Prologue to Chapter 1

1. Prologue to Chapter 1 • Our text surveys the basics of psychological principles and shows how these principles can be applied to solve human problems. • You will find the text covering most areas in psychology but, as this is an introductory course, we will not be able to go into extreme depth with any particular topic. • If you have any questions, ask them! Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

2. Psyche and Science = Psychology • Definition of psychology • Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes • What is science? • realizing problems, making initial observations, hypothesizing, testing hypotheses • What is behavior? • any activity which is directly observable • What are mental processes? • not directly observable: e.g., thinking, motivation Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

3. Psyche and Science = Psychology • Goals of psychology • To describe human and animal behavior and mental processes • To understand human and animal behavior and mental processes • To predict human and animal behavior and mental processes • To influence/control human and animal behavior and mental processes Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

4. The Many Faces of Psychology • The Early “Psychologists” • Although Wilhelm Wundt is usually credited with formally establishing psychology as a separate scientific discipline, many individuals with diverse interests and talents helped to “found” psychology. • We will look at some of these individuals now Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

5. The Many Faces of Psychology • Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener: The structure of the mind • They sought to determine the structure of the mind through use of analytic introspection • Their school of thought is called “Structuralism” • Wundt at the University of Leipzig in 1879; Titchener in America • Structuralism vs Functionalism Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

6. The Many Faces of Psychology • William James: The “functions” of consciousness • James interested in the functions of consciousness • wrote the first “psychology” textbook in 1890 • may have had the first psychology laboratory in America circa 1876 • established “functionalism” as a school of thought in psychology Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

7. The Many Faces of Psychology • Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson: Behaviorism • Pavlov received Nobel Prize in 1905 for his work on salivating dogs and the serendipitious discovery of “classical conditioning” • Watson established “radical behaviorism” circa 1912 in the United States • Both interested in behavior and its precise measurement rather than “consciousness” of Wundt and James Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

8. The Many Faces of Psychology • Hermann Ebbinghaus: Studies of Memory • Ebbinghaus used experimental methods to measure memory in the late 1800’s • interested in how memory works, how it is established, how does forgetting happen, how memories deteriorate with interference, and other facets of memory Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

9. The Many Faces of Psychology • Max Wertheimer: Gestalt Psychology • Interested in perception, I.e., how do we make sense out of the world around us • Gestalt, a German word, means: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” • He believed the mind must be studied in terms of large meaningful units instead of the small units of structuralism • Why do we see things the way we do? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

10. The Many Faces of Psychology • Alfred Binet: Measuring intelligence • Binet sought to establish methods whereby the mind’s intellectual capacities could be measured • Developed the first IQ test, used to assess how well students would do in academic settings, in France circa 1905 • The “Standford-Binet IQ Test” is, along with collaborative efforts of others, Binet’s test Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

11. The Many Faces of Psychology • Sigmund Freud: The Psychoanalytic School • Established “psychoanalysis” via work with female clients in Vienna, Austria, circa 1910 • Believed roots of psychological problems were motives that reside in the part of the mind of which we are unaware called the “unconscious” • His over-emphasis on sex resulted in the “Neo-Freudians”, e.g., Erikson, Jung, Sullivan, Horney, Adler, and others. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

12. The Many Faces of Psychology • Pioneers of psychology include people from Europe and America, as well as African-Americans, Latins, and other ethnic minorities, both male and female. • Your text articulates information about some of these individuals. • We will now look at contemporary perspectives in psychology. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

13. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory • Behaviorism still generally rules out the study of “mental processes” because these are unobservable • Social Learning Theory believes that “mental processes” can be subjected to scientific inquiry • Albert Bandura: aggression and modeling • Patricia Devine: emotional/cognitive factors that influence formation and maintenance of prejudice Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

14. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • The Sociocultural Perspective • Culture, ethnicity, and gender identity are important to understand a person • What is “normal” is a culturally-relative term • How do you define “normal?” • All sociocultural variables must be taken into account to fully understand someone; all judgments concerning “normal” must be relative to the culture in which one lives. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

15. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Psychoanalysis • Most modern psychoanalysts disagree with Freud’s emphasis on sexual and aggressive motives for human behavior. • Most believe that other motives are responsible for human behavior, e.g., Erik Erikson believed that how we are treated and how we react to developmental stressors has much to do with why we do what we do. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

16. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Psychoanalysis • Most contemporary psychoanalysts believe that cognitive processes also mediate why we do what we do, e.g., Alfred Adler’s notion of the “inferiority complex” and its effects on our behavior. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

17. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Cognitive Perspective • Increasingly popular since the mid-1970s, this perspective studies the processes involved in perceiving, believing, thinking, and other cognitive activities using sophisticated scientific instrumentation. • For example, is there a particular neural network in the brain responsible for allowing you to perceive your grandmother? Particular neural circuits involved in experiencing prejudice? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

18. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Humanistic Psychology • Considered the “Third Force” in psychology (behind psychoanalysis and behaviorism). • Believes that individuals determine their own fates through decisions they make • Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow are examples of humanistic psychologists • Not as scientifically oriented as other branches of psychology Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

19. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Contemporary Biological Perspective • Interested in the role of the brain in psychological processes • Interested in the role of heredity in psychological processes • sociobiology • heredity in psychological abnormality • heredity in cognitive skills, etc. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

20. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • Specialty fields in modern psychology • “Basic” areas of psychology • the domain of psychology that is involved in the generation of new knowledge upon which later applications can be built • psychological research done in many field areas • “Applied” areas of psychology • these psychologists apply the basic knowledge to solve human problems • applied areas include counseling, clinical, and educational psychology Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

21. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • The relationship between psychology and psychiatry • A psychologist usually has a Ph.D. in psychology from an accredited graduate school. It requires: • 4 years of undergraduate work in psychology • 2 years of Masters-level graduate work • 3 years of Ph.D.-level graduate work Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

22. Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology • The relationship between psychology and psychiatry • A psychiatrist has an M.D. and residency in psychology. It requires: • 4-year undergraduate degree • 4-year medical degree • 3-year residency in psychology • The pecking order in psychology is: M.S., M.S.W., Ph.D., M.D./P.C. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

23. Questions? • Do you have any questions about Chapter One? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

24. Chapter 2 Scientific Research/Methods

25. Scientific Methods • How do we learn about human behavior? • What is science? • How do we do science? • Where does basic psychological information come from? • How is basic psychological knowledge applied scientifically? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

26. Scientific Methods • Science is the use of systematic observation of phenomena in an effort to detect orderly relationships (laws) governing interrelationships of variables. It involves description as its most simple tool and experimentation as its most complex tool. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

27. Scientific Methods • Descriptive methods include: • Survey method: the use of interviews and questionnaires in studying human behavior • Naturalistic observation: involves the careful observation and recording of behavior in real-life settings • Clinical method: observation of people while a psychologist is helping them with a problem Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

28. Scientific Methods • Correlations methods: the examination of the quantitative relationships between two or more variables • how does one behavior relate to the occurrence of another behavior? • if we know one behavior’s pattern can we then, in turn, predict the pattern of occurrence of another behavior? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

29. Scientific Methods • Formal Experiments: deliberately determining the cause-effect relationships between two or more variables • correlation methods preclude establishing cause-effect relationships; formal experiments will determine precise cause-effect relationships between variables • there are many experimental designs that psychologists use Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

30. Scientific Methods • Ethical Principles of research with human subjects • freedom from coercion • informed consent • guidelines for deception of subjects and debriefing after experiments • confidentiality Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

31. Scientific Methods • Ethical principles of research with animal subjects • only use animals when it is necessary • maintain the health of animals in experiments and animal compounds • humane treatment of animals is absolutely important; no animal should be sacrificed unless data critical to helping humans Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

32. What we know about human behavior • Human beings are biological creatures. • Each person is different, yet much the same. • People can be understood only in the context of their culture, ethnic identity, and gender identity. • Human lives are a continual process of change. • Human behavior is motivated. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

33. What we know about human behavior • Humans are social animals. • People play an active part in creating their experiences. • Behavior has multiple causes. • Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive. • Human behavior and mental processes can be studied by the scientific method. Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

34. Application of Psychology • Psychology applied to your own study skills • Your textbook uses the “SQ3R” method of pedagogy (developed by educational psychologists) • Good study techniques include: • spacing out your study time; don’t cram • study in the same place all the time • use mneumonic (memory) devices to help you retain information learned Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2

35. Questions? • Any questions about Chapter 2? Psych 101 Chapters 1 and 2