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Summary Psychological science H1 and H3 Psychology year 1
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Comprehensive summary of the book Psychological science chapter 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
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1 The Science Of Psychology- What is psychological science?
- What are the scientific foundations of psychology?
- What are the latest developments in psychology?
What is psychological science?
Psychology involves the study of mental activity and behavior. The term psychologist is used broadly
to describe someone whose career involves understanding mental life or predicting behavior. We
humans are intuitive psychologists. That is, we try to understand and predict others’ behavior.
1.1 Psychological Science Is the Study of Mind, Brain, and Behavior
psychological science =
The study, through research, of mind, brain, and behavior.
Mind refers to mental activity. Examples of the mind in action include the perceptual experiences
(sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and touches) we have while interacting with the world. The mind is also
responsible for memories, thoughts, and feelings. Mental activity results from biological processes
within the brain. Behavior describes the totality of observable human (or animal) actions. These
actions range from the subtle to the complex.
For many years, psychologists focused on behavior rather than on mental states. They did so largely
because they had few objective techniques for assessing the mind. The advent of technology to
observe the working brain in action has enabled psychologists to study mental states and has led to a
fuller understanding of human behavior.
Psychologists generally seek to understand mental activity (both normal and abnormal), the biological
basis of that activity, how people change as they grow older, how people vary in response to social
settings, and how people acquire healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
What produces mental activity?
Biological activity in the brain
1.2 Psychological Science Teaches Critical Thinking
One of the hallmarks of a good scientist—or a savvy consumer of scientific research—is amiable
skepticism. This trait combines openness and wariness.
- An amiable skeptic remains open to new ideas but is wary of new “scientific findings” when
good evidence and sound reasoning do not seem to support them.
- An amiable skeptic develops the habit of carefully weighing the facts when deciding what to
believe.
critical thinking =
Systematically questioning and evaluating information using well-supported evidence.
- Involves looking for holes in evidence, using logic and reasoning to see whether the
information makes sense, and considering alternative explanations.
- Requires considering whether the information might be biased, such as by personal or political
agendas.
- Demands healthy questioning and keeping an open mind.
Many decades of psychological research have shown that people’s intuitions are often wrong.
Intuitions also tend to be wrong in predictable ways. Indeed, human thought is often biased in ways
that make critical thinking very difficult.
What is amiable skepticism?
Being open to new ideas but carefully considering the evidence.
,1.3 Psychological Science Helps us Understand Biased or Inaccurate Thinking
The human brain is highly efficient at finding patterns and noting connections between things. By
using these abilities, we make new discoveries and advance society. But sometimes we get things
wrong. Sometimes we see patterns that do not really exist. Often, we see what we expect to see and
fail to notice things that do not fit with our expectations.
For instance, our stereotypes about people shape our expectations about them, and we interpret their
behavior in ways that confirm these stereotypes.
Why is it important to care about errors and biases in thinking? The psychologist Thomas Gilovich
answers this question insightfully in his book How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human
Reason in Everyday Life (1991). He points out that more Americans believe in extrasensory
perception (ESP) than in evolution and that there are twenty times more astrologers than astronomers.
Followers of ESP and astrology may base important life decisions on beliefs that are wrong.
Following are a few of the major biases you will encounter.
Ignoring evidence (confirmation bias)
People show a strong tendency to place great importance on evidence that supports their beliefs.
They tend to downplay evidence that does not match what they believe. One factor that contributes to
confirmation bias is the selective sampling of information. Similarly, people show selective memory,
tending to better remember information that supports their existing beliefs.
Seeing relationships that do not exist
In our desire to find predictability in the world, we sometimes see order that does not exist. Believing
that events are related when they are not can lead to superstitious behavior.
Accepting after-the-fact explanations
One form of this reasoning bias is known as hindsight bias. We are wonderful at explaining why things
happened, but we are much less successful at predicting future events. More generally, once we know
the outcome, we interpret and reinterpret old evidence to make sense of that outcome. We need to be
wary of after-the-fact explanations because they tend to distort the evidence.
Taking mental shortcuts
People often follow simple rules, called heuristics, to make decisions. These mental shortcuts are
valuable because they often produce reasonably good decisions without too much effort (Kahneman,
2011). Unfortunately, many heuristics can lead to inaccurate judgments and biased outcomes. One
example of this problem occurs when things that come most easily to mind guide our thinking. This
shortcut is known as the availability heuristic.
Why should you be suspicious of after-the-fact explanations?
Once people know an outcome, they interpret and reinterpret old evidence to make sense of that
outcome.
1.4 Why Are People Unaware of Their Weaknesses?
People are motivated to feel good about themselves, and this motivation affects how they think.
People use various strategies to support their positive views, such as crediting personal strengths for
their successes and blaming outside forces for their failures.
In general, people interpret information in ways that support their positive beliefs about themselves.
One factor that promotes overconfidence is that people often have difficulty recognizing their own
weaknesses.
The German language has a word for how we feel, Fremdschämen. This term refers to times when we
experience embarrassment for other people in part because they do not realize that they should be
embarrassed for themselves.
, How is it that people who are tone-deaf can believe their singing talents merit participating in singing
competitions? The social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger have an explanation: People
are often blissfully unaware of their weaknesses because they cannot judge those weaknesses at all.
To make matters worse, people who are unaware of their weaknesses fail to make any efforts at self-
improvements to overcome those weaknesses. They do not try to get better because they already
believe they are performing well.
Kruger and Dunning (1999) have shown that teaching people specific skills helps them to be more
accurate in judging their performance. This finding implies that people might need help in identifying
their weaknesses before they can fix those weaknesses. But why are people so inaccurate in the first
place? The likely answer is that they generally start with extremely positive views about their abilities.
Why should you be skeptical of people’s descriptions of their personal strengths?
Because people often fail to see their personal weaknesses.
What Are the Scientific Foundations of Psychology?
In the 1800s psychologists began to use scientific methods to investigate mind, brain, and behavior.
1.5 Many Psychological Questions Have a Long History
Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato debated whether an individual’s psychology is
attributable more to nature or to nurture. That is, are psychological characteristics biologically innate?
Or are they acquired through education, experience, and culture?
culture =
The beliefs, values, rules, and customs that exist within a group of people who share a common
language and environment.
Psychologists now widely recognize that both nature and nurture dynamically interact in human
psychological development.
nature/nurture debate =
The arguments concerning whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or acquired
through education, experience, and culture.
mind/body problem =
A fundamental psychological issue: Are mind and body separate and distinct, or is the mind simply the
physical brain’s subjective experience?
In the following centuries (after the Egyptians), especially among the Greeks and Romans, recognition
grew that the brain was essential for normal mental functioning. Much of this change came from
observing people with brain injuries.
At least since the time of the Roman gladiators, it was clear that a blow to the head often produced
disturbances in mental activity, such as unconsciousness or the loss of speech.
Scholars continued to believe that the mind was separate from and in control of the body. Around
1500, the artist Leonardo da Vinci challenged this doctrine when he dissected human bodies to make
his anatomical drawings more accurate.
Da Vinci’s dissections led him to many conclusions about the brain’s workings. For example, da Vinci
theorized that all sensory messages (vision, touch, smell, etc.) arrived at one location in the brain. He
called that region the sensus communis, and he believed it to be the home of thought and judgment;
its name may be the root of the modern term common sense.
In the 1600s, the philosopher René Descartes promoted the influential theory of dualism. This term
refers to the idea that the mind and the body are separate yet intertwined. The body, he argued, was
nothing more than an organic machine governed by “reflex.” Many mental functions—such as memory
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