The Science of Psychology

1. The Science of Psychology Chapter 1

2. What can psychology do? • Psychology can help us understand… • How culture may influence personality • Why you find some people attractive but not others • What IQ test scores really mean • How prejudice forms • How different are men and women • Why buying lottery tickets can be so addictive

3. Why Study Psychology??? • Help understand why people (and animals) behave the way they do • How brain and body are connected • How do improve learning abilities and memory • How to deal with life stresses • Very important: Understanding of research methods in psychology because research can be flawed • Critical thinking • Evaluation of research, advertisements, and politicians

4. What is psychology? • Psychology – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes • Behavior – all outward or overt actions and reactions (i.e., talking, facial expressions, movement) • Mental processes – all the internal, covert activity of our minds (i.e., thinking, feeling, remembering) • Psychology is scientific • In observation of behavior must avoid bias or the possibility of seeing only what you expect to see • Bias – personal judgments based on beliefs rather than facts • Bias leads to faulty observations • Thus, psychologists use the scientific method

5. 4 Goals of Psychology - Description • 1st Goal - description • Provides observations • Observing a behavior and noting everything about it • What is happening, where it happens, who it happens to, and under what circumstances • Example: Why are so many computer scientists male? • Description: through observations you note that many “non-techies” hold stereotypical views of the life and environment of computer scientists • Surrounded by computer games, junk food, science-fiction gadgets, love star trek = masculine environment • These observations seem to add up to a more masculine view of computer scientists • Descriptions lead to the next goal: Why do females seem to avoid this environment

6. 4 Goals of Psychology - Explanation • 2nd Goal - explanation • Based on observations, the next step is attempting to explainthose observations • Example: finding an explanation for the lower proportion of women in computer science • possible explanation: women may feel they do not belong in such a stereotypically masculine environment • Finding explanations is an important step in the process of forming theories of behavior • Theory – a general explanation of a set of observations or facts

7. 4 Goals of Psychology - Prediction • 3rd Goal: prediction • Prediction – determining what will happen in the future • Example: if we want more women to go into computer science, we must do something to either: • Change the environment • Change the perception of the environment typically associated with this field

8. 4 Goals of Psychology - Control • 4th Goal: control – modification of some behavior • Purpose is to change an undesirable behavior to a desirable one • Example: change behaviors to promote more equality in career choices • Changing the image of computer science as a field may help increase the number of women choosing to go into this field

9. 4 Goals of Psychology • Not all psychological investigations try to meet all 4 of the goals • Some may focus on description and prediction • Ex. Personality theorist who wants to know what people are like (description) and what they might do in certain situations (prediction) • Some may focus on description and explanation • Ex. Experimental psychologists who designs research to find explanations for observed (described) behavior • Therapists may be more interested in controlling or influencing behavior and mental processes • But, the other three goals would be important in achieving this objective

10. History of Psychology • Field has only officially existed for about 130 years • Before psychology, behavior was studied by philosophers, medical doctors, and physiologists • Philosophers – tried to understand/explain the human mind and its connection to the physical body • Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) – soul and body were both part of the same underlying structure • Plato (427-347 B.C.) – soul exists separate from the body (dualism) • Rene Descartes (17th-century French philosopher/mathematician) – dualism, suggested that the pineal gland (small organ at the base of the brain) was the link between the soul and body

11. History of Psychology • Medical doctors and physiologists – studied the physical connection between the body and the brain • Gustav Fechner (physician/physicist) – credited with some of the first scientific experiments that formed a basis for psychological studies of perception • Hermann von Helmholtz (physician) – performed groundbreaking experiments in visual and auditory perception

12. History: Wundt and Introspection • Wilhelm Wundt (physiologist) “father of psychology” • 1st attempt to bring objectivity and measurement to psychology • 1st psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany 1879 • Believed the mind was made up of thoughts, experiences, emotions, etc. • Objective introspection – the process of objectively examining and measuring one’s own thoughts and mental activities • Ex. A rock is placed in your hand, you note everything that you feel as a result of having a rock in your hand (i.e., sensations stimulated by the rock, how heavy it is, its texture etc.)

13. History: Titchener & Structuralism • Edward Titchener(1867-1927) – Cornell University - Wundt’s student • Expanded Wundt’s ideas into a new viewpoint called structuralism (because the focus was on the structure of the mind) • Believed every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations • Believed objective introspection could be used on thoughts in addition to physical sensations • Ex. “What is blue?” … there are blue things, like the sky. Blue is cool and restful, blue is calm… etc. • There is no actual object, just introspection regarding your thoughts about “blue” • Structuralism was an early dominant viewpoint in psychology, but died out in the early 1900’s • Interesting tidbit: Titchener graduated the first female Ph.D in psychology, Margaret F. Washburn, in 1894

14. History: James & Functionalism • William James (1842-1910) – Harvard University • Wrote Principles of Psychology, a comprehensive book on psychology (still in print today) • Opposed structuralism • More interested in the importance of consciousness to everyday life (rather than just its analysis like Wundt and Titchener) • However, believed the study of consciousness itself was not yet possible (because consciousness is an ever-changing stream) • Focused on functionalism - how the mind allows people to function in the real world • How people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings • Interesting tidbit: Harvard was the 1st school in America to offer classes in psychology

15. History: James & Functionalism (cont.) • Functionalism was largely influenced by Charles Darwin’s ideas about natural selection • (i.e., physical traits that help an animal adapt and survive are passed on to its offspring) • Behavioral traits could also be adaptive • Animals and people whose behavior helped them survive would pass those traits to their offspring, via teaching or a mechanism of heredity • Example: Behavior like avoiding eye-contact in a crowded elevator can be seen as a way of protecting one’s personal space • May be rooted in the primitive need to protect one’s home from intruders or as a way of avoiding what might seem like a challenge to another person • Functionalism is no longer a major viewpoint in psychology but its elements can be found in the modern fields of educational psychology and industrial/organizational psychology

16. Early Sexism in Psychology • Mary Whiton Calkins – one of James’ early students • Completed every credit and requirement for a Ph.D. under James at Harvard • Denied a Ph.D. because she was a woman • Eventually established a psychological laboratory at Wellesly College for women • Conducted some of the earliest research in the area of human memory and the psychology of the self • 1905 became the first female president of the American Psychological Association • Unlike Washburn, Calkins never earned a Ph.D. despite a successful career as a professor and researcher

17. Early Minority Influences in Psychology • Francis Cecil Sumner – in 1920 first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology at Clark University • Known as the father of African American psychology • Kenneth & Mamie Clark – worked to show the negative effects of school segregation on African American children • Jorge Sanchez – early Hispanic psychologist who conducted research on intelligence testing, focusing on the cultural biases in the tests.

18. History: Gestalt Psychology - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts • Max Wertheimer (German) – objected to structuralism • Psychological events such as perceiving and sensing could not be broken down into smaller elements and still be properly understood • Ex. If you take an ipod apart, you no longer have an ipod, just a bunch of unconnected bits and pieces • Gestalt Psychology • Focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them • People naturally seek out patterns (“wholes”) in the sensory information available to them • Today Gestalt ideas are part of cognitive psychology as well as other areas

19. History: Sigmund Freud & Theory of Psychoanalysis • During the rise of structuralism, functionalism, and Gestalt psychology • Sigmund Freud – neurologist in Austria focusing on disorders of the central nervous system • Attempting to understand nervous disorders with no physical cause • Suggested existence of an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all of our threatening urges and desires • Believed repressed urges, trying to surface, created nervous disorders • Believed phobias (irrational fears) were a symptom of an underlying, repressed conflict

20. History: Sigmund Freud & Theory of Psychoanalysis cont. • Freud stressed importance of early childhood experiences • Believed personality was formed in the first 6 years of life • If an individual had significant problems, the problems must have begun in the early years of life • Psychoanalysis – the theory and therapy based on Freud’s ideas • Basis of much modern psychotherapy (a process in which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain insight into and change his or her behavior)

21. History: Pavlov & Conditioning • Ivan Pavlov – Russian physiologist • Pavlov’s Conditioning - Showed that a reflex (an involuntary reaction) could be caused to occur in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus • Dog study:

22. History: Behaviorism & Watson • John B. Watson • Challenged structuralism, functionalism, and psychoanalysis • Behaviorism – “science of behavior” focuses only on observable behavior • Completely ignored consciousness and focused only on observable behavior (something that could be directly seen and measured) • Believed all behavior is learned • Believed that phobias are learned through the process of conditioning • Took Pavlov’s classical conditioning and applied it to humans

23. Watson & The “Little Albert” Study • Watson, in opposition to Freud, wanted to show that phobias were learned through the process of conditioning • Prior to conditioning, Albert showed no fear when presented with a white rat • Next, every time Albert was presented with the rat Watson made a loud, frightening noise behind him • After multiple parings of the rat and the noise Albert showed fear when presented with the rat • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE

24. Modern Perspectives • Psychodynamic Perspective • Modern version of Freud’s psychoanalysis • Less focused on sex and sexual motivations than Freud’s psychoanalysis • More focused on the development of sense of self, social and interpersonal relationships, and the discovery of other motivations behind behavior • Behavioral Perspective • After Watson, B.F. Skinner became the new leader of the field • Skinner – theory of operant conditioning – behavioral responses that are followed by pleasurable consequences are strengthened, or reinforced; behaviors followed by negative consequences will diminish over time (called punishment) • We will discuss this more in chapter 5

25. Modern Perspectives • Humanistic Perspective • Known as the “third force” in psychology • Founded by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers in early 1900’s • Contrast to psychoanalysis and behaviorism • Focused on people’s ability to direct their own lives • People have free will – the freedom to choose their own destiny • People strive for self-actualization – the achievement of one’s full potential

26. Modern Perspectives • Cognitive Perspective • Became a major force in the 1960’s • Focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information • Includes memory, intelligence, perception, thought processes, problem solving, language, and learning • Compares the brain to a computer • Cognitive neuroscience • New field studying the physical workings of the brain and nervous system when engaged in memory, thinking, and other processes • Use MRI, fMRI, PET to study the structure and activity of the living brain

27. Modern Perspectives • Sociocultural Perspective • Combines two areas of psychology: • Social psychology – the study of groups, social roles, and rules of social actions and relationships • Cultural psychology – the study of cultural norms, values, and expectations • Focus on the effect that people have on one another, either individually or in a larger group • The way people behave (or even think) is influenced by who is around… • whether alone, with friends, in a crowd, or part of a group • As well as by social norms, fads, class differences, and ethnic identity of the particular culture in which they live

28. Modern Perspectives • Biopsychological Perspective • The study of the biological bases of behavior and mental processes • Human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result of events in the body • Causes of behavior and mental events: hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors, and diseases • Study topics such as sleep, emotions, aggression, sexual behavior, learning, memory, mental disorders • Disorders may have multiple causes but focus if placed on biological factors • Ex. Genetic and hormonal causes of schizophrenia

29. Modern Perspectives • Evolutionary Perspective • Focus on the biological basis for universal mental characteristics that all humans share • Seeks to explain general mental strategies and traits • Ex. Why people lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, why fear of snakes is so common • Mind is seen as a set of information-processing machines, designed by the process of natural selection, allowing humans to solve the problems they faced in the early days of evolution • Ex. Behavior of not eating things with a bitter taste most likely evolved as early humans came into contact with bitter plants that were most likely poisonous. Humans who didn’t eat the plant survived to pass on their genes • Ex. Difference between men and women in response to sexual vs. emotional infidelity

30. Psychological Professionals and Areas of Specialization • Psychology is a large field with many areas of specialization requiring different training • Refer to Figure 1.2 in the textbook • Largest subfield of psychology is clinical psychology • Largest percentage (35%) of psychologists work at 4-year universities

31. Psychology: Scientific Methodology • Scientific method – a system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data • System aids psychologists in accomplishing the 4 goals (remember?...description, explanation, prediction, and control) • 5 Steps • Perceiving the question • Forming a hypothesis • Testing the hypothesis • Drawing conclusions • Reporting results

32. Scientific Method • Step 1 - Perceiving the Question • Notice something interesting and want and explanation • Goal of description • Ex. Notice that your kids seem more aggressive with each other after watching a violent cartoon on Saturday mornings • Step 2 – Forming a Hypothesis • Hypothesis – (educated guess) tentative explanation for your observations • Statement that can be tested in some way • Hypothesis – children who watch violent cartoons become more aggressive • Goal of description and explanation

33. Scientific Method • Step 3 – Testing the Hypothesis • Must avoid confirmation bias (the tendency to only notice things that agree with one’s view of the world) • Scientific method seeks to avoid bias by forcing researchers to seek out information that may contradict their biases • That’s why psychologists do research over and over, to gain more support for their hypothesis • Testing method selected depends on what kind of answer you think you may get • More detailed observations • Survey asking questions to a large number of people • Experiment in which you deliberately change one thing to see if it causes changes in the behavior you are studying • What do you think is the best way to test our kids & cartoons example?

34. Scientific Method • Experiment: 2 groups of kids Group 1 Watch Violent Cartoon Measure kid’s aggressive behavior Group 2 Watch Nonviolent Cartoon Measure kid’s aggressive behavior

35. Scientific Method • Step 4 – Drawing Conclusions • Results of hypothesis testing can either support or not support your hypothesis • Support: experiment worked! Measurements supported initial observations • Ex. If kids who watched the violent cartoon were more aggressive than kids who watched the nonviolent cartoon • Not Supported: back to square 1! Think of other possible explanations for what was observed • Ex. No difference in aggression between group 1 and group 2 – maybe kids are just more aggressive on Saturday mornings, maybe it’s the breakfast they eat on Saturdays? • Goal of prediction – if hypothesis was supported, then you can make educated guesses about future, similar scenarios

36. Scientific Method • Step 5 – Report Your Results • Once you have come to a conclusion, you want to let other researchers know what you found even if your hypothesis was not supported • Write up exactly what you did, why you did it, how you did it, and what was found • Others may replicate (do exactly the same thing you did) and add support to your findings • Peer reviewed journals, posters and speaking at conferences, etc. • Even if your experiment didn’t work • Maybe poor study design • Maybe other outside factors effected results • Show other researchers what doesn’t work so the same unsuccessful experiments aren’t repeated • Add more to knowledge base • Goal of control – findings may help to make predictions and ultimately modify or control behavior

37. Descriptive Methods: Naturalistic Observation • AGAIN: method depends on the kind of question to be answered • Naturalistic Observation • Observing people/animals in their normal environment • Animals – natural habitat, where they eat, play, sleep, and mate • People – workplaces, homes, social settings, playgrounds • Advantage: realistic picture of how behavior occurs in its natural setting • Observer should have a list of well-defined, specific behaviors • Avoid observer effect (when animals or people don’t behave normally because they know they’re being watched) • Usually want to be hidden

38. Descriptive Methods: Naturalistic Observation (cont.) • Disadvantages • Observer bias – observer only recognizes actions that support their opinion and ignores actions that contradict it • Avoid: use blind observers (people who don’t know what the research question is, so they can’t have preconceptions) • Avoid: use multiple observers so observations can be compared • Lack of control • Cannot ensure that each time behavior is observed the setting will be exactly the same • Observations that are made at one time in one setting may not hold true for another time, even in a similar setting

39. Descriptive Methods: Laboratory Observation • Sometimes it’s not practical to observe people/animals in their natural setting • Advantage: allows researcher control over the setting • Can ensure that environment is the same for each observation • Disadvantage: artificial situation • People/animals tend to behave differently in the laboratory than they would in the real world

40. Descriptive Methods: Case Studies • In depth study of a single individual • Try to learn everything possible about that individual • Advantage: tremendous amount of detail • Advantage: may be the only way to get certain kinds of information • Ex. Traumatic brain injury • Disadvantage: cant generalize to other similar cases • Cant assume that if another person had the same kind of experiences e/she would turn out the same as the individual in the case study • Disadvantage: vulnerable to bias on the part of the researcher

41. Descriptive Methods: Surveys • Good way to gain information about private behaviors (ex. Sexual behavior) • Ask a series of questions about the topic being studied • Can be conducted in person (interviews), over the phone, internet, or with a questionnaire • Advantage: can ask lots of questions and survey a large number of people • Disadvantage: must be careful about the group of people surveyed • Population – group of interest in the study • Ex. College freshman • Representative sample – sample that accurately represents the target population • Ex. Can’t survey every single college freshman, but can randomly survey groups of freshman from several different colleges • Selection is random (ex. If you only surveyed freshman from Ivy League colleges, not all types of freshman will be represented in the sample) • Disadvantage: peoples answers aren’t always accurate • Misremembering, distorting the truth, outright lying

42. Finding Relationships: Correlation • Correlation – a measure of the relationship between two or more variables • Variable – anything that can change or vary (ex. Test scores, room temperature, gender, etc.) • Example: is cigarette smoking connected to life expectancy (the # of years a person can be expected to live) • Could look at medical records: see # of cigarettes smoked per day and the age people were when they died • Information related to these 2 variables are entered into an equation which produces a correlation coefficient • Correlation coefficient – # that represents 2 things: the direction and strength of the relationship between variables

43. Finding Relationships: Correlation • When 2 variables are related, it means that if you know the value of one, you can predict the value of the other • Ex. Smoking and life expectancy are related, knowing how many cigarettes a person smokes a day would allow you to predict how long they will live • Direction - as # of cigarettes goes up, does life expectancy go up or down? • Correlation coefficient (represented by r) will either be a positive or a negative # • Positive – variables increase and decrease in the same direction, if one increases, so does the other, if one decreases, so does the other • Negative – inverse relationship, if one increases the other decreases • Ex. If as # of cigarettes increases, life expectancy decreases, then the relationship is negative or inverse

44. Finding Relationships: Correlation • Strength of the relationship is determined by the actual value of the correlation coefficient • Can range between +1.00 and -1.00 • The stronger the relationship the closer the correlation coefficient will be to either +1.00 or -1.00 (weaker relationships will be close to 0) • Ex. 0.89 is a strong positive correlation • Ex. -0.89 is a strong negative correlation • Example: if the correlation coefficient between smoking and life expectancy was r = -0.87, this would represent a strong negative correlation, as one variable increases, the other decreases

45. Finding Relationships: Correlation

46. Finding Relationships: Correlation • IMPORTANT: just because there is a correlation between 2 variables DOES NOT mean that one causes the other! • Causation cannot be determined from correlation • There could be a 3rd variable, not measured in the study, that causes the relationship • Ex. Relationship between smoking and life expectancy could be due to the tendency of people who smoke to not take very good care of their health in general • Correlation can provide the starting point for examining causal relationships with an experiment

47. Finding Relationships: Experiment • Only method that allows for determining cause • Deliberately manipulate (change) the variable you think is causing some behavior while keeping all other variables that may effect the relationship constant and unchanging • This way, if the behavior changes (i.e. an effect), it must be due to the changes in the manipulated variable • Example: effects of watching violent cartoons on kid’s aggressive behavior • First, must select kids to use in the experiment • Determine age range of interest (ex. 3-4 years old) • Randomly select a certain # of kids in that age range (from daycares or pediatricians offices maybe)

48. Finding Relationships: Experiment • independent variable - the variable to be manipulated– the one thought to be causing the change in behavior • Independent because it is independent of anything the participants do • Ex. Cartoon violence • dependent variable - the variable to be measured to see if there are any changes – this is the effect of the manipulation on behavior • Dependent because it depends on the manipulation of the independent variable • Ex. Kid’s aggressive behavior • Must define both the manipulated variable and the measured variable • Operational definition – specifically names the operations (steps or procedures) that must be used to control or measure the variables in the experiment • Ex. Aggressive behavior checklist: hitting, pushing, etc.

49. Finding Relationships: Experiment • Confounding variables – variables that interfere with each other and may have an effect on the relationship being measured • Must be controlled • Ex. Some kids may just be more aggressive in general, or maybe kids tend to be more aggressive at the particular time of day they were observed • Best way to avoid confounding variables is to use 2 groups • One group watches a violent cartoon • One group watches a nonviolent cartoon for the same amount of time

50. Finding Relationships: Experiment • Experimental Group – group that receives the manipulation • Control Group – group that receives no treatment or a treatment that should have no effect • If both groups were equally aggressive then the violent cartoon did not effect behavior Experimental Group Watch Violent Cartoon Measure kid’s aggressive behavior Control Group Watch Nonviolent Cartoon Measure kid’s aggressive behavior