Chapter 1 What is Psychology?

1.1 Why Study Psychology? What do you hope to learn from the study of psychology? Others? Self? Specific Topics? Psychology provides a different way to view and interpret the world and the people who inhabit it.

What is psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

What is psychology? Behavior is any action that people can observe or measure. Walking Talking Sleeping Eating Blood Pressure Brain Activity

What is psychology? Mental processes are cognitive activities. Dreams Perceptions Thoughts Memories

What is psychology? Psychologists also study people’s emotions as they can affect both behavior and cognition.

What are the goals of psychology? Psychologists observe and describe behavior and mental processes. A better understanding of behavior/mental processes enables psychologists to explain, predict, and control behavior.

Psychology as a Science Psychology is a social science. (The social sciences include history, sociology, and political science.) Some areas of psychology include elements of the natural sciences. (The natural sciences include biology and chemistry.)

Psychology as a Science Psychologists, like scientists, conduct research. Psychologists conduct research by using surveys, case studies, observation methods, and experimentation.

Psychology as a Science Psychologists, like scientists, organize their ideas into theories. A theory is a statement that attempts to explain why things are the way they are and happen the way they do. Theories help psychologists predict behavior and mental processes. Theories may be revised or discarded.

1.2 What Psychologists Do Psychologists work in many different fields, but they all focus on studying and explaining behavior and mental processes.

Major Fields in Psychology Clinical Psychology Make up the largest group of psychologists Treat people with all types of psychology problems Work in hospitals, prisons, colleges, and/or private practice Psychiatrists Are medical doctors and can prescribe medication

Major Fields in Psychology Counseling Psychology Typically treat people with adjustment problems Often work in businesses or higher education

Major Fields in Psychology School Psychology Identify and help students who have problems that interfere with learning Use interviews, tests, and observation to help students Educational Psychology Focus on course planning & instructional methods for entire school systems rather then individuals Often work with testing

Major Fields in Psychology Developmental Psychology Study changes that occur during the life span Includes physical, emotional, cognitive, or social changes

Major Fields in Psychology Personality Psychology Identify and study human characteristics or traits Concerned with issues such as anxiety, aggression, and gender roles Social Psychology Concerned with people’s social behavior Focus on external influences

Major Fields in Psychology Experimental Psychology Research basic processes such as functions of the nervous system, sensation and perception, learning, memory, thinking, and emotions Basic research – has no immediate application and is done for its own sake

Other Specialists Industrial and Organizational Psychology Industrial – study of people and work Organizational – study of how people behave in organizations such as business Usually trained in both areas Employed by business to improve working conditions and worker output

Other Specialists Environmental Psychology - Study how people influence and are influenced by their environment Consumer Psychology – Study behavior of shoppers Health Psychology Study how behavior and mental processes relate to physical health Study how stress affects health Focus on disease prevention

Other Specialists Forensic Psychology Work in the criminal justice system Determine the psychological competence of defendants Explain how psychological problems lead to criminal behavior Work with police departments to select police officers, help officers cope with job stress, and train officers in the handling of dangerous situations

1.3 A History of Psychology Interest in psychology goes back to ancient Greece Scientific approach, which began in the 1500s, led to birth of modern psychology in the late 1800s Hippocrates

1.3 A History of Psychology Wilhelm Wundt and Structuralism Established laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany Structuralism focused on the basic elements of consciousness Broke down consciousness into objective sensations and subjective feelings Believed human mind functions by combining objective sensations and subjective feelings

1.3 A History of Psychology William James and Functionalism Experience is a continuous “stream of consciousness” Study how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment William James

1.3 A History of Psychology John B. Watson and Behaviorism Defined psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior Believed people can be conditioned by external events and free choice is an illusion B.F. Skinner Contributed idea of reinforcement Behaviors reinforced will be repeated Watson Skinner

1.3 A History of Psychology The Gestalt School Developed by German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler Perceptions of objects are more then the sum of their parts - the wholes give meaning to the parts

1.3 A History of Psychology Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis Emphasizes unconscious motives and internal conflicts and importance of childhood experiences Very influential and very controversial Sigmund Freud

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