The World of Psychology Wood and Wood Introduction To Psychology Chapter 1 Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Just what is Psychology? Psychology conjures up images of mental disorders and abnormal behavior. Psychologists do study the strange and unusual, but they are interested in the normal and commonplace as well. Just what is psychology? Today psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Science or common sense? 1. Memory is more accurate under hypnosis. 2. All people dream during a night of normal sleep. 3. As the number of bystanders at an emergency increases, the time it takes for the victim to get help decreases. 4. Humans do not have a maternal instinct. 5. Older adults tend to express less satisfaction with life in general than younger adults. 6. Eyewitness testimony is often unreliable. 7. Children with high IQs tend to be less able physically than their peers. 8. Creativity and high intelligence do not necessarily go together. 9. When it comes to close personal relationships, opposites attract. 10. The majority of teenagers have good relationships with their parents. Indicate whether each statement is true (T) or false (F).

Science or common sense? All of the odd-numbered items are false, and all of the even-numbered items are true. So, common sense, alone, will not take you very far in your study of psychology.

Scientific Method n Identify a Research Problem n Design a Study n Collect and Analyze Data n Draw Conclusions n Communicate findings Copyright © Allyn & bacon 2002

How does the scientific method work? The classical approach to solving anything in science starts with a "problem," which through experimentation and prediction, evolves through the "hypothesis" and "theory" stages into a scientific "law." From: Ask GeoMan...

The Scientific Method The scientific method consists of the orderly, systematic procedures that researchers follow as they identifya research problem, design a study to investigate the problem, collect and analyze data, draw conclusions, and communicate their findings. (Formal Definition)

How does the scientific method work? 1. Wild and Crazy Idea If we assume that all science starts as science fiction, I like this terminology better than just calling it a ”research problem." Getting beyond this involves setting up experiments to verify your idea. Ask GeoMan...

How does the scientific method work? 2. Hypothesis If your experimental data fail to support your idea, you'll need to go back to Step 1. If your experiments do support your idea, move on to Step 3. Ask GeoMan...

How does the scientific method work? 3. Theory Great, your experiments support your hypothesis, and you are now the proud owner of a theory. Getting beyond this into the law stage requires that you can use your theory to predict the results of additional work, and that your predictions hold. As before, if they don't, return to an earlier step and try again. If your predictions hold consistently, move on to the next stage. Ask GeoMan...

How does the scientific method work? 4. Law This is where most discussions of the scientific method end. However, I ( GeoMan) feel two additional steps are almost guaranteed to occur. “scientific law: 1. A natural phenomenon that has been proven to occur invariably whenever certain conditions are met. 2. A formal statement describing such a phenomenon and the conditions under which it occurs.” Also just called a law.

How does the scientific method work? 5. Dogma Laws tend to be supported to such an extent that they almost become dogma. Take gravity for example. When is the last time you dropped a pencil and it floated away. Pretty stupid idea, huh? We are all so sure that gravity is THE LAW that we don't even consider the possibility that there may be exceptions or situations when it breaks down and doesn't work. This leads to the last and final stage:

How does the scientific method work? 6. Stagnation This is the death of scientific thought, and should have no place in YOUR thoughts. Question all scientific laws, especially the ones that are the most firmly steeped in dogma. (But don't be stupid about it - throwing yourself off a cliff to test gravity doesn't make much sense!)

The Goals of Psychology n Description n Explanation n Prediction n Control Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Descriptive Research Methods n Naturalistic and Laboratory Observation n Case Study n Survey Research  Experimental method  Correlational method  Meta-Analysis Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002 See table on Page 18!

Descriptive Research Methods n Naturalistic and Laboratory Observation n Descriptive Information n Observer Bias & Influence n Minimal control n Case Study n Survey Research Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Descriptive Research Methods n Naturalistic and Laboratory Observation n Case Study n Small sample but Deep n Misintrepretation n Time consuming n Survey Research Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002 I disagree with authors here. Case Studies are frequently used in other disciplines. MBAs frequently use method.

Descriptive Research Methods n Naturalistic and Laboratory Observation n Case Study n Survey Research n Descriptive Information n Large numbers => good stats n Bias possible but not by professionals Again, the authors have a narrow view. This technique is frequently used in market research.

Experimental Method n Hypothesis n Independent Variable n Dependent Variable n Experimental Group n Control Group n Generalize Findings n Problems n Selection Bias n Placebo n Experimenter Bias Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002 Manipulate Measure

The Correlational Method n Relationships not Causes n Correlation Coefficient n Correlation and Prediction Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

The Correlational Method Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002 Correlation is NOT Causation!

Correlation Example Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Correlation Example cont.

Correlation Examples

Yet another Correlation Example pulmonary anatomical dead space

Psychological Research n Ethics in Research n Human Participant in Psychological Research n Bias in Psychological Research n Use of Animals in Psychological Research Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

The History of Psychology Schools of Thought n Structuralism n Functionalism n Gestalt n Behaviorism n Psychoanalysis n Humanistic n Cognitive n Evolutionary Wundt & Titchener William James Wertheimer Watson & Skinner Freud Maslow & Rogers Chomsky Cosmides and Tooby Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Women and Minority Pioneers in Psychology n Christine Ladd-Franklin n Mary Whiton Calkins n Margaret Floy Washburn n Francis Cecil Sumner n Albert Sydney Beckham n Kenneth Clark n Jorge Sanchez Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Modern Perspectives in Psychology n Biological Perspective n Neuroscience n Psychoanalytic Perspective n Behavioral Perspective n Cognitive Perspective n Humanistic Perspective n Evolutionary Perspective n Sociocultural Perspective Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002 HoldingDecliningIncreasing

Psychologists at Work n Clinical 44% n Generalists 17.5% n Counseling 11% n Basic Research 7% n Industrial/Organizational 4% n School Psychologists 4% n Other 4% n Educational 3% n Developmental Psychologists 3% n Social Psychologists 2.5% Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002

Psychologists at Work