Week 1 - Welcome & Chapter 1 for Students PDF

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 Can...

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  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