PSYCHOLOGY:

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PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHODS
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The Study of Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior
  and mental processes (mind)
• ?

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Early Pioneers of Psychology

• Experimental psychology focused on the
• study of experience
• Structuralism focused on sensations and
  perceptual experiences (Wundt Titchener)
• Structuralism used the method of Systematic
  Introspection which required people to look
  inward and describe their own experiences.

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Early Pioneers of Psychology

• Functionalism investigated functions of mental
  processes in adapting to the environment (James)
• Gestalt psychology emphasized perception the
  notion that the whole is more than the sum of the
  parts (Wertheimer)
• Psychoanalytic view emphasizes the unconscious
  mind (Freud)

circa 1885.
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Pioneers in Psychology

• Behaviorism focuses on objective and measurable
  behaviors
• Humanistic psychology emphasizes the inner-self
  and the importance of subjective feelings
  (Rogers, Maslow)
• Cognitive psychology focuses on mental function
  and reasoning (Piaget, Ellis)

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Other Schools of Psychology

• Handout
• on Fields
• of Psychology

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Pseudopsychologies

• Pseudopsychologies are unreliable approaches that
  do not use the scientific method
• Examples of pseudopsychologies include
• Astrology system that tries to relate
  personality to the movement of the stars
• Palmistry idea that reading a persons character
  from the lines on their palms
• Psychokinesis notion that humans can move
  objects through mental concentration
• Follicology notion that personality
  characteristics are related to hair color

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A Focus on Psychological Research next...