PSYC 100: Introduction to Psychology I - Week 1

Welcome to PSYC 100! Introduction to Psychology I Instructor: Dr. Peter Leavitt  The Psychology You Just Saw Simple explanation of how memory and personality work Fictional depiction of temporary and incomplete memory loss Questions about what makes a person who...

Welcome to PSYC 100! Introduction to Psychology I Instructor: Dr. Peter Leavitt  The Psychology You Just Saw Simple explanation of how memory and personality work Fictional depiction of temporary and incomplete memory loss Questions about what makes a person who they are. – Is it the experiences they have? – Is it the memories of those experiences? – Is your identity built into you? Or developed through experience? Research and intuition-based creative products designed to capture our attention and elicit certain emotions  Psychology is Everywhere! Something special about being human is our curiosity about what makes us do what we do. Psychology is our attempt to make sense of humans’ thoughts and behaviors scientifically.  Today’s Plan Introduce myself and the TAs Get to know all of you a little bit Discuss the syllabus and class expectations Have a discussion about Generative AI Start digging into Chapter 1 of the textbook  About Me BA in psychology from University of Alberta MA and PhD from University of Arizona Area: Social Psychology – Culture – Social Class – Intergroup contact (i.e. connecting across differences) – Teaching/science communication  More About Me From Western Canada Lived in Mission for elementary school Lived in Chilliwack after high school  Help Me Re-Canada-ify Myself! What have I missed? Let me know when my cultural references don’t land  Let’s Get to Know You! What’s something you think most of us have in common? What’s something only half of us have in common? What’s something that probably only applies to a few people in class? Think to yourself for a minute Turn to your neighbors and discuss to arrive at your best guess COURSE EXPECTATIONS  Be Familiar with the Syllabus Let’s have a look at it!  Be Engaged in Class I love discussion and student participation I love hearing from students! – But there are also a lot of you – Please be conscientious about how and when you reach out to me and the TAs BREAK TIME! Let’s Talk About AI AI Generated!  Generative AI: What is it? Generative AI works by learning patterns from vast amounts of data, like text, images, or sound, and then using that knowledge to create new content that resembles the original data. It’s like teaching a computer to understand and mimic human language or art by feeding it tons of examples. When you give it a prompt or question, it uses what it’s learned to generate a response or create something new, based on probabilities of what should come next. It doesn’t think or understand like a human, but it’s really good at producing content that feels natural and creative.  Generative AI: What is it? Computer programs that have extensive knowledge of human language and can generate original writing, images, audio, video, etc. based on their “understanding” of how parts of language go together.  What do you know about AI? OnlineQuestions.org: Event number – Which AI tools are you aware of? – Which ones have you used?  Why Am I Spending So Much Time on This? Generative AI is going to change higher education Some serious ethical and practical implications – What skills and knowledge do we care about mastering? – What constitutes evidence of mastery? For students: – Which skills matter most for you? For professors: – Which skills matter most for us?  My Current Approach No dramatic changes yet but they’re on the horizon Skills I care about: – Individual breadth and depth of psychology knowledge (I want you to know it, not just where to find it) – Information literacy – Research skills – Advanced writing skills (the ability to accurately and engagingly express your thoughts in writing beyond spelling and grammar) I encourage AI use as long as it doesn’t undermine these skills  How to use AI productively How I will probably use it: – Idea generation – Summarizing information – Generating images/video/audio that help illustrate psychology concepts  How to use AI productively How you might want to use it: – Idea generation (think of it as asking a bunch of friends for ideas) – Summarizing information – Check your grammar, APA style – Translate your writing – AI-facilitated literature searches – As a study-buddy  How None Of Us Should Use It To replace your own thought process In place of practicing important skills yourself To create original work that you pass off as your own To create offensive writing/images that serve no educational purpose  Be The “Human in the Loop” Term borrowed from Ethan Mollick Generative AI is still developing and no one really knows exactly how it learns or what it’s capable of. It’s good at some things, bad at others For the foreseeable future, there will always be a benefit to have a knowledgeable human overseeing what AI produces.  Centaurs vs. Cyborgs Borrowed idea from Ethan Mollick’s book, Co-Intelligence AI Generated!  Which Tasks are Which? Centaur: clear line between human and machine – Humans delegating tasks to AI Cyborg: a blend of human and machine – A back and forth between human and AI work How does this look at university? – We’re going to find out together! BREAK TIME! Psychology: Yesterday and Today PSYCHOLOGY AROUND US: CHAPTER 1  Learning Objectives (1 of 2) 1. Define psychology and describe the goals and levels of analysis psychologists use. 2. Describe the influences of early myths, rituals, and ancient Greek philosophies on psychology. 3. Name important early psychologists and describe their major theories and research methods. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 29  Learning Objectives (2 of 2) 4. Summarize the major principles of the psychoanalytical, behaviourist, humanistic, cognitive, and neuroscience approaches to psychology. 5. Describe the three major branches of psychology and summarize key trends in psychology. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 30  What Is Psychology? How is behaviour different from mental processes? Psychology is the scientific study of mental processes and behaviour. How are we influenced by our psychobiology and the external environment? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 31  The Four Goals of Psychologists Description of what they observe Explanation of why a mental process or behaviour is occurring Prediction of the circumstances that lead to a certain behaviour or mental process Provide advice on how to control behaviour and mental processes Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 32 Levels of Psychological Analysis (1 of 2) When studying behaviours and mental processes, one can study the influences of: o The brain Neuronal activity, brain structure, genes o The person Emotions, ideas, thoughts o The group Friends, family, population, culture Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 33  Levels of Analysis (2 of 2) Level What Is Analyzed Example: Using Social Media The brain How brain structure and brain cell What are the patterns of brain activation as activity differ from person to person people interact with “friends” online? and situation to situation The person How the content of the individual’s Are there personality factors that influence mental processes form and how much people use different types of social influence behaviour media? Can online social support or crisis resources improve people’s decision making and quality of life? The group How behaviour is shaped by the What features of social networking sites, such social and cultural environments as relative anonymity, ease of access, and lack of face to-face contact, increase or decrease users’ feelings of belonging and connectedness? Source: Adapted from Gardner, 1993. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 34  The Roots of Psychology in Philosophy (1 of 2) Intellectual history of psychology began with Greek philosophy. Philosophy is the study of knowledge, reality, and the nature of meaning and life. Philosophers studied: how the human mind worked, how the body relates to the mind, and whether knowledge was inborn or learned from experience Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 35 The Roots of Psychology in Philosophy (2 of 2) Early philosophers: Hippocrates (ca. 460–377 BCE) Plato (ca. 427–347 BCE) Aristotle (ca. 384–322 BCE) These philosophers proposed problems and solutions, which is the core of modern scientific methods. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 36 Psychology’s Roots in Physiology and Psychophysics (1 of 2) By the 1600s, modern science began to thrive. Rene Descartes (1596–1650) was the first of the modern philosophers and an early scientist. He believed that the meaning of the natural world should be understood through science and math. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 37  Psychology’s Roots in Physiology and Psychophysics (2 of 2) Johannes Muller (1801–1858) – advocated for scientists to study the relationship between physical stimuli and their psychological effects Herman von Helmholtz (1821–1858) – measured the speed of neural impulses and discovered that neural impulses were not instantaneous Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 38 The Early Days of Psychology (1 of 3) Charles Darwin (1809–1882) Proposed the theory of evolution in his book The Origin of the Species All life on Earth comes from one common ancestor – a radical idea Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 39  The Early Days of Psychology (2 of 3) Darwin also proposed: Natural selection – chance variations in one’s behaviour are passed down from parents to children Adaptive variations – some variations are more advantageous because they help an organism survive Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 40 The Early Days of Psychology (3 of 3) Originally, psychology was indistinguishable from philosophy, but that changed with Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Father of experimental psychology Established the first psychology lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany Studied psychology through empirically-driven experiments. Focused on the study of consciousness Developed the psychological paradigm of voluntarism Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 41  Structuralism – Looking for the Components of Consciousness (1 of 2) Edward Titchener (1867–1927) Developed structuralism as an attempt to try to identify all the elements of consciousness Introspection – careful, reflective and systematic observation of the details of mental processes Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 42  Structuralism - Looking for the Elements of Consciousness (2 of 2) The goal was to describe observable mental processes rather than to explain, predict, or control The principle was rejected by other psychologists, but some elements survived o Psychologists should focus on observable events o Scientific study should focus on simple elements as building blocks of complex experience Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 43  Functionalism – The Flow of Consciousness (1 of 2) William James (1842–1910) Set up the first psychology lab in the United States at Harvard Wrote the first psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology, which was published in 1890 Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 44  Functionalism – The Flow of Consciousness (2 of 2) James believed that mental processes were fluid (“stream of consciousness”) instead of fixed elements (structuralist’s viewpoint) Emphasized the functions of the mind in adapting to a changing environment Functionalist scientists used empirical methods that focused on the causes and consequences of behaviour Emphasis was also placed on studying animals, children, and individuals with mental disorders Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 45  Gestalt Psychologists (1 of 2) Said consciousness CANNOT be broken down into elements Said that we perceive things as whole perceptual units The whole is greater than the sum of its parts Learning is tied to what we perceive Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 46  Gestalt Psychologists (2 of 2) This visual illusion causes your visual system to create a floating square that does not actually exist. To prove this to yourself, cover all four circles and you will see the square disappear. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 47 Psychoanalysis – The Psychology of the Unconscious Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) The belief that peoples’ behaviours are based on their unconscious desires and conflicts Freud developed a form of therapy, psychoanalysis, that aimed to resolve unconscious conflicts Sigmund Freud, founder of the psychoanalytic theory, examines a bust of himself. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 48  Behaviourism – The Study of Observable Behaviour (1 of 4) Behaviourism – Psychological research should only focus on behaviour you can observe Edward Thorndike (1874–1949) o Proposed research findings from the study of animals could help explain human behaviour Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 49  Behaviourism – The Study of Observable Behaviour (2 of 4) Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) o Discovered dogs could learn to associate a bell with an automatic behaviour (e.g., salivating for food) o Called classical conditioning John B. Watson (1878–1958) o Conducted the “Little Albert” experiment, demonstrating that children (people) could be classically conditioned Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 50  Behaviourism – The Study of Observable Behaviour (3 of 4) B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) Developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour Used reinforcement to change the frequency of the expression of a behaviour Positive reinforcement increases and punishment decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 51 Behaviourism – The Study of Observable Behaviour (4 of 4) Albert Bandura (1925– ) Described learning by social observation in children We now know that this type of learning can be observed in several A juvenile Bonobo chimpanzee observing species of primates the behaviour of an adult. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 52  Humanistic Psychology – A New Direction (1 of 3) A person has a capacity for personal, positive growth A person has the freedom to choose his or her destiny Our subjective perceptions of the world are unique and are more important than behaviour itself Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 53  Humanistic Psychology – A New Direction (2 of 3) Carl Rogers (1902–1987) Developed “client-centred therapy” The client is an equal, and a client’s thoughts and feelings should be mirrored The atmosphere should have unconditional support and positive regard Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 54  Humanistic Psychology – A New Direction (3 of 3) Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) Developed a theory of motivation that consists of a hierarchy of needs Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 55  Cognitive Psychology – Revitalization of Study of the Mind (1 of 2) Ulric Neisser (1928–2012) coined the term “cognitive psychology” as the study of information processing The role of mental processes in how people process information, develop language, solve problems, and think Cognitive psychologists compared the human mind to a computer Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 56  Cognitive Psychology – Revitalization of Study of the Mind (2 of 2) Cultural psychology o The study of how cognitive processes vary across different populations due to socio-cultural environments Cross-cultural psychology o The study of the cognitive processes that are universal regardless of culture Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 57  Psychobiology/Neuroscience – Exploring the Origins of the Mind (1 of 2) The study of brain structure and activity and how this relates to/controls behaviour Karl Lashley (1890–1958) o Attempted to determine which areas of the brain are responsible for memory, learning, and other functions Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 58 Psychobiology/Neuroscience – Exploring the Origins of the Mind (2 of 2) Donald Hebb (1904–1985) Canadian scientist that developed the concept of a cell assembly Neurons develop networks of connections based on experiences as we develop and interact with our environments Donald Hebb. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 59  Subfields of Psychology Influenced by Psychobiology/Neuroscience Behavioural genetics – the influence of gene expression on brain development and its control of human behaviour Sociobiologists – humans have a genetically innate concept of how social behaviour should be organized Evolutionary psychology – how the process of evolution has shaped our brain and expression of behaviour Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 60  Psychology Today: Three Main Branches of Psychology Clinical and counselling psychology o Work as therapists Academic psychology o Work as professors, both teaching and doing research Applied psychology o Work in schools, marketing firms, research institutions, and so forth, applying psychological skills to real-life situations Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 61  Shared Values of All Psychologists Psychology is: theory-driven: uses theories to explain behaviour empirical: based on research multi-level: explained by the brain, the individual, and the group contextual: psychological perspectives continue to evolve, which impacts work in psychology Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 62  Current Trends in Psychology (1 of 2) Growing diversity o More women and members of minority groups working in psychology o Cultural psychology is more prominent Advances in technology o Computers and brain imaging techniques have led to new research in cognitive and social neurosciences Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 63  Let’s Return to our AI discussion for a moment The history of psychology has not been very diverse. Generative AI is trained on linguistic data produced disproportionately by a not very diverse group of people. It is critical that we do not over-rely on AI and that we, as individuals, have the skills and knowledge to detect when and how AI is incorrect or missing something. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 64  Current Trends in Psychology (2 of 2) Positive psychology New psychological movement that studies human strengths, fulfillment, and creativity Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 65  Major Takeaways Today Psychology is everywhere! Syllabus and course expectations Generative AI is going to change higher ed Learned to define psychology Ideas and thinkers who influenced modern psychology Major areas of modern psychology Current trends in the study of psychology Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 66