Summary Psychological Science
Michael S. Gazzaniga – 6th editi on
Chapter 1 – The Science of Psychology
What is psychological science?
Psychology involves the study of mental activity and behavior.
1.1 Psychological Science is the Study of Mind, Brain, and
Behavior
Psychological science is, through research, the study of
mind: the mental activity. It results from biological processes within the brain;
brain; and
behavior: the totality of observable human (or animal) actions.
For many years, psychologists only studied behavior. Because of the advent of technology, it became
possible to observe the working brain in action in order to study mental states.
1.2 Psychological Science teaches Critical Thinking
One of the hallmarks of a good scientist is amiable skepticism, combining openness and wariness –
remaining open to new ideas, but being wary of new “scientific findings” when good evidence and
sound reasoning do not seem to support them.
Critical thinking: systematically question and evaluate information using well-supported
evidence.
1.3 Psychological Science helps us understand Biased or
Inaccurate Thinking
Errors and biases in noncritical thinking, mostly, occur because we are motivated to use our
intelligence: we want to make sense of events that involve us and happen around us. However,
often, we see what we expect to see, and fail to notice things that do not fit with our expectations.
In this book, you will encounter some biases.
Confirmation bias (ignoring evidence): placing great importance on evidence that supports
your beliefs, and downplay evidence that does not match what one believes.
Seeing relationships that do not exist: the misperception that two events that happen at the
same time are related – can lead to superstitious behavior.
Hindsight bias (accepting after-the-fact explanations): coming up with explanations for why
events happen, even without complete information. We are wonderful at explaining why
things happened, but less successful at predicting future events.
Taking mental shortcuts: following simple rules (heuristics) in making decisions.
1.4 Why are People Unaware of their Weaknesses?
Another bias in thinking is that people fail to see their own inadequacies. In general, people interpret
information in ways that support their beliefs about themselves. One factor that promotes
overconfidence is that people often have difficulty recognizing their own weaknesses.
What are the Scientific Foundations of Psychology?
Psychology originated in philosophy, as the great thinkers sought to understand human nature. In
the 1800s, psychologists began to use scientific methods to investigate mind, brain, and behavior.
1
,1.5 Many Psychological Questions have a Long History
The nature/nurture debate has taken many forms throughout psychology’s history: the arguments
concerning whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate (i.e. nature), or acquired
through education, experience, and culture (i.e. nurture).
However, nature and nurture cannot be separated!
Culture is the beliefs, values, rules, and customs that exist within a group of people who share a
common language and environment.
In addition, the mind/body problem was perhaps the quintessential psychological issue: are mind
and body separate and distinct, or is the mind simply the subjective experience of ongoing brain
activity?
1.6 Experimental Psychology initially focused on the Structure,
not the Function, of Mental Activity
Wilhelm Wundt founded modern experimental psychology. He realized that psychological processes,
the products of psychological actions in the brain, take time to occur method of reaction time to
assess how quickly people can respond to events.
However, he was not satisfied with simply studying mental reaction times – he wanted to measure
conscious experiences.
Method of introspection: a systematic examination of mental experiences that requires
people to inspect and report on the content of their thoughts – a subjective process since it
assesses how each individual personally experiences an event.
Structuralism (Edward Titchener)
This school is based on the idea that conscious experience can be broken down into its basic
underlying components, where methods such as introspection where used.
However, the problem with introspection is that experience is subjective, so it was largely abandoned
over time, but it did pave the way for developing a pure science of psychology.
Functionalism (William James)
James was a critic of structuralism – he argued that the mind is much more complex than its
elements and therefore cannot be broken down.
The mind consists of an ever-changing, continuous series of thoughts stream of
consciousness.
Psychologists who used the structural approach were like people trying to understand a house by
studying each of its bricks individually. James was more interested in that the bricks together form a
house and that a house has a particular function.
The mind’s elements matter less than the mind’s usefulness to people.
Functionalism, then, is a school of thought that examines the functions served by the mind, how the
mind operates, and its adaptive purpose.
One of the major influences on functionalism was Charles Darwin, who introduced the world to
evolutionary theory: species change over time (e.g. psychical characteristics, skills, and abilities) and
some changes increases individuals’ chances of surviving and reproducing. These changes will be
passed along to future generations because of this surviving and reproducing adaptations.
2
,The mechanism of evolution was called natural selection: the process by which changes that are
adaptive (i.e. facilitating survival and reproduction) are passed along, and those that are not adaptive
(i.e. hindering survival and reproduction) are not passed along.
1.7 Different Schools of Thought reflected different Perspectives
on Mind, Brain, and Behavior
As the discipline of psychology spread, different ways of thinking about the content of it emerged
school of thoughts. Besides structuralism and functionalism, five other major schools of thoughts
dominated the history of psychology.
Psychoanalytic approach (Sigmund Freud)
It was speculated that much of human behavior is determined by mental processes operating below
the level of conscious awareness unconscious.
Freud believed that unconscious mental forces produce psychological discomfort and in some cases
even psychological disorders. Many of these unconscious conflicts arising from troubling childhood
experiences that the person is blocking from memory.
Psychoanalysis then attempts to bring the contents of the patient’s unconscious into his/her
conscious awareness, so that conflicts can be revealed. Possibly through free association: talking
about whatever the patient wanted for as long as wanted.
However, many of Freud’s ideas are impossible to test using methods of science.
Behaviorism (John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner)
Watson believed that if psychology was to be a science, it had to stop trying to study mental events
that could not be observed directly.
o Behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental forces in producing observable
behavior.
For behaviorists, nurture was all – we need to study the environmental stimuli in particular
situations, to be able to predict behavioral responses in those situations.
Gestalt movement (Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler)
According to Gestalt theory, the whole of personal experience is not simply the sum of its
constituent elements – the whole is different from the sum of its parts.
o E.g. if a researcher shows people a triangle, they see a triangle and not three lines on
a piece of paper (as would be the case with introspection).
The Gestalt movement reflected an important criticism of structuralism: the perception of object is
subjective and dependent on context. Two people can look at an object and see different things.
Humanistic psychology (Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers)
This approach emphasized the basic goodness of people, and how they become happier and more
fulfilled. It focused on how people should accept themselves, work on personal goals, and try to live
up to their full potential as human beings.
This led to the positive psychology movement which emphasizes the quality of relationships and
taking enjoyment from life’s accomplishments.
3
, Cognitivism (George Miller, Ulric Neisser)
Findings suggested that mental functions are important for understanding behavior – they
demonstrated the limitations of a purely behavioral approach to psychology.
Cognitive neuroscience is the study of the neural mechanisms underlying thought, learning,
perception, language, and memory.
During the last decade, this approach has been used to study how people think about others
social neuroscience.
What are the latest developments in psychology?
During various periods in the history of the field, psychologists became especially excited about new
approaches, such as when the behaviorists began studying observable phenomena, rejecting
introspection and the search for unconscious processes.
1.8 Biology is increasingly emphasized in explaining
Psychological Phenomena
There have been a remarkable growth in our understanding of the biological bases of mental
activities. Three major advances helped further the scientific understanding of psychological
phenomena.
1. Progress in understanding brain chemistry: hundreds of substances play critical roles in
mental activity and behavior.
2. Developments in neuroscience: studying the working brain as it performs its vital
psychological function through the use of brain imaging methods.
3. Advances in decoding the human genome – the basic genetic code, or blueprint, for the
human body: studying how specific genes (the basic units of hereditary transmission) affect
thoughts, actions, feelings, and disorder.
1.9 Evolutionary Thinking is increasingly Influential
Human mind has been shaped by evolution. Modern evolutionary theory has driven the field of
biology for years, but it has only recently begun to inform psychology.
The field of evolutionary psychology attempts to explain mental traits as products of natural
selection. Functions such as memory, perception, and language are seen as adaptations.
1.10 Culture provides Adaptive Solutions
Many of the most demanding adaptive challenges involve dealing with other humans. The complexity
of living in groups gave rise to culture of which the aspects are transmitted from one generation to
the next through learning.
Human cultural evolution has occurred much faster than human biological evolution: although
humans have changed only modestly in physical terms, they have changed profoundly in regard to
how they live together.
Culture then
plays a foundational role in shaping how people view and reason about the world around
them;
shapes many aspects of their daily lives; and
shapes beliefs and values cultural norms specify how people ought to behave in different
contexts.
4
