Welcome to MSUM Psychology Dr Welcome to MSUM Psychology Dr. Christine Malone Psychology Department Professor and Chairperson

What Is Psychology? Psychology Psyche: Mind Logos: Knowledge or study Definition: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes Behavior: Overt; i.e., can be directly observed (crying) Mental Processes: Covert; i.e., cannot be directly observed (remembering); private, internal Empirical Evidence: Information gathered from direct observation

What Might a Psychologist Research? Development: Course of human growth and development Learning: How and why it occurs in humans and animals Personality: Traits, motivations, and individual differences Sensation and Perception: How we come to know the world through our five senses…**Preview today

Psychologists Observe & Measure Behavior

Why use the scientific method?   Non-Scientific (everyday) Scientific General Approach intuitive empirical Observation casual, uncontrolled systematic, controlled Reporting biased, subjective unbiased, objective Concepts ambiguous, surplus meaning clear definitions, operational specificity Instruments inaccurate, imprecise accurate, precise Measurement not valid or reliable valid and reliable Hypotheses untestable, impossible to disprove testable (must be!) Attitude uncritical, accepting critical, skeptical

Visual Perception How do we organize sensations into meaningful perceptions? You experience perceptual constructions—mental representations of external events—that are actively created by your brain Does your brain ever misconstruct (and thus misperceive) external stimuli?

or simply a property of your visual system? Mystical illusion? Explain this or simply a property of your visual system?

The Feature-Detector Approach The waterfall illusion experienced by humans is evidence that humans do indeed have feature detectors. In this illusion, a person first stares at a waterfall for one minute or more. If the person then looks at cliffs immediately after staring at the waterfall, the cliffs will appear to “flow upward”. This suggests that the cells that detect downward motion have become fatigued from the act of staring at the waterfall. Another motion aftereffect

Imposing Meaning Do feature detectors explain perception? Figure 4.23 The Necker cube. The tinted surface can become either the front or the back of the cube. Do feature detectors explain perception? Scientists believe that feature detectors are just a first step in a series of complex processes that create perception. Simple visual illusions such as the Necker cube suggest that we must also actively impose meaning on images that we see. There is a branch of psychology that specializes in explaining how humans arrive at the integrated whole images and make meaningful interpretations of the visual world.

Imposing Meaning--Gestalt Psychology Gestalt psychology focuses on the human ability to perceive overall patterns. The word Gestalt has no true English equivalent, but is close to synonymous with “pattern” or “configuration.” According to Gestalt psychologists, visual perception is an active creation, not merely the adding up of lines and movement.

Principles of Gestalt Psychology When looking at an image, we make a distinction between figure and ground. This is a picture of a reversible figure – a stimulus that can be perceived in more than one way. When we decide which side is the front of the object, then we will see it as a stable image. We are imposing order on an array, not just adding up small features.

Please shout out the answers. Poke Coke Folk

Psychology majors learn: Cool, interesting content knowledge about psychology How people think, feel, learn, perceive… How to problem solve and think critically How to work with and interpret data How to communicate effectively (orally and in writing) How to work with others

What’s special about MSUM Psychology? Student-centered, focused on teaching and learning Relatively small class sizes Many faculty-mentored research and presentation opportunities Learning community Active psychology club One-on-one course and career advising Internship possibilities

What do our students do upon graduation? 30% go directly to graduate school Find or continue employment in human services CCRI, Access of Red River Valley, Luther Hall, Fraser, Fargo Youth Commission, etc. Human resources Research/analyst positions Employment agency Group homes/day programs/day care centers Nonprofit agencies (e.g., American Cancer Society)

Questions? Thank you for visiting MSUM Psychology!