History of psychology

1. History of psychology Chapter 1

2. Journal Prompt Define, in your own words, what psychology is

3. What is psychology? • Gk. psykhe- "breath, spirit, soul" (see psyche) + logia "study of" (see -logy). Meaning "study of the mind" first recorded 1748 • The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

4. Prescientific psychology • Buddha- asked how sensations combine to form ideas • Confucius- stressed the powers of ideas • Socrates/Plato- the mind is separable from the body and knowledge is built within us • Aristotle- the mind is not separable from the body and that knowledge is NOT preexisting

5. Prescientific psychology • Rene Descartes- believed fluid in the brain contained spirits that flow through nerves to provoke muscle movement • Francis Bacon- Observation and experimentation is the key to science • John Locke- thought the mind at birth was a blank slate

6. Psychological science is born • Wilhelm Wundt- establishes the first psychology laboratory and conducts the first psych experiment • Sigmund Freud- publishes Interpretation of Dreams and founds psychoanalysis • Ivan Pavlov- begins publishing studies of conditioning in animals • B. F. Skinner- publishes The Behavior of Organisms which describes behaviorism in animals

7. Psychological research Chapter 2

8. Limits of intuition and common sense Why are answers from the scientific approach more reliable than those based on intuition?

9. Limits of intuition and common sense EXPERIMENT Read the word scrambles and try and guess how long it would have taken you to unscramble them Write down the time but keep it hidden from the other half of the class WREAT → WATER ETRYN → ENTRY GRABE → BARGE

10. Limits of intuition and common sense EXPERIMENT Unscramble the words Write them down in your notes and raise your hand to signify when your are finished WREAT → ETRYN → GRABE →

11. Hindsight Bias- the hindsight bias reflects a tendency to overestimate your own ability to have predicted or foreseen an event after learning about the outcome. *Point to Remember: Hindsight bias leads us to overestimate our intuition. But scientific inquiry, fed by skepticism helps us sift reality from illusion

12. The scientific method How do psychologists use the scientific method to construct theories? A Quick Review Theory- an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations* Hypothesis- a testable prediction, often implied by a theory *Theories EXPLAIN results! They are not hunches, they are proven through experimentation

13. Constructing theories Methods that Psychologists Use: Case Study- an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles Naturalistic Observation- observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control Survey- a method of gathering self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a random sample Population- the group that the survey taker hopes to represent (the whole group) Random Sample- a sample that fairly represents the population

14. Constructing theories The Survey: • The random sample must be chosen carefully: • EX: Taking a survey about libraries right in front of the library might skew results • EX: Taking a survey about a Democratic President in a primarily Republican area might skew results • Wording effects can skew results: • EX: people would rather approve aid to “the needy” than “welfare,” “affirmative action” than “preferential treatment,” and “revenue enhancers” than “taxes.” • A small representative sample is better than a large non-representative sample

15. Constructing Theories Correlation and Causation: • Correlation indicates the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove causation! • Examples: • Smiling promotes longevity • Drinking coffee causes cancer • Candy leads to violence • Credit cards can make you fat Illusionary Correlation- the perception of a relationship where non exists

16. Constructing theories Experiment • Analyze the three sets of cards • Put them in order from the most likely to least likely to be dealt randomly A B C Answer: All three sets have the same chance of being dealt: 1 in 2,598,960

17. Constructing Theories Perceiving Order in Random Events: • We look for order in random events • We can easily deceive ourselves by seeing what is not there • Sometimes called the “Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” • A farmer shoots randomly at a barn. After seeing the clusters, he draws circles around them. Showing his friends, he looks like a sharpshooter! • The most famous example is the Lincoln/Kennedy assassination