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Exploring Psychology

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There is a combination of variables that play a major role in psychology. It is an amalgamation of mental characteristics within a person, emotions, thought processes, and many other things. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, which leads us to ask the questions: how and when did this study begin? It is important for us to study and understand the history of psychology because it has vastly changed throughout the years—it has shaped us into the psychologists we are today.
According to the course text Exploring Psychology, the study of psychology originated in 1879 at The University of Leipzig. There, Wilhelm Wundt founded the first lab for the experimentation of psychology; Wundt, with the help …show more content…

Whereas, structuralism focuses directly on the mind. Consciousness is the state of awareness we experience around us and within us, and it is important to think about in psychology because it is a large aspect of the study. Throughout history, as psychology proceeded to develop, two scientists in the 1920s formed a new theory about the study.
Psychology was redefined as the scientific study of observable behavior by John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner according to our textbook. As it says in Exploring Psychology, “you cannot observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought, but you can observe and record people’s behavior as they respond to different situations” (Myers). This theory was widely accepted by others; therefore, these behaviorists—someone who studies external behavior rather than the conscious mind—were two major forces in the study well into the 1960s. Although these behaviorists were the first, they were not the only important …show more content…

Cognitive psychology is the study of mind and mental function and this includes: attention, perception, memory, conceptual development, language, and decision making. This type of psychology has been useful in helping us learn to cure and maintain illnesses, such as depression. Altogether, each of the instances in history have led us to indefinitely and currently define psychology as the science of behavior and mental processes. With behavior being anything an organism does and mental processes being the internal experiences we develop through behavior—thoughts, beliefs, feelings,

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1) Define psychology and trace its historical development. Psychology is the scientific research of the study of the human and animal behavior and mentalities. So in general the study is about how, what and why the human brain functions the way they do. As well as why mental illnesses exist.

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Chapter 1 covers the definition of psychology and brief history of psychology. I learned that psychology is the study of the way people think, feel and behave. The goals of psychology are to describe behavior, explained, and predicted to control the behavior or change it. They are many types of psychological perspectives.

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According to Dictionary.com (2017), the definition of psychology is: “The scientific study of mental processes and behaviour. The behavioural and cognitive characteristics of a specific individual, group, activity, or circumstance.” Psychology studies human mental functioning and behaviour by the use of systematic, scientific study known as the scientific method. The scientific method is a standardised way of making observations, gathering data, forming theories, testing predictions and interpreting results. Courses.lumenlearning.com (2017) stated that the scientific method is based on the following process: 1.Ask a question.

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Psychology is involved in our everyday lives. The definition of psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. An example of psychology is talking to new people around you. You talk to each person differently than you do with your family and your close friends. Also, you can learn how to deal with different new situations that we can face.

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Who was the American philosopher who authored a textbook in 1890 for the emerging discipline of psychology? D. “William James was a legendary teacher-writer who authored an important 1890 psychology text”.(P. 5) 6. The personality theorist, Sigmund Freud, was an Austrian B. According to online sources such as Guide Top Psychology and The Atlantic, Sigmund Freud was a physician and professor of medicine, developed his theories about psychoanalysis while studying hysteria and compulsion neurosis.

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B. Watson. Behavior is observable and learned. Rejects the idea of internal thoughts. Gestalt Psychology – Major Gestalt Psychologist is Max Wertheimer. The attributes of the ‘whole’ are greater than its smaller elements and not deducible from of them.

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The presuppositions I had before taking this class concerning the history of psychology were based on the things I had learned previously about the founding fathers of psychology. The thoughts that I had were that many of the founding fathers were not very stable themselves. I also had learned that there was a lot of cocaine abuse in those early days, which added to my disrespect for some of the people who had been instrumental in launching psychology as a scientific study. In addition to the lack of faith in the character of these founding fathers, I had also come to the conclusion that they had very little solid data for their conclusions and even among their peers there was a lot of skepticism regarding their conclusions. Without measurable research based on solid data and controlled studies that the field of psychology has had to fight hard to become a reputable science.

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The human mind is one of the most intricate structures that God has ever created. Understanding that each and every individual holds their own thought pattern with varying degrees of complexity is difficult. Nothing has more influence over a person greater than the influences of the mind. It is responsible for behavior, which then turns into characteristic habits. Psychology as we know it today has only been in practice since the early 1900’s.

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However, due to the limitation of skills, most of the researches done are not well designed. A main limitation of psychology as a field of study is that it never captures the nature of consciousness (Willig, 2013), as human mind is bound up with meanings and interpretations which differ from one individual to another

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Modern psychology now bases its theories in feasibility and replicability. The fact that most of the constructs in Freud’s theory such as the id, ego and superego cannot be tested and proven has made the theory invalid today. On the other hand, behaviorism is still very valid as its based on scientific laboratory experiments. Behaviorism has been replicated in many studies with the same results being achieved. The theory is still valid in modern therapeutic applications through behavior modification and behavioral therapy e.g flooding and shaping.

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When it comes to the science of psychology psychologist are looking deeper into what affects ones behavior and mental health. Looking at the environment, health issues, cognitive, learning, and etc… How does everything affect the overall mental health of a person? 2. Distinguish between a theory, a hypothesis, and an operational definition.

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Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)—opened the first laboratory dedicated to the study of psychology, the Institute for Experimental Psychology, in 1879. In addition to this, Wundt founded the psychological school of though called structuralism that utilized methods of introspection to study thoughts, images, and feelings. (Structuralism) 3. William James (1842-1910)— unsatisfied with examining the mind in parts, William

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Psychology definition: Psychology is the science of the mind and behavior. (Nordqvist, 1) III. Origin and beginning of psychology. a.) Wilhelm Wundt b.) 1879 c.)

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