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Chapter 1: Psychology
Schools of Thought
Psychology hopes topredict and control
human behavior. But, itdoes so within differentapproaches.
There is no oneagreed upon method.
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Biological ApproachTo understand human
behavior, the physiologicalunderpinnings must beunderstood.
Brain & Central Nervous
SystemRole of drugs, Use animal
models as means tounderstand human behavior
What role do our senses play?Endocrine system glands,
hormones (fight or flightresponse)
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Behavioral Approach
1913quote from John B.Watson:
give me a dozenhealthy young infants Iwill take any one and
create a doctor, alawyer, and yes, even abeggar man thief
According to Watson, set upenvironmental conditions
& give rise to the desiredbehavior.
Rewards = reinforcements inbehavior
Skinner took Watsons ideas
to new heights.
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Cognitive Approach
Memory, language, thought and
attention cognitive measuresare worth examination.
Semantic relatedness connectedness of ideas inmemory.
When given two words to say outloud, a person will say 2 wordsthat are related much faster than2 that are unrelated
Very popular today social,developmental, personality, &
clinical psychology.In order to understand the
individual, one must understandthe way people think, remember,process information, and reasonabout the world.
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Humanistic Approach
People are goal related and
drivenSelf-actualization: (Maslow)Someone who has reachedhis or her own uniquepotential.
Free will & motivation Weare in complete control
In therapy, psychologistsattempt to help individuals
see the misconceptionsthey hold in their subjectiveview of reality. If thoseviews are corrected, theindividual will feel better
about themselves.
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Sociocultural Approach
Focuses on the diversity ofthe human experience
Context (developmental)
Influence of groups(social)
or an Applied aspect
(forensic psychology)Human behavior does not
occur in a vacuum &groups, cultures, andsituations all have impacton human behavior.
Behavior can be predicted bythe presence or absence ofanother person.
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