Psychology's Big Issues
Nature vs. Nurture
natural selection
1 Three Main Levels of Analysis
(chart page 11) biological influences psychological influences socialcultural influences
2 Approaches
(chart page 12)
study basic elements that make up the conscious mental experience
Wihelm Wundt
introspection (selfobservation)
4 Functionalism study the function (rather than structure) of consciousness
William James how people adapt to their environment
5 Gestalt perception is more important than the sum of its parts; "whole pattern"
Max Wertheimer; Wolfgang Kohler; Kurt Koffka sensations assemble into perceptual experiences
6 Inheritable traits (evolutionary)
Heredity influences individual's behavior (genetics)
Sir Francis Galton
"survival of the fittest"; important to keep good genetics going
7 Psychoanalaysis (psychodynamic)
Unconscious motives and conflicts influence behavior
Freud free association and other techniques get to the unconscious mind
8 Behaviorism study of how organisms learn or modify behavior based on response to events
Ivan Pavlov; John B. Watson; B.F.Skinner conditioning
9 Humanistic belief individuals have freedom in directing their future and achieving personal growth
Abraham Maslow; Carl Rogers; Rollo May internal motivation (we choose how we behave, think, etc); each person is unique
10 Cognitive how we process, store, retrieve, and use information and how that impacts our behavior
Jean Piaget; Noam Chomsky; Leon Festinger behavior is more than a simple response (complex process)
11 Biological how physical and chemical changes in the body influence behavior none genetic make up is important
12 Sociocultural
ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomics influence behavior
Leonard Dobb environment has major role in behavior
13 Eclectic:
drawing from many approaches
14 Subfields
After reading about the subfields on pages 13 15, pick one of them and do a little more research on it. Find out what job opportunities there may be in that field, expected income, type of schooling required for this field, etc. Write a brief paragraph about the subfield you researched.
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