Psychology Unit 1
1. Nature of Psychology
Role of a psychologist – Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental process in humans. Psychologists seek to understand thoughts, feelings and behaviour and the factors that underlie their development and influence them.
What does behaviour and mental processes mean? Term behaviour refers to any observable action made by a living person. The term mental processes refers to an individual’s thoughts and feelings that are personal and cannot be directly observed.
Years training for psychologist/psychiatrist – role of each – Psychologists study overall for 6 years and they use various counselling methods to treat their patients. Psychiatrists study for a total of 13 years and they can prescribe medication.
Roles of forensic/organisational/sports psychologists. Forensic psychologists work with people in legal and correctional service settings. Organisational psychologists help people in workplaces. Sports psychologists help athletes to develop mental skills to achieve peak performance. 2. Perspective in Psychology
Biological perspective – focuses on the biological (physiological) influences on behaviour and mental processes, including the brain and the rest of the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system, the immune system and genetics. There has been advancements in medicine for treating mental illnesses and sophisticated equipment for studying the brain. Greater development in understanding brain chemistry and influence of genes on behaviour and mental processes.
Behavioural perspective – focuses on how behaviour is acquired or modified by environmental consequences such as rewards and punishments.
Cognitive perspective – focuses on how we acquire, process, remember and use information about ourselves and the world around us. Emphasis is on understanding how we take in information and how we treat the information in order to think, feel and behave as we do.
Socio-cultural perspective – focuses on the roles of
Role of a psychologist – Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental process in humans. Psychologists seek to understand thoughts, feelings and behaviour and the factors that underlie their development and influence them.
What does behaviour and mental processes mean? Term behaviour refers to any observable action made by a living person. The term mental processes refers to an individual’s thoughts and feelings that are personal and cannot be directly observed.
Years training for psychologist/psychiatrist – role of each – Psychologists study overall for 6 years and they use various counselling methods to treat their patients. Psychiatrists study for a total of 13 years and they can prescribe medication.
Roles of forensic/organisational/sports psychologists. Forensic psychologists work with people in legal and correctional service settings. Organisational psychologists help people in workplaces. Sports psychologists help athletes to develop mental skills to achieve peak performance. 2. Perspective in Psychology
Biological perspective – focuses on the biological (physiological) influences on behaviour and mental processes, including the brain and the rest of the nervous system, the endocrine (hormone) system, the immune system and genetics. There has been advancements in medicine for treating mental illnesses and sophisticated equipment for studying the brain. Greater development in understanding brain chemistry and influence of genes on behaviour and mental processes.
Behavioural perspective – focuses on how behaviour is acquired or modified by environmental consequences such as rewards and punishments.
Cognitive perspective – focuses on how we acquire, process, remember and use information about ourselves and the world around us. Emphasis is on understanding how we take in information and how we treat the information in order to think, feel and behave as we do.
Socio-cultural perspective – focuses on the roles of