Psychology introduction

01 introduction

• Brains, children, language, sex, memory, madness, disgust, racism, love, etc.
• Human mind

• Major approaches to the mind
  ○ Neuroscience
  ○ Development
  ○ Cognitive
  ○ Social
  ○ Clinical
• Reading and attending the lecture
• Some of the article reading online

Structuralism: knowledge through reduction into elements
- Wilhelm Wundt(1832-1920) : mental 'atom'
○ Used reaction time and introspection
Functionalism: knowledge through understanding utility
- William James(1842-1910): reached the purpose of conscious behavior
- Experimentation and 'naturalistic' introspection
Empiricism: knowledge through sensory observation
- Behaviour
Rationalism: through reason and logic
- General statements (universals) cannot be a result of finite observations
- Underpinned' cognitive revolution' c. 1960
○ Chomsky's
Modern twist
- Empiricists distrust ideas in private minds
- Activity of mind now )indirectly) observable
- Empirism or rationalism?
Hypothesis: (educated 'guess')
- Specific testable situations

Good theories are: falsifies, can explains many observation and generate new prediction