Week 1, Chapter 1: What is Psychology PDF

Chapter 1 Foundations of Psychology, Contemporary Psychology, Introduction to Scientific Method Emma Wei Chen, Ph.D. [email protected] Learning Objective Questions How is psychology a science? What are psychology’s current perspectives, and what are some of its subfields? How do psychologi...

Chapter 1 Foundations of Psychology, Contemporary Psychology, Introduction to Scientific Method Emma Wei Chen, Ph.D. [email protected] Learning Objective Questions How is psychology a science? What are psychology’s current perspectives, and what are some of its subfields? How do psychologists ask and answer questions? What ethical guidelines safeguard human and animal research participants? 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 2 What is Psychology? Psych – Soul Ology – Scientific study of Psychology – Scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychologists study everything about the human experience from the basic workings of the human brain to consciousness, memory, language, reasoning, personality and mental health. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 3 Psychology Is a Science Psychologists study how we act, think, and feel. They do so with critical thinking and the scientific attitude. Critical thinking is thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, assesses the source, uncovers hidden values, weighs evidence, and assesses conclusions. Who benefits? 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 4 Critical Thinking Practice 1 Ice cream consumption leads to murder? Why yes or why not? 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 5 Critical Thinking Practice 1 Ice cream consumption leads to murder? Why yes or why not? 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 6 Critical Thinking Practice 2 The constant presence of the internet, particularly social media has led to a generation of lonely and disconnected teens. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 7 Scientific Attitude Three main key elements Curiosity Skepticism Humility Does it work? What do you mean? This was unexpected! How do you know? Let’s explore further. e.g., Are stress levels e.g., Does high stress Researchers must be related to health and level cause health willing to be surprised well-being? issues? and follow new ideas. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 8  Brief History of Psychology Focus on Today’s psychologists do human needs not support Freud’s for love and theory of sexuality. It acceptance, and does, however, agree environments that much of the human that nurture or mind operates outside of limit personal our conscious awareness. Maslow and Rogers growth. Wilhelm Wundt William James and Mary Calkins Sigmund Freud: Psychanalytic Psychology Humanistic Psychology Starts in 1879 1920s 1960s Structuralism vs Functionalism Behaviorist Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Neuroscience Created a machine to James authored an measure how long it took important 1890 psychology The study of mental people to press a telegraph textbook. processes, such as key after hearing a ball hit a He mentored Calkins, who occur when we platform. It was became the first woman to perceive, learn, psychology’s first be the president of the Watson, Rayner, and Skinner remember, think, experiment. American Psychological communicate, and Psychology must be “the solve problems. Association. scientific study of observable Ulric Neisser behavior.” 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 9 Today’s Psychology: Subfields A non-exhaustive list: Biological Psychology Developmental Psychology Cognitive Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Industrial-Organizational Psychology Clinical Psychology Health Psychology 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 10 Biological Psychology Biological psychologists study how the structure and function of the nervous system generate behavior. Research can include: Sensory and motor systems Sleep Drug use and abuse Digestive behavior Reproductive behavior Neurodevelopment Plasticity of the nervous system Biological correlates of psychological disorders 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 11 Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology studies the physical and mental attributes of aging and maturation. This can include various skills that are acquired throughout growth. Moral Reasoning Cognitive Skills Social Skills Jean Piaget is famous for his theories regarding changes in cognitive ability that occur as we move from infancy to adulthood. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 12 Cognitive Psychology Focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions. Research can include: Learning Memory Object recognition Language Problem solving … 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 13 Personality Psychology Focuses on behaviors and thought patterns that are unique to each individual. Studies in this field include conscious and unconscious thinking and identifying personality traits. FIVE FACTOR MODEL Each of the dimensions of the Five Factor model is shown in this figure. The provided description would describe someone who scored highly on that given dimension. Someone with a lower score on a given dimension could be described in opposite terms. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 14 Social Psychology How individuals interact and relate with others and how such interactions can affect behavior. - Prejudice - Attraction - Interpersonal conflicts - Obedience - … Milgram’s electric shock experiment 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 15 Industrial-Organizational Psychology Branch that applies psychological theories, principles and research to industrial and organizational settings. Involves issues related to personnel management, organizational structure and workplace environment. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 16 Clinical Psychology Branch that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. Study involves clinical therapy and counseling. Cognitive-behavioral therapists take cognitive processes and behaviors into account when providing psychotherapy. This is one of several strategies that may be used by practicing clinical psychologists. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 17 Health Psychology Branch that focuses on how individual health is directly related or affected by biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences. The biopsychosocial model suggests that health/illness is determined by an interaction of these three factors. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 18  Socrative Time! HUMA140EMMA 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 19 How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions The Scientific Method In science, a theory explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize what we have observed. A good theory produces testable predictions, called hypotheses. Such predictions specify what results (what behaviors or events) would support the theory and what results would cast doubt on the theory. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 20 The Scientific Method 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 21 Types of Researches Descriptive Research describe behaviors, often by using (as we will see) case studies, naturalistic observations, or surveys. Correlational Research associate different factors. Describe how these factors covary with each other. Experimental Research manipulate, or vary, factors to discover their effects. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 22 Descriptive Research: The Case Study A case study examines one individual or group in depth, in the hope of revealing things true of us all. The studied individual is typically in an extreme or unique psychological circumstance that differentiates them for the general public. Allows for a lot of insight into a case. Difficult to generalize results to the larger population. e.g., Phineas Gage 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 23 Descriptive Research: Naturalistic Observation Naturalistic observations watching and recording individual or group behavior in a natural setting. FIGURE 1.2 Twitter message moods by time and by day This graph illustrates how, without knowing anyone’s identity, research can use “big data” to study human behavior on a huge scale. Many options are possible, such as an association between mood and weather, or the spread of ideas through social networks. (Data from Golder & Macy, 2011.) 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 24 Descriptive Research: Surveys and Interviews Surveys and Interviews are self-reports in which people answer questions about their behavior or attitudes. Paper-and-pencil Electronically Verbally Surveys can be used to gather a large amount of data from a sample (subset of individuals) from a larger population. Mindful about two issues: Wording effects Random sampling 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 25 Correlational Research Naturalistic observations and surveys often show us that one trait or behavior relates to another. In such cases, we say the two correlate. A statistical measure (the correlation coefficient) helps us figure how closely two things vary together, and thus how well either one predicts the other. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 26 Positive vs Negative Correlation (A) (B) (C) 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 27 Correlation vs Causation Correlation ≠ Causation e.g., Self-esteem correlates negatively with (and therefore predicts) depression. Does that mean low self-esteem causes depression? 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 28 Correlation vs Causation FIGURE 1.3 Three possible cause- effect relationships People low in self- esteem are more likely to report depression than are those high in self- esteem. One possible explanation of this negative correlation is that a bad self-image causes depressed feelings. But, as this diagram shows, other cause-effect relationships are possible. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 29 Experimental Research The only way to establish that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables is to conduct a scientific experiment. With experiments, researchers can focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by manipulating the factors of interest. holding constant (“controlling”) other factors. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 30 Experimental Research FIGURE 1.4 Experimentation To study cause and effect, psychologists control for confounding variables by randomly assigning some participants to an experimental group, others to a control group. Measuring the dependent variable (intelligence score in later childhood) will determine the effect of the independent variable (type of milk). 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 31  How Would You Know Which Research Design to Use Research What Is Method Basic Purpose How Conducted Manipulated Weaknesses No control of Do case studies, To observe and record variables; single Descriptive naturalistic observations, Nothing behavior cases may be or surveys misleading. To detect naturally Collect data on two or occurring relationships; Does not specify Correlational more variables; no Nothing to assess how well one cause and effect. manipulation variable predicts another Manipulate one or more Sometimes not To explore cause and The independent Experimental factors; use random possible for practical effect variable(s) assignment or ethical reasons. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 32 Psychology’s Research Ethics Animal Studies Psychologists also study animals to learn about people. Animal experiments have therefore led to treatments for human diseases— insulin for diabetes, vaccines to prevent polio and rabies, transplants to replace defective organs. American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines state that researchers must ensure the “comfort, health, and humane treatment” of animals and minimize “infection, illness, and pain” (APA, 2002). Most universities screen research proposals, often through an animal care ethics committee, and laboratories are regulated and inspected. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 33 Psychology’s Research Ethics Human Studies Research involving human participants must adhere to strict guidelines. Institutional Review Board (IRB) – Committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants. The APA and Britain’s BPS ethics codes urge researchers to obtain the participants’ informed consent to participate. protect participants from out-of-the-ordinary harm and discomfort. keep information about individual participants confidential. fully debrief participants (explain the research afterward). 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 34 Use Psychology to Improve Your Life Psychology studies show that people who live happy, thriving lives manage their time to get a full night’s sleep. make space for exercise. set long-term goals, with daily aims. have a “growth mind-set.” prioritize relationships. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 35 Use Psychology to Become a Better Student Psychology’s research also show that repeated self-testing and rehearsal of previously studied material helps even more than re- reading, also called the testing effect. Reading your textbooks, not only the psychology textbook, using the SQ3R Method: Survey: quickly scan the headings, and notice the organization Question: use Learning Object Question to test yourself before you read, and help you to discover what you don’t yet know. Read: actively searching for the answer to the question Retrieve: quiz yourself using the questions at the end of each section or chapter Review: read over your notes, quickly review the whole chapter 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 36 The end. 8/27/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 37