Introduction to Psychology PDF

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (lesson 1) 1. Overt behaviour – behaviour that is observable, can be seen, can be The Goal of Psychology measured. (ex. Running, dancing, smili...

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (lesson 1) 1. Overt behaviour – behaviour that is observable, can be seen, can be The Goal of Psychology measured. (ex. Running, dancing, smiling) Empirical study of human behaviour and cognition. 2. Covert Psychology- Any action that is hidden or subtle; not directly To describe... observable; mental process. (ex. Thinking, feeling emotions) To understand …. Other influences To predict…. - Freud and Unconsciousness To control … - Humanistic Psychologist – Abraham Maslow – what motivates people Goal- Study of behaviour and cognition (hierarchy of needs) Philosophy- how the mind works - Cognitive revolution & technology- early 1950s Physiology- how the body works Stimulus- cause +new ideas how the mind & body influence: feelings, thoughts, & actions Response- effect Psychology PSYCHOLOGY TODAY What is psychologist? PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE - Investigators I. Understanding the science of Psychology - Role as problem solver whether it be disorders or explain human - process of psychological Research behaviour. - research methods used to describe people & determine relationship Who are Psychologists? - research method used to determine course and effect – Clinicians - statistical procedures to value research data more meaningful – Counselors - ethics in research – Instructors Charles Darwin- Natural Selection – Consultants/Coaches Early “Isms” of psychology – Legal/Medical fields Structuralism – Schools/Measurement - Wilhelm Wundt = father of scientific psychology; introduced scientific method of psychology GRAND ISSUES OF PSYCHOLOGY - Structure of consciousness (mind) Stability vs. Change- whether our traits and behaviours remain consistent over - Introspection (study of oneself) time (stability) or change as we grow older (change) Functionalism (how the mind functions) Nature vs. Nurture- whether our characteristics are shaped more by genetics - William James (Me-self, I-Self) – influence of Charles Darwin (nature) or by our environment and upbringing (nurture); (development of - How consciousness helped us to evolve individual) - Influenced by Darwinism Rational vs. Irrational- whether humans mostly make logical, sensible Behaviourism– can be measure & observable (Stimulus Response decisions (rational) or whether our emotion and biases lead us to make Psychology- the approach to psychology that conceptualizes behaviour in decisions that are not always logical (irrational) terms of stimulus and response.) - John Watson & N.F Skinner (“We can only study things that are observable”) - Focus only on what is observable - Narrowed and extended the field Major Perspectives of Psychology The Importance of Science to Psychology Perspective Description FACT: When psychology emerged as a legitimate discipline, it had to struggle Behavioural Overt behaviour and learned responses to establish itself as a science. Cognitive Internal structures of the mind, thoughts, and Immanuel Kant (2004/1786), an influential 18th century philosopher, had beliefs. asserted that a scientific psychology was impossible. Given the respect with Biological Biological events behind behaviour. which scientific disciplines were treated, the implication may have been that Evolutionary Influence of evolved psychological mechanisms, psychology was not “good enough” to be a science. how they advantageous. Development Change in behaviour and cognitive processes over It is interesting to note, however, that many of the scholars who were the life span interested in psychological concepts during the 18th and 19th centuries had a Psychodynamic The role of the unconscious and internal states scientific background. Social & Cultural The dual influence of the society and culture on Hermann von Helmholtz, in 1852, he proposed a theory of color vision that our perspectives and behaviours. is still accepted by psychologists today, was a physicist. One reason that the German researcher Wilhelm Wundt is credited with Psychology is defined as the science of behaviour or mental process being the first psychologist is because he worked so hard at establishing psychology as a science throughout Europe (Hunt, 2007). 2 Main Parts of the definition 1. The subject matter - Behaviour Five Key Properties of Science - Mental processes 1. Science Is Empirical 2. The methods used to study them Empirical means “derived from experience.” Science proceeds as - Methods of science scientists “experience” the world and make observations in it. SCIENCE 2. Science Is Repeatable Science has emerged as the most important method of providing the The process of repeating a research study, is called replication. justification for belief, bringing it closer to knowledge. 3. Science Is Self-Correcting A scientist believes something to be true because it has been supported by Replication is what allows science to be self-correcting. Self-correcting evidence, evidence produced under tightly controlled conditions designed to means that evidence based on good research tends to accumulate, while allow the scientist to draw valid conclusions. information based on bad research tends to fade away, forgotten. Psychologists base their explanations not on casual everyday observation but 4. Science Relies on Rigorous Observation on careful scientific research. Science: A set of methods intended to justify people’s beliefs by producing The conditions under which scientific observations are made are laid evidence under tightly controlled conditions. out by specific research methods. These methods are essentially the rules for making scientific observations. A full definition of science also includes its five key properties: empirical, repeatable, self-correcting, reliant on rigorous observation, and objective. 5. Science Strives to Be Objective Two related but distinct senses of objectivity: a. scientists strive to be personally objective; they try to not let their personal beliefs influence their research. b. the observations that scientists make must be objective, meaning that different observers would observe the same thing. Naïve/ Intuitive Psychology Intuition is a form of knowledge that appears in consciousness without obvious deliberation. Often referred to as “gut feelings,” Intuition tends to arise holistically and quickly, without awareness of the underlying mental processing of information. Intuition is the ability to understand something instinctively, without any need for conscious reasoning or an explanation. It's a phenomenon that many people experience, but its biological basis is still an area of ongoing research and exploration. Where Intuition Comes From? Psychologists believe that intuition relies on powers of pattern matching, as the mind combs experience stored in long-term memory for similar situations and presents in-the-moment judgments based on them. The automatic information processing that underlies intuition can be seen in the everyday phenomenon known as “highway hypnosis,” which occurs when a driver travels for miles without a conscious thought about the activity of driving the car. Why should we care about intuitive reasoning (about psychology and the physical world)? We make many predictable sorts of errors when we try to draw conclusions about our everyday observations without thinking scientifically. If naïve psychology were always correct, there would be no need for scientific psychology. Bias A bias is a specific tendency, a consistent way of thinking, seeing, believing, or acting. One important source of bias is one’s personal experiences and background. Bias Vs. Error an error, by definition, is always wrong. A bias in some specific situations might lead to a correct conclusion. An Example: Professors who have a bias that students are dishonest may be very successful at identifying cheaters in their classes. The key idea is that if a bias is applied consistently, eventually it will lead to an error  INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY - Optimism bias can motivate people to pursue challenging goals and cope with stress, but it can also lead to poor decisions and unrealistic BIASES, FALLACIES, AND ERRORS IN REASONING (McCormick expectations. Philosophy) - Ex. A person might believe they won’t get into a car accident, even though they drive recklessly, because they feel “it won’t Motivated Reasoning - Motivated reasoning is a phenomenon that uses happen to them” emotionally-biased reasoning to produce justifications or make decisions The Sunk Cost Fallacy – when people continue a behaviour or project that are most desired rather than those that accurately reflect the evidence. because they’ve already invested time, even though it’s no longer worth - When people shape their thinking to match what they want to believe, pursuing. rather than what the facts actually shows. - Have you ever stuck with a bad decision because you already invested too - General idea: If we like the conclusion, we easily accept the evidence as much in it? You might have fallen for the sunk cost fallacy. true. If we don’t like the conclusion, we find ways to contest the evidence. - The sunk cost fallacy is a cognitive bias that makes us value past costs over - Ex. A person who loves eating junk food might convince future benefits, even when they are irrelevant to the current situation. themselves that it’s not really that unhealthy, even when studies - The sunk cost fallacy can lead to wasted time, money, and resources, as show otherwise. They might focus only on the few articles or well as missed opportunities and emotional distress. opinions that say junk food isn’t harmful while ignoring the majority of evidence. - Ex. Someone might stay in a bad relationship just because Confirmation Bias – It’s when people look for or emphasize information they’ve been together for years, even though they’re unhappy, that supports their existing beliefs while ignoring or dismissing conflicting because they don’t want the past time to feel “wasted.” evidence. Gambler’s Fallacy – It’s the belief that past random events affect the likelihood of future random events, even when the outcomes are - Confirmation bias is a mental trap that makes us see what we want to see, independent of each other. even if it's not true. - One reason why we fall for gambler's fallacy is that we tend to look - It can cause us to miss important facts, make errors, and resist new for patterns and explanations in random events, rather than accepting them perspectives that could help us grow and learn. as unpredictable. - Ex. After flipping a coin and getting heads five times in a row, - Ex. If someone believes that eating chocolate helps with someone might believe that tails is now “due,” even though concentration, they might only remember studies or stories that each flip is still 50-50. support this belief while ignoring evidence that says otherwise. Anchoring Bias – People rely too heavily on the first piece of information Optimism Bias – It’s the tendency to believe that positive outcomes are they get (the “anchor”) when making decisions, even it’s irrelevant. more likely to happen to you, while underestimating negative risks. - It was first studied by psychologist Neil Weinstein in 1980, who found that - It can be influenced by factors such as framing, priming, and salience of college students were unrealistically optimistic about their own risks and the information. abilities. - Ex. If a car is initially listed at $30, 000, a discount to $25, 000 seems like a great deal, even if the car is only worth $20, 000.  Availability Bias – People overestimate the likelihood of events based on Hindsight Bias – After something happens, people believe they “knew it all how easily examples come to mind, often influenced by recent experiences along,” even though they couldn’t have predicted the outcome beforehand. or vivid stories. - “Sabi ko na eh”, “Sabi ko naman sa’yo eh” - Hindsight bias is more likely to occur when the outcome of an event is - The availability heuristic (or availability bias) is a type of cognitive bias that negative rather than positive. This is consistent with the general tendency helps us make fast, but sometimes incorrect, assessments. It involves relying people have to pay more attention to negative outcomes of events, known on information that comes to mind quickly or is most available to us. as negativity bias. - Ex. After a stock crashes, an investor might say, “I knew that - The information that is only available to you. company was going to fail,” even though they had no solid reason to believe that earlier. - Kung ano ‘yung alam mo (the info that is only available to you), doon ka Placebo Effect – People experience positive effects from a treatment or na lang magbe-base. action simply because they believe it will work, even if it’s an inactive substance or process. - Ex. When asked if falling airplane parts or shark attacks are a - Placebo effect is when you feel better after taking a fake treatment, like a more likely cause of death in the United States, most people sugar pill or a saline injection. would say shark attacks. In reality, the chances of dying from - The mind can trick you into believing that a fake treatment has real falling airplane parts are 30 times greater than the chances of therapeutic results. being killed by a shark. People overestimate the risk of shark - Ex. If a person takes a sugar pill, they think is medicine, they attacks because there are far more news stories and movies might start feeling better, even though the pill has no real effect about them. As a result, images of shark attacks are easier to on their health. bring to mind. If you can quickly think of multiple examples of something happening, then you are tricked into thinking it must The Umpire Effect – The idea that people perceive reality differently based happen often. on their perspective or biases. It stems from how baseball umpires may interpret the same play differently. Loss Aversion Bias/ Endowment Bias – People feel pain of losing - Pagkakaiba ng perspective o bias ng isang tao. something more strongly than the pleasure of gaining something of equal - Ex. Three umpire might describe their approach as: value. The endowment effect refers to people valuing things more just 1. Objective Reality – “I call them as they are” because they own them. 2. Subjective Perception – “I call them as I see them” - In other words, loss aversion is an expression of fear. 3. Reality is shaped by observation – “They aren’t - The loss aversion is a reflection of a general bias in human psychology anything until I call them” (status quo bias) that make people resistant to change. So, when we think about change, we focus more on what we might lose rather than on what we might get. - As Charles Darwin once said, “Everyone feels blame more acutely than praise.” - Ex. We are more upset about losing $10 than we are happy about finding $10.  The Sliding Scale Fallacy - The slippery scale/slope fallacy is an argument Actively Open-Minded Thinking – It’s the willingness to consider different that claims an initial event or action will trigger a series of other events and perspectives and change one’s belief when presented with new evidence, lead to an extreme or undesirable outcome. The slippery scale fallacy even if it challenges prior assumptions. anticipates this chain of events without offering any evidence to substantiate - Willing ka na makinig at paniwalaan or ibahan ang iyong beliefs because the claim. someone presented evidence to you. - This is problematic as the person assumes a cause-and-effect relationship - Ex. A person believes a particular diet is the healthiest but is open between two or more events or outcomes without knowing for sure how to changing their view if new research shows a better alternative, things will pan out. rather than clinging to their original belief. - Fallacious Argument – assuming or concluding; an extreme conclusion that The Upside-Down Thinking – A form of creative problem-solving where doesn’t logically follow. you flip assumptions or standard approaches upside down to view the issue - Non-fallacious Argument - the form of a logical extrapolation to a possible from a new perspective. outcome. - Inversion can help us see and solve problems differently by reversing the - Ex. Person A: “I think we should lower the legal drinking age.” way in which we think about them. - Ex. Instead of asking, “How can I increase sales?” you ask, Person B: “No, if we do that, we’ll have ten-year-olds “How can I decrease sales?” getting drunk in bars!” This could reveal actions you need to avoid and inspire better strategies. Types of Sliding Scale Fallacy Promiscuous Teleologists – The tendency to see purpose or design in things 1. Causal slippery slope arguments - suggest that a minor initial action that don’t necessarily have intentional meaning, often attributing events to a or event will inevitably lead to a series of others, with each event or higher power or purpose. action being the cause of the next in the sequence. - where humans use heuristics in an attempt to award a purpose or role to - Ex. “If we lower the voting age to sixteen years then fifteen-year- everything — is called ‘promiscuous teleology’. olds will also want to vote, and before you know it, babies will - Ex. A child might think that clouds exist “to give shade” or that vote too!” rain happens “to water the plants,” even though these are 2. Precedential slippery slope arguments - claim that if we treat a natural processes with no intended purpose. minor case or issue in a specific way today, we will have to treat any HADD: Hyperactive Agency Detection Device - The human tendency to major case or issue that may arise in the future the same way. - Ex. “If we permit deadline extensions for students who need to over-attribute intentionally or agency to things, often leading to seeing prepare for a job interview, then we’ll have to start permitting intentions or actions where there are none. that for other non-emergency reasons, like going on a holiday. - Ex. Hearing a strange noise in an empty house and immediately Then, we might as well do away with deadlines since they won’t thinking it’s caused by a person or ghost, even though it’s likely mean anything.” just the wind or a setting floorboard. 3. Conceptual slippery slope arguments - assume that because we Entrenchment – When people become fixed in their beliefs or behaviours cannot draw a distinction between adjacent stages, we cannot draw a and are unwilling to change, even in the face of compelling new evidence. distinction between any stages at all. - Ex. A person who’s always done their job a certain way refuses - Ex. “There is no essential difference between 199 and 200 to adopt new, more efficient methods, insisting that the old way grains of sand or 200 and 201 grains and so on. Thus, there is is still best, despite evidence to the contrary. no difference between 1 grain of sand and 3 billion grains of sand.”  Pareidolia – The tendency to perceive familiar patterns, such as faces or heuristic: a shortcut strategy that we use to make judgments and solve figures, in random or unrelated objects. problems. Although they are easy to use, they do not guarantee correct - Ex. Seeing the shape of a face in the clouds, or a figure of a judgments and solutions person in the pattern of a tree’s bark. Supernaturalism – The belief that events or phenomena can be explained availability heuristic: judging the frequency or likelihood of some event type by forces beyond the natural world, such as deities, spirits, or magic. according to how easily examples of the event can be called to mind (i.e., - Ex. A person might attribute a sudden recovery from illness to how available they are to memory) divine intervention, rather than medical treatment or the body’s natural healing processes. representativeness heuristic: judging the likelihood that something is a member of a category on the basis of how much it resembles a typical skepticism: a way of thinking in which you refrain from drawing a conclusion or category member (i.e., how representative it is of the category) changing your mind until good evidence has been provided Type 1 thinking: fast, automatic, and emotional thinking. bias: an inclination, tendency, leaning, or prejudice ❖ Common sources of biases: Type 2 thinking: slow, effortful, and logical thinking. o Personal values and beliefs. Problem: a situation in which we are in an initial state, have a desired goal state, and o Racism, sexism, ageism and other forms of prejudice and bigotry. there is a number of possible intermediate states (i.e., there is no obvious way to get from the initial to the goal state) o Self-interest. problem representation: noticing, comprehending and forming a mental conception of a problem. Reasoning - the ability to generate and evaluate solid conclusions from a set of fixation: when a problem solver gets stuck looking at a problem a particular way and statements or evidence. cannot change his or her representation of it (or his or her intended solution strategy) deductive reasoning: a type of reasoning in which the conclusion is guaranteed to be true any time the statements leading up to it are true functional fixedness: a specific type of fixation in which a problem solver cannot think of a new use for an object that already has a function argument: a set of statements in which the beginning statements lead to a mental set: a specific type of fixation in which a problem solver gets stuck using the conclusion same solution strategy that has been successful in the past deductively valid argument: an argument for which true beginning insight: a sudden realization of a solution to a problem statements guarantee that the conclusion is true. confirmation bias: people’s tendency to notice information that confirms what they inductive reasoning: a type of reasoning in which we make judgments about already believe likelihood from sets of evidence inductively strong argument: an inductive argument in which the beginning statements lead to a conclusion that is probably true Three basic kinds of disagreements that characterize the field of psychology Conflicts About Fundamental Theories 1. Disagreements about the best theoretical explanations for fundamental Conflicts about human nature have been part of many major theoretical observations about the human condition disagreements in psychology. 2. Disagreements about the role of science and scientific methods of inquiry in the 1. Free Will Versus Determinism discipline -For many centuries prior to the 6th century BC, the questions about our mental 3. Disagreements about the relative importance of two goals: discovering basic processes and behaviors had a very simple answer: Everything was predetermined by principles of human behavior and mental processes versus applying this knowledge a god or gods. to help people -The ancient Greek philosophers began to question this belief when they proposed that emotions and thoughts were not placed in the head by gods, that at least some Note: Although psychologists do not always see eye-to-eye, the lack of agreement is of them came from an individual’s experience and from thinking about the world not necessarily a problem. If managed successfully, disagreement, conflict, and (Hunt, 2007). tension in a discipline are essential for progress. -By asking questions such as “Does the mind rule emotions, or do emotions rule the mind?” some of these philosophers began to wonder whether human beings had Psychology’s Long History of Tension and Conflict free will. The term psychology had already been in use for over 300 years, and several researchers across Europe had already been working in areas that would become 2. Nature Versus Nurture part of psychology. René Descartes, considered by many to be the father of modern philosophy, But because Wundt established the lab (1879), and he worked hard to establish championed a viewpoint called rationalism; he believed that much of human psychology as a discipline throughout Europe, he is given the credit (Hunt, 2007). knowledge originates within a person and can be activated through reasoning. Hence, knowledge is innate, a product of nature only (1637). The term psychology first appeared in 1520, but systematic thinking about human behavior and mental processes began far before then. John Locke is perhaps the most famous philosopher on the other side of this debate; his viewpoint is typically referred to as empiricism. He likened the mind to Morton Hunt (2007) places the real beginning around 600 BC. Prior to that date, white paper (or a blank slate); through experience (or nurture) the paper acquires people simply assumed without question that human thoughts and emotions were the materials of knowledge and reason (1693). implanted by gods. A very controversial book was published in 1994 that reignited the nature versus The real birth of psychology was probably the day that philosophers started to nurture debate. In The Bell Curve, Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray argued question that belief. that because the genetic contribution to intelligence is so high within a population, Hunt notes that the questions asked by the ancient Greek philosophers became social interventions are unlikely to help people with low intelligence. To restate the the fundamental debates of psychology, debates that in many cases continue in some point simplistically (although the authors were careful not to state this outright), form even today. nature is more important than nurture. Thus, the great philosophical disagreements from centuries ago became the subject matter and controversies of psychology. 3. People Are Good Versus People Are Bad We can see many of these philosophical disagreements at the root of some of the Thomas Hobbes, a contemporary of Descartes, is considered by many to be the most fundamental conflicts in the history of psychology: conflicts about fundamental father of modern political science. theories of human nature, methods of inquiry, and proper goals for psychologists. He believed that a strong monarch was necessary to control the populace because people had a natural tendency toward warfare. Without a strong leader, Hobbes believed, the lives of men were doomed to be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and Conflict About Proper Goals: Research Versus Application. short” (1651). Throughout the history of psychology, both basic research and applied research In other words, people are bad, or at least seriously flawed. have contributed to development of the field. René Descartes figures prominently on the other side of this debate. He believed Basic research has built most of the knowledge base of psychology, while applied that the innate knowledge that we derive through reason comes from God. Thus, researchers have solved problems for government and business or on behalf of human beings are fundamentally good. people who suffer from behavioural or mental problems. Practicing psychologists do not typically conduct research at all but have been Conflict About Methods of Inquiry: Science Versus Non-Science concerned with using psychological knowledge to help people. Many people outside of psychology do not consider it a science. Scientific psychologists tend to find this belief quite bothersome, but this conflict was very important for the development of psychology into the discipline that it is today. The ancient philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, both of whom greatly influenced the discipline of psychology, foreshadowed the difference between science and non-science. One of Socrates’ most famous quotations is “An unexamined life is not worth living.” He favoured a very introspective (non- empirical, or non-scientific) approach to understanding human nature. Aristotle’s thinking, on the other hand, was guided by empirical observations of the world around him. On the basis of these observations, he formulated theories about memory, learning, perception, personality, motivation, and emotion (Hunt, 2007). Today, the field of psychology combines the scientific orientation of Wundt and the behaviourists with the broad view of the scope of psychology of William James and the cognitive psychologists. It seems rather unlikely that these two visions would both be represented in modern psychology if they had not been so vigorously championed by the two camps during the discipline’s early history. Conflict About Proper Goals: Research Versus Application. People who work in a discipline like psychology can have two different types of goals. They can devote themselves to advancing knowledge in the discipline, or they can devote themselves to using the discipline to solve problems. Those who do the former are concerned with basic research. The others are interested in application. When researchers conduct research in order to solve specific problems, they are said to be involved in applied research. Non-scientific psychologists tend to be application-oriented; scientific psychologists may be basic researchers or applied researchers.