Intro to Psychology: Crash Course Psychology #1
CrashCourse
Crash Course tackles some of the big questions about how our brains work and why we behave the way
we do. The term ‘psychology ‘ was n’t coined until around the turn of the sixteenth century, and the
practice that we would actually call science today was established until the mid-1800s. Crash Course will
explore the science of behavior and mental processes in the next 6 months. Sigmund Freud was one of
the most tremendously influential and controversial thinkers of his time. His theories helped build our
views on childhood, personality, dreams and sexuality. His life spanned an important swath of history
from the American Civil War to World War II. Psychology got its start in 1879 in Germany when physician
Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig. Sigmund Freud began
his medical career at a Viennese hospital. In 1886 he started his own practice specializing in nervous
disorders. In 1900 he published his book The Interpretation of Dreams, where he introduced his theory
of psychoanalysis. Freud suggested that we’re all profoundly affected by mental processes that we ‘re
not even aware of.
Freud believed smoking helped him think, but it also helped him get jaw cancer. During the last sixteen
years of his life, he underwent at least thirty painful operations while continuing to smoke. The next big
shake-up rolled in during the first half of the 20 th century when behaviorism gained a higher profile. The
other major force at the time was Freud ‘s psychoanalysis. The human brain is by far the most complex
physical object known to us in the entire cosmos. We here at Crash Course are really excited to spend
the next several months delving into the world of psychology. How it applies to our lives, our minds and
our hearts, and how it deepens our understanding of each other.
Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2
CrashCourse
Can weekold Pizza cause psychedelic hallucinations?. Does coffee make you smarter. Or does it just
make you do dumb stuff faster?. We tend to grossly underestimate the dangers of false intuition. If you
have an idea about a person and their behavior that turns out to be right, that reinforces your trust in
your intuition. This is known as ‘hindsight bias ‘’ or the ‘Iknewitallalong ‘’ phenomenon. This does n’t
mean the common sense is wrong, it just means that our intuitive sense more easily describes what just
happened. In science. A theory is what explains and organizes lots of different observations and predicts
outcomes. When you come up with a testable prediction, that ‘s your hypothesis. Once your theory and
hypothesis are in place, you need a clear and common language to report them with.. This is a problem
with one popular type of psychological [UNK] case studies. How you phrase surveys is important, so is
who you ask. I could ask a room full of students at a pacifist club meeting what they think about arms
control, but the result would n’t be a representative measure of where students stand. To really get to
the bottom of causeandeffect behaviors, you ‘re gon na have to start experimenting..
, The American Psychological Association suggests that you acquire everyone’s informed consent to
participate in your experiment. You do n’t want all grumpy teenagers in one group and all wealthy
Japanese surfers in the other ; they got ta mingle. Sometimes one or both groups are not informed
about what ‘s actually being tested. So let ‘s put these ideas into practice in our own little experiment.
Experimental group one gets a low dose of caffeine. Experimental group two gets 500 milligrams, more
than a quad shot of espresso dunked in a red bull.. Once you dose everyone, turn them lose in the maze
and wait at the other end with a stopwatch. All that ‘s left is to measure your results from the three
different groups and compare them..
The Chemical Mind: Crash Course Psychology #3
CrashCourse
Our endocrine systems have a few important hormone brewing glands. We ‘ve got adrenal glands
snuggled up against our kidneys that secrete adrenaline. The pituitary gland is the most influential gland
in this system. It releases a vital growth hormone that spurs physical development and that love
hormone oxytocin. In our next lesson, we ‘re gon na get all up in your brain and delve deeper into the
different components of your nervous system. Find out what your old brain is and learn about how
much of your brain you actually use.
Meet Your Master – Getting to Know Your Brain: Crash Course Psychology #4
CrashCourse
Franz Joseph Gall believed that a persons personality was linked to their skull morphology. His lasting
and correct proposition was that different parts of the brain control specific aspects of our behavior..
phrenology was dismissed as a cult pseudoscience because it turns out your cranial contours tell us
exactly nothing about what ‘s happening inside the brain. In 1848, Phineas Gage was tamping
gunpowder into a blasting hole with an iron rod.. The resulting explosion caused the rod to shoot like a
bullet up through his left cheek and out of the top of his head.. amazingly, he stood up after the
accident, and walked over to a cart and described what had happened, and then they drove him back to
his house while he was conscious. After a few months of convalescing, he was pretty much healed up
and moving around like he used to. but his friends were. saying that he was no longer like himself. He
was surly and meanspirited and vulgar. Phineas would lose a quarter of his brain and he ‘d be just fine..
He continued to heal and lived his remaining years as a happy and productive citizen.. brain Scans show
that nearly every region of the brain lights up during even simple tasks like walking and talking. Brain is
kind of like a set of Russian nesting dolls..
The old brain systems keep our body ’s basic functions running smoothly; the sort of stuff any animal
might need.. This is pretty much where the brain stops for reptiles. For higher functions, we look to the
limbic system.. This includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus.. The hypothalamus
regulates body temperatures, circadian rhythms and hunger.. The hippocampus is central to learning
and memory. Some tasks are distributed to one side, but the sides are deeply and constantly
CrashCourse
Crash Course tackles some of the big questions about how our brains work and why we behave the way
we do. The term ‘psychology ‘ was n’t coined until around the turn of the sixteenth century, and the
practice that we would actually call science today was established until the mid-1800s. Crash Course will
explore the science of behavior and mental processes in the next 6 months. Sigmund Freud was one of
the most tremendously influential and controversial thinkers of his time. His theories helped build our
views on childhood, personality, dreams and sexuality. His life spanned an important swath of history
from the American Civil War to World War II. Psychology got its start in 1879 in Germany when physician
Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig. Sigmund Freud began
his medical career at a Viennese hospital. In 1886 he started his own practice specializing in nervous
disorders. In 1900 he published his book The Interpretation of Dreams, where he introduced his theory
of psychoanalysis. Freud suggested that we’re all profoundly affected by mental processes that we ‘re
not even aware of.
Freud believed smoking helped him think, but it also helped him get jaw cancer. During the last sixteen
years of his life, he underwent at least thirty painful operations while continuing to smoke. The next big
shake-up rolled in during the first half of the 20 th century when behaviorism gained a higher profile. The
other major force at the time was Freud ‘s psychoanalysis. The human brain is by far the most complex
physical object known to us in the entire cosmos. We here at Crash Course are really excited to spend
the next several months delving into the world of psychology. How it applies to our lives, our minds and
our hearts, and how it deepens our understanding of each other.
Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2
CrashCourse
Can weekold Pizza cause psychedelic hallucinations?. Does coffee make you smarter. Or does it just
make you do dumb stuff faster?. We tend to grossly underestimate the dangers of false intuition. If you
have an idea about a person and their behavior that turns out to be right, that reinforces your trust in
your intuition. This is known as ‘hindsight bias ‘’ or the ‘Iknewitallalong ‘’ phenomenon. This does n’t
mean the common sense is wrong, it just means that our intuitive sense more easily describes what just
happened. In science. A theory is what explains and organizes lots of different observations and predicts
outcomes. When you come up with a testable prediction, that ‘s your hypothesis. Once your theory and
hypothesis are in place, you need a clear and common language to report them with.. This is a problem
with one popular type of psychological [UNK] case studies. How you phrase surveys is important, so is
who you ask. I could ask a room full of students at a pacifist club meeting what they think about arms
control, but the result would n’t be a representative measure of where students stand. To really get to
the bottom of causeandeffect behaviors, you ‘re gon na have to start experimenting..
, The American Psychological Association suggests that you acquire everyone’s informed consent to
participate in your experiment. You do n’t want all grumpy teenagers in one group and all wealthy
Japanese surfers in the other ; they got ta mingle. Sometimes one or both groups are not informed
about what ‘s actually being tested. So let ‘s put these ideas into practice in our own little experiment.
Experimental group one gets a low dose of caffeine. Experimental group two gets 500 milligrams, more
than a quad shot of espresso dunked in a red bull.. Once you dose everyone, turn them lose in the maze
and wait at the other end with a stopwatch. All that ‘s left is to measure your results from the three
different groups and compare them..
The Chemical Mind: Crash Course Psychology #3
CrashCourse
Our endocrine systems have a few important hormone brewing glands. We ‘ve got adrenal glands
snuggled up against our kidneys that secrete adrenaline. The pituitary gland is the most influential gland
in this system. It releases a vital growth hormone that spurs physical development and that love
hormone oxytocin. In our next lesson, we ‘re gon na get all up in your brain and delve deeper into the
different components of your nervous system. Find out what your old brain is and learn about how
much of your brain you actually use.
Meet Your Master – Getting to Know Your Brain: Crash Course Psychology #4
CrashCourse
Franz Joseph Gall believed that a persons personality was linked to their skull morphology. His lasting
and correct proposition was that different parts of the brain control specific aspects of our behavior..
phrenology was dismissed as a cult pseudoscience because it turns out your cranial contours tell us
exactly nothing about what ‘s happening inside the brain. In 1848, Phineas Gage was tamping
gunpowder into a blasting hole with an iron rod.. The resulting explosion caused the rod to shoot like a
bullet up through his left cheek and out of the top of his head.. amazingly, he stood up after the
accident, and walked over to a cart and described what had happened, and then they drove him back to
his house while he was conscious. After a few months of convalescing, he was pretty much healed up
and moving around like he used to. but his friends were. saying that he was no longer like himself. He
was surly and meanspirited and vulgar. Phineas would lose a quarter of his brain and he ‘d be just fine..
He continued to heal and lived his remaining years as a happy and productive citizen.. brain Scans show
that nearly every region of the brain lights up during even simple tasks like walking and talking. Brain is
kind of like a set of Russian nesting dolls..
The old brain systems keep our body ’s basic functions running smoothly; the sort of stuff any animal
might need.. This is pretty much where the brain stops for reptiles. For higher functions, we look to the
limbic system.. This includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus.. The hypothalamus
regulates body temperatures, circadian rhythms and hunger.. The hippocampus is central to learning
and memory. Some tasks are distributed to one side, but the sides are deeply and constantly
