Week 1

1

• Week 1
• Introduction to Psychology
• Overview
• Scientific Method
• Brief History
• Future of Psychology

2
Definition of Psychology

• Psychology
• the scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes
• Observable behaviors
• Unobservable thought processes

3
Why, where how psychology is used

• The Biological foundations of behavior
• biopsychology
• biological bases of behavior
• Sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking
• experimental psychology
• process of sensing, perceiving, learning, and
  thinking
• cognitive psychology
• higher mental processes

4
Why, where how psychology is used

• Understanding change and individual differences
• developmental psychology
• how people grow and change from conception to
  death
• personality psychology
• attempts to explain both consistency and change
  in a persons behavior over time

5
Why, where how psychology is used

• Physical and mental health
• health psychology
• relationship between psychological factors and
  physical ailments or disease
• clinical psychology
• study, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal
  behavior
• counseling psychology
• educational, social, and career adjustment
  problems

6
Why, where how psychology is used

• Physical and mental health
• educational psychology
• teaching and learning processes
• school psychology
• assessing children with academic or emotional
  problems

7
Why, where how psychology is used

• Understanding our social networks
• social group psychology
• how people are affected by others
• Multicultural psychology
• psychological factors related to cultural
  behavior and development
• psychological factors of special interest groups
  such as women, gay lesbian clients, clergy

8
Why, where how psychology is used

• Understanding our social networks
• industrial-organizational psychology
• psychology of the workplace
• consumer psychology
• peoples buying habits, effects of advertising
• cross-cultural psychology
• psychological functioning of various cultures and
  ethnic groups

9
Specialization areas
(Feldman, 1999)
10
Newer specialty areas

• virtual reality cyberpsychology
• telehealth
• evolutionary psychology
• clinical neuropsychology
• environmental psychology
• forensic psychology
• sport and exercise psychology
• program evaluation

11
Pie chart of specialized research
(Kohn Kohn, 1998)
12
Why, where how psychology is used

• Psychologists workplace
• 33 universities and colleges
• 22 self-employed
• 19 private for-profit companies
• 9 private not-for-profit organizations
• 7 state or local government
• 5 schools
• 5 government

(Feldman, 1999)
13
Why, where how psychology is used

• Psychologists a statistical portrait
• 60 male but the women is increasing
• Most found in the United States
• (about 2/3)
• Less than 6 minority

(Feldman, 1999)
14
Education of a psychologist

• How do people become psychologists?
• PhD
• PsyD
• Masters degree

15
Empiricism

• Scientific psychology builds on the philosophy of
  empiricism that knowledge comes through
  experience and observation, not through
  speculation.
• Tabula Rasa at birth minds are like a blank
  slate so everything we learn must be observed and
  experienced.

16
Critical Thinking

• Scientific psychology involves critical thinking,
  assessing claims and making judgments about their
  accuracy based on well-supported evidence.

17
Theory

• Scientific psychologists gather evidence from
  research on particular phenomenon. Then, they
  propose theories, or explanations to account for,
  predict and suggest ways of controlling certain
  phenomena. Theories help organize results in a
  useful manner.

18
Hypothesis

• Scientific psychologists make specific
  assumptions or predictions based on data that can
  be tested to determine their accuracy.
• Hypotheses are educated guesses.

19
(Kohn Kohn, 1998)
20
(Kohn Kohn, 1998)
21
Scientific Method

• n    Theory - A coherent set of interrelated
  ideas that helps to make predictions and explain
  data
• n    Hypothesis - Specific assumptions or
  predictions that can be tested to determine their
  accuracy
• The Scientific Method involves 3 steps
• n    Collect information (data)
• n    Draw conclusions
• n    Revise research conclusions or theory

22
Scientific Method in Psychology
(Richardson, 1999)
23
Research Strategies
How does Psychology describe, predict explain
behavior and mental processes?
Observational Studies Correlational
Studies Experiments
1. 2. 3.
(Richardson, 1999)
24
Research aims to

• Describe
• Predict
• Control
• Explain
• Phenomena

25
Research Methods

• Laboratory observation
• n    Observations of behavior in a controlled
  setting with many of the complex factors of the
  real world removed
• Naturalistic observation
• n    Observations of behavior in real-world
  setting with no effort made to manipulate or
  control the situation

26
Types of Observational Studies

• Naturalistic Observation
• Observe behavior of organisms in natural
  environment.
• Problem
• Like other Observational techniques, behavior is
  observed, not explained.

(Richardson, 1999)
27
Research Methods

• Interviews - Asking questions to find out about a
  persons experiences and attitudes
• Look out for Social desirability
• The tendency of participants to tell the
  interviewer what they think is socially
  acceptable or desirable rather than what they
  truly feel or think
• Questionnaires (surveys) - Similar to structured
  interviews except that the respondents read the
  questions and mark their answers on paper rather
  than verbally responding to an interviewer

28
Types of Observational Studies

• The Survey
• Study of a large number of individuals in less
  depth.
• Problem
• Surveys are vulnerable to biased sample error.
  Biased samples do not represent the general
  population.

29
Research Methods

• Case study
• n  An in-depth look at a single individual (or
  organization), used mainly by clinical
  psychologists when the unique aspects of an
  individuals life (or organizations development)
  cannot be duplicated.

30

• The Case Study
• Study of a small number of individuals in great
  depth.
• Problem
• A small number of individuals may not represent
  the general population.

(Richardson, 1999)
31
Research Methods
Standardized tests - Tests that require people
to answer a series of written and/or verbal
questions.  Individuals test score is totaled
to yield a single score. Individuals score is
compared with the scores of a large group of
similar people.
32
Research Methods

• Correlational Research - Research with the
  goal of describing the strength of the
  relationship between two or more events or
  characteristics.

33
Correlations
Do people become less active as they get older?
Age
(Richardson, 1999)
34
Research Methods

• Experimental Research - Allows psychologists to
  discover behaviors causes.  
• Experiment - A carefully regulated procedure in
  which one or more factors believed to influence
  the behavior being studied are manipulated and
  all other factors are held constant.

35
Experimental Research Method

• n    Independent variable - The manipulated,
  influential, experimental factor in an
  experiment.
• n    Dependent variable - The factor that is
  measured in an experiment. It can change as the
  independent variable is manipulated.

36
Experimental Research Methods

• n    Experimental group - The group who
  experience is manipulated
• n    Control group - A comparison group that is
  treated in every way like the experimental group
  except for the manipulated factor
• n    Random assignment - Assignment of
  participants to experimental and control groups
  by chance.

37
Experiments
(Richardson, 1999)
38
Experimental Research Warnings

• n   Watch out for
• Experimenter bias - The influence of the
  experimenters own expectations on the outcome of
  the research.
• Research participant bias - The influence of
  research participants belief.
• Placebo effect - Occurs when participants
  expectations, rather than the experimental
• treatment, produce the desired outcome.

39
Experimental Research

• n Double-blind experiment - Neither the
  experimenter nor the participants are aware of
  which participants are in the experimental group
  treatment, produce the desired outcome. This
  helps reduce biases.

40
Brief History of Psychology

• Structuralism (Wundt, 1870s)
• Fundamental elements that form the foundation of
  thinking, consciousness, and emotions
• Introspection
• Functionalism (James, 1890s)
• The function of mental activity and behavior
• Gestalt psychology (Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler,
  Frankl, 1912-30s)
• The whole is different from the sum of its
  parts

41
Brief History of Psychology

• Behaviorism (Watson, Pavlov Skinner, 1920-50s)
• Watson proposed psychology should focus on
  observable behavior such as responses to stimuli,
  in case of Little Albert and the rat in 1915
• Pavlov tracked Classical Conditioning of dogs
  responses to stimuli associated with feeding
  times, bells, salivation, etc. in 1904
• Skinner proposed Operant Conditioning in 1953
  with his Skinner box
• Psychoanalysis (Freud, 1920s)
• Psychological processes and hidden conflicts with
  the mind motivated behavior. These unconscious
  drives can cause anxiety, stress, personality
  disorders and neurosis.
• Free association, dream interpretation, stages of
  development
• Humanism (Rogers Maslow, 1950s)
• Humans are capable of inner change through
  exploring personal growth, unconditional positive
  regard, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

42
Modern perspectives

• The biological perspective
• Behavior from the perspective of biological
  functioning (nature)
• The psychodynamic perspective
• Behavior is motivated by inner forces
• (nature nurture)
• The cognitive perspective
• How people know, understand, and think about the
  world (nurture)

43
More Modern Perspectives

• The behavioral perspective
• observable behavior should be the focus of study
• The humanistic perspective
• people are in control of their lives
• free will

44
Key Questions in Psychology

• Nature versus Nurture
• how much of our behavior is due to heredity and
  how much is due to environment?
• Conscious versus unconscious determinants of
  behavior
• how much of our behavior is produced by forces of
  which we are fully aware?

45
Key Questions

• Observable behavior versus internal mental
  processes
• Should psychology concentrate solely on
  observable behavior?
• Freedom of choice versus determinism
• How much of behavior is a matter of choice?

(Richardson, 1999)
46
Key Issues

• Individual differences versus universal
  principles
• How much of behavior is a consequence of the
  unique and special qualities that each of us
  possesses?

(Richardson, 1999)
47
Future of Psychology
(Richardson, 1999)

• Psychology will become more specialized
• New perspectives will evolve
• Explanations for behavior will include genetic,
  environmental, biological, and social influences

(Feldman, 1999)
48
Future of Psychology

• Psychological treatment will become more
  accessible and socially acceptable
• Psychologys influence will grow
• Psychology will consider the countrys growing
  diversity

(Feldman, 1999)
49
References

• Feldman, M. (1999). Making the grade. CD-Rom.
  McGraw Hill Company. Retrieved May 2002 from
  World Wide Web at http//www.mcgrawhill.com.
• Kohn, A. J. Kohn, W. (1998). The Integrator,
  2.0. CD-Rom. Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning.
• Richardson, K. (1998). Introduction to
  psychology. Retrieved May 2002 from the World
  Wide Web at
• http//www.monmouth.edu.