ALHT106 Week 1 Lecture Notes

What is Psychology?

The information-processing and behaviour-controlling mechanisms of animate, living creatures

(minds). Psychology takes special interest in minds and behaviour of creatures with especially
complex and extensive cognitive abilities (large, sociable animals, including human beings).

Folk Psychology- All typically developed human beings possess a set of intuitions, desires and
cultural sensitivities, that function as a kind of ‘everyday’ or ‘layperson’ psychology. We are social
creatures effective humans pay attention to the behaviour of others, to try to comprehend,
explain and predict what other people are going to do, and why.

Folk vs Scientific

Everyday tendency to form intuitive theories about ourselves to predict or explain the things they
do. Folk is intuitive, built on biases, culturally informed and reinforced, designed to be useful.

Scientific Psychology is the systematic and formalised study of thought and behaviour employing the
methods and institutions of empirical science. Painstakingly to learn, built on rigorous methods,
researchers and practitioners, designed for testable accuracy.

Scientific psychology is necessary when you are in a position of trust, trying to assist a vulnerable
client  don’t trust your gut.

Psychodynamics  (Sigmund Freud introduced) notion that the mind is not a unitary entity, but is
comprised of functional parts that can sometimes come into conflict with each other (dynamic).

- People experience sometimes contradictory desires and impulses, which can cause
behavioural conflict
- Much of psychological activity occurs outside of conscious awareness, but still influences
what we think and feel
- Our minds must develop techniques and mechanisms to cope with internal conflict, while
preserving function and self esteem.

Behaviourism  took place in reaction to the prominence of highly abstract psychodynamics.

Intention  increase the scientific credentials of psychology by attempting to account for all
psychological activity by only making reference to observable behaviours. Key figures are Edward
Thorndike, B.F. Skinner, John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov.

- Classical Conditioning is that all animals with nervous systems can learn to predictively
associate stimuli in the environment.
- Operant Conditioning is that animals adaptively shape their behaviours by increasing
frequency of reinforced actions and reducing frequency of punished actions.
- Stimulus Generalisation -learning can extend to new contexts.

STIMULUS BLACK BOX  RESPONSE

Cognitive Psychology more scientific approaches to mental activity, regards the brain as an
information processing device. Focuses on what steps of information processing the brain must
perform in order to accomplish the various abilities of mental life (attention, memory, object
recognition).
 - Neural activity processes information in a manner loosely analogous to a digital computer.
- We can gain insights into how the various functions of human mental activity, by trying to
recreate those steps in computational models.
- Brain damage insights.

INPUTMEDIATIONAL PROCESSOUTPUT

Humanistic Psychology therapeutically focuses theorists came to prominence, seeking to apply

new scientific insights to mental healing and flourishing. Theories centred on not only how
psychotherapy could restore lost functionality to the mentally ill, but how this could become part of
a larger program for helping any person achieve greater fulfilment out of life.

- The most helpful way to approach intervention as a practitioner Is through unconditional

positive regard
- Needs are largely tiered in importancemany people cannot achieve greater fulfilment in
life due to the limitations of poverty or precarity.
- ‘Self-Actualisation’ is one of the highest goals.

Evolutionary Psychology places psychological functioning into the evolutionary context. Because
complicated biological structures are only known to emerge in under the pressures of natural
selection, features of human psychology can be regarded as ‘mental adaptations.’

- All cross-culturally stable, intuitive feature of human psychology are inheritable, adaptive
responses to the recurring survival and reproductive challenges of our ancestors.
- Discovers the strengths and limitations of our minds.

WEEK ONE TUTE

‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.’ (the definition came into official WHO records in 1948).

Measuring Health – no standard measure of health as humans are very complex.

An allied health practitioner is a tertiary trained professional who works with others in the
healthcare team to support a person’s health care. The aim is to support diagnosis, recovery and
quality of life. Access to allied health care can increase a person’s mobility, independence and ability
to care for themselves. It can also help reduce the risk of complications in chronic conditions or
following illness or injury.