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1

What is psychology?

the scientific study of thought,

feeling and behavior

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2

What do psychologists do?

Help people with

problems

Measure and test

Teach

SCIENTIFIC

RESEARCH

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3

Where do psychologists work?

Clinics

Schools

Colleges

Businesses

Laboratories

Government

agencies

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4

Schooling in Psychology

Off to work! Master's degree

years

Postdoctoral

training

- years

Doctoral degree

4-6 years

Bachelor's degree

4 years

High School

diploma

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Some psychological research

topics:

origins of stereotypes

development of language

causes of Alzheimers disease

accuracy of eyewitness

testimony

personality & musical

preference

treatment of eating disorders

causes of romantic love

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Sampling Psychology: Examples

of Psychological Research

Findings:

visual perception & optical

illusions information processing &

judgment

human memory self-evaluation

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Which center circle is

larger?

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Here are the samecircles again.

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Do you see the flashing dots?

The flashing is all in your head.

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TO THINK ABOUT OR DISCUSS:

Does the human visual system

behave just like a video camera?

Could optical illusions ever

cause accidents?

Could optical illusions ever

prevent accidents?

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GREEN

BLUE

YELLOW

RED

BLUE

YELLOW

RED

BLUE

GREEN

RED

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ORANGE

BLUE

GREEN

YELLOW

ORANGE

GREEN

PURPLE

GREEN

BLACK

YELLOW

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The effect you experienced is

the STROOP INTERFERENCE

EFFECT.

TO THINK ABOUT ORDISCUSS:

Some behavior is AUTOMATIC.

Its impossible NOT to read

color words.

Would a person who cannot

read experience the effect?

Could this test be used to

measure language fluency?

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A memory test:

1. Please listen carefully tothe following list of words.

2. PleaseDO NOT write thewords down. Just listen

carefully.

3. In a little while, Ill ask you

to remember the words.

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Now count backwards

with me slowly, by threes,from 45 to 3:

45, 42 3

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1. Write down each word below:

ghost cake blanket

sweet rabbit candy

2. Circle only the words you

heard on the list.

3. If you VIVIDLY remember

hearing a word, circle it

twice.

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sour

candy

sugar

bitter good

taste

tooth

nice

honey soda

chocolate

Now examine the list carefully:

TO THINK

ABOUT OR

DISCUSS :Should this

make us worry

about

eyewitness

testimony?

heart

cake

tart

pie

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Now we are going to do a simple

activity involving letters of thealphabet.

Based on your gut feelings, quickly

write down:

1.Your six FAVORITE letters

2.Your six LEAST FAVORITE

letters

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Look over each list and circle

all of the letters that occurin your own first name. Count

the number of circled letters

in each list.

Which list included more of the

letters from your own first

name??

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The preference for the letters in ones

own name is the name letter effect.

TO THINK ABOUT: Would people be

more likely to purchase a product if the

product resembled his or her name?

Should the musician depicted

here like M&Ms more thanthe average person does?

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Psychological Science:

addresses

important

questions

can improve

peoples

lives

is a lot of fun!