feldman chapter 1

7/31/2019 Feldman Chapter 1

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/feldman-chapter-1 1/59

Chapter 1

Introduction to

Psychology

McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.



2

Psychologists at Work

• Learning Outcomes

– Define science of psychology

– Describe subfields of psychology

McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2



3

What is Psychology?

• The scientific study of behavior and mental

processes (p. 4)

– What you can see (overt behaviors)

– What you can’t see (covert behaviors)

– Describe, predict, explain behavior and mental

processes using the scientific method

– Also it encompasses individuality of human being.




4

• Behavior – refers to anything you do. Smiling,

running, laughing, eating, and sleeping are all

examples of. Actions or responses that are

directly observable are referred to as overt

behaviors.




5

• Mental processes – refer to thoughts,

emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes,

memories, and even the biological activities

that maintain bodily functioning. These

processes are also referred to as covert

behaviors.




6

• Psychologists try to describe, predict, and

explain human behavior and mental

processes, as well as help to change and

improve the lives of people and the world in

which they live. They use scientific methods

to find answers that are far more valid and

legitimate than those resulting from intuitionand speculation, which are often inaccurate.




7

• The phrase behavior and mental processes

means many things: it encompasses not just

what people do but also their thoughts,

emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes,

memories, and even the biological activities

that maintain bodily functioning.




8

Etiology

• Many people think psychology means the

study of the mind. The word “psychology”

comes from the Greek roots of “psyche,”

meaning “mind”, and “logos,” meaning

“knowledge or study.”

• Today, however, psychology is defined as the

study of behavior and mental processes.




9

The Subfields of Psychology

• Behavioral neuroscience

• Experimental psychology

•

Changes across the lifespan• Physical & mental health

• Focus on those around us: social networks

• Newer areas of study




10

Subfields of Psychology

• 1. Behavioral neuroscience is the subfield of

psychology that mainly examines how the

brain and the nervous system determine

behavior. Thus, neuroscientists consider how

our bodies influence our behavior.




11

• 2. Experimental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies the

processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the world.

• Here are some subspecialties within experimental psychology:

– A. Cognitive psychology focuses on higher mental processes, includingthinking, memory, reasoning, problem-solving, judging, decision-

making, and language.

– B. Developmental psychology studies how people grow and change

from the moment of conception through death.

– C. Personality psychology focuses on the consistency in people’sbehavior over time and the traits that differentiate one person from

another.

– D. Health psychology explores the relationship between psychological

factors and physical ailments or disease. For example, health

psychologists are interested in assessing how long-term stress (apsychological factor) can affect physical health, and in identifying

ways to promote behavior that brings about good health.




12

Sub fields

•3. Clinical psychology deals with the study, diagnosis, andtreatment of psychological disorders. Clinical psychologists are

trained to diagnose and treat problems that range from the crises

of everyday life, such as unhappiness over the breakup of a

relationship, to more extreme conditions, such as profound and

lingering depression.

• 4. Counseling psychology focuses primarily on educational, social,

and career adjustment problems. Many large business organizations

employ counseling psychologists to help employees with work-

related problems.

• 5. Forensic psychology applies psychology to the criminal-justice

system and to legal issues. For example, forensic psychologists may

be asked to examine people accused of crimes to determine if they

are competent to stand trial or have psychological disorders.




13

Subfields

• 6. Social psychology is the study of how people’s thoughts, feelings,

and actions are affected by others. Social psychologists concentrate

on such diverse topics as human aggression, liking and loving,

persuasion, and conformity.

• 7. Cross-cultural psychology investigates the similarities anddifferences in psychological functioning in and across various

cultures and ethnic groups. For example, cross-cultural

psychologists examine how cultures differ in their use of

punishment during childrearing.




14

Subfields

•8. Evolutionary psychology considers how our behavior isinfluenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors. The

evolutionary approach suggests that the chemical coding of

information in our cells not only determines traits such as hair color

and race, but also holds the key to understanding a broad variety of

behaviors that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.Examples of some of these behaviors include shyness, jealousy,

attraction, competitiveness, and sensitivity.

• 9. Behavioral genetics seeks to understand how we might inherit

certain behavioral traits and how the environment influences

whether we actually display such traits.

• 10. Clinical neuropsychology combines the areas of neuroscience

and clinical psychology. It focuses on the origin of psychological

disorders in biological factors.




15

Working at Psychology

• About 300,000 psychologists in the U.S.

– 50% men, 50% women, but number of women is

growing

– 6% from racial minority groups

• Most have doctoral degrees (Ph.D. or Psy.D.),

while some have Master’s degrees

• Psychologists are different from psychiatrists




16

A Science Evolves: The Past, the

Present, and Future


– Explain the roots of psychology

– Discuss today’s perspectives on psychology

– Apply psychology to your life

– Summarize psychology’s key issues and

controversies




17

The Roots of Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt began the first psychology

laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany

– Structuralism

– Functionalism

• Gestalt psychology




18

• Structuralism: Wundt’s approach, which focuses on

uncovering the fundamental mental components of

consciousness, thinking, and other kinds of mental states and

activities.

• The perspective that replaced structuralism is known as

functionalism.

– Functionalism: An early approach to psychology that concentrated on

what the mind does—the functions of mental activity—and the role of

behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environments.

–

Gestalt (geh SHTALLT) psychology is an approach to psychology thatfocuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a “whole”

sense rather than on the individual elements of perception.




19

Today’s Perspectives

• Neuroscience

• Psychodynamic

•

Behavioral • Cognitive

• Humanistic




20

• Neuroscience perspective The approach that

views behavior from the perspective of the

brain, the nervous system, and other

biological functions.

• Psychodynamic perspective The approach

based on the view that behavior is motivated

by unconscious inner forces over which theindividual has little control.




21

• Behavioral perspective The approach that

suggests that observable, measurable behavior

should be the focus of study.

• Cognitive perspective The approach that focuseson how people think, understand, and know

about the world.

•Humanistic perspective The approach thatsuggests that all individuals naturally strive to

grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and

behavior.McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 21



John’s Story



23

• John is second year math major from De La Salle

University. He was fortunate to be blessed withexceptional intelligence that is why he was granted astar scholarship. Without the scholarship, he wouldnot be able to afford a private university because hisfamily has limited financial resources.

• Obviously, math is his favorite subject but he alsoexcels in all of his subjects. Aside from math, he alsolikes philosophy, psychology and religion becausethese subjects taught him how to become a good

individual and a good Christian. He is a member of themath club and COSCA, a school organization thatprovides community service to less fortunate people.John likes being involved in volunteer work andhelping other people.



24

• He is a responsible student and a good friend. He has agood relationship with his family except with father,who was also a scholar during his college years. Hisfather has high expectations from him and getsdisappointed whenever he only wins second place and

not the top prize in a math competition.• His father would always tell him that he should always

aim for the top because when he was a student healways does his best because this will make his familyproud. Besides, the cash prize he gets help the family a

lot. Because of this, John is somewhat distant to hisfather and he said to himself that when he becomes aparent, he would never pressure his child like what hisfather is doing to him. He was closer to his mother whodied of leukemia when he was in third year high school.



25

• Finally, John won first place in an interschool math competition

where he won P5,000. After the contest, he celebrated with his 3close friends—2 girls and a guy. John has a big crush on one of the girls but no one knows about it. He treated his friends in apizza restaurant and after that they bought some alcoholicbeverages from a store and consumed them in one of his friend’s

house. Though they did not drink a lot, the amount was enoughto make them a little disinhibited but not enough to make themtotally unaware of what they are doing.

• On their way home, they went inside a 24-hour drug storebecause one of his friends needs to buy a medicine for hisasthma. John noticed a donation box beside the cashier with anote attached to it saying, “Help save Anna. She has leukemiaand she needs financial assistance…” John slowly got theenvelope containing the cash prize from his bag then placed allthe money inside the donation box. His friends saw what he didbut never asked why he did it.



26

• The next morning, his father asked for theresults of the competition. John said, “Sorrydad, I did not even win the third place.”

•

Question: – “What do you think is the reason why John

decided to put the cash prize inside the donationbox? Write as many as possible reasons.”



27

• Behavioral Perspective

– John learned that act of kindness from his

religion classes and from being part of COSCA. Also, helping other people could be rewarding

experience for John that is why he continues to

do it



28

• Cognitive Perspective

– John thought that the girl with leukemia would benefit more from the money than him. Also,

by pretending that he did not win, maybe his father will not expect too much from him thenext time he competes. Therefore, as part of his plan, he donated it because he should not

bring home a cash prize.



29

• Psychodynamic Perspective

– The act of donating the money is John’s

unconscious way of resenting his father for

expecting too much. It can also be an

unconscious way of expressing his love to his

mother who died of leukemia.



30

• Humanistic Perspective

– Maybe for John, helping the sick girl is for

fulfilling than the cash prize. He made a choice

entirely on his own.



31

• Behavioral Neuroscience Perspective

– Maybe there is a chance that the alcohol,

which made him a little disinhibited, affected

John’s decision making and mood during that time and did not consider the consequences of

donating the money.



32

• Evolutionary Psychology Perspective

– History tells us that women are attracted to

men who possess manly qualities but time has

changed. Women can now be also attracted to

men who are sensitive and kind-hearted. Partly,

it could be one of John’s ways of attracting his

friend.



33

• Socio-cultural Perspective

– In our country, we depend on each other in

times of difficulty. We call it ‘ pakikipagkapwa’. John wanted to show his ‘ pakikipagkapwa’ to

the girl. Besides, as Catholics, we are taught to

help others in need.



34

• Positive Psychology Perspective

– John is naturally a good and caring person. He

likes helping other people. It is his virtue.



35

To Conclude…

• “In explaining human behavior, we can use different

perspectives and there is no perspective that is

considered as the best perspective. The key is not to

know if the explanation is correct or incorrect rather if it is valid or invalid”



36

Psychology’s Key Issues &

Controversies• The field of psychology is more unified than a first glimpse

might suggest. No matter what topical areas a psychologist

specializes in, he or she will rely primarily on one of the five

major perspectives.

• Psychology is a unified science because psychologists of all

perspectives agree that the issues must be addressed if the

field is going to advance.

• Consider opposing viewpoints on each issue as the opposing

ends of a continuum, with the positions of individual

psychologists typically falling somewhere between them.




37

Psychology’s Key Issues &

Controversies

• Nature (heredity) vs. nurture (environment)

• Conscious vs. unconscious causes of behavior

• Observable behavior vs. internal mental

processes

• Free will (choices) vs. determinism (behavior is

produced by factors beyond one’s control)

• Individual differences vs. universal principles




38

Research in Psychology


– Define the scientific method, list the steps

involved

– Describe how psychologists use research toanswer questions of interest

– Summarize the descriptive research method used

by psychologists – Summarize the experimental research method

used by psychologists




39

The Scientific Method

• Systematically acquiring knowledge and

understanding about behavior and other

phenomena (p. 24)

– Step 1: Identifying questions of interest

– Step 2: Formulating an explanation (theory –

hypothesis)

– Step 3: Carrying out research designed to supportor refute the explanation

– Step 4: Communicating the findings




40

• The scientific method is the systematic approach

used by psychologists to acquire knowledge and

understanding about behavior and other phenomena

of interest.

• Theories are broad explanations and predictions

designed to interrelate concepts and facts in a way

that summarizes data and predicts futureobservations.

• A hypothesis is an educated guess about the

outcome of an event.

• An operational definition is the translation of a

hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can

be measured and observed.




41

• If we were to rely on common sense to understand

behavior, we’d have considerable difficulty,

particularly because commonsense views are often

contradictory.

• One of the major undertakings for the field of

psychology is to develop suppositions about behavior

and to determine which of those are accurate.

•

Using the scientific method results in a systematicacquisition of knowledge.




42

Psychological Research

• The central focus of the scientific method is research

• Research is the systematic inquiry aimed at the discovery of

new knowledge. This is the central ingredient of the scientific

method in psychology.

• It provides the key to understanding the degree to whichhypotheses are accurate.

• There are a number of different methods used to conduct

research.

•Descriptive Research – Archival research

– Naturalistic observation

– Survey research




43

• Archival research: Researchers examine existing

data, such as census documents, college records, and

newspaper clippings, to test a hypothesis. Forexample, college records may be used to determine

if there are gender differences in academic

performance.

• Naturalistic observation: Researchers observe

behavior as it unfolds in the natural setting. When

conducting naturalistic observation, it is important to

realize that both people and animals often alter theirbehavior when they realize they are being watched.




44

• Survey research: Researchers conduct a study by

giving subjects a survey or questionnaire.

Researchers choose a sample of people to represent

a larger group of interest. Questions usually focus onbehaviors, thoughts, or attitudes. Survey methods

have become so sophisticated that even with a very

small sample researchers are able to infer with great

accuracy how a larger group would respond.




45

Psychological Research (cont.)

–

Case study: intensive investigation of an individual or smallgroup

• When case studies are used as a research technique, the

goal is often not only to learn about the few individuals

being examined, but also to use the insights gained from the

study to improve our understanding of people in general.

– Correlational research: two sets of variables are examined to

see if they are associated

• Positive correlation

• Negative correlation • Correlation does not show causation!

– The inability of correlational research to demonstrate

cause-and-effect relationships is a crucial drawback to its

use.McGraw-Hill ©2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 45



46

Experimental Research

•

Establish cause-and-effect relationships using formalexperiments: deliberately producing a change in one variable

and observing the effects of that change

• All experiments include a set of key elements, which are

important to keep in mind as you consider whether a research

study is truly an experiment

– Experimental group

– Control group

–

Independent variable – Dependent variable

• Random assignment to condition

• Replication




47

• Experimental manipulation is defined as the change

that an experimenter deliberately produces in a

situation.• The control group is the group that is exposed to all

experimental conditions EXCEPT for the independent

variable. They receive no treatment.

• The experimental group is the group that is exposed

to all experimental conditions AND the independent

variable. They do receive treatment.

• Replication is the repetition of research, sometimesusing other procedures, settings, and groups of

participants, to increase confidence in prior findings.




48

• The independent variable is the condition that is manipulated

by an experimenter.

– For example, someone's age might be an independent variable. Other

factors (such as what they eat, how much they go to school, how much

television they watch) aren't going to change a person's age.

• The dependent variable is the outcome of the experiment,

which is expected to change based on the experimenter’smanipulation of the independent variable.

– For example, a test score could be a dependent variable because it

could change depending on several factors such as how much you

studied, how much sleep you got the night before you took the test, or

even how hungry you were when you took it.

• Random assignment is the use of chance to assign subjects to

experimental and control groups.




49

• Independent variable causes a change in Dependent

Variable and it isn't possible that Dependent Variable

could cause a change in Independent Variable.• For example:

– (Time Spent Studying) causes a change in (Test Score) and

it isn't possible that (Test Score) could cause a change in

(Time Spent Studying).

• We see that "Time Spent Studying" must be the

independent variable and "Test Score" must be the

dependent variable because the sentence doesn't

make sense the other way around.




50

• Drunken driving contribute to traffic

accidents.

Drunken = independent variable.

traffic accidents. = dependent variable.

• smoking leads to cancer

smoking= independent

cancer= dependent




51

Experimental Research (cont.)• One experiment alone does not forever resolve a question about human

behavior. Psychologists require that findings undergo replication – they

must be repeated – sometimes using other procedures, in other settings,

with other groups of participants, before full confidence can be placed in

the results of any single experiment.

• Meta-analysis permits psychologists to combine the results of many

separate studies into one overall conclusion.


R h Ch ll E l i th



52

Research Challenges: Exploring the

Process


– Explain the major ethical issues that confront

psychologists conducting research

– Discuss the issues related to testing on animals

– Identify threats to experimental validity




53

The Ethics of Research

• Psychologists must follow strict ethical

guidelines to protect research participants

(see p. 36)

– Those guidelines involve the following safeguards:• Protection of participants from physical and mental harm

• The right of participants to privacy regarding their behavior

• The assurance that participation in research is completely

voluntary• The necessity of informing participants about the nature of

procedures before their participation in the experiment




54

• Participants must sign an informed consent

document that says they understand the basic

outline of the study and any risks, and are aware of

what is involved




55

Should Animals Be Used in Research?

• Researchers ethically bound to minimize discomfort,

illness, and pain, and to promote the psychological

well-being whenever possible

•

But why use animals at all?




56

• To guard against participant expectations biasing the

results of an experiment, the experimenter may try

to disguise the true purpose of the experiments.

• Sometimes, it’s impossible to do so. In that case,

psychologists typically use a procedure in which all

participants receive a treatment, but those in thecontrol group receive a placebo, a false treatment.

Because both groups are kept in the dark about

whether they’re getting a real or false treatment, any

differences in outcome can be attributed to thequality of a drug or treatment and not to any

possible psychological effects.


Th t t E i t l V lidit



57

Threats to Experimental Validity:

Avoiding Experimental Bias

• Experimental bias: factors that distort how

the independent variable affects the

dependent variable (ex., experimenter or

participant expectations)

• Placebo: A false treatment, such as a pill,

without any significant chemical properties or

active ingredients




Parting Shots…



• “Psychology touches virtually every aspect of our lives.Psychology is not just common sense. Psychology is ascience because its concepts are researchable usingvarious methods.

• Nowadays, almost everything can be automated but the

task of a psychologist cannot be replaced by any instrument or machine.

• There is no CT-Scan that can read a mind, a thermometer that can tell how passionate your are, a stethoscope that will tell if you are falling in love, weighing scale that will measure how heavy your problem is, or a meter stick that will measure how deep your depression is or how highyour happiness is.”

feldman chapter 1

Documents