to the action of other chemicals or neurotransmitters.

Cleaning Up the Synapse

• Reuptake: the process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic vesicles.
• Enzyme: a complex protein that breaks up neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine.

Central Nervous System

• Central Nervous System (CNS): part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.
• Spinal cord: a long bundle of neurons that carries messages to and from the body to the brain, responsible for fast, life-saving reflexes.

The Reflex Arc

• Three types of neurons:
  1. Sensory neuron: carries information from the senses to the central nervous system.
  2. Motor neuron: carries messages from the central nervous system to the muscles of the body.
  3. Interneuron: a neuron found in the center of the spinal cord that receives information from sensory neurons and sends commands to the muscles through the motor neurons.

Endocrine Glands

• Endocrine glands: glands that secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream.
• Hormones: chemicals released into the bloodstream by endocrine glands.
• Examples of endocrine glands:
  • Pituitary gland: secretes human growth hormone and influences all other hormone-secreting glands.
  • Thyroid gland: regulates metabolism.
  • Pancreas: controls the levels of sugar in the blood.
  • Gonads: regulate sexual development and behavior.

Brain Stem

• Medulla: the lowest part of the brain, responsible for life-sustaining functions such as breathing, swallowing, and heart rate.
• Pons: connects the top of the brain to the bottom and plays a part in sleep, dreaming, left-right body coordination, and arousal.
• Reticular formation: an area of neurons running through the middle of the medulla and the pons, responsible for selective attention.

Cortex

• Cortex: the outermost covering of the brain, responsible for higher thought processes and interpretation of sensory input.
• Corticalization: the wrinkling of the cortex, allowing for a larger area of cortical cells to exist in the small space inside the skull.
• Cerebral hemispheres: the two sections of the cortex of the brain.
• Association areas: areas within each lobe of the cortex responsible for the coordination and interpretation of information.

Four Lobes of the Brain

• Frontal lobes: areas of the cortex responsible for higher mental processes and decision-making.
• Parietal lobes: areas of the cortex containing the centers for touch, taste, and temperature sensations.
• Temporal lobes: areas of the cortex containing the centers for hearing and meaningful speech.
• Occipital lobe: area of the brain containing the visual centers.

Sensation and Perception

• Sensation: the activation of receptors in the various sense organs.
• Transduction: the process of converting outside stimuli into neural activity.
• Sensory receptors: specialized forms of neurons that respond to various stimuli.
• Sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste buds.

Vision

• Iris: the round muscle in the eye that changes the size of the pupil.
• Lens: a clear structure behind the iris that finishes the focusing process begun by the cornea.
• Retina: the final stop for light in the eye, containing three layers: ganglion cells, bipolar cells, and photoreceptors.
• Photoreceptors: respond to various light waves.
• Rods: visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for non-color sensitivity to low levels of light.
• Cones: visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for color vision and sharpness of vision.

Psychological Aspects of Light

• Brightness: determined by the amplitude of the wave.
• Color or hue: determined by the length of the wave.

Explore the definition and origins of psychology, including the Greek roots of the word and the scientific study of human behavior.