...What I admire about Biology is the continual evolution of the world. The natural environment has ceaselessly captivated me and this interest maintains and grows every day. The further you gain an understanding of Biology the more you become aware of the fact that there is more to learn than just the knowledge that you already have. I enjoy studying how fundamental Chemistry can be practiced to generate substances in order to solve different puzzles that come with it. I often find it enjoyable learning about the physical science of things instead of the mental science. Despite my love for studying Biology and Chemistry, I am intrigued to study Politics and Psychology. If there were no field of Psychology numerous enquiries related to the nature of humans would be unheard of. Psychology encompasses the study of the intellectual capabilities of the mind and that engrosses me, as I have always been interested in the study of the brain. Politics is of high importance, especially as we are living in a vast world, it is very important to be well informed of our government and hence it fascinates me to know the motives of politicians and how their opinions are affected by it. I feel, I am a good candidate for Politics as I am eager to have knowledge of governmental affairs and I love studying things that can challenge me intellectually and I know studying Politics will help me attain this. I feel as though I have been successful in discerning an individual’s personality and intellect...
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...Running head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION PAPER Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY 400 October 24, 2011 Matt Diggs Social Psychology Very often, one wonders why one acts the way he or she does. It just seems to be human nature to ask such questions and to try to discover more about the complexity of human actions and causes. Of course, there are many perspectives in the field of psychology that attempt to address these significant questions. For instance, biopsychology considers important factors including one’s brain, genetic predisposition, and many others when addressing behavior. However, social psychology, even though it agrees with other branches in psychology, does focus on different aspects when seeking these kinds of conclusions. Social psychology centers their attention on understanding human actions such as what led to the cruelty of killing millions of people during War II. Why will one always help him or herself first, before helping others? Why do others matter more when making decisions? Social psychology is essential not only to the field of psychology but also to every individual because it provides answers to questions one seeks about him or herself and others. However, social psychology does more than provide answers to these few questions, as these merely touch the surface of social psychology’s focus (Myers, 2010). Definition of Social Psychology Social psychology is a science just like many other fields including astronomy...
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...Many people overlook the significance of the biological influence on human behavior. They fail to realize what a big impact our biology as humans have on characteristics, views and behavior. Mutations in our biology and neurological systems are the cause of many of the psychological disorders that people suffer today. Our environment as well as the way we think and feel influence our everyday behaviors. These thoughts and feelings are processed by neurons in the brain and nervous system. Neurotransmitters in our brain and nervous system control all of our functions. When these neurotransmitters don’t function properly, such serotonin which controls sleeping, eating, mood, pain and depression, psychological disorders may arise. Molecular genetics seeks to identify specific genes that are associated with behavior and psychological disorders (Feldman, 2009). Research in molecular genetics has helped to identify genetic markers that are linked to many psychological disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. Research into this field may help develop earlier detection and treatment for these disorders and may also lead to effective gene therapy that can be used to potentially treat these same diseases. Aside from psychological disorders that can be genetically identifiable, physical characteristics that result from our biology and genetics can also affect us psychologically. Although environment also plays a role, physical characteristics such as weight, tone...
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...Foundation of Psychology Psychology is the study of human behavior and mind. According to Psychology: The Study of Mental Processes and Behavior defined psychology as the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior. Psychology alone has more than one basic foundation. Psychology can be as broad as biology and as detailed as philosophy, because it includes humans who are very complex in nature. Psychology involves more than how people act; it includes their thought process, emotions, memories, and analysis of events. When psychology was first introduced people weren’t sure if it was a science separated from biology and philosophy. The major school of thought in psychology exemplifies the major theories within psychology. Over the years there are many schools of thoughts in psychology that has developed, that are in addition to the main eight which are structuralism, functionalism, rationalism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, and Cognitive Psychology. . The first school of thought, structuralism was endorsed by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchner between 1890-1920 in Germany and the US. This school of thought analyzes the mental processes and broke in down into the most basic component. Techniques such as introspection was use to examine how the human mind processed information. Due to the concept of structuralism, John Dewey was credited as the founder of functionalism...
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...The Study of Animal Behavior through Comparative Psychology I have found that the use of comparative psychology to study animal behavior has been a most crucial part in the development of todays’ society in humans alike. Comparative psychology is a branch of psychology popularly focused on comparing animal behavior to human behavior. Essentially comparative psychology focuses on animal psychology and the implications that science may have on our understanding of human psychology. Comparative psychology, which involves the study of mental processes and behavior in other animals, is also known as ethology or behavioral biology. Comparative researchers have a wide variety of jobs from studying animals in cages and controlled environments to traveling to distant places in far off countries to study animals in their natural environments. Many of the jobs people prefer tend to include working in laboratories, zoos or aquariums. The psychologists study animals and their behaviors in the wild to compare and contrast their findings. Most times comparative researchers spend their time teaching others about what they have either observed or learned from others experienced in the field of study. The study of animal behavior is enormously diverse, largely because behavior is focused to so many aspects of an animal's biology. Virtually any kind of behavior performed by an animal may be the subject of study. Some questions that have attracted considerable interest include...
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...This chapter is an introduction to the ideas, people, and events that have guided scientific activity in developmental psychology over the past century. Its preparation has been facilitated by several recent publications on the history of developmental psychology. The views of the past held by active researchers are reflected in chapters of the edited volume, A Century of Developmental Psychology (Parke, Ornstein, Rieser, & Zahn-Waxler, 1994). The contributors are, with few exceptions, currently involved in contemporary research. Secondary commentaries can provide useful guides and interpretations, but there is no substitute for consulting original sources. To that end, a reprint series containing historically significant original articles and volumes has been prepared by Wozniak (e.g., 1993, 1997). Other recent volumes include the contributions of professional historians and others who are not enmeshed in current empirical debates of the discipline (e.g., Broughton & Freeman-Moir, 1982; Elder, Modell, & Parke, 1993). In addition, the social relevance and the making of the discipline in American society have been told expertly by Sears (1975) and White (1995). Any single overview—including this one—can tell only part of the story.1 Adopting the convention used in the previous Handbook of Child Psychology, 20 years must lapse before a contribution or event qualifies as historical. Two decades constitute approximately one generation in the life of our science; therefore, 1976...
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...lIn this course, I have three targets to achieve. First, is the history of Psychology. Next, is the knowledge of Psychology. Last, is to know how Psychology affected and related to me and the social. Talk about the study plan. In this course, it just has 9 sections. Obviously, I think it is not enough time for me to achieve the above targets. So I need to have self-study. In the first week (24/10 to 30/10), the course started, this is the first time that I study about Psychology. So I need to fully understand the meaning, the importance and the history of Psychology. In addition, study the behavior and neuroscience of Psychology. According to the syllabus, I need to study the state of consciousness and the nature and nurture of behavior. Moreover, it is better for me to pay attention to the behavior of the surrounding people because it is good for me to learn in the daily life. In the second week (31/10 to 6/11), it is the time for me to hand in the assignment 1. In the lesson, we will study the sensation and perception. I am interested in the sensation part, because it is very amazing. Also I have study it before (in Biology), so I was familiar in this part. In the third week (7/11 to 13/11), I will have the presentation about our brain. In the presentation, I hope I can learn many through the discussion, information research, group work and the skills of presentation. Because when I grow up and work, it is very often to do the presentation so I need to practice...
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...My ambition to study for a degree in dental hygiene and therapy has developed out of several years’ experience of working as a dental nurse. I have considered the career of dentistry for a long time and am fully aware of how demanding at times it can be, therefore I decided to study a foundation degree in dental nursing at a university. Throughout my working career I have become more aware of the importance of a hygienist’s role in maintaining patient’s dental health. I understand how common periodontal disease is nowadays and have deep faith in the value of every preventative care and patient education. A patients’ well-being can be dramatically improved through the hygienist’s actions such as advice on diet and smoking, therapy and treatment which includes...
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...The Social Sciences Anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology are all sub-disciplines within liberal arts. Each of these disciplines contributes to our understanding of the physical and intellectual world. Anthropology contributes to our understanding of human behavior and biology. Economics helps us to make rational decisions about resources while geography explains the earth and its natural phenomenon. History is important because aids in our understanding of the world, and how it has transformed. Studying political science helps us to understand who gets what, when, and how. Psychology is important because it explains the mind and brain and their relationship to our lives. And, the study of sociology increases our understanding of how to develop good societies. Although each of these disciplines are important, based on opinion, they can be ranked in importance. I would rank them in order by political science, history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and geography. In my opinion, political science, or the study of politics, is the most important social science because all other sciences involve a political process. The political process or politics is simply who gets what, when, and how. Political science is particularly interested in the study of governments’ power and authority, citizens, justice, wealth and resources, and relationships with other governments. It is easy to see how each of the other social...
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...PSYCOLOGY Wilhelm Wundt is the man most commonly identified as the father of psychology. Why Wundt? Other people such as Hermann von Helmholtz, Gustav Fechner, and ErnstWeber were involved in early scientific psychology research, so why are they not credited as father of psychology? Because Wundt's formation of the world's first experimental psychology lab is usually noted at the official start of psychology as a separate and distinct science. By establishing a lab that utilized scientific methods to study the human mind and behavior, Wundt took psychology from a mixture of philosophy and biology and made it a unique field of study. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physician, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. Wundt, who noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy, was the first person to ever call himself a Psychologist. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology".[4][5] In 1879, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. This marked psychology as an independent field of study *Introduction of Psycology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, cognition, and emotion. Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of...
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...University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Senior Honors Projects Honors Program at the University of Rhode Island 5-2011 Love: A Biological, Psychological and Philosophical Study Heather M. Chapman heather_chapman@my.uri.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog Part of the Biology Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Chapman, Heather M., "Love: A Biological, Psychological and Philosophical Study" (2011). Senior Honors Projects. Paper 254. http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog/254 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at the University of Rhode Island at DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@etal.uri.edu. 1 Running head: LOVE Love: A biological, psychological and philosophical study. Heather Chapman University of Rhode Island 2 LOVE Dedication This paper is dedicated to the love of my life Jason Matthew Nye October 4,1973 - January 26, 2011 3 LOVE Abstract The concept of love has been an eternally elusive subject. It is a definition and meaning that philosophers, psychologists, and biologists have been seeking since the beginning of time. Wars have been waged and fought over it, while friendships have been initiated and have ended because of...
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...a Social Psychological Perspective Social psychology is the study of human behavior in the social situations. There are many different topics that are studied by social psychologists. They can include different behaviors such as attitudes, aggression, prejudice, pro-social behavior and self-identity. The goal of social psychology is to study the behavior of individuals to learn more about how people form impressions of others, interpret the behavior of others and behave in social situations. Social psychology also looks at a range of social topics. Leadership, group behavior, social perception, nonverbal behavior, aggression and prejudice are to name a few. Social psychology is not just about looking at social influences. Social perception and social interaction are vital to understanding social behavior. Social Psychology began to become more to the forefront after World War II. Other events just after like the Holocaust for example, caused Psychologists to start to ask themselves the effects of society on human behavior, according to an article by, Kendra Cherry titled, “What is Psychology?” (Cherry, 2012) The term social psychology was first used in the 1860’s. In 1908 the first textbooks on the subject were published. Floyd Allport in 1924 wrote a modern textbook and was regarded as the rebirth of social psychology. Kurt Lewin was called the father of social psychology. He was one of the first researchers to study organizational development and group dynamics...
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...Social Psychology Social psychology is the study of how individuals perceive information and in return act and behave towards other individuals. It also touches on what influences and persuades other individuals based on ones actions or behaviors. One could argue that social psychology is within close proximity to sociology since the study of sociology elicits the study of groups, societies and people. Social psychology has everything to do with an individual’s belief, their attitude, and their relationships with others. Social psychology is a studied discipline, “which utilizes the scientific method to understand and explain how the thought, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual imagines or implied presence of other beings” (Cherry, 2013). Furthermore, it is how people think and act based on their relation and influence of others. Within social psychology there is a large variety of social topics. Some of the social topics are the following; social groups, social perception, leadership, non-verbal behavior, conformity, aggression and prejudice. Social psychology isn’t based solely on an individual’s social influences it is also based on social perception and social interaction when attempting to learn about social behavior (Cherry, 2013). While addressing multiple avenues of the broad subject social psychology looks to define the our social reality, how social influences, personalities, personal attitudes, and biology shape our behavior;...
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...STUDYBLUE | Flashcards | INC1 10/15/13 10:48 PM 1 with Brewer / 1. How is the scientific method used to solve problems? Scientific method used to solve problems by keen observations, rational analysis, and experimentation. 2. Observation: Closely observe the physical world around you. 3. Question: Recognize a question or a problem. 4. Hypothesis: An educated guess or a reasonable explanation. When the hypothesis can be tested by experiment, it qualifies as a scientific hypothesis 5. Prediction: Consequences that can be observed if the hypothesis is correct. The consequences should be absent if the hypothesis is not correct. 6. Conclusion: Formulate the simplest general rule that organizes the hypothesis, predicted effects, and experimental findings. 7. What is the principle of falsifiability? For a hypothesis to be considered scientific it must be testable?it must, in principle, be capable of being proven wrong. 8. Fact: http://www.studyblue.com/#flashcard/view/190148 Page 1 of 9 STUDYBLUE | Flashcards | INC1 10/15/13 10:48 PM A phenomenon about which competent observers can agree. 9. Theory: A synthesis of a large body of information that encompasses well-tested hypotheses about certain aspects of the natural world. 10. Law: A general hypothesis or statement about the relationship of natural quantities that has been tested over and over again and has not been contradicted. Also known as a principle...
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...Philosophy- the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Physiology- branch of biology that studies the functions and part of living organisms, including humans Wilhelm Wundt- founder of psychology, established first psychology research lab Edward Tichener- developed structuralism; emphasized studying the most basic components, or structures, of conscious experiences William James- established psychology in the US. Developed functionalism; emphasized studying the purpose, or function, of behavior and mental experiences William James & students- G. Stanley Hall- received first ph.d in psych. Established first psych lab in the US. Founded the American Psychological Association Mary Whiton Calkins- first woman president of the APA Margaret Floy Washburn- first American woman to earn ph.d in psych. Second woman president of APA Francis C. Sumner- first African American to earn phd in psych. Created psych program that led in training African Americans. Sigmund Freud- developed psychoanalysis; Personality theory & form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of unconscious factors in personality and behavior John B. Watson- developed behaviorism; study of observable behaviors Carl Rogers- developed humanistic psychology; emphasizes each person’s unique potential for psychological growth and self-direction Contemporary Psych Biological perspective- studies psychical bases of human and animal behaviors neuroscience- study of the nervous system Psychodynamic...
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