An Introduction to IB Psychology Presented as a Genealogical Case Study

The Ancestors

Great Grandfather Buddha Prescientific Psychology 3 In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and perceptions combined to form ideas.

Great Grandfather Confucius ( B.C.) 4 In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and the importance of an educated mind. home.tiscali.be/alain.ernotte/livre/confucius.jpg

Great Uncle Aristotle ( B.C.) 5 Aristotle suggested that the soul is not separable from the body and that knowledge (ideas) grow from experience.

Great Uncle Rene Descartes ( ) 6 Descartes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind)-body separation, but wondered how the immaterial mind and physical body communicated.

Great Uncle Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) 7 Bacon is one of the founders of modern science, particularly the experimental method.

Great Uncle John Locke (1632 – 1704) 8 Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it. biografieonline.it/img/bio/John_Locke.jpg

Historical Family Debates  #1 Are the body and the mind separate or intertwined?  #2 Are we born a blank slate or with predispositions?

Birth of Contemporary Psychology  Middle of 19 th century  Roots in biology and a growing interest in the mind and underlying processes of the brain  Wilhelm Wundt-1 st psych experiment  Measured time lag between hearing a ball hit and pressing a key vs becoming aware of hearing the ball hit.  Psychology became organized into different branches of thought

Psychology’s True Identity  We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we do) and mental processes (inner thoughts and feelings).

Definition of Psychology  “scientific” - systematic and controlled study of behavior; hope of establishing cause-and-effect relationships  “mental processes” – covert behaviors, internal, subjective experiences we infer ( attention, memory, emotion, attitudes)  “behavior” – overt behaviors that can be observed (aggression, helping, sleeping)

Need for Psychological Science  Limits of common sense  “hunches” are an inaccurate measurement  Hindsight Bias  “I knew it all along”; hindsight is  Overconfidence  We tend to think we know more than we do  We are confident that our answers are right  We try to fit evidence to support our ideas  All this proves we overestimate our intuition and we need an objective approach to the study of psychology

Psychological Science  Scientific attitude  Curiosity-desire to explore and find one’s own answers  Being a skeptic-need to see adequate evidence  Scientific method  Observe  Form a theory  Test the hypothesis (operational definitions)  Gather Data  Generate or refine theories that are testable by organizing and linking observed facts and show practical applications.

Uncertainty  Psychology is always evolving  Rarely finds “hard evidence” that cannot be contradicted  Never use “proves”, always say “evidence suggests”  Studies generate evidence to support an idea, others will challenge those findings  Psychology students must tolerate some degree of uncertainty in this field.

The Modern Family: Levels of Analysis

Biological Level of Analysis Human beings are biological systems. Our cognitions, emotions and behaviors are products of the anatomy and physiology of our nervous and endocrine systems.

Cognitive Level of Analysis  Focuses on Mental Processes like memory, thinking, perception, artificial intelligence, social cognition, and attention.

Sociocultural Level of Analysis  Focuses on how a person’s environment and culture affects behavior and thinking.

Two more levels (non-IB)  Psychoanalytical:  Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality and therapeutic techniques that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.  Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight

 Behaviorism: view that psychology  Should be an objective science  Should only study behavior that can be observed (without reference to mental processes)  Watson and Skinner focused on conditioning and observing the behavior of learning

Psychology’s Crazy Cousins

Cousin: Astrology Which of the following describes you the best?

The Problem with Astrology It cannot be proven through scientific research!

Psychic Powers  A supernatural ability to communicate with the dead.

ESP  Extrasensory Perception is the idea that we can perceive things beyond our five senses.

Pop Psychology  Talk Shows  Self-Help Books Problem: Both are oversimplifications of psychological issues based on anecdotal evidence and popular beliefs

But we LOVE our Crazy Cousins!  A 1991 Gallop & Newport Poll found that:  93% believe in at least one paranormal or psychic phenomenon  1/3 believe in reincarnation  1/3 believe in communication with the dead  ½ believe their dreams can predict an important event such as death of a family member