PSYCHOLOGY

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PSYCHOLOGY

• CHAPTER ONE
• Essential question
• What is psychology?

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• Psychology provides the tools to help you gain
  insight into your own behavior, as well as your
  relationships with others
• Behavior has two components
• observable behavior
• unobservable behavior

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• Psychology is a Science
• Psychology is connected to the social sciences
• i.e. history and economics
• As a social science psychology explores the
  influences of society on individual behavior and
  group relationships.

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• Psychology is connected to the natural sciences
• i.e. biology and chemistry
• As a natural science psychology looks for
  biological explanations for human behavior

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• Ask the question, Why do teenagers participate
  in risky behavior?
• Social science would look at the behavior as it
  is influenced by society.
• Family structure, economics, locations
• Natural science would look at brain development.
• Brain development

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PredictRank in order the progression of drug use
then share with the person next to you.

• 1. Pot
• 2. Cigarettes
• 3. Alcohol
• 4. Heroin
• 5. Prescription drugs
• 6. Ecstasy
• 7. Cocaine
• 8. LSD
• 9. Mushrooms

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Goals of Psychology

• DESCRIBE- psychologist describe or gather
  information about the behavior being studied and
  to present what is known.
• EXPLAIN- psychologist seek to explain why their
  study subjects (people or animals) behave they
  way they do. These explanations can be called
  psychological principles. Psychological
  principles are generally valid ideas about
  behavior

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• PREDICT- psychologist try to predict, as a result
  of accumulated knowledge, gathered through
  research, how people or animals will behave.
• INFLUENCE- some psychologist will seek to
  influence behavior, hopefully for the better

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Steve's Behavior

• Humans are complex!
• Steve ignored physiological needs physical needs
  (sleep hunger)
• Engaged in this behavior for cognitive (private
  unobservable mental) reasons unknown to us
• thinking, feeling, attitudes
• AVOIDANCE?????

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• PSYCHOLOGY is the
• SCIENTIFIC (in accord with the rules or methods
  of science)
• SYSTEMATIC (follow a plan, methodical, orderly)
• STUDY of behavior and mental processes in
  organisms.

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Why ????

• - to reduce the possibility or errors
• and bias.
• Hmmmm.. let s look at that predict list again
• Did you by chance rank these
• according to your personal experience???

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The Scientific Basis of Psychology

• Psychologists working in basic science are
  conducting studies TO EXPLAIN more human or
  animal behavior (research)
• Psychologists working in applied science use what
  is already known to solve more immediate
  problems.
• EX Finding ways to alter/fix the
• behaviors of addicts. Is that you???

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Psychology as a Science

• Studies done in psychology MUST use the
  scientific method. (to reduce the possibility or
  errors and bias).
• 1. QUESTION or PROBLEM
• 2. HYPOTHESIS- educated guess
• 3. COLLECT DATA- experiments, surveys and
• case
  studies
• 4. ANALYIZE DATA
• 5. DRAW CONCLUSIONS
• 6. THEORY

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• William Wundt set up the first psychology lab to
  study sensation and feelings.
• Technique was known as introspection