What is Psychology?

1. What is Psychology?

2. Definitions?

3. Definitions? • Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour

4. Psychological Concepts • Memory and recall • Learning • Perception • Thinking and cognition • Creativity • Attitudes and behaviour • Individual differences and personality • Intelligences

5. Schools of Thought… • Psychodynamics • Nativism (Rationalist/Biological) • Behaviourism (S-R) • Cognitive Psychology • Humanistic Psychology • Constructivist theories • Social Psychology

6. A Brief History of Psychology • Sigmund Freud (1865-1939): ‘I set myself the task of bringing to light what human beings keep hidden within them… the task of making conscious the most hidden recesses of the mind is one which is quite possible to achieve’.

7. A Brief History of Psychology • Ivan Pavlov(1849-1936): Studied the conditioned and unconditioned responses of animals to stimuli. Concluded that learning occurred as an association (coupling) of one event with another. Stimulus-Response. • Classical Conditioning

8. A Brief History of Psychology • B. F. Skinner (1904-1990): • Behaviourism • A behaviour followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future. • Operant Conditioning • Extinction of behaviour

9. A Brief History of Psychology • Carl Rogers (1902-1987): • Humanistic approach to learning • Unconditional positive regard • Student centred learning (Client centred approach)

10. Humanist Psychology • A psychological approach that emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential, rather than the scientific understanding an assessment of behavior. • This approach: • Rejected behaviorism and psychoanalysis. • Emphasized creativity and achieving potential. ©1999 Prentice Hall

11. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

12. Social Motives • Motives acquired through experience and interaction with others (McClelland, Murray) • Need for achievement (n Ach) • The need to accomplish something difficult and to perform at a high standard of excellence • Need for affiliation • The need to have harmonious relationships with other people and to be accepted by others • Need for power • Personal – want to direct others • Institutional – want to organize efforts of others to meet the needs of the institution

13. Need for Achievement • Characteristics of achievers • High n Ach • pursue goals that are challenging, yet attainable through hard work, ability, determination, and persistence • see their success as a result of their own talents, abilities, persistence, and hard work • Low n Ach • not willing to take chances when it comes to testing their own skills and abilities • when fail, usually give up quickly

14. Need for Achievement • Parents can foster n Ach • give children responsibilities • teach them to think and act independently from the time they are very young • stress excellence, persistence, and independence • praise them sincerely for their accomplishments

15. Academic/Research Psychologists • Research in areas of basic or applied psychology. • Examples include: • Experimental psychologists • Educational psychologists • Developmental psychologists • Industrial/Organizational psychologists • Psychometric psychologists ©1999 Prentice Hall

16. What Psychologists Do • Academic/research psychologists • Psychological practitioners • Psychologists in other settings ©1999 Prentice Hall

17. What Areas do Psychology Undergraduates Pursue? • Psychology • Other • Counseling • Education • Social work • Medicine • Law • Health Sciences • Business • Sociology ©1999 Prentice Hall

18. Sports Consumer Issues Advertising Organizational Problems Environmental Issues Public policy Opinion polls Military training Animal behavior Legal Issues Psychologists in Other Settings ©1999 Prentice Hall

19. Clinical Psychologists are not: • Psychotherapists • Psychoanalysts • Psychiatrists ©1999 Prentice Hall

20. Psychological Practitioners • Counseling psychologists help people deal with problems associated with everyday life. • School psychologists work with parents, teachers and students to enhance student performance. • Clinical psychologists diagnose, treat, and study mental or emotional problems. ©1999 Prentice Hall

21. A Brief History of Psychology • Edward Tolman (1886-1959): • Cognitive Shift Theory • Cognitive Map • Challenge to Behaviourism

22. A Brief History of Psychology • Leon Festinger (1919-1989): • Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Describes conflicting thoughts or beliefs (cognitions) that occur at the same time, or when engaged in behaviours that conflict with one's beliefs.

23. A Brief History of Psychology • Abraham Maslow (1902-1987): • Hierarchy of Human Needs • Self Actualisation • Psychology of Being • ‘Peak experiences’

24. A Brief History of Psychology • Lev Vygostsky (1896-1934): • Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • Social learning • Co-operative learning

25. A Brief History of Psychology • Jean Piaget (1896-1980): • The child as a solo scientist • Discovery learning • Assimilation and Accommodation • Schema Theory

26. A Brief History of Psychology • Jerome Bruner (1915-): • Scaffolding • The ‘spiral curriculum’ • ‘Cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do…’

27. A Brief History of Psychology • Howard Gardner(1943-): • Theoryof Multiple Intelligences • ‘An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves’.

28. www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearning/