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Questions and Answers
What is the primary goal of research in psychology?
What is the primary goal of research in psychology?
Which branch of psychology focuses on the emotional and personal problems of individuals?
Which branch of psychology focuses on the emotional and personal problems of individuals?
What does the scientific method in psychology primarily involve?
What does the scientific method in psychology primarily involve?
Which of the following fields examines the impact of culture on behavior and thought?
Which of the following fields examines the impact of culture on behavior and thought?
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What is a hypothesis in the context of psychological research?
What is a hypothesis in the context of psychological research?
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In which subfield of psychology would a psychologist most likely work to increase productivity in organizations?
In which subfield of psychology would a psychologist most likely work to increase productivity in organizations?
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How does educational psychology contribute to the learning process?
How does educational psychology contribute to the learning process?
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What distinguishes psychology from other behavioral sciences?
What distinguishes psychology from other behavioral sciences?
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What are the four primary goals of psychology?
What are the four primary goals of psychology?
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How does psychology primarily differ from other behavioral sciences like sociology?
How does psychology primarily differ from other behavioral sciences like sociology?
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Which of the following describes the scientific aspect of psychology?
Which of the following describes the scientific aspect of psychology?
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What is the primary focus of psychology when studying human behavior?
What is the primary focus of psychology when studying human behavior?
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Which of these is NOT a goal of psychology?
Which of these is NOT a goal of psychology?
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What distinguishes the historical development of psychology from older sciences?
What distinguishes the historical development of psychology from older sciences?
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Which of the following is an example of covert behavior in psychology?
Which of the following is an example of covert behavior in psychology?
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What does 'control' refer to in the context of psychology's goals?
What does 'control' refer to in the context of psychology's goals?
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What is the main goal of humanistic psychology?
What is the main goal of humanistic psychology?
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Which perspective primarily focuses on the individual's free will?
Which perspective primarily focuses on the individual's free will?
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Which method is commonly used in cognitive psychology to explore behavior?
Which method is commonly used in cognitive psychology to explore behavior?
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According to the biological perspective, what significantly affects psychological processes?
According to the biological perspective, what significantly affects psychological processes?
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In which perspective is the interaction between biology and behavior particularly emphasized?
In which perspective is the interaction between biology and behavior particularly emphasized?
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What does the socio-cultural perspective focus on?
What does the socio-cultural perspective focus on?
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Which of the following best describes the cognitive perspective in psychology?
Which of the following best describes the cognitive perspective in psychology?
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Which perspective assumes that social psychologists examine group membership's impact on attitudes?
Which perspective assumes that social psychologists examine group membership's impact on attitudes?
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Study Notes
General Psychology and Life Skills (PsyL 1011)
- Course offered in October 2021
- Topics include the essence of psychology, definition of basic concepts, psychology's goals and historical background, various psychology perspectives including branches, and research methods.
Chapter One: Essence of Psychology
- Definition of Basic Concepts
- Goals of Psychology
- Historical Background of Psychology
- Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology
- Branches of Psychology
- Research Methods in Psychology
1.1 Definition of Psychology and Related Concepts
- Brainstorming Questions:
- What comes to mind when hearing "psychology"?
- Have you heard anything related to psychology?
- What was its content about?
- Did you appreciate it? Why?
- What do you expect from the course?
Defining Key Terms
- Psychology is derived from Greek words "psyche" (mind, soul, spirit) and "logos" (study, knowledge, discourse).
- Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and the underlying mental processes.
- Science in psychology uses scientific methods and empirical data to study behavior and mental processes.
- Behavior can be overt (observable, such as actions and facial expressions) or covert (unobservable, such as thinking, feelings, and memory).
What Makes Psychology Different from Other Behavioral Sciences?
- Psychology focuses on individual behaviors, unlike fields like sociology and anthropology, which study group behaviors.
- Psychology examines all dimensions of human behavior, unlike other sciences that focus on only one or a few dimensions.
1.2 Goals of Psychology
- Psychology as a science has four goals:
- Description: detailing individual behavior
- Explanation: understanding and identifying the causes of behavior
- Prediction: determining future behavior
- Control: modifying or changing undesirable behavior to desirable behavior.
1.3 Historical Background and Major Perspectives in Psychology
- Psychology is a relatively new field.
- It started as a science in 1879 at the University of Leipzig, Germany, with Wilhelm Wundt's establishment of a psychology laboratory.
- Wundt developed objective introspection to scientifically analyze mental experiences.
- Before Wundt, the study of subjective experiences was part of philosophy.
Schools of Thought
- A school of thought is a system of thinking about human behavior.
- Psychology has gone through different stages of development, generating various schools of thought: old and modern.
1.3.1 Five Early Schools of Psychology
-
Structuralism:
- View: Study of the structure of the mind.
- Founder: Edward Titchener
- Goal: Analyze basic elements of mental processes (sensations, images, and feelings).
- Method: Introspection (inward observation).
-
Functionalism:
- View: Study of the function of the mind.
- Founder: William James
- Goal: Investigate adaptive functions of mental processes in the real world.
- Method: Methods other than introspection (like questionnaires and mental tests).
-
Gestalt Psychology:
- View: Study of the whole mind (perceptions); not just its parts.
- Founders: Max Wertheimer and colleagues
- Goal: Examine patterns of sensory activity and their relationships.
- Method: Interpreting or perceiving sensory experience.
-
Behaviorism:
- View: Study of observable behaviors; not mental processes.
- Founder: John B. Watson.
- Goal: Observing the environmental effect on behavior.
- Method: Observation and experiments.
-
Psychoanalysis:
- View: Investigation of unconscious mental processes.
- Founder: Sigmund Freud.
- Goal: Uncovering hidden wishes, conflicts, and motivations.
- Method: Clinical case studies (e.g., hypnosis, free association, dream analysis).
1.3 Modern Schools (Perspectives) of Psychology
-
Psychodynamic perspective:
- Emphasis: Unconscious dynamics (inner forces, conflicts) in shaping personality and behavior.
- Origins: Freud, with various other psychodynamic theories existing today.
-
Behavioral perspective:
- Emphasis: Learning experiences and environmental factors in shaping behavior.
- View: The mind as a "black box" (treating the mind as less useful to understand behavior), in which the environment is all that matters.
-
Humanistic perspective:
- Emphasis: Human values, experiences, free will, and individual uniqueness.
- Goal: Helping people express themselves creatively and achieve their fullest potential (self-actualization).
-
Cognitive perspective:
- Emphasis: Mental processes (reasoning, memory, language, problem-solving).
- Goal: Understanding how thoughts and explanations influence behavior and choices.
-
Biological perspective:
- Emphasis: The body's impact on behavior, feelings, and thoughts (brain, chemicals).
- Processes: How the body and especially the brain influence psychological processes (learning, emotions).
-
Sociocultural perspective:
- Emphasis: Social and cultural factors in human behavior.
- Understanding how cultures shape behavior, values, and feelings.
1.4 Branches/Subfields of Psychology
- Psychology has various specializations following graduation:
- Developmental, Personality, Social, Cross-Cultural, Industrial, Forensic, Educational, Health, Clinical, Counseling.
1.5 Research Methods in Psychology
- Research: Scientific method to gain knowledge and solve problems
- Scientific method: Testing ideas via systematic observation, experiments, and analysis.
- Hypothesis: Tentative proposition about the relationship between variables.
- Theory: Integrated set of principles explaining aspects of experience.
- Steps in scientific research: Defining the problem, forming hypothesis, testing hypothesis, drawing conclusions, and reporting results.
1.5.1 Major Types of Research Methods
-
Descriptive research:
- Naturalistic observation: Observing subjects in their natural environment, studying behavior. Limitations: observer effect and observer bias.
- Case study: In-depth study of one individual, providing extensive data about that specific individual, but findings may not be generalized to others.
- Surveys: Collecting data from a large group of people for broad comparisons, but require a proper representative sample.
-
Correlational research:
- Studying the relationship between variables without manipulating them.
- Correlation implies a relationship but not causation (e.g., smoking and lung cancer correlation does not mean smoking causes lung cancer).
- Relationships can be positive, negative, or zero.
-
Experimental research:
- Studying cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating an independent variable while holding other factors constant.
- Includes independent variable (IV), dependent variable (DV), and randomly assigned groups (experimental/control).
1.6 Applications of Psychology
- Applied psychology utilizes psychological knowledge to solve real-world problems in diverse fields:
- Mental health, organizational psychology, education, health, business, law.
- Specific applications like clinical, counseling, industrial, legal, neuro, occupational, forensic, school, sports psychology, traffic and medical psychology.
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