Class is in session
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, so…here goes a series of posts designed to supplement an Introductory Psychology Course. Since so many folks are learning at home these days, it doesn’t feel right to let this material just sit on my computer unused until I teach again.
If you’d like to know a little more about my qualifications as a teacher, check out my Teaching page. You’ll find descriptions of my courses and reviews from former students. If you have more questions, ask me!
Ok, first of all - I’ve never done this before (quote of the year, amiright?). Specifically, I’ve never remolded a course to fit into a series of informational blog posts. That means I need feedback. Want more information? Less? Feedback. Questions/clarifications/counter-arguments? Feedback. If you help me make this better, we can help students everywhere understand the sciences of the mind and brain.
So let’s jump right in.
Psychology comes from the Greek words…
Psyche = soul
Logos = to study
Psychology was born from the age old questions posed by poets and philosophers about what it means to be human - conscious experience, the existence of the soul, perception and reality, etc… The endeavor to answer these questions has since evolved to become the various psychological sciences, which focus on two topics: mind and behavior.
Mind
The private inner experience (thought, memory, consciousness, perception, etc).
Behavior
The observable actions of humans, animals, and neural structures.
Wait…Psychology is a science?
I understand the confusion. Go to Google Images and search for “psychologist”.
7 of the first 10 image results depict a Psychologist in a counselor/therapist role.
In a public opinion poll conducted by the APA in 2012, people read the following job description:
Kathy works at a major technology company that manufactures computers and computer software. She conducts research on how people work best with machines. She researches things like how a computer could be designed to prevent fatigue and eye strain, what arrangement of an assembly line makes production most efficient, and what a reasonable workload is for a person.
What is Kathy’s most likely job title? Most people think Mechanical Engineer. Some think computer technician or IT. Less than 20% think Psychologist. Kathy is, in fact, in the field of Human-Computer Interactions (HCI), which is a subfield of Psychology.
The traditional, couch-bound, “how does that make you feel”-type scenario is really only associated with one piece of the multi-flavor, variety cheesecake that is Psychology.
Mmmm…cheesecake.
What are the other “flavors” of Psychology?
Every STEM field you can think of is intertwined with Psychology. The scope is massive, because it covers anything touched by these areas of study:
Brain systems Ѱ Social systems Ѱ
Perception Ѱ Memory Ѱ Language Ѱ Consciousness Ѱ Emotion Ѱ Addiction Ѱ Clinical studies Ѱ Therapeutic interventions Ѱ Reasoning Ѱ Decision-making Ѱ and more…
Let’s say you want to:
design a website or app that’s intuitive to use…
keep track of employee satisfaction…
formulate a new perfume and test consumer preferences…
test the efficacy of a new depression treatment…
counsel at-risk adolescents…
write music that captures the ambience of a film…
design a new cockpit layout for a fighter jet…
There’s a psychology for all of that.
There is even psychology in the way we perceive art.
Why was M. C. Escher so brilliant at boggling our brains? Because he understood how we perceive shading, our prior knowledge of chess boards, and our knowledge of the way ladders work. His work always portrays a particular acknowledgement that our reality is a product of our perceptual capabilities and our prior knowledge and experience.
I’ll wrap this one up with a challenge: find something - a concept, object, place - anything that on some level doesn’t involve psychology. Psychology constructs humanity and vice versa. The two concepts lock together like strands of genetic material, directly and indirectly composing everything from our inner nature to our outer surroundings and lifestyles.
Stay safe and healthy,
kdoh
