Psychology Chapter 1 Guided Notes

Why Study Psychology? (Section 1)

● Psychology is the scientific study of _________________ and
__________________________________________________.
● The type of behaviors that should be studied is heavily contested. Some believe that the
behavior we can ____________________________________________ is more
important than the behaviors that include our thoughts, feelings, and fantasies.
● However, everyone agrees that ______________________ need to be ______________
and _________________ must be _________________________.

The Four Goals of Psychology (Section 1)

1. ____________________ - gather information about the behavior being studied
2. ____________________ - why do people act the way they do? Hypothesis versus Theory
3. ____________________ - Guessing what future behaviors are in store
4. ____________________ - Trying to manipulate human behavior for positive future
purposes

The Scientific Method allows psychologists to create facts based on data. Great image on page
12.

Question → Hypothesis → Experiment → Results → Conclusions → Theory

A Brief History of Psychology (Section 2)

● Psychology has began as scientists started to look at the ________________ in the skulls
of the deceases. The behavior of the individual could be determined AFTER they were
deceased.
● In fifth and sixth centuries B.C., the ______________ realized that people’s thoughts
controlled their lives; people were __________________.
● There are four historical approaches to Psychology including:
○ ____________________ - the elements that make up conscious mental
experiences
○ ____________________ - adaptation
○ ____________________ - heredity determines the behavior of the person
○ ____________________ - sensations are assembled into perceptual experiences
The Six Contemporary Approaches to Psychology (Section 2)
1. ___________________ - unconscious motivations influence our behavior
2. ___________________ - Events in the environment (rewards and punishment) influence
our behavior
3. ___________________ - individual or self-directed choices influence our behavior
4. ___________________ - how we process, store, and retrieve information influences our
behavior
5. ___________________ - biological factors influence our behavior
6. ___________________ - ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status influence
our behavior

Psychology as a Profession (Section 3)

● Psychologists are people who have been trained to observe, analyze, and evaluate
behavior

Eight Specialties of Psychology

1. ______________ - help people deal with their personal problems
2. ______________ - help people adjust to challenges
3. ______________ - study physical, emotional, cognitive, and social changes
4. ______________ - deal with teaching students
5. ______________ - works in a large-scale organization to systematically meet needs
6. ______________ - study and develop methods to improve a business
7. ______________ - studies the effects of the environment on people
8. ______________ - perform experiments to determine how people operate physically and
psychologically