1. Roadmap Psychology Research Methods Ethics in research
How do we know what we know?
Theories
Psychology
Research Methods

2. How do we know what we know?

3. How do you know? …that you really have a stomach
…that George Washington was the first president of the United States?
…that the sun will rise tomorrow?
…that there aren’t little creatures running around inside your computer that are responsible for the things computers do?
…the color of the shirt I am wearing?

4. Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

5. Four Goals of Psychology
Description
What is happening?
Explanation
Why is it happening?
Prediction
When will it happen again?
Control
How can it be changed?

6. Theory
a set of ideas that can be used to organize, describe, or explain behavior

7. Characteristics of good theories
Organize study designs
Explain and predict (provide hypotheses)
Universal or generalizeable
Parsimonious
Testable or falsifiable
Heuristic (rich research resource)

8. Significance of theories
We all have them
Necessary to study of development
Impact research and real world practices

9. Where do theories come from?
Word of mouth TV
Religious teachings
Talk shows
Personal experiences
Expert opinions
Research evidence*

10. Psychological Theories

11. Psychological Theories
Psychodynamic (unconscious, early development)
Behavioral (conditioning, punishment, reinforcement)
Humanistic (people are free to choose their own destiny)

12. Psychological Theories
Cognitive (memory, perception, learning)
Sociocultural (interaction between social behavior and culture)
Biopsychological (human/animal behavior associated with biological events)
Evolutionary (biological and mental traits shared by all humans)

13. What about Freud?
Psychoanalysis - the theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud
Patients suffered from nervous disorders with no found physical cause
Unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all of our threatening sexual urges and desires

14. Freud
Repressed sexual urges, in trying to surface, created nervous disorders
Stressed the importance of early childhood experiences

15. More on Modern Psychological Theories
Psychodynamic perspective - modern version of psychoanalysis
Development of a sense of self and the discovery of other motivations for behavior
Reduced emphasis on sexual motivations

16. Behavioral perspective
B. F. Skinner studied operant conditioning
Behaviorism became a major force in the twentieth century
Skinner introduced the concept of reinforcement

17. Humanistic perspective
Early roots of psychology in the field of philosophy
People have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny
Emphasized human potential, ability of each person to become the best person they could be
Self-actualization - achieving one’s full potential or actual self

18. Cognitive perspective
Memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning.

19. Sociocultural perspective
Relationship between social behavior and culture

20. Biopsychological perspective
Attributes human and animal behavior to biological events, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system.

21. Evolutionary perspective
Biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share
How the mind works and why it works as it does
Behavior has an adaptive or survival value

22. Ethics in Psychological Research
Stanley Milgram Stanford Prison Experiment

23. Ethics in Psychological Research
Rights/well-being must be weighed against value to science
Informed consent (informed decision about participation)
Deception must be justified
Withdrawal from the study for any reason at any time

24. Ethics in Psychological Research
Non-harmful procedures or participants told of risks
Debriefing (telling the true nature of the study)
Data must remain confidential
If undesirable consequences, researcher is responsible for detecting and removing/correcting (e.g., Little Albert)
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval