Summary theory psychology chapter 1.docx

**Chapter 1: The science of psychology** **Why Study Psychology?** Psychology helps understand both human and animal behavior, enhancing self-awareness and coping skills. It connects brain and body functions and emphasizes critical thinking to evaluate research and claims in various fields. **Hist...

**Chapter 1: The science of psychology** **Why Study Psychology?** Psychology helps understand both human and animal behavior, enhancing self-awareness and coping skills. It connects brain and body functions and emphasizes critical thinking to evaluate research and claims in various fields. **History of Psychology** Psychology, over 140 years old, emerged from philosophical and medical inquiries into behavior and mental processes. It examines observable actions (behavior) and internal activities (mental processes). **Pioneers of Psychology** - **Wilhelm Wundt**: Established the first psychology lab in 1879, emphasizing objective introspection to study consciousness. - **Edward Titchener**: Expanded Wundt\'s ideas into structuralism, focusing on breaking down mental experiences. - **William James**: Introduced functionalism, exploring how consciousness helps individuals adapt to their environment, influenced by Darwin\'s theories. **Alternative Approaches** - **Gestalt Psychology**: Founded by Max Wertheimer, it posits that perceptions are best understood as whole experiences rather than individual components. - **Psychoanalysis**: Developed by Sigmund Freud, this approach focuses on the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences influencing behavior. - **Behaviorism**: Initiated by John B. Watson, it emphasizes observable behavior and learning through conditioning, as demonstrated in the \"Little Albert\" experiment. **Current Perspectives** Today, psychology encompasses various modern perspectives, including behaviorism, cognitive psychology, and more, reflecting the complexity of human behavior and mental processes. The contributions of women and minorities have become increasingly recognized, though representation remains limited. This chapter lays the foundation for understanding psychology\'s evolution and its relevance across disciplines. **A summary of the seven modern perspectives in psychology:** 1. **Psychodynamic Perspective**: Building on Freud\'s theories, this perspective explores the unconscious mind\'s influence on behavior, focusing less on sexuality and more on self-development and social relationships. It encourages integrating neurobiology with psychodynamic concepts. 2. **Behavioral Perspective**: This perspective emphasizes the study of observable behavior and the processes of learning. B.F. Skinner\'s work on operant conditioning highlights how behaviors are reinforced by consequences, influencing future actions. 3. **Humanistic Perspective**: Emerging as a \"third force\" in psychology, humanism focuses on individual free will and self-actualization. Founders like Maslow and Rogers emphasized personal growth and self-understanding, contrasting with psychoanalysis and behaviorism. 4. **Cognitive Perspective**: This perspective examines mental processes like thinking, memory, and problem-solving. It gained prominence in the 1960s, influenced by advancements in computer technology and cognitive neuroscience, which studies brain functions related to cognition. 5. **Sociocultural Perspective**: This approach merges social and cultural psychology, exploring how societal norms and cultural contexts shape behavior. It examines the influence of groups and culture on individual actions, often utilizing cross-cultural research to highlight these dynamics. 6. **Biopsychological Perspective**: Also known as physiological psychology, this perspective studies the biological underpinnings of behavior. It considers how genetics, brain chemistry, and physical health affect mental processes and behavior, emphasizing the interplay of biology and psychology. 7. **Evolutionary Perspective**: This viewpoint looks at behavior through the lens of evolution, proposing that certain mental traits have developed to solve adaptive challenges faced by early humans. It explores universal behaviors, such as mate selection and fear responses, as products of natural selection. Overall, no single perspective provides a complete understanding of psychology; many psychologists adopt an eclectic approach, combining elements from various perspectives to address specific issues. **Psychological Professionals and Areas of Specialization** **1. Types of Professionals:** \- **Psychologists**: Hold a doctorate and have extensive training in various psychology fields but lack medical training. They can specialize in areas like counseling, research, or education, and must be licensed to provide therapy. \- **Psychiatrists**: Medical doctors who diagnose and treat psychological disorders, including prescribing medications. \- **Psychiatric Social Workers**: Hold a master's degree in social work, focusing on environmental factors affecting mental health, such as social conditions. \- **Licensed Counselors and Therapists**: May have master's or doctoral degrees in diverse fields, providing specialized counseling services. **2. Research Types:** \- **Basic Research**: Conducted to gain scientific knowledge without immediate application (e.g., studying memory capacity). \- **Applied Research:** Aimed at solving real-world problems using findings from basic research (e.g., developing effective study methods). **3. Subfields of Psychology**: Includes areas such as health psychology, sports psychology, legal psychology, and industrial/organizational psychology, among others. Different subfields may emphasize either basic or applied research. **Critical Thinking** **1. Definition**: Critical thinking involves making reasoned judgments about claims and requires logical reasoning and the ability to ask pertinent questions. **2. Four Criteria for Critical Thinking:** \- **Testing Claims**: All assertions should be supported by evidence; skepticism is essential. **- Evaluating Evidence Quality**: Not all evidence is equally valid; critical thinkers should assess how evidence is gathered. **- Authority and Expertise**: Claims by experts should not be accepted without scrutiny. Always seek supporting evidence. \- **Open-mindedness**: Maintain a balance between skepticism and receptivity to new evidence, being willing to reconsider beliefs when presented with convincing data. Overall, psychology is a diverse field with various specialized professionals, and critical thinking is essential for evaluating claims and evidence effectively. **Summary of the Scientific Approach in Psychology** The scientific approach in psychology aims to minimize bias and error in research to accurately understand human and animal behavior. This involves five key steps: **1. Perceiving the Question:** Researchers begin by observing interesting phenomena and identifying questions about these observations. For example, noticing increased aggression in children after watching violent cartoons. **2. Forming a Hypothesis**: After making observations, researchers formulate a tentative explanation (hypothesis) that can be tested. This involves creating testable statements based on their observations, such as hypothesizing that violent cartoons lead to aggressive behavior. **3. Testing the Hypothesis:** Researchers design experiments or conduct observations to test their hypotheses. For instance, they might show different groups of children violent and non-violent cartoons and measure any resulting differences in aggression. **4. Drawing Conclusions**: After testing, researchers analyze their data to determine whether their hypothesis was supported or not. This step is crucial for making predictions about future behaviors based on their findings. **5. Reporting Results:** Finally, researchers share their findings with the scientific community, allowing others to replicate the study. Successful replication strengthens the validity of the findings and contributes to collective knowledge. The overarching goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior, and the scientific approach is fundamental in achieving these goals. Importantly, psychological research focuses on empirical questions---those that can be tested and observed---distinguishing them from philosophical or value-based questions that fall outside scientific inquiry. **Summary of Descriptive Methods in Psychology** Researchers use various descriptive methods to gather detailed information about behavior, depending on their research questions. Here are some key methods: **1. Naturalistic Observation:** This method involves observing subjects in their natural environments. For example, researchers might watch how animals behave in the wild or how adolescents interact in social settings like malls. The advantage is that it provides a realistic view of behavior, but it can suffer from observer bias and the observer effect, where subjects change their behavior when aware they are being watched. To mitigate bias, researchers can use blind observers or multiple observers. **2. Laboratory Observation:** When natural settings are impractical, researchers may conduct observations in a controlled laboratory environment. This allows for greater control over variables but risks producing artificial behaviors, as subjects might act differently in a lab than in real life. **3. Case Studies:** In a case study, researchers provide an in-depth analysis of an individual. This method yields rich detail and can be the only way to study rare phenomena, such as the case of Phineas Gage. However, findings may not generalize to others due to individual uniqueness, and case studies can also be subject to researcher bias. **4. Surveys:** Surveys involve asking participants a series of questions to gather data on various topics, including sensitive issues. They can be conducted in person, via phone, online, or through written questionnaires, allowing researchers to collect large amounts of data. The challenge lies in obtaining a representative sample; researchers must avoid biases related to the selected population. Additionally, respondents may not always provide accurate information due to memory distortions or social desirability biases, where they answer in a way they think is socially acceptable. Overall, each method has its strengths and weaknesses, and researchers choose based on their specific questions and contexts. **Summary of Correlations and Experiments in Research** **1.8 Correlations: Finding Relationships** Researchers use correlational techniques to explore relationships between two or more variables. Correlation helps identify patterns in numerical data, allowing researchers to understand how one variable may predict another. **- Definition:** A correlation measures the relationship between variables (e.g., smoking and life expectancy). The correlation coefficient (r) indicates both the direction (positive or negative) and strength of the relationship. **- Positive Correlation**: Both variables increase or decrease together. **- Negative Correlation**: One variable increases while the other decreases. \- The coefficient ranges from +1.00 to -1.00, with values closer to these extremes indicating a stronger relationship. **- Key Concept:** Correlation does not imply causation. For example, while smoking may correlate with lower life expectancy, this does not mean smoking directly causes early death. Other factors might influence both variables. **1.9 The Experiment** Experiments allow researchers to determine causation by manipulating one variable (independent variable) and observing its effect on another (dependent variable). Here are the main steps in designing an experiment: **1. Selection:** Researchers randomly select participants from a defined population to minimize bias. **2. Variables:** \- **Independent Variable**: The variable that is manipulated (e.g., presence of violence in cartoons). \- **Dependent Variable**: The variable measured for changes (e.g., aggressive behavior). **3. Operationalization**: Clearly defining how variables will be measured or manipulated to avoid ambiguity. **4. Control for Confounding Variables:** To ensure that any changes in behavior are due to the independent variable, researchers often use a control group that does not receive the experimental manipulation. This helps isolate the effects of the independent variable. **5. Random Assignment:** Participants are randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group to ensure that extraneous variables are evenly distributed, minimizing bias. In summary, while correlation identifies relationships and predictions between variables, experiments are crucial for establishing causation by manipulating and measuring the effects of specific variables. **Summary of Experimental Hazards and Ethical Guidelines** **1.10 Experimental Hazards and Controlling for Effects** Experiments can face challenges, especially when studying human behavior, due to factors like the placebo effect and the experimenter effect. **- Placebo Effect**: Participants' beliefs about a treatment can influence their behavior. For instance, in drug trials for Alzheimer\'s, participants who believe they are receiving an effective drug may improve simply because of their expectations, not the drug itself. To control this, a placebo (e.g., a sugar pill) is given to the control group to assess true drug effects. **- Experimenter Effect**: The expectations of the researcher can inadvertently affect participant behavior. For example, if a researcher shows extra attention to a participant, it may encourage them to perform better, skewing results. **Controlling Effects:** **- Single-Blind Study:** Participants do not know whether they receive the real treatment or a placebo, which helps mitigate the placebo effect. **- Double-Blind Study:** Neither participants nor researchers know who receives the treatment, minimizing biases from both sides and ensuring more reliable results. **1.11 Ethics of Psychological Research** Researchers must adhere to ethical guidelines when conducting studies with human participants: **1. Participant Rights:** The well-being of participants must take precedence over scientific goals. **2. Informed Consent:** Participants must be adequately informed about the study and give consent, including consent from guardians for minors. **3. Deception:** If necessary, deception must be justified and participants debriefed afterward. **4. Withdrawal**: Participants can leave the study at any time without penalty. **5. Risk Protection:** Participants should be informed of any risks and protected from harm. **6. Debriefing:** Participants must be informed of the study\'s true purpose and any deception after it concludes. **7. Confidentiality:** Participant data must be kept confidential. **8. Responsibility:** Researchers must address any adverse effects experienced by participants during the study. **1.12 Animal Research** Psychologists also study animals for various reasons: **- Feasibility:** Certain research questions are more manageable with animals, such as studying long-term effects or controlling variables like diet and genetics. **- Behavioral Simplicity:** Animals often exhibit simpler behaviors, making it easier to observe effects. **- Ethical Constraints:** Many experiments can be conducted on animals that would be unethical with humans, contributing to important medical advancements (e.g., vaccines, insulin). Ethical considerations for animals focus on minimizing pain and suffering, ensuring humane treatment, and conducting procedures under anesthesia when necessary. Animal research comprises about 7% of psychological studies.