What is an empirical science?

What is an empirical science?It is a science based on observation and experimentationWho was Wilhelm Wundt?

He is called the father of psychology.He founded the first psychology laboratory He used introspection whereby people examined their inner thoughts and feelings and reported them in response to various stimuli.Joseph Ball was around the age of forty when he committed several acts of murder. Ball would choose his victims from the wait staff at his restaurant in Texas. He would then dismember them and feed them to the alligators that he kept behind the restaurant

Explain why you think he might have done this. Give more plausible and detailed reasons than he was crazy.

Perspectives of PsychologyPsychologists analyzed peoples problems according to different perspectives of psychology. They include:Neuroscience:How do the body and brain influence how we feel, how we think, and what we sense?Body + Brain = how we think and act.

What, in our body and brain, could influence how we behave and think?Blood chemistryBrain injury (lesion)Chemicals in our brainPhysical trauma of any sortGut bacteriaWhat is a weakness of only focusing on the body and brain as the sole cause of all our thoughts and actions? What else can influence how we think and act?Social influenceIgnores how our thinking styles affect us

EvolutionaryLooks at how evolution affects our behavior

Hmmmaybe I like to socialize because being in a group helped humans survive danger and hunt, hmm

Hmmmaybe I like to socialize because being in a group helped humans survive danger and hunt, hmm8How might an evolutionary psychologists explain..Why men focus more on physical attractiveness in finding a partner and women more on strength and social status?Why humans dislike bitter food.Why people cheat on a partner.PsychodynamicHow behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.

What is a weakness of this perspective?No proof!BehavioralHow we learn observable responsesIn other words what makes us learn to do the things we doWhy might someone who was in war cringe at a loud noise? What taught them to do this?

How can you teach a dog to perform a trick-what makes him learn it?What made you learn that it is a good idea to study for a test?

This perspective believes our environment entirely shapes how we think and act. Nothing is self-generated.If I had your life experiences, I would be you!There is no free will. The environment programs us.CognitiveHow we encode, process, store and retrieve information.Looks at how we:Think

Remember

Solve problems/intelligence

Social-culturalHow does our behavior vary across different social situations and cultures?In other words how does our social world affect how we think and act?How might our family structure differ from another cultures, for ex., and how does that affect us? How do gender roles differ in various cultures, for ex., and how does that affect how men and women behave in those cultures?

HumanisticThe humanistic perspective maintains that every humans ultimate goal is to reach their maximum personal potential.It also stresses that humans have the free will to choose our actions and solve our problems

Table 1Myers: Psychology, Eighth EditionCopyright 2007 by Worth Publishers

17Dr. Marco explains to a client that his feelings of hostility toward a coworker are most likely cause by the way he interprets his coworkers actions and the way he thinks people should behave at work. Which perspective is Dr. Marco working from?How might a cognitive and behavioral psychologist disagree about the causes of violent behavior?Which perspective would explain anger as an outlet for unconscious hostility?Which of the following perspectives emphasizes observable responses over inner experiences when accounting for behavior?A. behavioristB. CognitiveC. ExistentialistD. PsychodynamicE. Structuralist