The Science of Psychology PDF

What Is Psychology? Psychology “Psyche” = breath, spirit, or soul “Logia” =...

What Is Psychology? Psychology “Psyche” = breath, spirit, or soul “Logia” = the study of something Psychological science is the study, through research, The Science of Psychology of mind, brain, and behavior. January 7, 2021 The mind – perceptions, thoughts, memories, feelings The brain – biological processes Behavior – observable actions 1 2 Intuition vs. Science Is Intuition Accurate? Part of the human experience is the desire to understand and predict behavior Critical thinking systematically questions and evaluates information using well-supported evidence: Weighs facts, considers source, uses logic and reasoning to see whether information makes sense, considers alternate explanations Keeps an open mind 3 4 © 2024 Priscilla San Souci. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed. 1  Biases in Thinking Biases in Thinking Confirmation bias – ignoring evidence Seeing relations that do not exist: Failing to accurately judge source credibility Spurious Correlations – (Pearson) correlations that arise Misunderstanding or not using statistics from comparing ratios, not because there is an actual relationship between variables Just because two events happen at the same time does not always mean that they are related This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC- ND 5 6 7 8 © 2024 Priscilla San Souci. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed. 2  Biases in Thinking Using relative comparisons 9 10 Biases in Thinking Latest Developments in Psychology Accepting after-the-fact (post-hoc) explanations Three major advances that have helped further the scientific understanding of Taking mental shortcuts psychological phenomena Failing to see our own Progress in understanding brain chemistry inadequacies (self-serving Developments in neuroscience bias) Advances in decoding the human genome 11 12 © 2024 Priscilla San Souci. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed. 3  Latest Developments in Psychology Researchers can now explain behavior at many levels of analysis. Was your breakfast Four important levels satisfying? - Biological level of analysis - Individual level of analysis Biological - Social level of analysis - Cultural level of analysis Individual Social Cultural This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY 13 14 I) How groups affect whether a person breaks rules II) How different countries define mental illness Why do people III) How personality changes across the lifespan fall in love? IV) How the death of a spouse changes brain chemistry A. I) Cultural II) Social III) Biological IV) Individual Biological Individual B. I) Social II) Cultural III) Individual IV) Biological Social C. I) Cultural II) Biological III) Individual IV) Social Cultural D. I) Individual II) Cultural III) Social IV) Biological This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA 15 16 © 2024 Priscilla San Souci. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed. 4  Subfields in Psychology Neuroscientists/biological Clinical psychologists psychologists Counseling psychologists Cognitive psychologists School psychologists Developmental Industrial and organizational psychologists psychologists Personality psychologists Forensic psychologists Social psychologists Sports psychologists Cultural psychologists Health psychologists 17 © 2024 Priscilla San Souci. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed. 5