PSY1101 - INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
WEEK 1
Psychology
● The study of the mind, behaviour, and the relationship between them
● Seeks to understand human behaviour, social interaction and mental processes
● To understand, explain and predict human behaviour
● Applies understanding to promote a healthy life and human welfare
Key characteristics
Scientific study of behaviour Strong research basis
Strong theoretical underpinnings Emphasis on empirical evidence
Neuroscience Consciousness
● The scientific study of all levels of the nervous ● The awareness of external stimuli
system, including neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and our own mental activity
neurology, neurophysiology, and neuropharmacology
Psychological Phenomena
● Categorised into mental processes and behaviour
Mental processes: Subjective internal Behaviour: Usually explicitly
experiences typically unobservable unless they observable and assumed to be a
manifest as a behaviour or are intentionally measured manifestation of a subjective experience.
e.g. thoughts, intentions, emotions
Attending a lecture bc they are motivated to learn
Excitement during a lecture
Goals of Psychology
Describe behaviour: Explain behaviour: Predict behaviour: Change
what, where, and why it happens what will happen next behaviour:
when it happens (if the phenomena individuals,
occur consistently) groups, society
,Subfields of Psychology
Biological Developmental
➔ Analyse the biological factors influencing ➔ Seek to understand, describe and explore how
behaviour and mental processes behaviour and mental processes change
throughout a lifetime
➔ Measurement of biological and physiological
psychological phenomena ➔ Aims to understand the causes and effects of
those changes
EEG, fMRI, hormones, etc.
Cognitive Personality
➔ Finds that we do not just receive incoming ➔ The study of individuality to describe how
information, we mentally manipulate it combinations of personality traits differ from
others in terms of traits such as emotionality,
➔ Involves the study and measurement of sociability, etc.
mental abilities
➔ Focuses on people’s unique characteristics
➔ Focuses on analysis of the mental
processes underlying judgement, The Big Five Factor Personality Inventory
decision-making, problem-solving,
imagining, creativity, intelligence, thinking,
perception, attention, learning and memory
Environmental Health
➔ Study the effects of the environment on ➔ Study the effects of behaviour and mental
people’s behaviour and mental processes. processes on health and illness, and vice versa
e.g. architecture design ➔ Study the relationship between risky
behaviours such as smoking and lack of
➔ Natural environments, social settings, built exercise, and the likelihood of suffering health
environments, and informational issues
environments
e.g. health promotion, managing disease, etc.
, Sport Social
➔ Explore the relationships between athletic ➔ Study how people socially interact with those
performance and variables such as around them, how they think about themselves
motivation and emotion and others, and how people influence one
another
➔ Help athletes reduce anxiety, focus their
conformity, bystander effect, obedience to authority,
attention and enhance their performance
prejudice, etc.
Clinical & Counselling Community
➔ Seek to assess, understand, modify and ➔ Focus on the prevention of psychological
prevent behaviour disorders disorders promoting people’s resilience and
other personal strengths
➔ Offer services to assist people in
overcoming those disorders ➔ Work with all types of communities and
individuals and strive for change in social
systems
Educational Cultural & Cross-Cultural
➔ Study methods by which instructors teach ➔ Study the interactions between differing cultural
and students learn groups
➔ Apply the results to improve teacher training ➔ Enhance the understanding of how culture
and help students learn more efficiently affects our lives and the lives of others
Organisational School
➔ Conduct research on leadership, stress, pay ➔ Work with teachers and students to assist in
rates and other factors that affect the identifying students’ academic challenges
efficiency, productivity and satisfaction of
people in the workplace ➔ Provide counselling to students
Engineering Forensic
➔ Study human behaviour with the use of ➔ Assist in jury selection, evaluate defendants’
equipment and help designers create better mental competence to stand trial, etc.
versions of that equipment
WEEK 1
Psychology
● The study of the mind, behaviour, and the relationship between them
● Seeks to understand human behaviour, social interaction and mental processes
● To understand, explain and predict human behaviour
● Applies understanding to promote a healthy life and human welfare
Key characteristics
Scientific study of behaviour Strong research basis
Strong theoretical underpinnings Emphasis on empirical evidence
Neuroscience Consciousness
● The scientific study of all levels of the nervous ● The awareness of external stimuli
system, including neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and our own mental activity
neurology, neurophysiology, and neuropharmacology
Psychological Phenomena
● Categorised into mental processes and behaviour
Mental processes: Subjective internal Behaviour: Usually explicitly
experiences typically unobservable unless they observable and assumed to be a
manifest as a behaviour or are intentionally measured manifestation of a subjective experience.
e.g. thoughts, intentions, emotions
Attending a lecture bc they are motivated to learn
Excitement during a lecture
Goals of Psychology
Describe behaviour: Explain behaviour: Predict behaviour: Change
what, where, and why it happens what will happen next behaviour:
when it happens (if the phenomena individuals,
occur consistently) groups, society
,Subfields of Psychology
Biological Developmental
➔ Analyse the biological factors influencing ➔ Seek to understand, describe and explore how
behaviour and mental processes behaviour and mental processes change
throughout a lifetime
➔ Measurement of biological and physiological
psychological phenomena ➔ Aims to understand the causes and effects of
those changes
EEG, fMRI, hormones, etc.
Cognitive Personality
➔ Finds that we do not just receive incoming ➔ The study of individuality to describe how
information, we mentally manipulate it combinations of personality traits differ from
others in terms of traits such as emotionality,
➔ Involves the study and measurement of sociability, etc.
mental abilities
➔ Focuses on people’s unique characteristics
➔ Focuses on analysis of the mental
processes underlying judgement, The Big Five Factor Personality Inventory
decision-making, problem-solving,
imagining, creativity, intelligence, thinking,
perception, attention, learning and memory
Environmental Health
➔ Study the effects of the environment on ➔ Study the effects of behaviour and mental
people’s behaviour and mental processes. processes on health and illness, and vice versa
e.g. architecture design ➔ Study the relationship between risky
behaviours such as smoking and lack of
➔ Natural environments, social settings, built exercise, and the likelihood of suffering health
environments, and informational issues
environments
e.g. health promotion, managing disease, etc.
, Sport Social
➔ Explore the relationships between athletic ➔ Study how people socially interact with those
performance and variables such as around them, how they think about themselves
motivation and emotion and others, and how people influence one
another
➔ Help athletes reduce anxiety, focus their
conformity, bystander effect, obedience to authority,
attention and enhance their performance
prejudice, etc.
Clinical & Counselling Community
➔ Seek to assess, understand, modify and ➔ Focus on the prevention of psychological
prevent behaviour disorders disorders promoting people’s resilience and
other personal strengths
➔ Offer services to assist people in
overcoming those disorders ➔ Work with all types of communities and
individuals and strive for change in social
systems
Educational Cultural & Cross-Cultural
➔ Study methods by which instructors teach ➔ Study the interactions between differing cultural
and students learn groups
➔ Apply the results to improve teacher training ➔ Enhance the understanding of how culture
and help students learn more efficiently affects our lives and the lives of others
Organisational School
➔ Conduct research on leadership, stress, pay ➔ Work with teachers and students to assist in
rates and other factors that affect the identifying students’ academic challenges
efficiency, productivity and satisfaction of
people in the workplace ➔ Provide counselling to students
Engineering Forensic
➔ Study human behaviour with the use of ➔ Assist in jury selection, evaluate defendants’
equipment and help designers create better mental competence to stand trial, etc.
versions of that equipment
