What IS Psychology?  You’re planning on taking a course on this topic – so what is it? What do you think you will be studying? Write a 2-3 sentences explaining your thoughts…

 Psychology is the science of the mind. The human mind is the most complex machine on Earth. It is the source of all thought and behaviour. “ Psychology” comes from the Greek words psych and logos. Psyche means “mind” or “soul” and logos means “study of.”

Psychology has 4 goals:  Describe  Explain  Predict  Control …the behaviour being studied.

Describe…  Observe behaviour  Describe it – often in minute detail  Try to be objective as possible  Eg. Miley Cyrus – the twerk heard round the world….

Explain  While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go beyond what is obvious and explain their observations.  In other words, why did the subject do what he or she did?  So…Miley? Why?

Predict  Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate what will happen in the future.  There’s an old saying, which very often holds true: "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.“  OR 2. Explain – 3. Predict – 4.

Control or Change  Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the future, we can try to control or change it.  In other words, if we know you are behaving outrageously because you want attention, we can examine why you want attention, how to get it in more appropriate ways, etc.

So, those are the goals of psychology – but would YOU actually like to study?  What behaviours make you go “hmmm…..”  What questions do you have about yourself, your brain, your mind?  What questions do you have about other people, what they do and why they do it? List 5 things that you would like for us to take a look at in this course…

Things to study:  What is it that magicians do that tricks us?  Why does eating a plump juicy white grub or drinking fresh cow’s blood disgust us, but not those of other cultures?

 What is it about the brain that causes teens to take such risky behaviour?  How is your brain like a reptile?  Is somebody controlling your mind and manipulating you without your knowledge?  Why do you dream about certain things and what do your dreams mean?  Is addiction genetic?  Would you torture somebody – just because a teacher asked you to