Psychology: Difference between revisions
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'''Psychology''' is defined as "The study of human behavior," and more specifically "the science of behavior and mental processes." Basically, psychology seeks to understand both how and why humans do what they do. Since that is a very broad topic, expect a long article.
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Functionalism evolved further into '''Behaviorism''' as time went on. The first step in this direction was another name you're likely to know--Ivan Pavlov--who demonstrated the link between experience and learning. Pavlov's classic "Classical Conditioning" experiment was to ring a bell every time he fed his dog, who had been outfitted with an implant that collected some of its saliva. After a while of this, Pavlov demonstrated that, when he rang the bell, the dog would start to drool; it had been "conditioned" to associate the bell with food. Another researcher, B. F. Skinner, expanded this to "operant conditioning" which is basically how consequences, such as rewards and benefits, determine the frequency of behavior. He rigged up a contraption where lab rats would receive food every time they hit a lever in their cages; the rats continued to do this even after the food stopped. He was also able to train rats ''not'' to do things--even natural, logical things--by immediately administering punishments every time they did. In doing so, Skinner gave us the most radical definition of Behaviorism: all things we do and value are trained into us by stimulus-response conditioning, the hard way, and thus do not require consciousness. We are all easily manipulated robots.
Well, obviously, that was an unpopular and dystopian philosophy, even if there is some truth to it, and the response to it is called the "Cognitive Revolution." It originated around beginning of [[The Sixties]] and has completely replaced Functionalism as the guiding principle of psychological research, especially in America, and much reduced Behaviorism's traction as well. One of the main tenets of the Cognitive Revolution is that there ''is'' such thing as a mind, damn it, but is more about (to quote Jerome Bruner) "an all-out effort to establish meaning as the central concept in psychology [...] Its aim was to discover and to describe formally the meanings that human beings created out of their encounters with the world, and then to propose hypotheses about what meaning-making processes were implicated." The seminal article in cognitive psychology was George Miller's "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090326223523/http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Miller%20GA%20Magical%20Seven%20Psych%20Review%201955.pdf The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information]," which basically identified how much Random Access Memory the human brain has. The exact amount is currently under dispute--it's not seven, but then Miller never claimed it was seven ''facts'', it was seven "chunks", a "chunk" being the largest meaningful unit of data a person can process. (What a chunk consists of varies by training and content. For instance, you reading this article are probably fairly literate in English and can store an entire sentence in a chunk... but if you were a foreigner just starting an English-Second-Language course, your chunk capacity might be overwhelmed by an eight-letter word like "tangible"--especially since it's not a compound word like "doorknob".) Even then, the exact nature and storage capacity of a "chunk" is still being debated. But the point was that Miller discovered something specific about a non-corporeal cognitive process--and a fairly unintuitive thing too. It was a big step forward, and Miller's paper is one of ''the'' most-referred-to papers in the field of psychology.
Much has been done since then, particularly in light of emergent technologies that let us see more deeply into the brain, but that's basically where psychology stands today as a ''historical'' topic, so let's move on.
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It should hardly surprise you that humans don't always think well. What ''may'' surprise you is how frequently, and how subtly, we do so. One of the biggest categories of flawed thought processes are the "cognitive biases," which is when a person makes a judgment that certifiably departs from reality, or from the judgments of more-impartial outsiders. Typically these are not done on purpose--they're learned behaviors which we acquire because they make it easier to think faster, or which work in certain circumstances but are being [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|currently misapplied]]. Here are some that correspond to known tropes.
* [[Feigning Intelligence]]: this is one of ''many'' "positive illusions," in which people overvalue or over-expect positive outcomes and downplay negative ones. Specifically, it's related to [[wikipedia:Illusory superiority|illusory superiority]], in which people place more emphasis on their virtues and laugh off their flaws.
* [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]] / [[Heroic Self-Deprecation]]: these are both the result of the [[wikipedia:Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger effect|Dunning-Kruger effect]], which states that it's possible to be [[Too Dumb to Live|so flamingly incompetent]] that you can't even recognize your own incompetence. Conversely, people with actual skill often underestimate themselves, assuming that ''everyone'' knows about the [[Fatal Flaw]] or [[Achilles' Heel]] in their competence. See also the [[wikipedia:Overconfidence effect|Overconfidence effect]], in which one believes one is always right.
* [[Sunk Cost Fallacy]]: the more time, money and effort you've put into a thing, the more you value it--regardless of your likelihood of return or the objective value of the thing you're building. See also [[wikipedia:Post-purchase rationalization|post-purchase rationalization]]. This is a way for the brain to avoid realizing, "Holy shit, I've been wasting my time on this." Seriously, [[Ignorance Is Bliss]]. The implications of how sales people (or [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]]) can exploit this to gain money are things we are going to gloss over here, but I'm sure you've got some ideas.
* [[Confirmation Bias]]: people are more likely to remember things that support what they already believe, and to interpret ambiguous data to support their own conclusions. If your favorite MMO got an Editor's Choice award from [[Game Spot]], you'll remember that. The fact that it got [[8.8]] reviews from every other publication out there may mysteriously slip your mind.
* [[Out-of-Character Moment]], [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]]: these is informed by the [[wikipedia:Fundamental attribution error|fundamental attribution error]]. Basically, people have trouble assuming that anyone except themselves can ''have'' an [[Out-of-Character Moment]]. If I'm driving to work and I cut someone off, I'm excused because I had a bad morning. If, however, he cuts ''me'' off, it's because he's a [[Jerkass]]; every action he ever takes is a direct reflection of his personality. This is, of course, a good example of how cognitive biases can develop in the first place: maybe he ''does'' have an excuse, but how the heck am I supposed to ''know'' that? Having said that, it's still unfair for me to jump to conclusions. See also the [[wikipedia:Actor%E2%80%93observer bias|actor-observer bias]] and [[wikipedia:Trait ascription bias|trait-ascription bias]].
* [[
* [[Selective Obliviousness]]: Denial, pure and simple. Obviously, if you don't want to think or know about something, being able to shut it away can be very useful in the short term; but huge swaths of drama and horror stories have been written about someone who just can't face the truth. Apply with caution.
* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: the [[wikipedia:Halo effect|halo effect]], which is the tendency for traits in one area of personality to spill over into other areas; and, more directly, the [[wikipedia:Physical attractiveness stereotype|physical attractiveness stereotype]], which is the trope played dead straight.
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* Contrary to popular belief, it seems most "bullies" have high self-esteem, not low self-esteem. No, they don't just need a hug.
** Or more specifically, as one book of self-esteem put it, they are conceited (they have self-esteem without self-worth, leading to a delusion of self-esteem which is dependent largely on bullying others). As explored below in Cracked.com
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* Schizophrenia does NOT involve multiple personalities. This is a common misconception stemming from the fact that the word means "split brain". What it actually means is that a schizophrenic's brain is in conflict with itself; schizophrenia is most associated with delusions and hallucinations (especially auditory hallucinations, IE hearing voices). The [[Split Personality]] thing is associated with Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly named Multiple Personality Disorder.
* According to research, opposites do ''not'' attract. Instead, similarity and proximity play the biggest roles in attraction.
* More on the difference between psychiatrists and psychologists: In general, a psychologist gets a bachelor's in psychology then goes to grad school and gets a doctorate in psychology (you can find lesser paying work with just a bachelor's or master's, but to be called a psychologist you need a doctorate). A psychiatrist gets some random undergrad degree, then goes to med school and becomes a doctor, then does a several year long psychiatric residence. Although there is a lot of overlap in what they do, in general a psychologist is much more likely to do therapy and talk to you about your problems, while a pyschiatrist is more likely to give you pills or deal with severe mental disorders. Some states in the US (not sure about the rest of the world) have given psychologists limited ability to prescribe medications. Usually this has to be approved by a physician anyways, and even in states where psychologists cannot prescribe anything they can often make recommendations to doctors that can.
* ''[[Cracked
* People talk all the time about your five senses--sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. In fact, there's ''seven'' senses. The sixth is your sense of balance, which functions using liquid in your inner ear and can cause nausea if not treated well. The seventh is known as "proprioception" or the "kinesthetic sense," and has to do with how you keep track of where your limbs are in relation to your body. It's what lets you clap your hands when you can't see, or causes "phantom limb" sensations after an amputation.
* Nerves. Ohh, nerves. Obviously, they're a little bit from biology, but neurons have a ''great'' deal to do with psychology, so let's talk them a little bit.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Psychology]]
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