Chapter 1. Introduction To Psychology.

             Psychology is the study of the mind. Psychology started because people began to be interested in human behavior. Like why do we act a certain way or do things and our thoughts.

             Many roots of psychology come from Ancient Greece, more than 2,000 years ago. During this Socrates said that we could learn about ourselves by studying our thoughts and feelings. Psychologists named this way of thinking introspection which means looking within. Ancient greeks made various theories about psychological disorders such as confusion and bizarre behavior.

             Since psychology has began there have been many psychologist, each of them with their different idea. Functionalism is one of them; this psychologists were concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment. Structuralism in which structuralists were concerned with discovering the basic elements of consciousness. Behaviorism is that we learn by  positive reinforcement. The Gestault psychology which means "shapre" or "form" in German. This is based on the idea that perceptions are more than the sums of their parts, instead they are wholes that give shape, or meaning to the parts. This rejects the idea that experience can be broken down. And the school of Psychoanalysis  that emphazises the importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts in determining human behavior. Psychodynamic thinking assumed that most of what exists in an individual's mind is unconscious and consists of conflicting impulses, urges, and wishes.

            There are many perspectives in psycholgy. Biological Perspective is one of them; this perspective emphazises the influence of biology in our behavior. This perspective states that our thoughts, fantasies and dreams are controlled by our nervous system. Evolutionary Perspective focuses on the evolution of behavior and mental processes. The Cognitive Perspective emphasizes the role that thoughts play in a certain behavior. This perspective studies the mental processes to understand human nature. Cognitive psychologists investigate the ways in which people perceive information. Humanistic Perspective stresses the human capacity for self-fulftillment and the importance of consciousness, self-awareness and the capacity to make choices. The Psychoanalytic Perspective studies the influence of unconscious forces on human behavior. Social-learning theory suggests that people can change thei environment and create new ones. Sociocultural Perspective studies the influences of ethnicity,gender, culture and socioeconomic status on behavior and mental processes. And there are many other perspectives.

            Psychology is very intersting, it is the study of the mind. Cognitive Perspective is the best. If I got the opportunitiy of being a psychologist I would be a cognitive psychologist. I would choose this because it is very interesting and fun to see how our thoughts influence our behavior.