What is Psychology

1. What is Psychology • The study of how and why humans act as they do • Instead of studying how humans function in cultures or societies, psychology focuses on the individual, and the personal and unique experiences that influence how the individual acts and thinks

2. Types of Psychology Experimental Psychology • The branch of the discipline that sets up experiments to see how individuals act in particular situations Clinical Psychology • The branch that develops programs for treating individuals suffering from mental illnesses and behaviour disorders

3. The Case of Kitty Genovese: • The Case of Kitty Genovese - Kitty was murdered on the street outside her NYC apartment after loud shouting was heard - 38 people witnessed the murder but did nothing to stop it • Psychologists have long been interested in our unwillingness to get involved in uncomfortable situations even if someone’s personal safety is at risk • People have a tendency see themselves as bystanders in such situations rather than as ACTORS • ACTORS are people who become active participants in a situation • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozmWS6xYEw

4. When Bystanders Join In • 4 years after Genovese was murdered, two psychologists, John Darley and Bibb Latane, wanted to identify the factors that influence bystanders’ decisions to get involved in public situations • Whether we intervene in a situation depends on the cues we get from other participants • Experiment: What would affect whether or not people would get involved in a Frisbee game with strangers • Conclusions? • Relation to Genovese case?

5. Psychological Schools of Thought • Like the other social sciences, psychology has been divided into a number of schools of thought: • Psychoanalytic Theory • Behaviouralism • Learning Theory

6. Psychoanalytic Theory • The mind is divided into two parts: the conscious (aware of ) and the unconscious (not aware of) • According to psychologists, our unconscious mind has more influence than our conscious mind on our personalities and behaviour • Founded by Sigmund Frued

7. The Unconscious Mind The Unconscious mind is divided into three parts: • Id – which encourages us to seek physical satisfaction • Superego – prompts us to do the moral thing, not the one that feels best • Ego – the referee between the two and deals with external reality, this is our most conscious self

8. Behaviourism • Behaviourists believe that psychologists can predict and control or modify human behaviour by identifying the factors that motivate it in the first place • Behaviourists placed particular stress on the early childhood years, and the rules or practices parents use to raise their children because they believe these methods have a huge influence on the character of individuals even into adulthood • Developed by John B. Watson, Benjamin Spock

9. Learning Theory • Learning Theorists agree that humans are born with little instinct but much learning potential • They believe that most human behaviour is learned, especially in child and youth • By controlling the way in which humans learn behaviours, society can have a great influence on their ultimate personalities • Believe that children who were brought up in loving families would grow up to become secure and loving adults, but only if parents provided clear and consistent expectations for good behaviour, and swift but fair consequences for bad behaviour • Founded by Ivan Pavlov, BF Skinner, Albert Bandura

10. Children Learn What they Live: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diUB7OGRJ8E

11. Mini Skit: • Create a small role play / skit on one of the following famous psychologists. Highlight his / her main theories, applications and conclusions to psychology in your skit! • Sigmund Freud p. 19 • John B. Watson and Benjamin Spock p.20 • Ivan Pavlov p. 20 • B.F. Skinner p. 20, 54 • Alfred Bandura p. 21 • Carl Jung p. 55 • Abraham Maslov p. 58 • Marion Woodman p. 58

12. Sigmund Freud • The founder of psychoanalytic theory • He believed our early childhood experiences, usually involving our relationships with parents and family, are stored in our unconscious mind • While we are normally unaware of these memories, they can have a powerful influence on the way we function • Those that live with a general sense of frustration, our behaviour may become neurotic and connected with anxiety or obsessivenesswhich can be treated using dream analysis, hypnosis and individual counseling • Freud felt that individual sexual satisfaction or frustration was the key element in personality development

13. Alfred Adler (1870-1937) • Adler believed that difficulties people encounter in gaining self-esteem and recognition, if not overcome by the normal means lead to over compenstationand personality disorders which are now widely referred to as an inferiority complex

14. Carl Jung (1875-1961) • Responsible for the identification of the Extroverted (outward-looking; outgoing; rely on others for sense of well being) and Introverted (inward-looking; emotionally self sufficient; well being comes from within) personality types. • Worked closely with Freud but split later in their careers

15. JohnB. Watson (1878-1958) • The founder of behaviourism • He used animal experiments to determine whether strict or flexible learning patterns are more effective • Wrote book “Psychological Care of the Infant and Child” concluded that children should be brought up using a ‘scientific’, strictly scheduled, rules-based model

16. Watson… • “ Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years. [Behaviorism (1930), p. 82]

17. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) • He believed that a permissive approach to child rearing, rather than a strict one, would result in successful, well-adjusted adults. • He encouraged parents to be loving, flexible and supportive • Wrote book “Baby and Child Care”

18. B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) • Skinner proved that pigeons could be trained to peck at a particular coloured disk to get food rewards • Rats received food rewards for pressing specfic levers in a complicated sequence leading many theorists to believe that learning was a STIMULUS-RESPONSE effect • He believed that if the subject is correctly stimulated it will give the appropriate response • Theory of OPERANT CONDITIONING: learning can be programmed by whatever consequences follows a particular behaviour

19. STIMULUS-RESPONSE • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWyZHSZf3TM

20. Abraham Maslov (1908-1970 • Analysis of human needs organized into a hierarchy ranging from basic survival through to the need for love, security and esteem • Highest level was “self actualization (integration of the self > making the personality whole) • Maslov’s theories had most profound impact on industrial psychology (making workplace a satisfying experience by raising morale of workers to improve performance)

21. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) • Pavlov’s experiments with dogs showed that is was possible to get a dog to associate the sound of a bell with the imminent arrival of food • At the sound of a bell, the dog would salivate in anticipation

22. Alfred Bandura (Born in 1925) • Bandura concluded that learning is largely a modeling experience and more complicated than a mere stimulus-response effect • When humans observe behaviour – either acceptable or unacceptable – they are more likely to practice it • Experiment- Bobo • Question – What does this mean to us? What applications can be made to today

23. Psychological Questions • Focus on people’s behaviours (what they do) and attitudes (what they think) Key Questions: • what must people do to successfully change their behaviours • what factors make behaviour-modification programs successful? • do most people need help changing behaviour, or can they be self changers? • Example: Consider an individual who has been convicted three times for driving under the influence. Is it necessary to change a person’s attitude about drinking before he or she will stop drinking and driving?