General Psychology

1. General Psychology PSY201 Instructor: Ms. T. Gumbs

2. What is psychology?

3. Pseudopsychologies • Pseudopsychologiesare unreliable approaches that do not use the scientific method • Examples of pseudopsychologies include: • Phrenology: attempt to assess personality by examining one’s head • Astrology: system that tries to relate personality to the movement of the stars • Palmistry: idea that reading a person’s character from the lines on their palms

4. Where did Psychology Come From? • Ancient Greek philosophers • Aristostle-wrote Peri Psyches “About the Psyche” • Human behavior subject to rules & laws like nature • Seed of consciousness in the heart not the head • Democritus-suggested thinking of behavior in terms of mind & body • Socrates-advised to “Know thyself” • Reliable self-knowledge not attained through the senses but through introspection (i.e., careful observation)

5. The Study of Psychology • Psychologyis the scientific study of behavior and mental processes • Psychology employs scientific research • Psychology values empirical evidence • Psychology employs critical thinking

6. 4 Goals of Psychology • 1. Description identifies and classifies behaviors and mental processes using careful observations • 2. Explanation proposing reasons for behaviors and mental processes • 3. Predictionallows for specification of the conditions under which a behavior will occur or not • 4. Control (Influence) uses the results of research to solve practical problems

7. Historical Schools of Psychological Thought • Structuralist • Functionalist • Psychodynamic (a.k.a. Psychoanalytic) • Behaviorist • Humanist Wilhelm Wundt (standing, with gray beard) and colleagues 1880

8. Structuralism (late 19th century) • Wilhelm Wundt “father of psychology” • Disgusted w/phrenology • set up 1st psychology lab to study consciousness in Leipzig, Germany (1879) • observed various stimuli, physical energies that evokes a response people & animals (eg. lights & sound) • used introspection, “looking inward” to examine his reaction to stimuli • called his approachexperimental self-observation, which combined trained introspection with objective measurement

9. Structuralism (late 19th century) • Edward B. Titchener-carried Wundt’s ideas to the US (1890s), where it was called… • Structuralism-concerned with analyzing sensations and personal experience into basic elements • Focus: studying the structure of the mind • Problems: • structuralists hardly agreed • Cannot prove/disprove introspection

10. Functionalism(early 20th century) • Functionalism-concerned with how humans and animals use mental processes in adapting to their environment • Focus: the function of the mind • Charles Darwin-evolutionary theory • Contributions: • Increased animal use in psychological experiments • William James-”stream of consciousness” • Contributions: • Study of children, animals, and mentally impaired • Study of educational practices, individual practices and workplace adaptation

11. Early Pioneers of Psychology • Structuralistsfocused on sensations and perceptual experiences “structure of the mind” • Functionalistsinvestigated functions of mental processes in adapting to the environment “function of the mind”

12. Behaviorism(most influential until 1960s & influential today) • challenged functionalism • No need to study mental processes • emphasized the study of overt behavior • objective and measurable behaviors • John B Watson-explained behavior as learned reactions to certain stimuli as a result of conditioning (discovered by Pavlov-1880s) • B.F. Skinner-explained that behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences • Contribution: • Helped separate psychology from philosophy • Respected as a science

13. Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic • Sigmund Freud-Austrian doctor • believed our behavior is influenced by unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires (dark view of humans) • Contribution: • Psychoanalysis-a “talking therapy” where the psychologist explores the thoughts of patients (early1900s) • Importance of childhood experiences

14. Humanism (late 1930s & influential today) • Humanism- a positive view of humans • Stresses free will & inner-self (unlike behaviorism) and private subjective experience • Less concerned about the scientific aspect, more concerned with human potential • Psychological needs for love, belonging, self-esteem, & spirituality • Abraham Maslow developed the concept of self-actualization, reaching one’s full potential

15. Other Modern Perspectives • Cognitive psychology focuses on mental function and reasoning (1950s-today) • Gestalt psychology emphasized perception; the notion that the whole is more than the sum of the parts • Biopsychology views behavior as reflecting brain processes (1800s & major impact today) • Evolutionary psychology asserts that certain behavioral characteristics are subject to natural selection (late 1800s-today) • Sociocultural psychology examines the influence of culture and ethnic practice on people’s behavior (1930s-today; ethics crisis in 1970s)

16. Ancient Greek Phiolosphers • Aristostle- (384-322 B.C.E.) • wrote Peri Psyches “About the Psyche” • Human behavior subject to rules & laws like nature • Democritus- (400 B.C.E.) suggested thinking of behavior in terms of mind & body • Socrates-advised to “Know thyself” • Reliable self-knowledge not attained through the senses but through introspection (i.e., careful observation)

17. Who’s Who of Psychology Late 19th century • Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) p. 10 • What is he known as? • Which school of thought does he belong to? • Charles Darwin (1809-1882) • What theory is he known for? • How does his theory relate to behavior? • Which school of thought? • William James (1842-1910) p. 11 • Author of first modern psychology textbook Principles of Psychology • Which school of thought?

18. Who’s Who of Psychology Early 20th century • Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) p. 10 • Which school of thought does he belong to? • What therapy technique is he known for? • Mary Calkins (1863-1930) p. 21 • Attended Harvard University as a “guest student” • Completed all her requirements for Ph.D. at Harvard University, but was denied her degree • Pioneer in memory research • John B. Watson (1878-1958) p. 12 • Which school of thought? • Theory: behavior is a set of learned reactions to the environment (classical conditioning)

19. Who’s Who of Psychology Early-Mid 20th century • B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) • Which school of thought? • Theory: behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences (operant conditioning) • Frances Cecil Sumner (1895-1954) • Father of Black Psychology • (1920) first African American to receive a Ph.D. degree in psychology • Abraham Maslow (1908-1990) • Which school of thought? • Theory: self actualization

20. Black Psychology • Frances Cecil Sumner • Father of Black Psychology • 1920-first African American to receive a Ph.D. degree in psychology • Studied “race psychology” at Clarke University • Chair of Psychology department at Howard University • Dr. Kenneth Clark & Mamie Clark p.22 • Doll Test

21. Introduction to Psychology Review • Psychology is defined as the study of _____. • The 4 goals of psychology is to describe, _____, _____, & _____ behavior. • What is the difference between behaviorism & humanism? • What is the difference between psychodynamic & humanism? 5. Name the following individuals pictured & identify the school of thought and major contributions. • Mary Calkins Wilson • Dr. Kenneth & Mamie Clark • Sigmund Freud • William James • Abraham Maslow • B.F. Skinner • Frances Cecil Sumner • John B. Watson • Wilhelm Wundt

22. “Psych humor”

23. “Psych humor”

24. Areas of Psychology • Clinical Psychologists • Counseling Psychologists • Educational Psychologists • School Psychologists • Industrial/ Organizational Psychologists • DevelopmentalPsychologists • Social psychologists • Health Psychologists Consumer Psychologists • Forensic Psychologists • Sport Psychologists

25. Psychology Degrees By Area

26. Psychological Research • Two forms of psychological research: • Pure (Basic) research seeks answers for theoretical questions • E.g. How is hunger controlled by the brain? • Applied research seeks answers for specific application problems • E.g. Organizational psychology studies leadership, job satisfaction, job training, and development

27. Psychological Research-Samples • Selecting participants for study: • Sample: a smaller subset of the general population used to represent the larger population • Random sample-participants selected randomly to allow equal chance of being chosen for study • Target population: a particular group of people the researcher is interested in studying

28. Overview of the Scientific Method

29. Basic (Pure) Research Methods • Naturalistic observation refers to the systematic recording of behavior in a natural state or habitat • Jane Goodall observing apes in the wild • Surveysare instruments designed to sample attitudes or behaviors • Asking persons at a rally how they feel about animal rights issues • A case study is an in-depth study of a single person • Freud used the case study method to probe anxiety

30. Research Methods • Naturalistic Observation- recording or observing behavior in one’s natural environment • Animal studies • Child studies • Limitations: • Observer effect-change in behavior because someone’s watching

31. Research Methods • Laboratory Observation- recording or observing in behavior in a laboratory

32. Applied research: Correlations & Experiments

33. Correlational Research • Finding the degree (strength) of relationship between 2 traits, behaviors, or events • Not interested in finding the cause, just making predictions • No causation established • Relationships measured by coefficient of correlation +1.00 –1.00

34. Correlational Research • The correlation technique indicates the degree of association between 2 variables • Correlations vary in direction: • Positive association: increases in the value of variable 1 are associated with increases in the value of variable 2 • Negative association: increases in the value of variable 1 are associated with decreases in the value of variable 2 • No relation: values of variable 1 are not related to variable 2 values

35. Correlational Study examples • IQ scores and school grades? • Reading ability and popularity? • IQ and shoe size? • Height and weight of a person? • Team wins and the number of penalties against a team? • Income and health? • Years spent in University and income? • Athletic ability and IQ? • Cell phone use and vehicle accidents? • Length of hair and IQ?

36. Correlational Study examples • IQ scores and school grades? + • Reading ability and popularity? - • IQ and shoe size? 0 • Height and weight of a person? • Team wins and the number of penalties against a team? • Income and health? • Years spent in University and income? • Athletic ability and IQ? • Cell phone use and vehicle accidents? • Length of hair and IQ?

37. A Strange Correlation • The Heisman Curse article

38. “Psych humor”

39. Correlation Difficulties

40. The Experiment • An experiment involves a set of controlled conditions that aims to confirm a hypothesis, a prediction about a cause and effect relationship bet/2 variables • Unlike correlations, experiments establish cause & effect relationships • How does X affect Y?

41. Experimental Method • How does X (indep. var) affect Y (dep. var)? • Experimental Group • Exposed to X (independent variable or IV) or multiple variations of a variable • Control group (Comparison group/point of reference) • Exposed to all the same conditions except X (independent variable or IV) • Form hypothesis • Define variables • Randomly assign groups • Measure effects of IV on DV • Determine statistical significance- Did the IV really make a difference? Results would have to be unlikely to occur by chance alone

42. Experimental Variables Hypothesis: “Listening to music increases productivity in the workplace.” • To test a hypothesis, defines the variables of the hypothesis: • Cause: Independent variable (IV) • Music: Participants working at an automotive company listen to jazz music while performing their tasks. • Sometimes more than one IV- jazz, classical, rock, & country • Effect: Dependent variable (DV) • Work productivity: Time to complete tasks such as tire rotations and oil changes • A) What is another way to test the effect of music in the workplace? B) How do we measure the effects

43. Practice – Experiment 1 • A group of college students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course.  Half the students were offered $25 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money.  What would be the hypothesis? IV? DV? Experimental group? Control group?

44. Limitations of Experiments • Placebo effects represent changes in behavior that are related to expectations of a treatment • Placebo Effects controlled by • Blind study - subject does not know whether the treatment was given or not • Double-blind study - Neither the subjects nor experimenters know who has obtained the treatment.

45. Ethical Issues in Research • Respecting the rights of human research participants involves: • Informed consent is an explanation of a study and the responsibilities of experimenter and participant • Deception involving the subjects must be justified (benefit outweighs the harm) • Confidentiality of study information must be maintained • Debriefingrefers to explaining the research process to the subjects at the end of the study • Animal research must be justified and must minimize discomfort to participants

46. Statistical Techniques • Statistics: science concerned with obtaining and organizing numerical information or measurements • Descriptive Statistics: • provides information about distributions of scores • Inferential Statistics: • determines whether we can generalize (infer) differences among samples to the general population • Uses statistical significance

47. Statistical Techniques • Descriptive Statistics • provides information about distributions of scores. • Relies on central tendencies or averages of scores in a frequency distributions. • Mean: adding scores and dividing total by # of scores • Median: the score which lies in the middle of a distribution • Mode: most frequently occurring score

48. Descriptive Techniques • Finding mean, median, mode, & range • Sample study: What are college students perceptions of the sex life of married couples. How many times a week do you think married couples have sex? 15 students were surveyed and the following were their responses: 2, 5, 3, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 10, 21, 3, 8, 3 • Range: highest score – lowest score • ______- ______ • Mean: Add up all the scores divide by the # of scores • 2+5+3+3+4+1+2+1+1+0+10+21+3+8+3= ___ then ___/15= _____ • Median: if odd number of raw scores, arrange all scores in order & take number in the middle; ifeven number of raw scores, take the 2 in the middle and divide by 2 • 0, 1, 1,1, 2, 2, 3,3,3,3,4, 5, 8, 10, 21 = _____ (# in the middle) • Mode: Most frequently occurring score - ______

49. Descriptive Techniques • Finding mean, median, mode, & range • Sample study: What are college students perceptions of the sex life of married couples. How many times a week do you think married couples have sex? 15 students were surveyed and the following were their responses: 2, 5, 3, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 10, 21, 3, 8, 3 • Range: highest score – lowest score 21- 0 = 21 • Mean: Add up all the scores divide by the # of scores • 2, 5, 3, 3, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 10, 21, 3, 8, 3= 67….67/15= 4.5 • Median: if odd number of raw scores, arrange all scores in order & take number in the middle; if even number of raw scores, take the 2 in the middle and divide by 2 • 0, 1, 1,1, 2, 2, 3,3,3,3,4, 5, 8, 10, 21 = 3 (is # in the middle) • Mode: Most frequently occurring score - 3