Introductory Psychology Assignment

2. The caring mother was looking to assuage her son after he was hurt on the playground.

“A branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.” This is the definition of science in the Google dictionary. Given that anything that studies knowledge or truths and arranged them into usable data or theories means that psychology must be a science. Psychology studies how humans behave, how a humans brain reacts to certain situations, and why these things occur in order to gain an understanding on what the true human nature is like. How could someone like Hitler rise to power? Why can people feel so much attachment to inanimate objects, or why do some of people get depression after terrible situations, while others rise up and become stronger? These questions

1) I want to take AP Psychology because the subject is very intriguing. For the past few summers, my parents force to learn something over the vacation of my own choosing, every Summer I would learn something psychology related and I would genuinely enjoy learning about the topic. I started off with the gripping Stanford prison experiment. Even though I was at a young age, learning this would peak my interest, next summer I would learn about B.F. skinner and his rats, then to pavlov and his dogs, and then lastly during the 8th grade summer about to become a Freshman, I learned about “Baby Albert” positive reinforcement, and negative punishment, how the “flight or flight” reaction occurred and if a paper bag really helps. I was upset that I

October 22nd, 2012 Chapter 1- What is psychology? [pp. 1-23] LO1: Psychology as a Science (p. 4) * Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Just as Freud is known as the father of Psychoanalysis, B.F. Skinner is often referred to ask the “the father of operant conditioning.” B.F. Skinner is also known for major contributions to the field of psychology (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). Skinner was a prolific author, publishing nearly 200 articles and more than 20 books. Skinner was most known for his work in behavior psychology. Behavioral psychology is the psychological practice that focuses on learning new behaviors and how to modify our existing behavior and how that takes place (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). One of his major contributions was his theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning means roughly, the changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement, either positive or negative, and which these reinforcements are given after the desired response (About B.F. Skinner, Sept, 2012). Skinner identified three types of responses or operant that can follow behavior.

Psychology is a discipline that involves monitoring mental processes and behaviour scientifically. Psychologists try to delve into the basic functions of a person and animals cerebral activity. This usually involves studying relationships, emotions, personality and many more areas of a person or animals day to day life. Psychology tends to steer towards finding reasons for a person or animals actions in an attempt to resolve them.

The human mind is responsible for nearly every aspect of one’s life. Sadly, it is also one of the most difficult topics to study and understand. Being a field that is so difficult to study, psychology has had many different contributors that have had many different ideas. While William Wundt is known as the father of psychology (Gilbert, et al., 2015), a very overrated contributor to the field is Burrhus Frederick Skinner. BF Skinner and his studies on behaviorism made major improvements on the way that we can study the mind. Skinner influenced the field of psychology through his theory of repetition, which helps the world better understand the mind and also offers practical uses such as token economy.

Aristotle was not just any person. He was one of the most distinguished and important Greek philosophers of all time. Aristotle was born in 384 BCE in the town of Stagira, Greece. His range of work was very broad, covering most of the sciences and many arts such as biology, botany, chemistry, ethics, history, logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, physics, poetics, political theory, psychology, and zoology. He was the author of what became the foundation of both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. Even after his death in 322 BCE and historic events such as enlightenment, Aristotle’s concepts still remain present in Western thinking and continue to be studied.

Discuss to What Extent Psychology Can Be Considered a Science. According to Merriam Webster (2008), science is a, “knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method”, with scientific method in five steps being, “observation/research, hypothesis, prediction, experimentation and conclusion.” (sciencemadesimple.com, 2006). With this to consider, is psychology a science and if so, to what extent. It would be fair to say that psychology has not always been looked on as a science and its early roots were in fact based in philosophy. This fact is highlighted in the word itself, Greek in origin, psyche meaning soul and logos meaning the study of a subject (Sdorow & Rickabaugh,

What is psychology? Scientifically psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. More in depth thinking of it, psychology is the study of the psyche, or soul. As Carl Jung stated “Every psychology problem needs a spiritual solution”. By this he means the only way to solve problems psychologically, people must understand themselves in “breathe, spirit, and soul”. Psychology does not only study the overt actions of humans such as smiling or talking, but also studies the covert activities in each other 's minds.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist who lived from 384-322 B.C who was born in Stagira, Macedonia. His father played a major role in society as a physician in the royal court. Young Aristotle took a liking to Plato and decided to go to his academy at the age of seventeen. For the next twenty years, Aristotle remained there first as a student then as a teacher. After the death of Plato, Aristotle moved to Assos in the Asia Minor where he tutored his friend Hermias who was the ruler there and decided to marry his niece. After his death he then tutored Alexander the Great at the capital of Macedonia known as Pella. Later in his life, Aristotle decided to move back to Athens, Greece to open up his own school known as Lyceum.

Psychology as the article states is “it is a broad discipline, essentially spanning subject matter from biology to sociology. Psychologists have doctoral degrees. They study the intersection of two critical relationships: one between brain function and behavior, and another between the environment and behavior. As scientists, psychologists follow scientific methods, using careful observation, experimentation and analysis. But psychologists also need to be creative in the way they apply scientific findings.”(APA, 2014) How psychology developed into science is when Wilhelm Maximillian Wundt whom a German physician philosopher, physiologist and professor and also the founder of modern psychology illustrated psychology as a science

Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner, an American behavioral psychologist, is best known for his experiments on changing behavior. With behavioral psychologists Pavlov and Watson as his inspiration, Skinner formulated his theory of operational conditioning. His idea of “shaping” behavior is prevalent in the parenting and teaching techniques of children and students.

Psychology is the science of behavior and mind, embracing all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience as well as thoughts. It is an academic discipline and social science which seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases. (Fernald, 2008)

Psychology is defined as the study of thought and behavior. A substantial amount of people believes that psychology is not a specific scientific discipline. Social sciences study humans as individuals or as groups. The scientific method subsists of five processes, which include observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, and communication.