PSY 102: General Psychology II

2. PSY 102: General Psychology II Aims Community College/ CECFC Campus Scott La Point, PsyD, CBIS

4. PSY 102: General Psychology II Aims Community College/ CECFC Campus Scott La Point, PsyD, CBIS

5. What is Psychology? PSY 102: General Psychology II Aims Community College/CECFC Campus Scott La Point, PsyD, CBIS

6. What is Psychology?

8. Limits of Psychology “Why should I live? Why should I do anything? Is there in life any purpose which the inevitable death that awaits me does not undo and destroy? – Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1904)

9. Worldview and psychology • How do people change? • To what extent are people a product of biology versus their environment? • In what ways are people different? How are they alike? • What questions does psychology attempt to answer?

10. Definitional Issues • Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. The discipline embraces all aspects of the human experience – from the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to care for the aged. In every conceivable setting, from scientific research centers to mental health care services, “the understanding of behavior” is the enterprise of psychologists.” – APA (2008)

11. Clinical Psychology • The field of Clinical Psychology integrates science, theory, and practice to understand, predict, and alleviate maladjustment, disability, and discomfort as well as to promote human adaptation, adjustment, and personal development. Clinical Psychology focuses on the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning across the life span, in varying cultures, and at all socioeconomic levels. – APA (2008)

12. The Origins of Psychological Science • Aristotle: 300 BC • Exemplified modern scientific attitude of critical analysis. • Used observations to create inferences. • There are psychological processes like memory that have biological bases.

14. Psychological Science (cont.) • Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) • 1879: Established the first psychology lab at University of Leipzig • Goal: Understand the structures of consciousness • Combined introspective reports with careful measures of response speed under laboratory-induced conditions • Hearing a ball hit and pressing a telegraph key • Trained 160 students in psychology (30 from U.S.)

15. Different Branches of Psychology

16. Movin’ On • The scientific study of observable behavior replaced the “science of mental life” • The argument became what you cannot observe and measure, you cannot scientifically study.

17. Different Branches (cont.)

19. Contemporary Psychology • The science of behavior and mental processes. • Nature vs. Nurture • Are gender differences biological predisposed or socially constructed? • Is children’s grammar mostly innate or formed by experience? • How are intelligence and personality differences influenced by heredity and by environment? • Are sexual behaviors more “pushed” by inner biology or “pulled” by external incentives?

20. Contemporary Psychology (cont.) Nurture works on what nature endows. • What a person is born with (e.g., genetics, DNA) is influenced by the environment in which he or she is raised. • Biopsychosocial approach • Biological • Psychological • Social-cultural

21. Contemporary Psychology (cont.) • Main subfields of psychology • Basic research • Biological, Developmental, Cognitive, Personality, Social • Applied research • Counseling psychology • Clinical psychology • Psychiatry • Community psychology

22. The Lobotomist • https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=walter+freeman&&view=detail&mid=ECD6A46A648DF4B50CD2ECD6A46A648DF4B50CD2&rvsmid=41090D051551D09773C041090D051551D09773C0&FORM=VDRVRV