Overview of Psychology PDF

AGENDA - Welcome and Introductions - Picture Walk: Course Page, Course Outline - Housekeeping: Attendance, Contact, Groups, Due Dates - Overview of Course Assessments - Unit 1 Discussion What is Psychology?  ###### What is Psychology? {#what-is-psy...

AGENDA - Welcome and Introductions - Picture Walk: Course Page, Course Outline - Housekeeping: Attendance, Contact, Groups, Due Dates - Overview of Course Assessments - Unit 1 Discussion What is Psychology?  ###### What is Psychology? {#what-is-psychology-1} - **Mental processes:** Internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior - Examples: thoughts, dreams, perceptions, sensations, beliefs or feelings - **Behavior:** Anything an organism *does.* Behavior is observable - Examples: smiling, yelling blinking, sweating talking ### How does Psychology relate to Science? - Psychology is a social science, but still a SCIENCE - Psychologists use the **scientific method** - **Scientific Method:** Process of gaining knowledge by identifying problems, forming  - ##### Clinical Psychologists make up the largest % of psychologists (48%) - Many Psychologists become counselors (11%) - ##### Most who earn doctoral degrees become researchers (5%) - Other Fields: school, industrial, organizational, social and personality, developmental, health, etc... - ##### Two major Psychology organizations are: - American Psychological Association - Association for Psychological Science - Socrates and Plato first conceive the mind as separate and distinct from the body - Rene Descartes: early ideas of the nervous system - John Locke develops **Blank Slate Theory**: men are shaped by experience, - Locke and Francis Bacon come up with **empiricism** - **Empiricism:** idea that knowledge and science should rely on observation and experimentation  How was Psychology Born? - William Wundt, a German professor, created an experiment to measure difference between people hearing a ball drop and pressing a lever (1879) - Experiment designed to measure lag in the nervous system - Wundt is considered the father of psychology  How was Psychology Born - **Edward Bradford Titchener**, Wundt's student, develops idea of **Structuralism** (1892) - **Structuralism:** Theorized an elemental structure of human mind - Used introspection (looking within)... subjects report elements of conscious experience as they perceive them - Influenced by scientific ideas on atoms and molecules How Was Psychology Born? - **Gestalt** psychology: idea that the whole (sum of all the parts) is more important than the individual parts - Basically a rejection of structuralism - Mostly German How Was Psychology Born - **Functionalism:** school of psychology focused on how mental and behavioral processes function, and how they are adaptive - James theorized that behaviors and thoughts must be useful and contribute to survival - Influenced by Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer's idea on natural selection and evolution - ##### Considered father of American Psychology Psychodynamic  - [Focuses on]? - Personality development - [What is behavior determined by]? - Tensions generated by unconscious motives, current conflicts and unresolved childhood conflict (many sexual). Most thought processes occur unconsciously - Key Terms: - **Conscious:** thoughts and feelings we're aware of - **Preconscious**: Area of mind holding information that is not conscious, but is retrievable - **Unconscious:** Region of mind that is reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, - **Sigmund Freud**: father of psychodynamic perspective. 3 levels of consciousness. Many thought processes occur unconsciously - **Ego:** largely conscious "executive" part of personality. Mediates between demands of ID, and standards of Superego - **Superego:** Internalized ideals, standards for judgments - **ID:** unconscious, aggressive, sexual energy, located in subconscious  - **Sigmund Freud**: Defense Mechanisms 1. Repression: forgetting anxiety producing feelings 2. Regression: Anxious person retreats to more comfortable stage of life 3. Denial: anxious person refuses to admit something is happening 4. Reaction formation: reverses an unacceptable impulse 5. Projection: Attributing anxiety causing feelings to something else 6. Rationalization: Gives comfortable explanations to anxiety causing actions 7. Displacement: Redirects an impulse onto a substitute target 8. Sublimation: Transforms an unacceptable impulse into a socially acceptable form - \"*Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I\'ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist-- regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors*" - John B. Watson ###### Behavioral - What is the focus? - Behavior! Everything should be observable, testable. Our behavior is shaped by learning from past experience - What is behavior determined by? - Experience - Rewards - Consequences - Verbal cues - We are products of all past events and experiences: Behavior + Reactions of people around us + consequences = future behavior ###### Behavioral (Important People) - Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) - Pavlov's Dog: taught a dog to salivate in response to bell - **Classical Conditioning:** learning by association - **Office Example**  ###### Behavioral (Important People) - Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) - Puzzle Box: Animals learn how to get out based on past experiences, increasingly fast - Conclusion: All animals learn the same way - John Watson (1878-1958) - Little Albert Experiment: conditioned child to be afraid of white rat by using - [Little Albert video] - Father of Behaviorism - Authored *Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it*  ###### Behavioral (Important People) - **B.F. Skinner (1904)**: Behavior changes according to reward or punishment - **Negative and Positive Reinforcement** (behavior rewarded with candy = more likely to behave in same way) - [Skinner Video] - Albert Bandura (1925- ) Social Learning Theory - People learn by seeing what goes right and wrong for others - [Bobo Doll Experiment]: children learn violent behavior by observation ###### Humanistic - What is the focus? - Individuals' freedom to choose and capacity for personal growth - Humans are inherently good - What is behavior determined by? - Free will / self-actualization - Self Concept (image of oneself) - Ideal self: what we want to be - Actual self: what we are - The more ideal = actual, the more we exercise free will - Individuals have ultimate free will to decide own behavior ###### Humanistic (Important People and Beliefs) - **Carl Rogers** -- *Conscious experience* is proper focus of psychology - Humans growth and free will is achieved by being: - Accepting (unconditional positive regard) - Genuine (freely express feelings, open about selves) - Empathetic (sharing thoughts and feelings with others) ###### Humanistic (Important People and Beliefs) - **Abraham Maslow**: self-actualization is ultimate psychological need - **Self-Actualization:** All basic physical and psychological needs are met - Developed **Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs** (lower on pyramid you are, the less free will you can exercise) Cognitive - What is the Focus? - How mental processes affect decision making and thus behavior - What is behavior determine by? - Ability to make rational decisions through thought processes - Conversation with self - The way that brain makes decisions (memory, thinking, learning) - "Information Processing": brain like a computer - Strongly tied to neuroscience Cognitive (Important People) - Jean Piaget -- Studied children and how thinking develops - Children think *differently*, not just less powerfully - Development occurs in stages  Biological - What is the Focus? - The brain, nervous & endocrine systems, and how they impact behavior - What is behavior determined by? - The brain and other physiological systems - Highly influenced by heredity / birth - Chemical imbalances (ADHD) - Any more? - Science, brain scanners used to study physical systems of brain and nervous system Socio-Cultural - What is the Focus? - Everything about your identity - Ethnicity, race, culture, gender, socioeconomic status, societal expectations, family values, morals, friends - What is Behavior Determined by? - Your upbringing - The Situation: people you are surrounded by *and* setting Socio-Cultural - [Massillon Tigers Example] Socio-Cultural (Important People) - Philip Zimbardo (1933): Situations can cause people to do things they otherwise wouldn't - Stanford Prison Experiment: College students who played guards were very cruel in a  Socio-Cultural (Important People) - Stanley Milgram (1933-1984): Influence of authority is important in determining behavior - Ran shock experiments where participants were asked to deliver - 65% of participants were willing to deliver lethal shocks to strangers when asked by the white-coated "researcher" - People will do what authority asks, even when they know it's wrong - [Shock Experiment (3:35)] Socio-Cultural (Important People) - Solomon Asch (1907-1996): Influence of conformity and group influence - People will go along with the group, even when they know it's wrong The Earliest Schools of Psychology The History of Psychology: Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory - Late 1800s, early 1900s - Focus on the unconscious and on childhood experiences - Theory of personality - Interaction between id, ego, superego - Theory of development - Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital stages - Today, controversial but still influential The History of Psychology: Gestalt Theory - Early 1900s - Examined perception - Explores the idea that although a sensory experience can be broken down into The History of Psychology: Behaviorism - Early to mid-1900s - Focuses on observing and controlling behavior - Conditioning - Reinforcement and punishment - Modified versions of the operant conditioning chamber, or Skinner box, are still widely used in research settings today The History of Psychology: Humanism - 1950s - Focuses on the potential for good that is innate to all humans - Emphasizes the whole person and views people as able to - Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers The History of Psychology: Cognitive Psychology - Mid-1900s - Accepts the use of the scientific method and generally rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation - Acknowledges the existence of internal mental states, unlike behaviorist psychology - Major areas of research include perception, Early Schools of Psychology: Still Active and Advanced Beyond Early Ideas **Important People** The Five Psychological Domains - **Biopsychology:** Explores how our biology influences behavior. The fields of behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology are all subfields of biological psychology. - **Evolutionary psychology:** Explores how human behavior evolved. - **Sensation and perception:** Research is interdisciplinary, but there is a focus on the physiological aspects of sensory systems, as well as in the psychological experience of sensory information.  The Cognitive Domain - Focuses on thoughts, and their relationship to experiences and actions - Studies language, cognition, memory, intelligence, and more The Developmental Domain - Includes behavioral psychology and learning/conditioning - Classical and operant conditioning - Developmental Psychology is the scientific study of development across a lifespan - Stages and milestones of development The Social and Personality Psychology Domain - **Social psychology** is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others - **Personality psychology** is the study of patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique - A **personality trait** is a consistent pattern of thought and behavior Five Factor Model of Personality - **Abnormal psychology** focuses on abnormal thoughts and behaviors - **Clinical psychology** focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of - **Health psychology** focuses on how Other Sub-fields in Psychology Why Study Psychology? - Learn critical thinking and communication skills - Develop an understanding of the complex factors that shape human - Useful in all fields of work - Opens doors to a variety of career paths WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY {#what-is-psychology-2} ------------------  MAJOR GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY - One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. - Through describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we are better able to understand it and gain a better perspective on what is considered normal and [abnormal]. - Retrieve from https:[//www.](http://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-)ve[rywellmind.com/what-are-the-](http://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-) four-major-goals-of-psychology-2795603 EXPLAIN - Psychologists are also interested in explaining behavior. - Why do people do the things they do? What factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health problem? - Retrieve from https://[www.verywellmind.com/what-](http://www.verywellmind.com/what-) are-the-four-major-goals-of-psychology-2795603 PREDICT - Another primary goal of psychology is to make predictions about how we think and act. - Once we understand more about what happens and why it happens, we can use that information to make predictions about when, why, and how it might happen again in the future. - Successfully predicting behavior is also one of the best ways to know if we understand the underlying causes of our actions. - Retrieve from https://[www.verywellmind.com/what-are-](http://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-) the-four-major-goals-of-psychology-2795603 CHANGE - Finally, and perhaps most importantly, psychology strives to change, influence, or control behavior to make constructive and lasting changes in people\'s lives. - Retrieve from https://[www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-](http://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-) four-major-goals-of-psychology-2795603 PROFESSIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY - **Counseling psychology** can be defined as a professional psychology field that pays attention to the "emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns" that normally impact our daily lives. - Clinical psychology is more concerned with the treatment and prevention of serious mental illnesses. clinical psychology is more medical oriented with specialized training skills for the treatment of psychopathology for severe mental health disorders - **Psychiatrist** is a medical doctor (an M.D. or D.O.) who specializes in mental health, including substance use disorders. - **Educational psychologists** study children of all ages and how they learn. While investigating how children process emotional, social and cognitive stimuli, they make assessments based on the child's reactions to stimuli. How would psychology be helpful in each of these careers? **Ranking** ------------- -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quick Review - What is psychology? - Summarize the history of psychology - Describe the early schools of psychology - What are the approaches, fields, and subfields of contemporary psychology? - What major concepts are part of each field? - Why is studying psychology valuable? - What possible career paths are there in psychology? Different Approaches in Psychology ---------------------------------- - Psychology is the scientific study of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. - An approach or perspective in psychology is a particular view as to why, and how, it is we think, feel, and behave as we do. Behavioral ---------- - **Behavioral Psychology is basically interested in how our behavior results from the stimuli both in the environment and within ourselves.** Biological {#biological-1} ---------- - **The biological approach believes us to be as a consequence of our genetics and physiology. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a physical point of view.** Evolutionary ------------ - Evolutionary psychology focus on how evolution has shaped the mind and behavior. Developmental ------------- - **Developmental psychology, also known as Human Development, is the scientific study of progressive psychological changes that occur in human beings as they age.** Psychodynamic {#psychodynamic-1} ------------- - **Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology. This school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior.** Cognitive {#cognitive-1} --------- - **Focus on our information processes of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking, and how they influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.** Breadth of Content Psychology: the study of.. ---------------------------------------------- - why we do what we do; - why we feel the way we feel; - why we think as we think; Human behavior -------------- - What is unique about humans? - What do we have in common with other species? - How do we differ from each other? - How did we come to be who we are? Humans alone and in context: ---------------------------- - How do we act when we are alone? - How do we act when we are with one other person? - How do we act when we are in a group? Breadth of Content, cont. ------------------------- - **We remember what has happened and alter behavior accordingly** - **Even seen in infants in areas such as arithmetic (!)** Breadth of Content, cont. "Eye witness memory" ---------------------------------------------- - **Social topic (Takes *two* to communicate)** - **Verbal** - **Language, sound** - **Display** - **Body structure (tail feathers in peacock), behavior or posture (smile or folded arms)** Breadth of Content, cont. ------------------------- - **Varied as compared to most animals** - **Flexible as compared to most animals** - **Strategic and careful, but also unconscious and irrational** - **Changes when social behavior occurs around more than one** Breadth of Content, cont. ------------------------- - Why does social behavior change so much under these circumstances? - Good question for psychology Diversity of Perspectives ------------------------- - Many perspectives used to study the breadth of psychology's content - Example: Different perspectives that can be brought to bear on a single phenomena: EATING - Biological Basis for eating - Cultural Influences on eating - Eating and the social world - Eating Disorders - Cognitive Control over eating INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY -------------------------- What is it That Unites Psychology? ---------------------------------- - The TYPES of QUESTIONS psychologists ask - The WAYS we ANSWER those questions Theme 1: Types of Questions --------------------------- Theme 2: Ways of Answering ------------------------------------------------ Different Research Methods used in Psychology --------------------------------------------- - The goals of psychological studies are to describe, explain, predict, and perhaps influence mental processes or behavior. - The scientific method is a set of principles and procedures that are used by researchers to develop questions, collect data, and reach conclusions. Research Methods ---------------- - Research methods fall into two "design" categories in psychology. - Research methods that are **experimental** in design include the laboratory, field and quasi- experiment. - **Non-experimental** methods include the observational, survey, interview and case study Research Methods ---------------- - Experimental methods produce measurable quantitative data. - Non-experimental methods can sometimes give quantitative data but information is more likely to be descriptive or qualitative in nature. Observation =========== - Perhaps the simplest form of research is (**Naturalistic) Observation**. - It means, observing behavior in their natural environment. It often involves counting behaviors, such as number of aggressive acts, number of smiles, etc. Observation ================================== - Useful for describing behaviour and for suggesting causal hypotheses that could be tested in experiments Correlational Studies ===================== - Correlation means relationship, so the purpose of a correlational study is to determine if a relationship exists, what direction the relationship is, and how strong it is. **It can not make any assumptions of cause and effect** (no causation). Correlational Studies ============================================ - In Correlational Studies, the relationship is between two variables. There are three possible results of a correlational study: a positive correlation, a negative correlation, and no correlation. These are usually shown in graphs. - The correlation coefficient is a measure of correlation strength and can range from -- 1.00 to +1.00. Correlational Studies ===================== - **Positive Correlations:** Both variables increase or decrease at the same time. A correlation coefficient close to +1.00 indicates a strong positive correlation. - **Negative Correlations**: Indicates that as the amount of one variable increases, the other decreases (and vice versa). A correlation coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong negative correlation. - **No Correlation**: Indicates no relationship between the two variables. Correlational Studies ============================================  - Unlike correlational research methods or psychological tests, **experiments can provide information about cause-and- effect** relationships between variables. #### Experimental Studies - In an experiment, a researcher manipulates or changes a particular variable under controlled conditions while observing resulting changes in another variable or variables. Experimental Studies ------------------------------------------- - **Variable:** A factor or element that can change in observable and measurable ways. - **Independent Variable (IV)** -- the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter (**input variable**)- effects the experimenter wishes to examine. - **Dependent Variable (DV)** -- the outcome variable (results of the experiment)-experimenter wants to find out if this variable depends Experimental Studies -------------------- - **The control group:** made up of individuals who are randomly assigned to a group but do not receive the treatment. The measures taken from the control group are then compared to those in the experimental group to determine if the treatment had an effect. - **The experimental group:** made up of individuals who are randomly assigned to the group and then receive the Experimental Studies ------------------------------------------- - **Experimental Hypothesis:** By defining our variables that we will use to test our theory we derive at our hypothesis, which is a testable form of a theory that guess about the possible relationship between two or more variables. Experimental Studies -------------------- - The researcher manipulates the independent variable and observes the dependent variable. The dependent variable may be affected by changes in the independent variable. In other words, the dependent variable depends (or is thought to depend) on the independent variable. Example ------- - **Hypothesis:** The success of students in Mathematics course can be increased, by the use of praisal motivation technique.  Example cont'd\... ------------------ - First, two groups should be formed, which are equal to eachother in terms of age, intelligence, education and math competence; Group A and Group B Example cont'd\... ------------------ - Then, the same instructor, teaches the same Math topics to each group, with the same method. Example cont'd\... ------------------ - The students in Group A are praised for their work, whereas the students in Group B do not receive any words of motivation at all\...  Example cont'd\... ------------------ - A couple of days later the same test is given to both groups, and the results show that students in Group A (praised) are more successful than the students in group B (not praised) - Dependant variable is \.... - The success level of students - Independant variable is \.... - Praisal - The Experimental group is\... - Group A; which was motivated by praisal - The Control group is\... - Group B; which did not receive any praisal Comparison ---------- - Advantages - high degree of realism because are in natural environments - data on large number of variables can be collected at the same time - researcher doesn\'t have as great an impact on the study as he/she may in other strategies - Disadvantages - variables not manipulated by the researcher - unable to infer causality - measurement of variables less precise than in laboratory Comparison --------------------------------- - **Advantages** - shows if two or more variables are related - allows general predictions - used both in natural and laboratory settings - **Disadvantages** - Does not permit identification of cause and effect Comparison ---------- - **Advantages** - allows researcher to control the situation - Permits researcher to identify cause and effect - **Disadvantages** - situation is artificial and can not be always generalised to the real world - sometimes difficult to avoid