1 - 1 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Psychology 101C  Dr M.O.Poulter  Office Loeb TowerA Rm 513  Phone: ext 4176   Website  OFFICE HOURS: Tues 12:00-1:00

1 - 2 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Your first multiple choice question  After finding the website for the course and downloading the “Outline” I can print it out so:  A) I can wallpaper my room with it.  B) I can put it on a roll and use it in the bathroom  C) I can fold it many times so that I level my bed in residence  D) Read it and refer to it when I need to know something important about the course.  The answer is: D

1 - 3 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Fields of Psychology  Biological  physiological  psychophysiology  comparative  behaviour genetics  Clinical  behaviour analysis  personality  neuropsychology  Neuropsychology  Cognitive Psychology  Social Psychology  Developmental Psychology  Cross-cultural Psychology

1 - 4 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology What is Psychology ?  The ultimate goal of psychology is to understand human behaviour.  Why bother to examine human behaviour?  it is the root of most problems in the world  Curiosity  What kinds of psychology are studied  ie what are the different disciplines of psychology?

1 - 5 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology So how would the different disciplines of psychology study the following question:Why and How Do People Play Games?  Physiological  What events happen in the brain when people are playing games? What synapses are activated. What chemicals are released?  Psychophysiology  What events happen in the body when people play games? Heart rate, blood pressure ect

1 - 6 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Types of psychology con’t Question:Why and How Do People Play Games?  Comparative  Do animals other than people play games? Are the behaviours evolutionary?  Behaviour Analysis  What events happen that increase/decrease the likelihood that people will play games? Does stress play a factor? Hormones?

1 - 7 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Types of psychology con’t Question:Why and How do People Play Games?  Cognitive Psychology  What types of strategies do people use when playing games? Are mnemoics used? Cheating? Aggressive posturing?  Experimental Neuropsychology  What brain injuries interfere with game playing? Animal research may involve lesioning of specific brain areas.  Social Psychology  What kinds of cues affect the types of games that people will play with each other? Sexual behaviour

1 - 8 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Types of psychology con’t Question:Why and How do People Play Games?  Developmental Psychology  How does play change across the lifespan? Do children have different strategies for game playing palying than adults? Role playing predictive of later development?

1 - 9 © 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Types of psychology con’t Question:Why and How do People Play Games?  Clinical  What effects does play have upon our mental health? Does play impact other health outcomes?  Personality  Are there certain types of people who are more or less likely to play games?  Cross-cultural  Do people raised in different cultures play the same types of games?

© 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Psychology is a Science  Philosophical roots of psychology:  Descartes ( ): dualism  Rationalism the world can be described and studied by reasoning the natural laws as set out by GOD.  Locke ( ): monism  Empiricism the world can be described and studied by measuring (through observation) the natural laws as set out by GOD.

© 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Psychology is a Science  Biological roots of psychology:  Müller ( ): doctrine of specific nerve energies - functional neuroantomy  Flourens ( ): experimental ablation - remove parts of the brain in order to localise function.  Broca ( ): localization of language  Helmholtz ( ): located the mind within the brain as opposed to the heart or some other ethereal location

© 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Major Trends in the Development of Psychology  Structuralism: a sum of the parts approach… encouraged introspection and analysis of simple concepts which then became more complex. Wilhem Wundt  Functionalism: your innate need to be successful as a species drives your mental behaviour Darwin and others  psychodynamic theory: structuralism that hypothesises the unconscicous mind. Sigmund Freud

© 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Major Trends in the Development of Psychology  Behaviourism:just the facts approach…one cannot speculate about the workings of the mind with observing the animal behaving in it enviroment Edward Throndike  gestalt psychology: the whole is not simply the sum of its parts Max Wertheimer  humanistic psychology: scientific approach does not explain human behaviours… positive aspects of ingrained behaviour determine mental state

© 2000 Pearson Education Canada Inc.,Toronto, Ontario The Science of Psychology Major Trends in the Development of Psychology  biological revolution: neurobiology (physiology and genes that regulate it) and the analysis of neural circuitry forms the basis of behaviour… it is the dominant mechanistic approach at this time and it will be the focus of this course.