Psy102: Introduction to Psychology (1) Introductions PDF

Psy102: Introduction to Psychology ================================== (1) Introductions ----------------- Stephen Want ------------ An Overview =========== - What is Psychology all about? ============================= - Some common misconceptions about psychology. ==================...

Psy102: Introduction to Psychology ================================== (1) Introductions ----------------- Stephen Want ------------ An Overview =========== - What is Psychology all about? ============================= - Some common misconceptions about psychology. ============================================ - The different types of psychologist. ==================================== - Tracing the evolution of psychological thought. =============================================== - Understanding the modern focus of psychology. ============================================= So what is Psychology? ====================== The *scientific* study of the mind and of behaviour. ---------------------------------------------------- - An academic discipline -- a major subject of scientific study in colleges and universities, aimed at discovering how the mind works and what determines how people behave. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - A set of professions -- in which the results of scientific study are applied to help individuals adapt to the world (e.g., to relieve depression), and/or help make the world easier for people to function within (e.g., design products that make sense to people). What will you (hopefully) get out of this course? ================================================= (1) To some extent, a better ability to analyse and predict behaviour, both your own and other people's, based on what we know about how people typically behave. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) Techniques to modify your own behaviour -- ways of changing your behaviour, based on what we know about how people's minds typically work, to help you, for example, to learn more effectively. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some misconceptions about psychology... ======================================= (1) Psychology is not a Science. Physics, Chemistry and Biology are Sciences, but Psychology isn't. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) Psychology is all just 'common sense'. In our daily lives, we're all interested in other people and we often come up with theories about how their minds work. And so we don't need psychologists to tell us about how people's minds work; we already know from our everyday experience! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Psychology has in common with physics, biology and chemistry: The scientific method ======================================================================================== (1) Observe some phenomenon. ---------------------------- (2) Construct a hypothesis regarding its cause. ----------------------------------------------- (3) Use the hypothesis to make predictions. ------------------------------------------- (4) Test the predictions with further observations and (repeatable) experiments. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (5) Modify your hypothesis to account for new facts. ---------------------------------------------------- (6) Repeat steps 3-5 until no discrepancies remain. --------------------------------------------------- Psychology, biology, chemistry, physics: Applying the scientific method at different levels. ============================================================================================ **Psychology** -------------- (Humans and human interactions) ------------------------------- **Biology** ----------- (Cells and cellular interactions) --------------------------------- **Chemistry** ------------- (Molecules and molecular interactions) -------------------------------------- **Physics** ----------- (Particles, atoms and atomic interactions) ------------------------------------------ Isn't Psychology all just 'common sense'? ========================================= Psychology deals with people and their behaviour. We all know people. We're all interested in how they behave. We all form 'theories' or 'hypotheses'... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...however, most of us never test them (using the scientific method). Psychology does. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *"The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we (think we) know best."* Paul Valéry -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing our assumptions about how people work... ================================================ A common intuition *- "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"* ------------------------------------------------------------- (1) When we test a large enough group of people, we find general agreement on who does, and who doesn't have a beautiful face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (2) This agreement crosses cultures. ------------------------------------ (3) Infants seem to agree with adults. -------------------------------------- Psychology says *-- "No it's not. Actually, beauty is not all in the eye of the beholder."* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychology tries to use scientific methods ========================================== - Rather than simply accepting something as true because it seems correct (intuition), or because it seems reasonable (logic), psychology requires evidence gathered from repeatable experiments (science). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Psychologists write out and then test their assumptions about how people work, using data to decide between alternative hypotheses. They base conclusions on data from experiments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ooh, psychology, eh? So, can you read my mind then?" ===================================================== - No -- Psychology is not really about finding out *what* people are thinking, but more about *how* the mind enables us to think and do other things (e.g., how our minds enable us to see colours, to hear and understand words, to sleep and dream, to learn and remember). - Psychology is also sometimes about predicting *thoughts* or *behaviour* (but only in general, on average, not in any one person's particular case). "Ooh, psychology, eh? You should come and study me/my friend/my family!" ======================================================================== - Usually what the person saying this means is that they, or someone they know, does something they consider dysfunctional or distressing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Clinical psychologists treat depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- - Counselling psychologists treat marital and family dysfunction. --------------------------------------------------------------- These two applied groups make up more than half of all psychologists. However, psychologists also do all sorts of other things! Non-clinical applied psychologists ================================== - School psychologists -------------------- - Industrial/organisational psychologists --------------------------------------- - Forensic psychologists ---------------------- - Human factors psychologists --------------------------- Research psychologists ====================== - Conduct experiments and collect systematic observations to discover the basic principles of behaviour and mind (on which therapy and other applications are based). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Many different kinds, including: -------------------------------- - ### Developmental psychologists - ### Personality psychologists - ### Social psychologists - ### Health psychologists - ### Peace psychologists ### The relationship between research and applied psychologists =========================================================== **Research Psychologists** (Design studies, collect data, and try to work out how the mind works.) **Applied Psychologists** (Take the results of those studies and use them to help children learn more effectively, design better products, or help treat people who are experiencing mental health problems.) - The majority of your psychology professors will be either: - \(1) Research psychologists - \(2) Clinical psychologists (who have chosen to do teaching and research, as well as clinical work) Tracing the evolution of psychological thought ============================================== Learning goals -------------- (1) Explain the mind-body problem --------------------------------- (2) Explain differing viewpoints on the roles of nature and nurture in humans ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- (3) Outline the development of the first scientific schools of psychology: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ### Structuralism - ### Functionism - ### Behaviourism Two fundamental questions in psychology ======================================= - Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, the brain and of behaviour. How are these things linked? Is the mind separate from the body? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - What are the contributions of nature and nurture? Are we born as "blank slates" onto which experience writes, or are some things inbuilt at birth? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The mind-body problem - We all know that we think with our (physical) brains. - But... is our **mental** life *all* the result of the activities of our **physical** brains (the firing of neurons)? - Moving an arm? The idea to move your arm? - The solution to a complex problem? - The thought of your mother's middle name? - Feelings of pain, or love? Personality? The mind-body problem ===================== - What is the relationship between our mental activity and our physical bodies? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Descartes (1596-1650) --------------------- Believed the mind and body -------------------------- belonged to separate realms --------------------------- which interacted through ------------------------ the pineal gland. ----------------- Descartes' view =============== - So, in Descartes' view, the physical body and the mental mind belong in separate realms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The mental mind is able to influence the physical body through the brain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- \[Diagram\] The mind-body problem ===================== - Cartesian Dualism is one common position. ----------------------------------------- - However, others have suggested different relationships between our mental experiences and our physical bodies/brains. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Hippocrates (460-375 B.C.) -- suggested that our mental experiences are caused by the physical workings of the brain. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The beginnings of the modern view of mind and body ================================================== - Physiologists in the 1800s began to systematically document links between damage to the nervous system and psychological effects. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - The case of Phineas Gage. ------------------------- - Had a long metal bar blasted through his head. Despite extensive damage to the frontal lobe of his brain (and the loss of his left eye), Phineas Gage survived. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - However, he was no longer himself... ------------------------------------ Whereas before he had been "*a shrewd businessman, with a well-balanced mind*", he subsequently became "*fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity*". ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The modern view of mind and brain ================================= - Phineas Gage's case helped to convince people that the mind and brain were not in fact separate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - The mind is "in" the brain and when the brain is damaged/injured/destroyed, so is the mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \[Diagram\] The mind-behaviour link ======================= - Modern psychologists believe there is no strict separation between the mind and the body. The mind is a direct product of brain activity. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \[Examples discussed in class\] The origins of knowledge ======================== - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) -- wrote about memory, sleep and the nature of sensation. Thought we were born as 'tabula rasa' or 'blank slates'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where does knowledge come from? Are we born with some knowledge? ================================================================ - Nature / nativism or nurture / empiricism? Empiricists believe we have to acquire our knowledge and personality through experience. Nativists believe that we are born pre-programmed to know certain things or to behave in certain ways. Intelligence, personality, etc. have innate and learned aspects The development of Psychology as a science: Structuralism ========================================================= - Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). -------------------------- - Not the first person to take psychological measurements, nor even the first to do psychological experiments. - But the first to open a lab specifically dedicated to experimental psychology (at the University of Leipzig, in Germany). - Credited with being the first "psychological scientist"; emphasized that psychology could be scientific. - More fully developed methods such as measuring reaction times and introspection, and trained many. - Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927) -- a student of Wundt's whose work belongs to the first "school" of early psychology. - Structuralism \[Discussed in class\] ---------------------- - "*Be as attentive as possible to the object or process that gives rise to sensation, and when the object is removed or the process completed, recall the sensation by an act of memory as vividly and completely as you can.*" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - You cannot say what the object is, or give a judgement of it. ------------------------------------------------------------- The structuralists had some successes, identifying the *elements* of taste: salty, bitter, sweet and sour. Umami -- "Savouriness" -- a full-bodied taste associated with components of proteins. The development of Psychology as a science: Structuralism ========================================================= - Problems with the Structuralists' approach to studying the mind. ---------------------------------------------------------------- \[Discussed in class\] ---------------------- The development of Psychology as a science: Functionalism ========================================================= - William James (1842-1910) ------------------------- - Functionalism ------------- Not 'what is conscious experience?' but 'what is the purpose of that experience?' - Functionalism was heavily influenced by Darwin's thoughts on evolution -- in what ways do our conscious experiences help us to behave in ways that increase our chances of surviving, prospering and passing our genes to the next generation? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - What is the function of the experience of pain? ----------------------------------------------- \[Discussed in class\] - What is the function of other experiences? ------------------------------------------ Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930) =============================== Completed a PhD in Psychology but Harvard refused to grant it. ============================================================== Became APA president in 1905. ============================= The development of Psychology as a science: Behaviourism ======================================================== - John Watson (1878-1958) ----------------------- - B(urrhus) F(rederick) Skinner (1904-1990) ----------------------------------------- - Behaviourism ------------ Believed the way to make psychology scientific was to study observable behaviour, not the mind (which cannot be directly observed). They rejected introspection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albert and the rat. ------------------- Albert was conditioned (a.k.a. learned) to fear the rat. Behaviourists were strong empiricists. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \[Diagram\] The development of Psychology: Psychoanalysis ============================================= - Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) ------------------------- - Neurologist Studied the nervous system, and tried to help people with physical ailments, such as unexplained nerve pain. Came to believe that many of his patients' physical disorders were actually psychological in origin. - Psychoanalysis -------------- Developed around the same time as behaviourism, but very different from it. A focus on 'unconscious determinants of behaviour'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *\"The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water*\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - *Rejected introspection* ------------------------ Freud's attempts to get to the unconscious ========================================== - Dream analysis -------------- - ### Wish fulfilment -- "My youngest daughter, then nineteen months old, had had an attack of vomiting one morning and had consequently been kept without food all day.  During the night after this day of starvation she was heard calling out excitedly in her sleep: 'Anna Fweud, stwawbewwies, wild stwawbewwies, omblet, pudden!'" - Freud interprets this dream as fulfilling her daughter's (unconscious) wish or urge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subjectivity in dream analysis ============================== - But what a dream "means" is very subjective; the way you interpret a dream might be very different from the way I interpret the same dream. Most dreams are open to many interpretations. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - For instance, was Freud's daughter dreaming of getting, or being denied, food? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Negative emotions (e.g., fear, anxiety, guilt) are more common than positive ones in dreams. Is this really consistent with the idea that dreams fulfil our wishes or urges? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Freud's attempts to get to the unconscious ========================================== - Slips of the tongue ------------------- \"*Freud gave five pubic lectures there.*\" ------------------------------------------- "*This must be the sheep-chopping area.*" ----------------------------------------- Although slips of the tongue may sometimes reveal what's really on our minds, this certainly does not apply to all such slips. Most slips are to similar sounding words or syllables. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The development of Psychology: Psychoanalysis ============================================= - Although Freud had a big impact on Psychology and is one of the figures most commonly associated with it, the majority of psychologists have rejected psychoanalysis as unscientific. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \"*I am actually not at all a man of science, not an observer, not an experimenter, not a thinker. I am by temperament nothing but a conquistador\--an adventurer, if you want it translated\--with all the curiosity, daring, and tenacity characteristic of a man of this sort.*\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Understanding the modern focus of psychology. ============================================= Learning goals -------------- (1) Explain what it means to adopt an eclectic approach to psychology. ====================================================================== (2) Describe what is meant by the term "the cognitive revolution", including its methods and theories. ====================================================================================================== (3) Describe recent developments in biology and neuroscience that help us understand the mind. ============================================================================================== (4) Explain how psychologists believe that evolution has played a role in shaping our minds. ============================================================================================ (5) Explain the role of culture in modern psychologists' thinking. ================================================================== Eclecticism =========== - Modern psychologists integrate many ideas from different perspectives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - No single over-riding theoretical perspective. ---------------------------------------------- - In addition to ideas and methods already discussed modern psychology includes: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ### A cognitive perspective - ### A biological perspective - ### An evolutionary perspective - ### A cultural perspective ### The cognitive revolution/perspective ==================================== - In the 1950s, psychologists began to study mental processes such as thinking, learning, remembering and reasoning again, moving on from the focus on just behaviour. - A recognition that what goes on in people's minds (their interpretation) is often crucial. - Also influenced by the development of research techniques that allowed inferences about mental processes; techniques that became more widely-available with the invention of computers. - Ask people to perform tasks that vary in their demands and see how fast they do them, or how accurate they are, or otherwise take some measure of the ease with which they complete the task. \[Diagram\] Developments in biology ======================= - Developments in methodology also allowed psychologists to examine the biological hardware of the mind in action. EEGs (Electroencephalogram) fMRI Heart rate Blood pressure Respiration Pupil dilation Skin conductance Stress hormones Brain biochemistry ================== - Certain mental health conditions may involve imbalances in the natural chemicals of the brain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Evolutionary basis of behaviour =============================== - Our minds have been (and continue to be) shaped by evolution, such that we can solve certain problems (that have arisen repeatedly for our ancestors in the past), more easily than others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The importance of culture ========================= - In addition to being shaped by evolution, our minds are shaped by our cultural environments. Your culture is the sum of the shared values, customs, and beliefs of your ethnic, geographic, socio-economic, political, religious or sexual group. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Modern psychology recognises the role that the environment plays in shaping minds and behaviour, both similarly within groups and differently between groups. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How does culture affect thinking? ================================= - In all languages, the number names from 1-10 must be learnt by rote. -------------------------------------------------------------------- - However, some languages, but not English, then go on to take advantage of the base-10 number system in naming higher numbers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [English] [Chinese] ------------------------------------------- Eleven "Ten-one" ---------------- Twelve "Ten-two" ---------------- Thirteen "Ten-three" -------------------- Twenty-one "Two-ten-one" ------------------------ - Miller et al. (1995) -- Investigated early mathematical competence (counting) in 4- and 5-year-old US and Chinese children. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Miller et al. (1995) -------------------- The differences between Chinese and American children came in the 10-20 range. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Over 90% of children in both countries could count to 10, but only 48% of American children could count to 20, compared to 74% of Chinese children. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This "head-start" may contribute to later differences in mathematical ability between Chinese and American children. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - All that said, at times, psychology as a field has been slow to recognise the importance of cultural differences. Multi-causality =============== - Every human thought, feeling, or behaviour has multiple causes. - When psychologists conduct a study and find, for instance, that mental imagery (visualizing the throw and imagining taking it before throwing) improves the chance of success, they are [NOT] saying that mental imagery is the one and only cause of successful free throws. - All those other biological, cognitive, and social factors may also play a role. - Instead, they are saying that mental imagery is [one of the factors] that can improve success. Individual differences and context: - Even then, what psychologists find in their studies is often an average effect. For instance, mental imagery might improve people's chances of making a free throw, on average. - That doesn't mean it applies to everyone. There are often individual differences between people. Mental imagery might be very effective for some (e.g., experts) but have no effect (or even be detrimental) for others (e.g., beginners). - That doesn't mean it applies to every circumstance. For instance, mental imagery might work in practice sessions, but not in front of large crowds.