Transcript Chapter 2

History of Psychology
Approaches & Main Topic Areas
Research In Psychology
Human Diversity & Sociocultural Factors
Journal Entry 1:
A psychologist is a person who….
DEFINITION: PSYCHOLOGY
 science that seeks to understand
 behavior
 Measurable internal or external activity
 mental processes
 Cognitive
 apply that understanding to human welfare
 2 Greek words
 Psyche = ‘life’ or ‘self’
 Logos = reasoning & logic
GOALS OF PSYCH
 Describe
 state the facts
 Gather info
 Explain
 why ppl behave,
think, feel as
they do
 Predict
 what ppl will do, think, or feel in diff’t
situations.
 Studying accumulated knowledge = predict
future behaviors
 Influence / Modify
 influence in helpful ways
 help ppl gain control, change patterns, achieve
their goals
PHRENOLOGY 
BRIEF
HISTORY
OF
PSYCHOLOGY
Ancient Cultures
 trying to understand ppl… it’s
part of the human condition!!
 Egyptians
 drilled holes in the skull to let
out evil spirits
 Greeks – Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle
 lobotomies & bloodletting
 Chinese
 ability tests, acupuncture
Medieval
 Abnormal behavior  possession from the devil
or witches.
 *Remove from society
 burned, drowned, tortured, & insane asylums
Renaissance
 Scientific Rev & Human
Rights
 Study body in scientific
way
 body, soul, & mind can
be balanced or
imbalanced.
 4 humors (bodily fluids)
can result in ailments.
 * Hospitalization
4 Humors
 Blood = sanguine
(cheerful)
 Phlegm =
phlegmatic (cold,
apathetic)
 Black Bile =
melancholic
(depressive)
 Yellow Bile =
choleric (easily
angered)
1800’s  mid 1900’s
 Mid 1800’s – science still in its ‘infancy’
 1859 – Theory of Evolution
 insane asylums ‘lunatics’
 Dorothea Dix
 * ‘Moral’ Management
 Suppress symptoms, not
treat causes
 * Society Cooperation &
Interaction
 Treatments
 Lobotomies
 Electricoconvulsive
(shock) therapy
 Ice baths
 Difft psychologists have different perspectives &
ideas.
 Early psychologists established different
‘schools of thought’ – most important aspect
of psychology
STRUCTURALISM
 WILHELM WUNDT: Father of Psych
 1879 - 1st lab; Univ of Leipzig, GER
 Edward Titchner – student
 structures & elements of the
consciousness… break down the
human mind into parts
 Introspection
 ppl describe their sensations &
emotions
 (‘building blocks’)
FUNCTIONALISM
 WILLIAM JAMES
 Concerned w/ how & why
the mind functions to
help ppl function & adapt
in everyday environments
 thinking = ‘stream of
consciousness’, cont. flow
not a series of separate
thoughts (can’t isolate)
 Whole process, not bits!
PSYCHODYNAMIC
 SIGMUND FREUD
 Late 1800s & early 1900s
 personality dev, what can go
wrong, & how to fix it
 Early childhood experiences
 influence of subconscious mind
 Impulses, sex, aggression,
conflict
 PSYCHOANALYSIS – free assoc,
symbolism, uncon.
BEHAVIORISM
Watson
Pavlov
Skinner
 JOHN WATSON, B.F.
SKINNER, IVAN
PAVLOV
 1920s +
 Impact of learning
 Believed psych. should
ignore mental events
and focus on only what
they can actually
observe
 behavior & response
to stimuli
APPROACHES & MAIN
TOPIC AREAS
WHAT’S AN ‘APPROACH’?
 evolved from ‘schools of thought’
 WAY OF EXPLAINING (perspective)
 set of assumptions, Qs, & methods that’s most
helpful for understanding what’s being
explored
 Ppl think, feel, & act as they do b/c __________
 Emphasizes diff’t aspects
 Eclectic - combo aspects of diff’t approaches
 Can’t explain everything the same way!!
BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL
 physical factors
 Hormones, genes,
nervous system,
brain structure &
function, neurons,
chemicals, rxns
BEHAVIORAL
 role of learning
 We are the result
of all the diff’t
experiences,
types of
responses,
consequences,
social learning
throughout life
PSYCHOANALYTIC
 subconscious conflict
 impulses vs society’s
rules
 inner forces are hidden
in our mind & control
our everyday behavior in
a way we’re not aware of
 below our level of
awareness & control
 EVOLUTIONARY
 result partly through natural
selection
 useful behaviors & cog.
chances of survival
 Adaptations, mutations,
genes
 reason, prob solve, form
sexual attraction, etc.
 understand why we have the
kind of mind we have
COGNITIVE
 cognitive processes
 Thoughts  behavior!
 thinking, perception,
intelligences, prob
solving, language,
process info, reasoning,
memory, creativity, etc.
 take in info. from
environ, analyze it, &
come up w/ a solution
HUMANISTIC
 Free will, freedom,
choice
 Ppl are basically good
 Ppl naturally want to
grow towards
fulfilling their unique
potentials (if all goes
right)
 ‘self-actualization’
SOCIOCULTURAL
 influenced of social groups
in which we live
 Cultural context of
emotions, behavior, &
thoughts
 expectations, religion,
ethnicity, opportunities,
activities, values, beliefs,
goals, rules, gender,
motivation, delinquency,
family, education
MAIN TOPIC AREAS
Psychology is divided into topic areas … too big to
study everything the same way w/ the same set of
ideas & methods… must specialize!
 Bio-Psych
 Social Psych.
 Comparative Psych.
 Cognitive Psych.
 Evolutionary Psych.
 Developmental
Psych.
 Abnormal Psych.
 Learning & Memory
 Personality &
Individual
 Human Sexuality
Differences
 Sports Psych
Thinking Critically About Psych
 Critical Thinking: process of assessing claims and
making judgments on the basis of well-supported
evidence
 Don’t just be a sponge!
 Don’t believe claims without careful thought!
 Do not believe everything you hear!
 Analyze a specific question
 No broad assertions
Research = Cornerstone of Psych!
 Psych is a social science that systematically studies
behavior & mental processes
 Psychologists rely on empirical research to collect
and analyze information
 Prove or verify by experience or experiment
 Perform scientific research procedures to gather
& analyze information
 Use scientific methods to test the validity of their
conclusions/theories
* This is what makes psych a credible social science *
LESSON 1: CONSIDER THE SOURCE
 Only take into consideration credible sources; that is,
credible research done by credible scientists
 Psychologist – earned a doctoral degree (Ph.D.). Can’t
prescribe meds w/o additional certification
 Psychiatrist - earned a medical degree (M.D.). Can
prescribe meds
 Usually handles more severe probs than a psychologist
 valid (tests what they saying they’re testing in a correct
way) & reliable (test results can be duplicated over & over
again)
 Beware of the ‘sleeper effect’ –over time, we will forget
who the source of the info was & only remember the info
Know the difference!
“pop” psychologists
psychological scientists
 Oversimplify issues
 Cautious!
 Cite unreliable or invalid
evidence… or don’t
consider reliability/validity
at all
 Suspend final judgments
about complex issues until
they have better/more
thorough data
 Ignore good evidence if it
contradicts their claims
 pseudoscientific
LESSON 2: STATS CAN MISLEAD!
 Statistical analyses are used in every area of psych
 Guidelines/procedures for most statistical
analyses are clear cut
 BUT! results can be presented in difft ways to
support any argument!
 2 MAJOR WAYS STATS CAN BE SHADY
 1) catchy graphs or charts – change the units of
measurement to favor claim
 2) altering the definition of what you’re
reporting to fit claim(ex. safety on a college
campus)
LESSON 3:
CORRELATION = CAUSATION
 News reports & ‘pop’ psych inaccurately report stats of
the original study
 i.e. “Young Marriage Leads to Divorce” or “Yogurt:
The Secret to Long Life”
 Correlation: stat that tells the researcher if 2 things are
associated or related: 2 things can be related but that
doesn’t mean that one variable is causing the other!
 If one variable changes, the other changes also
 Ex. owning a toaster oven & using birth control
 Causation: one thing is directly causing the other to
happen
LESSON 4: ESTIMATE YOUR CHANCES
BASED ON EVIDENCE NOT
AVAILABILITY
 Look at credible evidence
instead of readily
available info/images
 Many of us overestimate
our chances of certain
events happening or
being true because of
memorable images
 ex. Jaws movie
SO, ASK YOURSELF…
 1) What am I being asked to believe?
 2) What evidence is available to support the
assertion?
 3) Are there alternatives ways of interpreting
the evidence?
 4) What additional evidence would help to
evaluate the alternatives?
 5) What conclusions are most reasonable?
CONDUCTING RESEARCH
 Most good researchers follow the same procedure:
 Form a hypothesis
 Assumption or prediction about behavior that is
being tested
 Employ operational definitions
 Define, manipulate, & control the variables
 Independent, dependant, random
 Collect and analyze the data/data set:
 Test the reliability and validity:
Theories
 What’s A Theory & Why Are They Important?
 favored way to org. explanations
 Integrated set of statements
 Designed to explain complex psychological
phenomena
 based on findings from a large # of studies
 TENTATIVE; Subjected to scientific evaluation
 Research & theories almost always raises more
questions than it answers!
RESEARCH METHODS
 Diff’t methods are useful for gathering the evidence
needed to attain goals
 4 goals in psych. research:
 Describe a phenomenon
 Make predictions about it
 Have enough control over the variables
 Explain the phenomenon with confidence
*** 4 MAIN METHODS ***
Naturalistic Observation
 Watching something in environ w/o interfering
 LIMITATIONS!
 Ppl act difft if know they’re being watched
 SOLUTIONS!
 Observe long enough for
participants to get used
to it, and eventually
behave more naturally
Case Studies
 Specific to an individual, group,
or situation
 Close-up view
 phenomenon is new, complex,
rare, or unethical to reproduce
 LIMITATIONS!
 represent ppl in general (?)
 Contain evidence that only a
handful of researchers finds
important
Experiments
 Est. cause & effect relationship
 Changeable, manipulate
 control over situation & manipulate variables
 Variables = something that’s subject to
change

unwanted influences
 1) Independent variable = experimenters
change/alter so they can observe its effects
(what is being manipulated?)

Ex. treatment or no treatment?
 2) Dependent variable = one that changes
b/c of independent variable; affected by
(depends) on the independent variable
 ex. hrs spent studying (i) affects your
grade on test (d)
 3)Random variable – uncontrolled or
uncontrollable factors
 ex. personality, background, intelligence
 Experimental group – exposed to
independent variable
 Receives treatment
 Control group - Participants that are treated
the same way, but w/ no treatment
(untouched) or a placebo.
 Compare to experimental group to see what
they’re reacting to.
Surveys & Interviews
 Gives broad portraits of large groups; descriptive
data
 wide range of topics, large amounts of data
 Interviews, questionnaires, polls
 ask ppl about their behaviors, attitudes, beliefs,
opinions, characteristics, or intentions
 Validity depends on:
 wording of Q & representativeness of participants
 LIMITATIONS!! (self-reporting)
 Won’t admit embarrassing/undesirable things
 Say what they think the researchers want to hear
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS IN RESEARCH
 BIAS – certain expectations or
beliefs about people or
conditions that distorts
research/data
 Experimenter – lead to
errors in participant
selection, interpretations, or
conclusions; expect people to
act in certain ways
 Participant – act diff’t b/c
they’re part of an experiment
 Participant’s expectations – ex. if they
expect a treatment to help, they will try
harder to get better
 Placebo effect – change in patient’s illness
or psych. State that results from the
patient’s knowledge /perception of
treatment
 Self-fulfilling prophecy – person is aware of
experimenter’s expectations/feelings toward
them & they act accordingly
 SOLUTIONS
 Single-blind study
 experiment in which the
participants are unaware
of if they received
treatment or not
 Double-blind study
 neither the experimenter
or participants know who
received the treatment
until after
ETHICAL GUIDELINES
 Purpose
 protect & promote the welfare of society & those with
whom psych. work with
 Analyze & report research fairly and accurately
 Preserve the welfare & dignity of their participants
 Conduct welfare in most humane fashion possible
 Perform services that they are trained for
 Don’t reveal info about clients/students
 Ethical Principles of Psychologist and Code of Conduct
(APA [American Psychological Association], 1992)
HUMAN
DIVERSITY
SCOPE OF BEHAVIOR & MENTAL
PROCESSES
 Humans are unique &
diverse!
 We are capable of
experiencing the world around
us & shape/change our
environment. We can think
about and remember it, solve
problems, make decisions,
have feelings & goals, form
relationships, & suffer distress
and disorder.
WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE?
 Individuality comes from:
 1) Hereditary

- physical characteristics & behavioral tendencies
inherited from parents (ex. height, alcoholism)
 2) Environment & Experiences

- especially when growing up

- family, school, religious institute
 3) Social World

- how and where you fit into the world (ex. gender,
labels, roles)

- how you think about and relate to other people