The Knowledge Review covers concepts from Weeks 1-4.

respond to each question with a minimum of 250 to a maximum of 300 words.

include a minimum of four academic resources. These sources should be cited in APA format.  Psychology Knowledge Review Essay Example

Knowledge Review Question Response:

– Describe 3 reasons psychology can be described as both a science and non-science.
– Discuss Aristotle’s views on emotions. Identify 3 ways that Aristotle’s views on emotions influence the practice of psychology today.
– Summarize Descartes’s view of the mind–body relationship. Identify 3 ways that Descartes’ view of the mind-body relationship influences the practice of psychology today.
– Explain the concept of empiricism. What was it in other philosophies that the empiricists opposed most? Identify 3 ways that empiricism is evident in the practice of psychology today.
– Discuss behaviorism. Identify 3 ways that behaviorism influences the practice of psychology today.

Psychology Knowledge Review

1. Since it employs the empirical approach, psychology is considered a science. Any endeavor’s scientific standing is decided by its technique of inquiry, not what it studies, when it was conducted, or who conducted the study. The empirical technique is used in all sciences. Empiricism promotes measurement that is objective and exact. Although psychology and other behavioral or social sciences may not have the same level of precision in their measurements as biology, chemistry, or physics, psychologists’ findings can be considered scientific to the extent that they are based on empirical data. Psychology has had to modify its description from the study of the mind to the science of behavior because of this emphasis on the empirically verifiable. Factors such as what a person does, says, and writes on a psychological test can be observed and measured at once. However, one cannot see a person’s thinking directly (Krpan, 2021).

Psychology is also regarded as a science as it aims to verify truths while removing doubt and distortion. Comprehending the issue, creating a convincing assumption, verifying that hypothesis, making judgments, including inferential ones, and then presenting the results are the stages in adopting the scientific process. On the other hand, some argue that psychology is not a science since it frequently fails to fulfil the five essential characteristics for any topic to be labelled scientific. Clear nomenclature, well controlled experimental settings, quantifiability, predictability with testability, and repeatability are some of these. The above three reasons clearly demonstrate that there are two schools of thought about psychology. One school of thought regards it as a science, while the other sees it as a non-science. Adopting either of these standpoints will depend on one’s convictions and understanding of the scientific method.  Psychology Knowledge Review Essay Example

2. Emotions, according to Aristotle, are pains and joys. To suffer discomfort, delight, or both, according to his notion, is to have an emotion. This is where the agony or enjoyment is deliberate and symbolic. An emotion is agony or delight experienced at the emotion’s object, which is portrayed in ways that provide grounds for the specific feeling perceived (Dow, 2011). The analysis of emotions by Aristotle is cognitive. The importance of mind in feeling is emphasized in a cognitive view of emotions. In the case of fear, for example, a cognitive analysis will underline that we fear what we believe will damage us. Fear, on this argument, is not only an irrational or blind emotion; rather, it is a conscious reaction to the universe around us. What an individual fears is a reflection of how they see the universe. The significance of this finding cannot be overstated, as it contradicts a long tradition of philosophy and psychology, as well as much of everyday language about emotion. Emotions are fundamentally brute, illogical, thoughtless sensations, according to these opposing viewpoints. In his analysis of emotion, Aristotle emphasizes cognition rather than feeling. This is not to suggest that feelings are unimportant, and Aristotle clearly does not analyze emotion solely from a logical perspective. However, there is little doubt that cognition is crucial to Aristotle’s explanation of emotion, and he believes that taking a scientific method to emotion allows him to make substantial advances in other disciplines where emotion is essential (Dow, 2011).
   

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Aristotle’s views on emotions influence the practice of psychology today in a number of profound ways. First, his views shape the way signs and symptoms of psychiatric conditions are interpreted before diagnosis is made using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5 (APA, 2013). Second, his views enable better delivery of psychotherapeutic modalities since emotions are better understood by therapists. Finally, his views on emotions have led to further research by other later scholars that have since widened the body of knowledge available for practitioners.

3.         The French philosopher René Descartes’ argument that the mind and the body are truly separate is one of his most profound and long-lasting philosophical contributions. The mind-body dualism is the name given to this philosophy. He arrives at this result by arguing that the mind’s or thinking’s nature is fundamentally different from that of the body. As a result, one or the other can exist without the other. This argument gives birth to the well-known dilemma of mind-body causal interaction, which continues to be debated today. For example, one could wonder how the mind can induce some bodily appendages to motion and how the body’s sensory organs create mental feelings (Skirry, n.d.).

According to popular belief, this problem was found in the 17th century by Descartes. According to him, matter is basically spatial and has linear dimensionality as a distinctive property. Objects in space have at minimum a location, as well as a height, a depth, and a length, or some combination of these. These properties, on the other hand, are not present in mental beings. We may not claim, for example, that a mind is a two-by-two-by-two-inch cube or a sphere with a two-inch radius placed inside the skull. This isn’t because it has a different shape in space; rather, it isn’t defined by space at all (Skirry, n.d.). Three ways in which Descartes’ views on the mind-body dualism influences the practice of psychology today are in shaping psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), understanding human behavior and hence mental disease etiology, and rehabilitating recovered clients who had mental conditions.

4.         Empiricism is a philosophical notion that human understanding of the world is dependent on one’s experiences. This is especially true with your sensory experiences. According to empiricists one’s understanding is founded on their observations and perceptions. This essentially means that knowledge is impossible without experience. According to certain empiricists, all conceptions are either mental copies of explicitly encountered stuff or complicated composites of ideas that are themselves copies of directly experienced items. This viewpoint is intertwined with the idea that a concept’s application conditions must always be indicated in experiential terms (Duignan, n.d.).

The concept of rationalism is most strongly rejected by empiricists in other ideologies (intellectualism or apriorism). This is the claim that hypothesis, intuition, and authority claims are all reliable sources of believing. Empiricism frequently contradicts assertions of power, instinct, speculative conjecture, and abstract, theoretical, or methodical reasoning as foundations of valid conviction, emphasizing experience. Some notions are a priori, according to a rationalist understanding of concepts, and these concepts are innate, or part of the mind’s fundamental structure or composition. On the other side, a rationalist concept of knowing asserts that certain logically admissible propositions—possibly including everything – must have a plausible answer for their existence. Rationalists believe that a priori statements might come through intellectual insight, direct apprehension of self-evident realities, or solely deductive reasoning (Duignan, n.d.). Empiricism is evident in the practice of psychology today in the way psychometric assessment tools are designed, in the way therapy sessions are conducted, and in the way recovery from mental illness is evaluated.

5. Behavioral psychology, commonly known as behaviorism, is a learning theory based on the concept that all habits are learned from conditioning. Interaction with the environment is how conditioning takes place. Our activities are shaped by our responses to external stimuli, according to behaviorists. Regardless of interior mental processes, conduct may be investigated in a systematic and observable manner, as per this viewpoint. Only observable action should be evaluated, according to this viewpoint—cognitions, emotions, and moods are simply too subjective. Pure behaviorists felt that anyone, irrespective of genetic makeup, personality attributes, or interior thoughts, could be trained to accomplish any task. All that is required is the proper conditioning (Ertmer & Newby, 2017).

Learning, according to behaviorism, is defined as changes in the form or regularity of observable performance. When a suitable reaction is displayed in connection to the introduction of a particular environmental stimulus, learning has occurred. The stimulus, the response, and the relationship between the two are the most important components. The formation, strengthening, and maintenance of the stimulus-response link is of vital importance. The relevance of the outcomes of those activities is emphasized in behaviorism, which claims that responses that are reinforced are more likely to repeat in the future (Ertmer & Newby, 2017). Behaviorism impacts the practice of psychology today in the areas of therapy, rehabilitation, and therapeutics.

References

American Psychological Association [APA] (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), 5^th ed. Author.

Dow, J. (2011). Aristotle’s theory of the emotions: Emotions as pleasures and pains. Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle, 47–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546

Duignan, B. (n.d.). Empiricism. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/empiricism/Fundamental-distinctions

Ertmer, P.A. & Newby, T.J. (2017). Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71. https://lidtfoundations.pressbooks.com/chapter/behaviorism-cognitivism-constructivism/

Krpan, D. (2021). (When) should psychology be a science? Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12316

Skirry, J. (n.d.). René Descartes: The mind-body distinction. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/descmind/  Psychology Knowledge Review Essay Example