Introduction to Psychology

PSY 1101-A INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY Discovering Psychology  Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.  The word “psychology” comes from the Greek words “psyche”, meaning life, and “logos”, meaning explanation.  Should psychologists limit themselves to...

PSY 1101-A INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY Discovering Psychology  Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.  The word “psychology” comes from the Greek words “psyche”, meaning life, and “logos”, meaning explanation.  Should psychologists limit themselves to the study of outward, observable behavior?  Is it possible to study thinking scientifically?  Behavior and mental processes in the definition of psychology must be understood to mean many things.  It encompasses not just what people do but also their thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes, memories, and even the biological activities that maintain bodily functioning.  Psychologists try to describe, predict, and explain human behavior and mental processes, as well as helping to change and improve the lives of people and the world in which they live.  They use scientific methods to find answers that are far more valid and legitimate than those resulting from intuition and speculation, which are often inaccurate. History Goals and issues  Seven thousand years ago, people assumed that psychological problems were caused by evil spirits.  To allow those spirits to escape from a person’s body, ancient healers chipped a hole in a patient’s skull with crude instruments —a procedure called trephining.  According to the 17th-century philosopher Descartes, nerves were hollow tubes through which “animal spirits” conducted impulses in the same way that water is transmitted through a pipe.  Franz Josef Gall, an 18th-century physician, argued that a trained observer could discern intelligence, moral character, and other basic personality characteristics from the shape and number of bumps on a person’s skull.  His theory gave rise to the field of phrenology, employed by hundreds of practitioners in the 19th century.  Our understanding of behavior has progressed tremendously since the 18th century, but most of the advances have been recent. As sciences go, psychology is one of the new kids on the block. Goals of Psychology 1. To describe different ways organisms behave. 2. To explain causes of behaviour. 3. To predict how organisms will behave in certain situations. 4. To control an organism’s behaviour. Modern Approaches 1. Biological approach: Focus on how genes , hormones, nervous system interact with our environments to influence learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions and coping techniques. 2. Cognitive approach: Examine how we process, store and use information and how this information influences what we attend to, perceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel. 3. Behavioral approach: How organisms learn new behaviors or modify existing ones, depending on whether events in their environments reward or punish these behaviors.  We can trace psychology’s roots back to the ancient Greeks, who considered the mind a suitable topic for scholarly contemplation.  In 17th-century British philosopher John Locke believed that children were born into the world with minds like “blank slates” (tabula rasa in Latin) and that their experiences determined what kind of adults they would become.  His views contrasted with those of Plato and the 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes, who argued that some knowledge was inborn in humans.  The formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline is generally considered to be in the late 19th century when, in Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena.  At about the same time, William James was setting up his laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  When Wundt set up his laboratory in 1879, his aim was to study the building blocks of the mind. He considered psychology to be the study of conscious experience.  Wundt perspective, which came to be known as structuralism, focused on uncovering the fundamental mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other kinds of mental states and activities.  Wundt and other structuralists used a procedure called introspection, in which they presented people with a stimulus—such as a bright green object or a sentence printed on a card—and asked them to describe, in their own words and in as much detail as they could, what they were experiencing. Wundt argued that by analyzing their replies, psychologists could come to a better understanding of the structure of the mind.  Over time, psychologists challenged Wundt’s approach.  Because there were few ways an outside observer could confirm the accuracy of others’ introspections, introspection was not a truly scientific technique, they argued.  Moreover, people had difficulty describing some kinds of inner experiences, such as emotional responses.  Those drawbacks led to the development of new approaches that largely replaced structuralism.  The perspective that replaced structuralism is known as functionalism.  Rather than focusing on the mind’s structure, functionalism concentrated on what the mind does and how behavior functions.  Functionalists, whose perspective became prominent in the early 1900s, asked what role behavior plays in helping people adapt to their environments.  For example, a functionalist might examine the function of the emotion of fear in preparing us to deal with emergency situations.  Led by the American psychologist William James, the functionalists examined how behavior enables people to satisfy their needs and how our “stream of consciousness” thinking permits us to adapt to our environment.  The American educator John Dewey drew on functionalism to develop the field of school psychology, proposing ways to best meet students’ educational needs.  Another important development was gestalt psychology in the early 1900s.  Gestalt psychology emphasizes how perception is organized.  Instead of considering the individual parts that make up thinking, studying how people consider individual elements together as units or wholes.  Led by German scientists such as Hermann Ebbinghaus and Max Wertheimer, gestalt psychologists proposed that “The whole is different from the sum of its parts,” meaning that our perception (or understanding) of objects is greater and more meaningful than the individual elements that make up our perceptions. Gestalt psychologists have made substantial contributions to our understanding of perception.  Assignment: Read and make personal notes on contributions of key historical contributions of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920); William James (1842-1910); Max Wertheimer (1883-1943); John B. Watson (1878-1958). 4. Psychoanalytic approach: The influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts, behaviors, and development of personality traits and psychological problems later in life. 5. Humanistic approach: Emphasizes on individual freedom in directing his/her future. Allowing the capacity for personal growth by considering intrinsic worth and potential for self-fulfillment. 6. Cross-cultural approach: Examines the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on psychological and social functioning of a culture’s members. The Psychodynamic Perspective  Psychodynamic theory is an approach to psychology that studies the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions, and how they may relate to early childhood experience.  This theory is interested in the dynamic relations between conscious and unconscious motivation, and asserts that behavior is the product of underlying conflicts over which people often have little awareness.  Psychodynamic theory was born in 1874 with the works of German scientist Ernst von Brucke, who supposed that all living organisms are energy systems governed by the principle of the conservation of energy.  Sigmund Freud adopted this new “dynamic” physiology and expanded it to create the original concept of “psychodynamics,” in which he suggested that psychological processes are flows of psychosexual energy (libido) in a complex brain.  Freud also coined the term “psychoanalysis.” Later, these theories were developed further by Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Melanie Klein, and others. By the mid-1940s and into the 1950s, the general application of the “psychodynamic theory” had been well established.  Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis holds two major assumptions: (1) that much of mental life is unconscious (i.e., outside of awareness), and (2) that past experiences, especially in early childhood, shape how a person feels and behaves throughout life. The concept of the unconscious was central: Freud postulated a cycle in which ideas are repressed but continue to operate unconsciously in the mind, and then reappear in consciousness under certain circumstances The Id, Ego, and Superego  Freud’s structural model of personality divides the personality into three parts—the id, the ego, and the superego.  The id is the unconscious part that is raw drives, such as for sex or aggression.  The ego, which has conscious and unconscious elements, is the rational and reasonable part of personality.  Its role is to maintain contact with the outside world to keep the individual in touch with society, and to do this it mediates between the conflicting tendencies of the id and the superego  The superego is a person’s conscience, which develops early in life and is learned from parents, teachers, and others.  The superego has conscious and unconscious elements.  When all three parts of the personality are in dynamic equilibrium, the individual is thought to be mentally healthy.  However, if the ego is unable to mediate between the id and the superego, an imbalance is believed to occur in the form of psychological distress. Psychodynamics Today  Understanding and anticipating the range of conscious and unconscious responses to specific sensory inputs, such as images, colors, textures, sounds, etc.;  Utilizing the communicative nature of movement and primal physiological gestures to affect and study specific mind-body states; and  Examining the capacity of the mind and senses to directly affect physiological response and biological change. The Behavioral Perspective  Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that emerged in the early 20th century.  The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs.  Behaviorism focuses on observable, overt behaviors that are learned from the environment.  Its application to the treatment of mental problems is known as behavior modification. The Cognitive Perspective  Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language.  “Cognition” refers to thinking and memory processes, and “cognitive development” refers to long-term changes in these processes. Cognitive psychology is characterized by the following: 1. It accepts the use of the scientific method and generally rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation, unlike phenomenological methods such as Freudian psychoanalysis. 2. It explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (such as belief, desire, and motivation), unlike behaviorist psychology. The Humanistic Perspective  Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that rose to prominence in the mid-20th century.  It adopts a holistic approach to human existence through investigations of concepts such as meaning, values, freedom, tragedy, personal responsibility, human potential, spirituality, and self-actualization. Basic Principles of the Humanistic Perspective Approach focuses on maximum human potential and achievement rather than psychoses and symptoms of disorder. Emphasizes that people are inherently good and pays special attention to personal experiences and creativity. Perspective has led to advances in positive, educational, and industrial psychology, and has been applauded for its successful application to psychotherapy and social issues Specialties in Psychology  Clinical psychology: deal with the more severe disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder).  Counseling psychologists: deal with more typical problems (e.g., marriage and family problems, problems at work).  Experimental psychologists: used for psychologists who study basic psychological processes (e.g., perception, cognition, learning).  School psychologists: often do psychological testing, such as for learning disabilities, but they might also intervene when a child is having behavioral problems.  Educational psychologists: study issues that pertain to learning in educational settings, such as how to teach more effectively or how to enhance student motivation.  Developmental psychologists: study aspects of development, such as prenatal development, the effects of parents and peers on children, or cognitive declines in old age.  Biological psychologists: study the interaction of biology and psychology, such as the role of a particular brain structure in memory or the effect of a hormone on aggression.  Health psychologists: study psychology as it pertains to health. They might work on programs to reduce smoking or study the factors that influence decisions about health care.  Personality psychologists: tend to focus on individual differences (e.g., introverts vs. extroverts), whereas social psychologists tend to focus on how people in general react to different situations. Social psychologists often focus on “everyday life” topics, such as attraction, helping behavior, and persuasion.  Industrial/Organizational psychologists: apply psychology to the workplace. They might help businesses to make good hiring decisions, help leaders to be more effective, or work to increase employee productivity and satisfaction.  Forensic psychologists: They work at the juncture of psychology and law. They might, for example, be involved in evaluating eyewitness testimony or whether a person is competent to stand trial.  Engineering psychology or ergonomics: These psychologists study human performance when working with machines THE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN  The brain is an organ that controls all functioning of the body.  It is able to receive information from the outside world through our five senses.  The brain is able to assemble this message in a way that has meaning for us and that information is stored in our memory.  Protected within the skull.  The brain is composed of the Cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem. The structure of the brain Assignment: From the internet download image of the brain that presents the structure of the brain. THE BRAIN  The nervous system is the body’s electrochemical communication circuitry.  The field that studies the nervous system is called neuroscience, and the people who study it are neuroscientists.  The human nervous system is made up of billions of communicating cells.  The brain and nervous system guide our interactions with the world.  Brain—to allow you to sing, dance, write, talk, and think.  Brain also carry out a multitude of tasks, including seeing, reading, learning, and breathing.  The brain integrates sounds, sights, touch, taste, smells & hearing.  Brain activity is integrated across countless interconnections of brain cells and extensive pathways that link different parts of the brain.  The world around us is constantly changing. To survive, we must adapt to new conditions.  Brain and nervous system together serve as our agent in adapting to the world.  The term plasticity denotes the brain’s special capacity for change.  The brain and the nervous system function as an information- processing system, powered by electrical impulses and chemical messengers.  When an impulse travels down a nerve cell, or neuron, it does so electrically. Pathways in the Nervous System  The brain and the nervous system receive and transmit sensory input (like sounds, smells, and flavors), integrate the information received from the environment, and direct the body’s motor activities.  Information flows into the brain through input from our senses, and the brain makes sense of that information, pulling it together and giving it meaning.  In turn, information moves out of the brain to the rest of the body, directing all of the physical things we do.  The nervous system possesses specialized pathways that are adapted for different functions.  These pathways are made up of afferent nerves, efferent nerves, and neural networks.  Afferent nerves, or sensory nerves, carry information to the brain and spinal cord.  These sensory pathways communicate information about the external environment (for example, seeing a sunrise) and internal body processes (for example, feeling tired or hungry) from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.  Efferent nerves, or motor nerves, carry information out of the brain and spinal cord—that is, they carry the nervous system’s output.  These motor pathways communicate information from the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body, including muscles and glands, telling them to get busy.  Most information processing occurs when information moves through neural networks. These networks of nerve cells integrate sensory input and motor output. Divisions of the Nervous System  The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and spinal cord.  The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body.  The functions of the peripheral nervous system is to bring information to and from the brain and spinal cord and to carry out the commands of the CNS to execute various muscular and glandular activities.  The peripheral nervous system has two major divisions: 1. The somatic nervous system consists of sensory nerves, whose function is to convey information from the skin and muscles to the CNS about conditions such as pain and temperature, and motor nerves, whose function is to tell muscles what to do. 2. The autonomic nervous system is to take messages to and from the body’s internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.  The autonomic nervous system also is divided into two parts; i. The sympathetic nervous system, arouses the body to mobilize it for action and thus is involved in the experience of stress, and ii. The parasympathetic nervous system, calms the body.  Stress is the body’s response to stressors. stressors, which are the circumstances and events that threaten individuals and tax their coping abilities.  The stress response begins with a fight-or-flight reaction, one of the functions of the sympathetic nervous system. Sensation and Perception The Processes and Purposes of Sensation and Perception  Sensation is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.  Physical energy such as light, sound, and heat is detected by specialized receptor cells in the sense organs—eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue.  When the receptor cells register a stimulus, the energy is converted into an electrochemical impulse or action potential that relays information about the stimulus through the nervous system to the brain  When it reaches the brain, the information travels to the appropriate area of the cerebral cortex.  The brain gives meaning to sensation through perception.  Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.  Bottom-up processing is the operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation.  Top-down processing starts with cognitive processing at the higher levels of the brain; in top-down processing we begin with some sense of what is happening and apply that framework of information from the world.  Bottom-up and top-down processing work together in sensation and perception to allow us to function accurately and efficiently. THE PURPOSES OF SENSATION AND PERCEPTION  From an evolutionary perspective, the purpose of sensation and perception is adaptation that improves a species’ chances for survival.  Sensory receptors are specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain.  Sensory receptors are the openings through which the brain and nervous system experience the world.  These receptors trigger action potentials in sensory neurons, which carry that information to the central nervous system.  Sensation involves detecting and transmitting information about different kinds of energy.  Quiz 1: Find main classes of sense organs and sensory receptors and give their functions.  Any sensory system must be able to detect varying degrees of energy.  The energy can take the form of light, sound, chemical, or mechanical stimulation.  Lowest limits of perception is assumed as an absolute threshold, or minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect.  The degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before difference is detected is called the difference threshold or noticeable difference.  Difference thresholds increase as a stimulus becomes stronger.  Subliminal perception refers to the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness.  Brain responds to information that is presented below the conscious threshold.  Signal detection theory focuses on decision making about stimuli under conditions of uncertainty.  In signal detection theory, detection of sensory stimuli depends on a variety of factors besides the physical intensity of the stimulus and the sensory abilities of the observer.  These factors include individual and contextual variations, such as fatigue, expectations, and the urgency of the moment.  Perception of stimuli is influenced by more than the characteristics of the environmental stimuli themselves.  Two important factors in perceiving sensory stimuli are attention and perceptual set.  Selective attention, which involves focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others.  Inattentional blindness refers to the failure to detect unexpected events when attention is engaged by a task.  Psychologists refer to a predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way as a perceptual set.  Perceptual sets act as “psychological” filters in processing information about the environment.  sensory adaptation —a change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation.