UNIT ONE

Psychology’s Roots

Psychology

What is it? The definition has changed over time. Today it is:

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior- outward or avert actions and reactions

Mental Processes- internal covert activity of our minds

Ancient Greeks

Socrates and Plato Dualism - the mind is separate from the body and continues

after the body dies some ideas innate (nature)

Aristotle monism – mind and body are connected

knowledge results from memories of past experiences (nurture)

Nature vs. Nurture- Nurture works on what nature endows.

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students studied the

“atoms of the mind” by conducting experiments at

Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. This work is considered the birth of psychology as we know it today.

Introspection- process of objectively examining and

measuring one’s own thoughts and mental activities

Structuralism (cont)

Edward Titchener: Structuralism - early school of psychology that

used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind. Introspection to study inner sensations and mental

images

Died out in the 1900’s because introspection is unreliable!!!

Explain your feelings????

Functionalism

William James- Father of “modern psychology”

Focused on the adaptive value of conscious thoughts and emotions (how they enable us to survive and reproduce - added the importance of the environment )

Interested in how and why something happens- predecessor to behaviorism

Functionalists broadened field of psychology to include the study of children, animals, religious experiences, and stream of consciousness

Gestalt Psychology

Max Wertheimer- psychological events could not be broken down into different events

“the whole is greater than the sum of its part”

Focus on how people perceive the world

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, and his followers emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior. Emphasizes unconscious motives

and conflictsPsychoanalysis- helps a person

gain insight into their early life experiences to change behavior Behavior is driven by unconscious

drives and conflicts and childhood experiences

We protect ourselves from our real feeling by using defense mechanisms.

Behaviorism

Ivan Pavlov- Classical Conditioning John Watson and later B.F. Skinner emphasized

the study of overt- observable- behavior as the subject matter of scientific psychology

Biopsychosocial Approach

We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we do) and mental

processes (inner thoughts and feelings).

The best of psychology takes a combined approach to looking at any given phenomenon-

The biopsychosocial approach

Evaluates nature and nurture!!!!

Biopsychosocial Approach (cont.)

Psychodynamic Perspective

Psychodynamic Perspective- Focus on the unconscious mind and its influence over conscious behavior and on early childhood experiences with more emphasis on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of other motivations behind a person’s behavior Freudian ideas are enduring because they lack

anyway to test them In order to get better, we must bring forward the

true feelings we have in our unconscious.

Behavioral Perspective

Behavioral Perspective- Focus on observable behavior and ignore “consciousness” issue B.F. Skinner- developed a theory of how voluntary

behavior is learned called operant conditioning We behave in ways because we have been

conditioned by rewards and punishments to act a certain way.

To change behaviors, we have to recondition the client.

Humanistic Perspective-

Humanistic Perspective- Focus on the aspects of human nature that makes us human. People have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers both

emphasized the human potential, the ability of each person to become the best person he or she could be (self actualization)

Cognitive Perspective

Cognitive Perspective- focus on how people think, remember, store, and use information Focus on memory, intelligence, perception,

thought processes, problem solving, language and learning

Cognitive Neuroscience- study of the physical changes in the brain and nervous system during thinking

How do we react to getting dumped? Try again or never again???

Socio-cultural Perspective

Socio-cultural Perspective- focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture. How our groups social roles along with cultural norms and values affect our behavior Cross-cultural research- contrasts and

comparisons of a behavior or issue are studied in at least two or more cultures

Biopsychological Perspective

Biopsychological Perspective- human and animal behavior are linked to biological events occurring in the body. Hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors, and

diseases To change behavior the biological problem must

be addressed, usually through medication or surgery

Evolutionary Perspective

Evolutionary Perspective- focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics that all humans share, based upon Darwin and Natural Selection

Example: why attractiveness influences mate selection

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry

A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased

patients.

Four Big Ideas in Psychology

1. Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking2. Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event3. We Operate with a Two-Track Mind (Dual

Processing)4. Psychology Explores Human Strengths as

Well as Challenges

Why do Psychology?

1. How can we differentiate between uniformed opinions and examined conclusions?

2. The science of psychology helps make these examined conclusions, which leads to our understanding of how people feel, think, and act as they do!

What About Intuition & Common Sense?

Many people believe that intuition and common sense are enough to bring forth answers regarding human nature.

Intuition and common sense may aid queries, but they are not free of error.

Example: Personal interviewers may rely too much on their “gut feelings” when meeting with job

applicants.

Hindsight Bias

Hindsight Bias is the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon.

After learning the outcome of an event, many people believe they could have predicted that very outcome.

Example: We only knew the dot.com stocks (housing market) would plummet after they actually did

plummet.

Overconfidence

Sometimes we think we know more than we actually know.

How long do you think it would take to unscramble these anagrams?

People said it would take about 10 seconds, yet on average they took about 3 minutes (Goranson, 1978)

Anagram

WREAT WATER

ETYRN ENTRY

Try it!

OLHCOSGLNEIANRSDECELHU

TTHWEAMEMLSLS

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking does not accept arguments and conclusions blindly.

It examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence and assesses

conclusions

1. There are very few “truths” that do not need to be subjected to testing.

2. All evidence is not equal in quality.3. Just because someone is

considered to be an authority or to have a lot of expertise does not make everything that person claims automatically true.

4. Critical thinking requires an open mind.

The Amazing Randi

Critical Thinking Guidelines

Ask questionsDefine your termsExamine the evidenceAnalyze assumptions and biasesAvoid emotional reasoningDon’t oversimplifyConsider other interpretationsTolerate uncertainty

How Do Psychologists Ask & Answer Questions?

Psychologists, like all scientists, use the scientific method to construct theories that

organize, summarize and simplify observations.

Theory

A theory is an explanation that integrates principles and organizes and predicts behavior

or events.

For example, low self-esteem contributes to depression.

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a testable prediction, often prompted by a theory, to enable us to accept,

reject or revise the theory.

People with low self-esteem are apt to feel more depressed.

Research Observations

Research would require us to administer tests of self-esteem and depression. Individuals who score low on a self-esteem test and high on a depression test would confirm our hypothesis.

Descriptive Methods

Methods that yield descriptions of behavior, but not necessarily causal explanations

Include: Case studies Observational studies Psychological tests Surveys They are difficult to replicate

therefore cannot be used as evidence to prove a psychological theory

Case Study

A detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated, which may be used to formulate broader research hypotheses

• May not apply or generalize others

• Vulnerable to bias from participant or observer

Observational Studies

Researchers carefully and systematically observe and record behavior without interfering with behavior

Naturalistic observationPurpose is to observe how people or animals behave in their natural environments.

Laboratory observationPurpose is to observe how people or animals behave in a more controlled setting.

Observation Bias- see what they expect to see

Surveys

Questionnaires and interviews that ask people about experiences, attitudes, or opinions

Requires a representative sampleGroup of subjects, selected from the population for study, which matches the population on important characteristics such as age and sex

Popular polls and surveys rely on volunteers

Survey

Wording EffectWording can change the results of a survey. Q: Should cigarette ads and pornography be allowed on television? (not allowed vs. forbid)

Courtesy BiasWhat they think people want to hear

Random SamplingIf each member of a population has an equal chance of inclusion into a sample, it is called a random sample (unbiased). If the survey sample is biased, its results are not valid.

The fastest way to know about the marble color ratio is to blindly transfer a few into a smaller jar and count them.

Correlational Study

A descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena

CorrelationA statistical measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another.

Correlation coefficients can range from 0.0 – 1.0

Correlation coefficient

Indicates strengthof relationship(0.00 to 1.00)

Indicates directionof relationship

(positive or negative)

0.37+r =

Direction of correlations

Positive correlationsAn association between increases in one variable and increases in another, or decreases in one variable and decreases in the other.

Negative correlationsAn association between increases in one variable and decreases in another.

Correlation does not mean causation!

Explaining correlations

Start with three variables (X, Y, Z)X might cause YY might cause XX might be correlated with Y, which alone causes Z

Correlations show patterns, not causes. Illusory Correlation- The perception of a relationship where no relationship actually exists. Examples…

Years of marriage and hair loss?

Experimentation

Like other sciences, experimentation is the backbone of psychological research. Experiments isolate

causes and their effects.

Many factors influence our behavior. Experiments (1) manipulate factors that interest us, while other

factors are kept under (2) control to test our hypothesis.

Effects generated by manipulated factors isolate cause and effect relationships.

Control Group

In an experiment, a comparison condition in which subjects are not exposed to the same treatment as in the experimental condition.

In some experiments, the control group is given a placebo, an inactive substance or

fake treatment.

Independent Variable

An independent variable is a factor manipulated by the experimenter. The effect of the independent

variable is the focus of the study.

For example, when examining the effects of breast feeding upon intelligence, breast feeding is the

independent variable.

Dependent Variable

A dependent variable is a factor that may change in response to an independent variable. In psychology,

it is usually a behavior or a mental process.

For example, in our study on the effect of breast feeding upon intelligence, intelligence is the

dependent variable.

Depends on the Independent

Independent variables Variables the experimenter manipulates

Dependent variables Variables the experimenter predicts will be affected by manipulations of the independent variable(s)

Double-Blind Procedure

In evaluating drug therapies, patients and experimenter’s assistants should remain unaware

of which patients had the real treatment and which patients had the placebo treatment.

Unintended changes in subjects’ behavior due to

cues inadvertently given by the experimenter.

Strategies for preventing experimenter effects

include single- and double-blind studies.

Random Assignment

For experiments to have experimental and control groups composed of similar subjects, random

assignment should be used.

Each individual participating in the study has the same probability as any other of being assigned to a given

group.

Assigning participants to experimental (breast-fed) and control (formula-fed) conditions by random assignment minimizes pre-existing differences between the two groups.

A summary of steps during experimentation.

Your Turn

An experimenter wants to study the effects of music on studying. He has some students study while listening to music and others study in silence, and then compares their test scores. What is the independent variable in this experiment?

1. The students2. The presence of music while studying3. The kind of music4. The test scores

All the Research Models

Statistical Reasoning

Mode- more frequently occurring score in a distribution

Mean- the average of the scoreMedian- the middle score in

the distribution; the 50th percentile

Range- difference between the highest and lowest distribution

Always note which measure of central tendency is being reported. It’s easy to skew

Standard Deviation

The computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean or average score

Normal (Bell) Curve

Inferential Statistics

Statistical procedures that allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study’s results are.

Statistical Significance Statistical tests that show how likely it is that a study’s results occurred merely by chance

Choosing the best explanation

Cross-sectional studiesSubjects of different ages are

compared at a single time.

Longitudinal studiesSubjects are periodically

assessed over a period of time.

Interpretation of results may depend on how the research was conducted.

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology

Q. Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?

Ans: Artificial laboratory conditions are created to study behavior in simplistic terms. The goal is to find

underlying principles that govern behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology

Q. Is psychology free of value judgments?

Ans: No. Psychology emerges from people who subscribe to a set of values and judgments.