Transcript Psychology in Everday Life David Myers

Contemporary
Psychology
Prologue, Lecture 2
“The cluster of subfields we call psychology has
less unity than most other sciences. But there is
a payoff: Psychology is a meeting ground for
different disciplines.”
- David Myers
Psychological Associations &
Societies
The American Psychological Association is the
largest organization of psychology with 160,000
members world-wide, followed by the British
Psychological Society with 34,000 members.
Psychology’s “Big Issues”
First, complete Handout P-3…
Now reverse the numbers in front of items 4, 6, 10, 11, 15
Big Issue #1: Nature-Nurture
How important are the relative contributions of
genetics and environment to psychological topics?
Add the numbers for items 3, 6, 9, 12, 15
Psychology’s “Big Issues”
First, complete Handout P-3…
Now reverse the numbers in front of items 4, 6, 10, 11, 15
Big Issue #2: Rationality-Irrationality
Are we deserving of the name Homo sapians – wise
humans?
In some ways, we are smarter than the most powerful
computers. In other ways, we are prone to systematic
bias and error.
Add the numbers for items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13
Psychology’s “Big Issues”
First, complete Handout P-3…
Now reverse the numbers in front of items 4, 6, 10, 11, 15
Big Issue #3: Stability-Change
Do our individual traits persist as we age?
Do our personalities change in different situations?
Add the numbers for items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14
Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Psychologist
Biological
Developmental
Cognitive
Personality
Social
What she does
Explore the links between brain and
mind.
Study changing abilities from womb to
tomb.
Study how we perceive, think, and solve
problems.
Investigate our persistent traits.
Explore how we view and affect one
another.
Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Other 11.5%
Experimental
14.1%
Biological
9.9%
Developmental
24.6%
Psychometrics
5.5%
Cognitive
8.0%
Social 21.6%
Data: APA 1997
Personality
4.8%
Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Psychologist
Clinical
What she does
Studies, assesses, and treats people with
psychological disorders
Counseling
Helps people cope with academic,
vocational, and marital challenges.
Educational
Studies and helps individuals in school
and educational settings
Industrial/
Organizational
Studies and advises on behavior in the
workplace.
Psychology’s Subfields: Applied
Industrial
6%
Educational
9%
Other
3%
Counseling
15%
Clinical
67%
Data: APA 1997
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.
Psychology’s Three Main Levels of
Analysis
Let’s apply this analysis to the case of Andrea Yates…
Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Neuroscience
How the body and brain
enables emotions?
How are messages
transmitted in the body? How
is blood chemistry linked with
moods and motives?
Evolutionary
How the natural selection
of traits the promotes the
perpetuation of one’s
genes?
How does evolution influence
behavior tendencies?
Behavior genetics How much our genes and
our environments
influence our individual
differences?
To what extent are
psychological traits such as
intelligence, personality,
sexual orientation, and
vulnerability to depression
attributable to our genes? To
our environment?
Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Psychodynamic
How behavior springs
from unconscious drives
and conflicts?
How can someone’s
personality traits and
disorders be explained in
terms of sexual and
aggressive drives or as
disguised effects of unfulfilled
wishes and childhood
traumas?
Behavioral
How we learn observable
responses?
How do we learn to fear
particular objects or
situations? What is the most
effective way to alter our
behavior, say to lose weight or
quit smoking?
Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective
Focus
Sample Questions
Cognitive
How we encode, process,
store and retrieve
information?
How do we use information
in remembering? Reasoning?
Problem solving?
Social-cultural
How behavior and
thinking vary across
situations and cultures?
How are we — as Africans,
Asians, Australians or North
Americans – alike as members
of human family? As products
of different environmental
contexts, how do we differ?
Link each of the statements regarding prosocial, or helping,
behavior to the appropriate psychological perspective.
Evolutionary
Neuroscience
By helping each other, we are more
likely to survive and reproduce.
A specific brain region underlies our
experience of empathy for persons in
distress.
Unconscious sexual motivation prompts
Psychodynamic our willingness to help others.
Cognitive
We are most likely to help those we
perceive as similar to ourselves and
whom we believe deserve our assistance.
Link each of the statements regarding prosocial, or helping,
behavior to the appropriate psychological perspective.
Social-Cultural
The willingness to help varies greatly
across the world’s societies.
Behavioral
Children who have been rewarded for
helpful behavior are more likely to be
helpful in future interpersonal interactions.
Behavior
Genetics
Identical twins who are separated at birth
and raised in very different environments
show the same degree of helpfulness
toward others.
Homework
Study!
“Once aware of psychology’s well-researched
ideas – about how body and mind connect, how
a child’s mind grows, how we construct our
perceptions, how we remember (and
misremember) our experiences, how people
across the world differ (and are alike) – your
mind may never again be quite the same.”
- David Myers