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Foundations and Perspectives in Psychology

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  • What is psychology?

    Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, relying on empirical observation and experimentation.

  • Main goals of psychology

    Understand thoughts, motivations, emotions; explain brain function; identify behavior patterns; examine stability and change across development and situations.

  • Philosophical materialism vs dualism

    Materialism: Mind and consciousness arise from physical brain processes. Dualism: Mind and body are separate entities.

  • Philosophical empiricism vs nativism

    Empiricism: Knowledge comes from experience (blank slate). Nativism: Some knowledge is innate (e.g., causality, space).

  • Wilhelm Wundt's contribution

    Considered the father of modern psychology; founded structuralism, studying the basic elements of conscious experience via introspection.

  • Structuralism

    Approach analyzing the structure of the mind by breaking down conscious experience into basic elements.

  • William James and functionalism

    Father of functionalism; focused on the function of mental processes and their adaptive significance, influenced by Darwin's natural selection.

  • Psychoanalysis and Freud

    Emphasizes unconscious motives and early childhood experiences influencing behavior; developed psychoanalytic theory and therapy.

  • Gestalt psychology

    Focuses on perception as organized wholes, not just the sum of parts; 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.'

  • Behaviorism

    Focuses on observable behavior and stimulus-response relationships; emphasizes learning through conditioning.

  • Classical conditioning

    Learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, eliciting a conditioned response (Pavlov's dogs).

  • Operant conditioning

    Learning where behavior is shaped by rewards and punishments (Skinner).

  • Developmental psychology

    Studies how psychological phenomena change across the lifespan, focusing on when, why, and how changes occur.

  • Social psychology

    Examines how social environments influence individual and group behavior, including attitudes, identity, and stereotypes.

  • Humanism

    Emphasizes inherent human goodness, free will, and the potential for personal growth and self-actualization (Maslow, Rogers).

  • Cognitive psychology

    Focuses on mental processes like perception, memory, language, and problem solving; inspired by the analogy of the mind as an information processor.

  • Evolutionary psychology

    Studies how behavior and mental processes have evolved through natural selection to solve adaptive problems.

  • Cultural psychology

    Explores how culture shapes human behavior and mental processes, emphasizing the importance of cultural context.

  • Biological perspective / Neuroscience

    Studies the relationship between the brain/nervous system and behavior or mental processes, focusing on biological mechanisms.

  • Importance of multiple perspectives in psychology

    Using various perspectives (biological, cognitive, social, etc.) provides a holistic understanding of complex human behavior and mental processes.