Psychology Note 1
1. How do the scientific attitude's three main components relate to critical
thinking?
The scientific attitude equips us to be curious, skeptical, and humble in scrutinizing
competing ideas or our own observations. This attitude carries into everyday life as
critical thinking, which puts ideas to the test by examining assumptions, appraising
the source, discerning hidden biases, evaluating evidence, and assessing
conclusions.
2. What were some important milestones in psychology's early development?
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany.
Two early schools were structuralism and functionalism.
3. How did psychology continue to develop from the 1920s through today?
Early researchers defined psychology as "the science of mental life." In the 1920s,
under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviorists, the field's focus
changed to the "scientific study of observable behavior." Behaviorism became one
of psychology's two major forces well into the 1960s. However, the second major
force of Freudian psychology, along with the influences of humanistic psychology
and cognitive psychology, revived interest in the study of mental processes.
Psychology is now defined as the science of behavior and mental processes.
4. How has our understanding of biology and experience, culture and gender,
and human flourishing shaped contemporary psychology?
Our growing understanding of biology and experience has fed psychology's most
enduring debate. The naturenurture issue centers on the relative contributions of
genes and experience, and their interaction in specific environments. Charles
Darwin's view that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies led to
evolutionary psychology's study of our similarities because of our common biology
and evolutionary history, and behavior genetics' focus on the relative power and
limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Cross-cultural and
gender studies have diversified psychology's assumptions while also reminding us
of our similarities. Attitudes and behaviors may vary somewhat by gender or across
cultures, but because of our shared human kinship, the underlying processes and
principles are more similar than different. Psychology's traditional focus on
understanding and treating troubles has expanded with positive psychology's call
for more research on human flourishing and its attempt to discover and promote
traits that help people to thrive.
5. What are psychology's levels of analysis and related perspectives?
The biopsychosocial approach integrates information from three differing but
complementary levels of analysis: biological, psychological, and social-cultural. This
approach offers a more complete understanding than could usually be reached by
relying on only one of psychology's current perspectives (neuroscience,
evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and socialcultural).
6. What are psychology's main subfields?
Within the science of psychology, researchers may conduct basic research to
increase the field's knowledge base (often in biological, developmental, cognitive,
personality, and social psychology) or applied research to solve practical problems
(in industrial-organizational psychology and other areas). Those who engage in
psychology as a helping profession may assist people as counseling psychologists,
helping people with problems in living or achieving greater well-being, or as clinical
psychologists, studying and assessing people with psychological disorders and
treating them with psychotherapy. (Psychiatrists also study, assess, and treat
people with disorders, but as medical doctors, they may prescribe drugs in addition
to psychotherapy.) Community psychologists work to create healthy social and
physical environments (in schools, for example).
