chapter 01

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be

Those who cannot read and write …

But those who cannot learn, unlearn,

and relearn. ~Alvin Toffler

Dr. Ronn Young

As human beings our greatness

lies not so much in being able to

remake the world, as being able

to re-make ourselves.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Dr. Ronn Young

THE BEST OF PSYCHOLOGY

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Introducing Psychologyand Research Methods

or Why Do People Do

What they do?&

Why this isn’t “Why Do Elephant Seals Do

What They Do?”

What?

How?

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Introducing Psychologyand Research Methods

Chapter One

Goal Attainment for this Lecture

• Define Psychology• Four Goals of Psychology• Development of Psychology• 6 Basic Steps of the Scientific Method• 5 Basic Research Methods re: Behavior• Critical Thinking > Can we still do that?

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PsychologySpotlight on Behaviour

• Psychology touches many areas of our lives.

• Psychology is both a science and a profession.

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Defining Psychology

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What Is Psychology?

• Definition: The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.

– Overt Behaviour: An action or response that is directly observed (crying)

– Covert Behaviour: A response that is internal or hidden from view (thoughts or emotional reactions).

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Empiricism

• Empirical evidence:– Facts or information based on direct

observation or experience.• Data:

–Observed facts or evidence (data: plural; datum: singular)

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Psychological Research

• Scientific observation:– An empirical investigation that is

structured to answer questions about the world.

• Research method:– A systematic approach to answering

scientific questions.

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What Might a Psychologist Research?

• Developmental Psychologist: interested in human growth and development from conception until death.

• Learning Theorist: interested in variables affecting learning and in theories of learning.

• Personality Theorist: studies personality traits, dynamics, and theories.

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• Sensation and Perception Psychologist:– Studies sense organs and the process of

perception.• Comparative Psychologist:

– Studies and compares behaviour of different species, especially animals.

• Biopsychologist:– Studies relationship between behaviour and

biological process, especially activity in nervous system.

What Might a Psychologist Research?

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• Social Psychologist: interested in human social behaviour.

• Cultural Psychologist: studies the ways in which culture affects human behaviour.

What Might a Psychologist Research?

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Animals and Psychology

• Psychologists are interested in the behaviour of any living creatures.

• Animal models are used to discover principles that apply to human behaviour.

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Psychology’s Goals

• Description of Behaviour• Understanding• Prediction• Control

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Psychology’s Goals

• Description of Behaviours: Naming and classifying various observable, measurable behaviours

• Understanding: The causes of behaviour(s)

What?

Why?

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• Prediction: Predicting behaviour accurately

• Control: Altering conditions that influence behaviours– Positive Use: To control unwanted

behaviours, (e.g., smoking, tantrums, etc.)– Negative Use: To control the behaviours of

people without their knowledge

Psychology’s Goals

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A Brief History of PsychologyPsychology’s Family Album

• Psychology began as a branch of philosophy.

• In many Canadian universities, remained connected with philosophy departments until after World War II.

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Wilhelm Wundt“Father of Psychology”

• 1879: Set up first lab to study conscious experience.

• Observed and measured stimuli of various kinds.• Stimulus: Any physical energy that has some

effect on an organism and that evokes a response.

• Introspection: Looking inward (i.e., examining and reporting your thoughts, feelings, etc.)

• Wundt’s ideas brought to the U.S. by Titchener and renamed Structuralism

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Structuralism

• Any physical energy that has some effect on an organism and that evokes a response.

• Structuralists hoped to analyze experience into basic “elements” or “building blocks,” using introspection as their primary tool.

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Functionalism and William James

• James was an American scholar who broadened psychology to include animal behaviour, religious experience, abnormal behaviour, and other interesting topics.

• Functionalism comes from an interest in how the mind functions to adapt us to the environment.

• Functionalists admired Charles Darwin, who proposed that creatures evolve in ways that favour their survival.

• According to Darwin’s principle of natural selection, physical characteristics that help animals adapt to their environments are retained in evolution.

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Behaviourism andWatson and Skinner

• School of psychology that emphasizes the study of overt, observable behaviour.

• John B. Watson objected to the study of the “mind”.

• He observed the relationship between stimuli (events in the environment) and an animal’s responses (any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable behaviour).

J. B. Watson

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Behaviourism andWatson and Skinner

• Watson adopted Pavlov’s concept of conditioning to explain most behaviour.

• A conditioned response is a learned reaction to a particular stimulus.

• B.F. Skinner believed that our behaviour is controlled by rewards, or positive reinforces.

B. F. Skinner

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Cognitive Behaviourism • An approach that combines behavioural

principles with cognition (perception, thinking, anticipation) to explain behaviour.

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Gestalt Psychology

• A school of psychology emphasizing the study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analysis into parts.

• Slogan: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

• Max Wertheimer (VERT-hi-mer), a German psychologist, was the first to advance the Gestalt viewpoint.

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Psychoanalytic Psychology Sigmund Freud

• Freud believed that only a small part of mental life is exposed to view.

• Area of mind that lies outside personal awareness is call the unconscious.

• Freud believed our behaviour is deeply influenced by unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires.

• Freud theorized that many unconscious thoughts are repressed.

• Repression: The unconscious process by which memories, thoughts, or impulses are held out of awareness.

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Women in Psychology • Women were actively discouraged in seeking

advanced degrees in the late 1800’s.• Mary Calkins:

– Did valuable research on memory.– First woman president of American Psychological

Association.• Christine Ladd-Franklin:

– Studied colour vision.– In 1906 ranked as one of the 50 most important

psychologists in the U.S.• Margaret Washburn:

– Published an influential textbook on animal behaviour (The Animal Mind).

Early Development of Psychology

1875 First psychology course offered by James at Harvard University

1878 First American Ph.D. in psychology award

1879 Wundt establishes first psychology laboratory in Germany

1883 First American psychology laboratory found at John Hopkins

1885 First Canadian psychology textbook published by Rev. William Lyall

1886 First American psychology textbook published by John Dewey

1890 William James publishes Principles of Psychology1891 James Mark Baldwin establishes first psychology Laboratory at the University of

Toronto

1892 American Psychological Association founded

1895 Sigmund Freud publishes first studies

1898

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Early Development of Psychology 1898 Edward Titchener advances psychology based on introspection

1900 Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams

1906 Ivan Pavlov reports his research on conditioning

1912 Max Wertheimer and others advance Gestalt viewpoint

1913 John Watson presents behaviouristic view

1939 Canadian Psychological Association founded

1968 Mary Wright elected first woman president of the Canadian Psychological Association

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Humanistic Psychology

• Humanism:– An approach to psychology that focuses

on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals.

• Determinism:– The idea that all behaviour has prior

causes that would completely explain one’s choices and actions if all such causes were know.

• Free Will:– The idea that human beings are capable

of freely making choices or decisions.

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Humanistic Psychology

• Self-image:– Total subjective perception of oneself.

• Self-evaluation:– Positive and negative feelings held towards oneself.

• Frame of reference:– A mental perspective used for judging and evaluating

events.• Self-actualization:

– The process of fully developing one’s personal potential.

• Notable humanists were Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

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Psychology TodayFive Views of Behaviour

• Psychodynamic View:– Behaviour is directed by forces within one’s

personality that are often hidden or unconscious.– Emphasizes internal impulses, desires, and conflicts.– Views behaviour as the result of clashing forces within

personality.• Behaviouristic View:

– Behaviour is shaped and controlled by one’s environment.

– Emphasizes study of observable behaviour and effects of learning.

– Stresses influence of external rewards and punishment.

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Psychology TodayFive Views of Behaviour

• Humanistic View:– Behaviour is guided by one’s self-image, by

subjective perceptions of the world, and by needs of personal growth.

• Biopsychological View:– Human and animal behaviour is result of internal

physical, chemical, and biological process.• Cognitive View:

– Much human behaviour can be understood in terms of mental processing of information. Concerned with thinking, knowing, perception, understanding, memory, decision making, and judgment.

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PsychologistsGuaranteed Not to Shrink

• Psychologist:– Person highly trained in the methods, factual

knowledge, and theories of psychology.– Usually has master’s degree or a doctorate.

• Clinical Psychologist:– Specializes in the treatment of psychological and

behavioural disturbances or does research on such disturbances.

• Counselling Psychologist:– Specializes in the treatment of milder emotional and

behavioural disturbances.

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Other Mental Health Professionals

• Psychiatrist: Medical doctor with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

• Psychoanalyst: Medical health professional (usually a medical doctor) trained in practise psychoanalysis.

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Other Mental Health Professionals

• Counsellor: Mental health professional who specializes in helping people with problems not involving serious mental disorder.

• Psychiatric Social Worker: Trained to apply social science principles to help patients in clinics and hospitals.

• Psychiatric Nurse: Nurse with specialized training in mental health.

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Scientific Research

• Basic Research: Scientific study undertaken without concern for immediate practical application.

• Applied Research: Scientific study undertaken to solve immediate practical problem.

• Observation: Gathering data directly by recording facts or events.

• Scientific Method: Testing the truth of a proposition by careful measure and controlled observation.

• Hypothesis: The predicated outcome of an experiment or an educated guess about the relationship between variables.

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The Scientific Method

• Six Basic Elements– Observing– Defining a problem– Proposing a hypothesis (an educated guess

that can be tested)– Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis– Publishing results– Theory building

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THIS WOULDBEGOOD TOKNOW!

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Operational Definitions

• States the exact procedures used to represent or measure a concept.

• Operational definitions allow for abstract ideas to be tested in real-world terms.

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Research Methods

• Naturalistic Observation:– Observing behaviour as it unfolds in natural

settings.• Correlational Method:

– Making measurements to discover relationships between events.

• Experimental Method:– Investigating behaviour through controlled

experimentation.

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Research Methods • Clinical Method:

– Studying psychological problems and therapies in clinical groups.

• Survey Method:– Using questionnaires and surveys to poll large

groups of people.• Natural Setting:

– The environments in which an organism typically lives.

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Limitations

• Problems– Observer Effect: Changes in behaviour caused by an

awareness of a person or animal being observed– Observer Bias: Occurs when observers see what

they expect to see or record only selected details– Anthropomorphic (AN-thro-po-MORE-fik) Fallacy:

Attributing human thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals, especially as a way of explaining their behaviour (e.g., “Gabi my cat is acting like that because she’s feeling depressed today.”)

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Observational Record

• A detailed summary of observed events or a videotape of observed behaviour.

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Correlational Studies

• A non-experimental study designed to measure the degree of relationship (if any) between two or more events, measures, or variables.

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Correlation Coefficients • Correlation Coefficient:

– Statistic ranging from –1.00 to +1.00; the sign indicates the direction of the relationship.

– Closer the statistic is to –1.00 or to +1.00, the stronger the relationship.

– Correlation of 0.00 demonstrates no relationship between the variables.

Tired yet? Had enough?

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HANG IN THERE!!This is University!

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Correlation Coefficients • Positive Correlation: Increases in one

variable are matched by increases in the other variable.

• Negative Correlation: Increases in one variable are matched by decreases in the other variable.

• Correlation does not demonstrate causation: Just because two variables are related does NOT mean that one variable causes the other to occur.

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Figure 1.5 The correlation coefficient tells how strongly two measures are related. These graphs show a range of relationships between two measures, A and B. If a correlation is negative, increases in one measure are associated with decreases in the other. (As B gets larger, A gets smaller.) In a positive correlation, increases in one measure are associated with increases in the other. (As B gets larger, A gets larger.) The centre-left graph (“medium negative relationship”) might result from comparing anxiety level (B) with test scores (A): Higher anxiety is associated with lower scores. The centre graph (“no relationship”) would result from plotting a person’s shoe size (B) and the length of hair (A). The centre-right graph (“medium positive relationship”) could be a plot of grades in high school (B) and grades in college (A) for a group of students: Higher grades in high school are associated with higher grades in college.

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The Psychology Experiment

• Experiment: A formal trial undertaken to confirm a fact or principle.

• To identify cause-and-effect relationships, we conduct experiments.– Directly vary a condition you might think affects

behaviour.– Create two or more groups of subjects, alike in all

ways except the condition you are varying.– Record whether varying the condition has any effect

on behaviour.

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Variables

• Independent Variables: – Conditions altered by the experimenter; experimenter

sets their size, amount, or value. These are suspected causes for behavioural differences.

• Dependent Variables:– Demonstrate results of the experiment. Condition is

affected by independent variable.• How does X affect Y where X is the

independent variable and Y is the dependent variable.

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Variables

• Extraneous Variables: – Conditions that a researcher wants to prevent

from affecting the outcomes of the experiment (e.g., number of hours slept before the experiment).

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Groups

• Experimental Group: – The group of subjects that gets the

independent variable.• Control Group:

– The group of subjects that does NOT get the independent variable.

• Random Assignment: – Subject has an equal chance of being in

either the experimental or control group.

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Figure 1.6 Elements of a simple psychological experiment to assess the effects of music during study on test scores.

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Figure 1.7 Experimental control is achieved by balancing extraneous variables for the experimental group and the control group. For example, the average age (A), education (B), and intelligence (C) of group members could be made the same for both groups. Then we could apply the independent variable to the experimental group. If their behaviour (the dependent variable) changes (in comparison with the control group), the change must be caused by the independent variable.

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Placebo EffectsSugar Pills and Saltwater

• Definition:– A fake pill (sugar) or injection (saline)

• Placebo Effect: –Changes in behaviour that result from

expectations that a drug or other treatment will have some effect

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Controlling Placebo Effects • Single Blind:

– Only the subjects have no idea whether they are in the experimental or control group

• Double Blind:– The subjects AND the experimenters have

no idea whether the subjects are in the control or experimental group

– Best type of experiment if properly set up

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Experimenter Effect

• Definition: – Changes in behaviour caused by the

unintended influence of the experimenter

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: – A prediction that leads people to act in ways

to make the prediction come true

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The Clinical Method Data by the Case

• Case Study:– In-depth focus of all aspects of a single

case• Natural Clinical Tests:

– Natural events, such as accidents, that provide psychological data

• Survey Method: – Using public polling techniques to answer

psychological questions

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Survey Method

• Survey Method– Use of public polling techniques to answer

psychological questions.• Representative Sample:

– Small group that accurately reflects a larger population

• Population:– Entire group of animals or people belonging to a

particular category (e.g., all married women)• Biased Sample:

– A subpart of a larger population that does not accurately reflect characteristics of the whole population.

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Survey Method

• Internet Surveys:– Psychologists have recently started doing surveys

and experiments on the Internet.– Web-based research has advantage of low cost and

can reach very large groups of people.– However, samples obtained through websites are not

representative but do provide interesting information about topics such as anger, decision making, religion, racial prejudice and sexual attributes.

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Social Desirability

• Courtesy Bias:– Tendency to give “polite” answers –

especially the tendency to alter answers so as not to hurt the interviewer’s feelings.

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Ethics and Psychological Research

• Issue of research ethics important for psychologists.• Three major federal agencies that distribute grant money

have developed a code of conduct that governs all research in Canada.– Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada

(SSHRC)– Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR)– Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

• Known as Tri-Council• Requires all colleges and universities to have

committees to review all research proposals to ensure research is carried out according to strict ethical guidelines.

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Research with Human Subjects

• Any research carried out on human beings must respect the dignity and welfare of the participants.

• Participation strictly voluntary• Must be informed of the purpose of study

including any potential risks so they can give informed consent.

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Research with Animals

• Animals used as subject in different areas of psychological research, including research on brain, sexual behaviour, and learning.

• Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) has established guidelines for use of animals in research.

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Critical Thinking

• Ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information– What would you expect to see if the claim

were true?– Gather evidence relevant to the claim– Evaluate the evidence– Draw a conclusion

• Oftentimes used in research

Optional Assignmentemail- ronn.young@uoit.caCreate an empirical question about the worldand design a study to answer that question.

Example: -Do squirrels run faster in winter or summer? - Will someone donate more money to a

charity if the representative is attractive …unattractive?

Explain the proposed study; state your hypothesis, the variables involved; and any operational definitions.

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Pseudo-Psychologies

• Pseudo means “false.” Any unfounded “system” that resembles psychology and is NOT based on scientific testing– Palmistry: Lines on your hands (palms)

predict future and reveal personality – Graphology: False system based on belief

that handwriting can reveal personality traits.– Astrology: False system based on belief

human behaviour is influenced by position of stars and planets.

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Pseudo-Psychologies

• Uncritical Acceptance:– Tendency to believe generally positive or flattering

description of oneself.• Fallacy of Positive Instances:

– Tendency to remember or notice information that fits one’s expectations, while forgetting discrepancies.

• Barnum Effect:– Tendency to consider a personal description accurate

if it is stated in very general terms.

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Psychology in the NewsSeparating Facts from Fiction

• Be skeptical.• Consider source of information.• Ask yourself if there was a control group.• Look for errors in distinguishing between

correlation and causation.• Be sure to distinguish between observation

and inference.• Beware of oversimplifications, especially those

motivated by monetary gain.• Remember, “for example” is not proof.

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Be fully present

Thank you for listening!

Next class chapter TWONeuroscience-Brain and Behaviour.