Psychology The evolution of a science

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Psychology The evolution of a science

• Chapter 1
• Psyc103019
• Jen Wright
• T/R 1215-130pm

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• What chapters do we want to cover?
• Questions from the syllabus?

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history of psychology

• Since its inception, psychology has grappled
  with some core questions concerning human nature.
• Some of these core questions are as follows

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Roots of psychology Q 1

• Nature vs. nurture
• Is what we know about the world innate or
  learned?
• Plato nativist
• Aristotle - empiricist
• Locke - empiricist

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• Contemporary debate
• Jean Piaget ( others) empiricist
• Knowledge develops over time through the childs
  active exploration of and interaction with the
  world.
• Hard-wired basic reflexes only
• Conservation task

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Alison Gopnik ( others) - nativist

• Naïve physics

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• Even a naïve morality?
• Premack Premack

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some related questions

• To what extent are our personalities, actions,
  choices determined by our genes (nature)?
• By our environments (nurture)?
• In between nature and nurture, is there any room
  for the individual?
• To what extent are people in control of, or
  responsible for, their actions?

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• Social psychology study of individuals within
  groups
• To what extent is individual cognition/behavior
  influenced by other people?
• Cultural psychology study of individuals within
  cultures
• To what extent is individual cognition/behavior
  influenced by cultural traditions/norms?

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Roots of psychology Q 2

• What method gives us the best empirical access to
  the mind?
• Studying the brain?
• Descartes
• Gall
• Harlow
• Phineas Gage

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• Studying conscious states?
• Introspection?
• Wundt/Tichener (structuralists)
• Break consciousness down into basic raw elements

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• Wertheimer (Gestalt)
• Consciousness is organized stimuli
• Cant understand parts outside the whole
• http//dragon.uml.edu/psych/illusion.html
• James (functionalist)
• Evolutionary psychology
• Mental processes are adaptive
• Should be understood in terms of their function

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Introductions

• On a piece of paper, please jot down the
  following
• Your name, student ID
• Year (rank) in school
• Contact info Phone/email
• Major/minor(s)
• Other psychology courses taken
• Name one thing that you would like to understand
  better about 1) yourself, and 2) someone else.
• Describe the most memorable human action (actual,
  not fictional) that youve ever heard about? Ever
  personally witnessed?

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• Freud
• Much of mind is beyond introspective access
• Subconscious mind
• Many mental processes are maladaptive
• Humanist response
• Maslow Rogers
• Lower and higher needs human potential.
• Birth of positive psychology

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• Stop looking for a mind and just study behavior!
• Behaviorism
• Pavlov
• Watson
• Skinner

response
stimulus
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• Free will is an illusion
• Our behavior is merely a product of past and
  present positive and negative reinforcement
  patterns.
• Punishment Reward system in brain

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• Contemporary view
• The mind is not adaptive so much as adapted.
• To be understood as a response to evolutionary
  pressures.
• Rational irrationality
• Heuristics/biases
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_bia
  ses

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• Okay will the right ½ of the class please close
  their eyes?

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• Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the
  outbreak of a rare Asian disease that is expected
  to kill 600 people. You must choose from one of
  two treatment alternatives. Which of the
  following would you choose
• Alternative A 200 people will be saved.
• Alternative B a 1/3 chance all 600 will be
  saved, 2/3 all 600 will die.
• What alternative would you pick?

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• Okay now the left ½ of the class.

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• Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the
  outbreak of a rare Asian disease that is expected
  to kill 600 people. You must choose from one of
  two treatment alternatives. Which of the
  following would you choose
• Alternative A 400 people will die.
• Alternative B a 1/3 chance all 600 will be
  saved, 2/3 all 600 die.
• What alternative would you pick?

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• When faced with the first scenario, 72 of
  people are risk averse.
• They will choose to go with option A.
• When faced with the second scenario, 78 will
  will seek the risk on a chance of no losses.
• They will choose to go with option B.
• Yet, both scenarios are the same.