Weekly Workbook Questions for PSY 30013 Assignment 1

Weekly workbook questions for PSY 30013 Assignment 1
Workbook.
This is a practise-run of what you will be doing in the unit each week. In Week 1 you will see
prompts in red that will guide you to complete Assignment 1: Workbook and Assignment 2:
Peer evaluation. Remember, this workbook houses your drafts, so each answer and
reflection can be amended until you are ready to submit through the submission template
document in Week 13.
Step 1: Answer short answer 1 OR 2 by typing your draft answers in the text
boxes. Compulsory 1 Reflexion per week.
Short answer 1
According to the Stanovich reading, what is psychology? (~100 words)
Reflection 1
In your personal view, or from what you have been taught in other units: What is
psychology? What does or should psychology as a discipline aim to do?(~100
words)
According to Stanovich described psychology as the quest to understand behaviour by
using the methods of science (p.3). For him, psychology is a scientific discipline which,
despite numerous image problems has not just a bright future but has already
meaningfully added to the sum of human betterment. According to Stanovich, the
public understanding regarding the context of psychology is quite different from that of
the subject as a modern science which clearly explains the factors and the functions that
shapes the behaviour and the human attitudes. In his reading, Stanovich explained the
misconceptions of many people regarding the modern and the scientific psychology.
Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour. Is the scientific study of how people
think, feels and behave? As a science, psychology applies the scientific methods to study
psychological phenomena, including perception, cognition, attention, emotion (affect),
intelligence, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, and personality.
The major goal of psychology is to predict behaviour by understanding its causes.
Furthermore, is not only to understand the processes that underlay human thinking and
behaviour, but apply that understanding to solve practical problems, help people,
communities, and society in general so solve day to day problems and improve quality of
life, improving mental health and wellbeing.
Psychology is a broad and diverse field in where some different sub-fields and specialty
areas have emerged, including abnormal, Biological, clinical, cognitive, comparative,
developmental, forensic, industrial, personality and social psychology.

Reflection 2
What is your personal view of the mind-body problem? Are the mind and body
separate? Can the mind be studied? Do philosophical questions like this have any
place in modern psychology?(~100 words)
REFERENCES
Frances, A. (2013). What’s normal and what’s not. In Saving normal (pp.
3-34). New York, NY: William Morris.
Stanovich, K. E. (2004). How to think straight about psychology. Boston,
Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
WK 2
Short answer 1
Based on the Szasz reading:
Does Szasz believe that mental illness exists? If yes, how can mental illness be
defined? If not, why not? (~100 words)
I believe that mind and body are separated because human beings are
dual in nature, owning both a physical body and psychic body. The
mind is a nonphysical element and body /brain is a physical substance
which is known as dualism. Most of us experience the reality of mental
processes, and we also experience the reality of physical world”. The
mind is real that exists outside physical reality which enables us to
have a subjective awareness, and intentionality towards the
environment to perceive and responds to stimuli. There is two different
ways connection among mental and physical substances, in this way
the mind interacts with the body and control the body, in any case, the
body can likewise impact the generally normal personality.
Szasz defined mental illness as a metaphor for human problem in living expressed as
“symptoms” via somatic protolanguage. Szasz 91998)
According to Szasz Mental illness do not exists because the mind, (mental component)
does not exist except as a construct, thus, cannot be legitimately be categorised as a
disease. Szasz did not deny that humans have difficulties, but he preferred to
conceptualise them not as mental illnesses or as diseases, but as ‘problems in living’.
Szasz (1962). Nor did he negate psychiatrists a role in assisting individuals with
problems.Szasz expressed his views with characteristic iconoclasm, contending that only
physical illnesses are real and that mental diseases are ‘counterfeit and metaphorical
illnesses’ expressed as symptoms via somatic protolanguage. (p. 34).

Reflection 2
In your personal view, is mental illness “real”? If so, how can it be defined?
(~100 words)
References:
Spitzer, R. (1975). On pseduoscience in science, logic in remission, and
psychiatric diagnosis: A critique of Rosenhan's "On being sane in insane
places." Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 84(5), 442-452.
doi:10.1037/h0077124
Szasz, T. S. (1960). The myth of mental illness. American Psychologist, 15(2),
113-118. doi:10.1037/h0046535
Wegrocki, H. J. &Allport, G. W. (1939). A critique of cultural and statistical
concepts of abnormality. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
34(2), 166-178. doi:10.1037/h0056841
Keyes, C. (2002). The Mental Health Continuum: From Languishing to
Flourishing in Life. Journal of Health & Social Behaviour, 43(2), 207-222.
Retrieved
from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/detail/
detail?vid=0&sid=14e5df23-a184-41ad-a663-
0716d54baa44%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZz
Y29wZT1zaXRl
Rosenhan, D. L. (1981). On being sane in insane places. Science, 179(4070),
199-214. Retrieved
from https://commons.swinburne.edu.au/file/a501bcd8-7739-4299-abc4-
d3d3c4376d62/1/974033.pdf
WK 3
Short answer 1
Define empiricism and give an example of a psychological theory/framework with
a strong empiricist component. (~100 words)
I think that mental illness is real but have some limitations. Our brain is complex and
enigmatic; mental illness is no different. They are not external aggressors of the body
like virus or bacteria, and do not necessarily absolve people responsibilities for their
actions. However, they are useful metaphors of the very real suffering that people can
experience.Even given its limitations, the concept of mental illness has helped to
structure the mental health field for decades, helps connect people to the care they
need. In life, everyone has stress and difficult emotions, and this is normal, mental
illness, on the other hand, is any condition that makes it difficult to function in daily life.
The philosophy of knowledge by the means of mere observations is generally termed as
the empiricism. It is basically included in the school of the thoughts that explains the
knowledge and the outcomes for the sensory experiences and the requirement of the
experience for the factors of validation. It furthermore projects the role of the evidence
and the experiences for the formation and the development of the ideas which argues the
fact that only the knowledge of the human can have posteriori. One of the major examples
lies in the fact that Hush Puppies dogs have long ears.

Reflection 1
Since week 1 has your idea of what psychology is changed? If so, in what way?
(~100 words)
Psychology has helped me out to better understand others
References
Viney, W., King, D. B. & Woody, W. D. (2013). A history of
psychology: ideas and context (5th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson
Education.
Stanovich, K. (2010). How to think straight about psychology (9th ed.). Boston:
Pearson/Allyn Bacon.
American Psychological Association. (2013). Divisions. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.apa.org/about/division/index.aspx
Markie, Peter, "Rationalism vs. Empiricism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/rationalism-empiricism/>.
Adams, R., 1975, “Where Do Our Ideas Come From? Descartes vs Locke”, reprinted
in Stitch S. (ed.) Innate Ideas, Berkeley, CA: California University Press.
WK 4
Short answer 1
Referring to the readings and learning materials:
What methods would James consider
Furthermore in the scenario, where anytime you get yourself inside a car, you put your
According to my personal insight, the factors of psychology has changed dramatically
over the last few decades. From the very basic concepts of the behaviour of the human
and the animal for the improvement and the advancement of the contemporary
techniques that study the human mind together with the factors such as the numerous
interactions and the behavioural influences. 54 divisions or areas of interest has been
formally recognized by the American Psychological Association within its organizational
structure.
The important divisions include the counselling and the clinical psychology focusing
mainly on the behaviour of the human and the some of the other factors of
abnormalities like the mental illness, phobias and more (American Psychological
Association, 2013). There has been a lot variety of the field of the psychology and each
of the divisions tends to understand the basic assumptions of the factors of the doing.
According to Stanovich (2010), the general field of science tends to analyse the
psychology by the implementation of the theories that are applicable to all the
disciplines. Each of the division of psychology focuses on some of the specific aspects of
the animal and the human behavior.
Some of the methods that James could consider as per the readings
and the learning materials are as follows.
Comparing the findings from several observers of introspection which
was interdisciplinary with other sciences at the time. But James