1. What Is Psychology? General Psychology Don’t miss the animation of
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What Is Psychology?
General Psychology

2. Psychology is… A broad field, with many specialties
Fundamentally, psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes
Psychology is NOT…
Mere speculation about human nature
A body of folk wisdom that “everybody knows” to be true

3. Pseudoscience
Is any approach to explaining phenomena in the natural world that does not use empirical observation or the scientific method
Psychology disputes
unfounded claims from pseudoscience
Fortune-telling
Astrology
Graphology 18

4. Three Major Categories of Pyschology
Applied
Psychology
Experimental Psychology
Teaching
of Psychology

5. Experimental Psychologists…
Conduct most research across psychological spectrum
May work in private industry or for the government
Often teach at a college or university 18

6. Applied Psychologists…
Use knowledge developed by experimental psychologists
to solve human problems
I/O
Experimental Psychology
Engineering
Rehabilitation
Sports
School
Counseling
Clinical 18

7. Professional Organizations in Psychology
Student Groups

8. Modern psychology developed from several conflicting traditions that include:
STRUCTURALISM
Devoted to uncovering basic structures that make up mind and thought
FUNCTIONALISM
Believed mental processes could best be understood in terms of their adaptive purpose and function
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
Interested in how we construct “perceptual wholes”
BEHAVIORISM
Argued psychology should deal solely with observable events
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Asserted mental disorders arise from conflicts in the unconscious mind

9. What Determines Behavior
Click to see the 7 main perspectives that characterize modern psychology are:
Perspective
View of Human Nature
What Determines Behavior
Focus of Study
Biological
We are complex systems that respond to hereditary and environmental influences
Neural structures, biochemistry, and innate responses to external cues
Nervous and endocrine systems, evolutionary advantages of behaviors
Developmental
People undergo predictable patterns of change throughout their lives
Interaction between heredity and environment
Patterns of developmental change and their underlying influences
Cognitive
We are information-processing systems
Interpretation of experience by means of mental processing
Mental processes, including sensation, perception, learning, memory, and language
Clinical
We are driven by unconscious motives
Psychodynamic view stresses unconscious conflicts
Humanistic view focuses on self-concept and need for personal growth
Counseling and psychotherapy
Behavioral
We respond to surroundings according to principles of behavioral learning
Stimulus cues, history of rewards and punishments
“Laws” connecting our responses to stimulus conditions in the environment
Trait
Individual differences result from differences in our underlying patterns of stable characteristics
Each person’s unique combination of traits
Fundamental traits, Using trait patterns to predict behavior
Sociocultural
We are social animals; human behavior must be interpreted in social context
Cultures, social norms and expectations, social learning
Social interaction, socialization, cross-cultural differences

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Based on:
Psychology Core Concepts, 5th Ed.
By: Philip G. Zimbardo, Robert L. Johnson, Ann L. Weber
Presented by 27