Psychology, Day 2

What is Psychology?

Outline:
1. Defining psychology
1. The psychological frame of mind
2. Psychology as the science of all human behavior
2. Psychology in historical perspective
1. Wundt's structuralism and James's functionalism
2. Darwin's natural selection
3. Contemporary approaches to psychology (7)
1. The biological approach
2. The behavioral approach
3. The psychodynamic approach
4. The humanistic approach
5. The cognitive approach
6. The evolutionary approach
7. The sociocultural approach
8. Summing up the seven contemporary approaches
4. What psychologists do
1. Careers in psychology
2. Areas of specialization
5. The science of psychology and health and wellness
1. How the mind impacts the body
2. How the body impacts the mind

Psychology	The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Science	The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world, including human behavior, and to draw conclusions
Behavior	Everything we do that can be directly observed
Mental processes	The thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly
Critical thinking	The process of reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating the evidence
Empirical method	Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning
Positive psychology	A branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths
Structuralism	Wundt's approach to discovering the basic elements, or structures ,of mental processes; so called because of its focus on identifying the structures of the human mind
Functionalism	James's approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual's adaptation to the environment
Natural selection	Darwin's principle of an evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring
Biological approach	An approach to psychology focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system
Neuroscience	The scientific study of the structure, function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and the nervous system are central to understanding behavior, thought, and emotion
Behavioral approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants
Psychodynamic approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as the drive for sex) and society's demands, and early childhood family experiences
Humanistic approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny
Cognitive approach	An approach to psychology emphasizing the mental processes involved in knowing:  how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problems
Evolutionary approach	An approach to psychology centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors
Sociocultural approach	An approach to psychology that examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior
Psychopathology	The scientific study of psychological disorders and the development of diagnostic categories and treatments for those disorders