Final ppt psy290
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The document provides an overview of the field of psychology. It discusses that psychology evolved from philosophy and biology and seeks to understand human thought, action, and feelings. It outlines several major schools of thought in psychology's history that aimed to explain human behavior, such as structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism. Additionally, it states that modern psychology uses scientific methods like hypotheses testing to study both academic and applied areas, including areas like mental health treatment, performance enhancement, and ergonomics.
Final ppt psy290
- 2. INTRODUCTION The word psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning 'soul' or 'mind.' Psychology is both an applied and academic field that studies the human mind and behaviour. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain how we think, act and feel. Psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Discussions of these two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers including Aristotle and Socrates. Applications for psychology include mental health treatment, performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics and many other areas affecting health and daily life..
- 3. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT Throughout psychology's history, a number of different schools of thought have thought have formed to explain human thought and behaviours. The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology. Structuralism Functionalism Psychoanalysis Behaviourism Humanism Cognitivism
- 4. PSYCHOLOGY IN TODAYS WORLD Today, psychologists prefer to use more objective scientific methods to understand, explain and predict human behaviour. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a hypothesis that is then empirically tested. Two major areas of focus are academic psychology and applied psychology. .
- 5. Academic psychology focuses on the study of different sub-topics within psychology including personality, social behaviour and human development. These psychologists conduct basic research that seeks to expand our theoretical knowledge, while other researchers conduct applied research that seeks to solve everyday problems. Applied psychology focuses on the use of different psychological principles to solve real world problems. Examples of applied areas of psychology include forensic psychology, ergonomics and industrial-organizational psychology. Many other psychologists work as therapists, helping people overcome mental, behavioural and emotional disorders
- 6. BEHAVIOURALISM Is the study of observable and quantifiable aspects of behavior and excludes subjective phenomena, such as ideas or motives. Science of behavior and not of consciousness. Behavior is both conditioned and determined by its own outcomes or consequences (rewards and punishments); denies Only the observable and measurable aspects of a behavior are worth investigating;
- 7. THEORY’S USEFULNESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS This theory is useful for implementing a system of meritocracy whereby people are awarded by their achievements and results. In an attempt to develop more advanced skills in the 21st century, people could get encouraged by these external motivations.
- 8. HUMANISM This school of Psychology studies a whole person, and the uniqueness of each individual. It looks at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to their inner feelings and self concept.
- 9. PSYCHOANALYSIS Psychoanalysis this theory undergoes the study of how the mind works and a treatment. It believes in the primacy of the unconscious fantasy that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining “insight”. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious. Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
- 10. STRUCTURALISM Study of conscious experience Centers on sensation Held the elementary mental states such as sensations, images, and feelings
- 11. COGNITIVISM Cognitivism is a theory which attempts to answer how and why people learn by attributing the process to cognitive activity. concerned with the mental processes involved in acquiring and using knowledge; artificial intelligence.
- 12. THEORY’S USEFULNESS TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROBLEMS This theory is very useful in problems that require thinking out of the box and challenging the uncertainty. It is particularly useful in applications for solving questions that do not have direct answers. One example is to create a visual design to convey a certain message. this theory is one of the most useful for the development of 21st century skills. In order to keep up with the world that is progressing so rapidly, one has to be creative and come up with more than one solution to a certain problem.
- 13. FUNCTIONALISM Refers to a general psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaptation to the person's environment. Focused on the operations or functions of conscious activity (e.g. thinking, learning)
- 14. TABULA-RASA/BLANK-SLATE THEORY This tabula-rasa/blank-slate theory is responsible for most serious mistakes in social theories and public policies of the last century in fields like education, discrimination, gender relations. It also is related to rejection of inheritance based evolutionary theory. All this is very central to Human-Stupidity: how can a ridiculously false theory dogmatically dominate science and public policy for decades. One simple example of always repeated conventional wisdom: "Children that are beaten by violent parents become violent adults". There usually is no test for the alternative hypothesis that this has nothing to do with genetics, but that these children could have genetically inherited violent traits from their parents.
- 15. PROBLEMS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY