1. Psychology: What is it and where did it come from?
Unit 1: Sections 1 & 2
Psychology: What is it and where did it come from?

2. Psychology: What is it?
Definition: The book defines Psychology as the study of behavior and cognitive (private) process.
What does that mean?
Is it the same for everyone?
How is it tested?

3. The Goals of Psychology
Description
-Describe or gather info about a behavior.
Explanation
-Why do people behave as they do?
Prediction
-An attempt to predict, as a result of accumulated knowledge, what people will think or feel in various situations.
Influence
- Finding a way to influence behavior in positive ways.

4. Some Definitions (booooo!)
Hypothesis: an assumption or prediction about a behavior that is tested through scientific research.
Theory: A set of assumptions used to explain phenomena and offered for scientific study.
Basic Science: The pursuit of knowledge about natural phenomena for its own sake.
Applied Science: Discovering ways to use scientific findings to accomplish practical goals.

5. The Scientific Method See Text Pg. 12 for chart! Question Hypothesis
Experiment
Results
Conclusion
Theory

6. Differences in Opinion
Throughout time, many psychologists have had a wide variety of views as to what psychology is and what it should study.
Wilhelm Wundt ( )
Founded the first psychological lab in 1879 at Leipzig in Germany.
He saw Psychology as the study of conscious experience.
He did this through introspection, asking a person to describe what was going on in his mind. This is an attempt to study Psychology, much as a chemist would study substances.
He was a structuralist, which means he was interested in the basic elements of human experience.

7. Another Opinion William James (1842-1910)
The first “American” psychologist.
He was more interested in how the mind functions, than how the body reacts.
Believed that the mind should be viewed as a “whole” and that you miss the point when you try to break it down into different parts.
He developed “functionalism” as an answer to the problems he encountered with introspection and structuralism.
Functionalism: The study of how animals and people adapt to their environments. The function, rather than the structure.

8. More Opinions… John Watson (1878-1958)
Watson said “You can’t see the mind so how can you study it?”
According to Watson, “all we can see is observable behavior and that is what psychology should study. Skinner is also widely known for this view.
Watson was a behaviorist.
Behaviorist: Psychologists who stress investigating observable behavior rather than the mind. How do organisms behave in response to their environment?

9. And now for a little break…
What’s going on in this clip? Hmmmmmm……

10. And now back to the Show! Mary Calkins (1863-1930)
The first woman to make a career in Psychology.
Unfortunately, because of prejudices against women in 1895, she never received a PhD.
An understudy of William James.
Side note: The first female psychologist with a PhD was Margaret Washburn.

11. I’m asleep…but awake? Odd…
Sigmund Freud ( )
Was a physician who practiced in 1938.
He was more interested in the unconscious mind than the conscious mind. Huh? What the heck does that mean?
He believed Consciousness was only the “tip of the ice burg” and that our unconscious mind and biological urges are in conflict with the requirements of society and morality.
According to Freud, these unconscious conflicts are responsible for most human behavior. =

12. Ok, last bio…For now… muahahaha!
Ivan Pavlov ( )
Russian
Pavlov’s Dog experiment. Pavlov rang a tuning fork each time he gave a dog some meat powder. When the powder reached the dog’s mouth, it would salivate. After Pavlov repeated this procedure several times, the dog would salivate when he heard the tuning fork…Even if there was no food. The dog had been conditioned to associate the sound with food.

13. Odd……..

14. Yup…A few more definitions
Psychoanalyst: A psychologist who studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine behavior.
Behaviorist: A psychologist who analyzes how organisms learn or modify their behavior based on their response to events in the environment.
Humanist: A psychologist who believes that each person has freedom in directing his or her future and achieving personal growth.
Cognitivist: A psychologist who studies how we process, store, retrieve, and use information and how cognitive processes influence our behavior.
Psychobiologist: A psychologist who studies how physical and chemical changes in our bodies influence our behavior.

15. Perspectives of Psychology & Psychology as a Profession
Unit 1, Section 2 & 3
Perspectives of Psychology & Psychology as a Profession

16. Perspectives of Psychology
Today most psychologists believe overt behavior is central to the field. What leads to behavior is debated however. Therefore, there are a variety of perspectives on what the focus of study should be.
Cognitive Perspective:
Cognition means thinking. The cognitive perspective holds that to understand how people behave you have to understand how they think, remember, and decide. That is what determines how they act.
Physiological Perspective:
Our brain is a complex biochemical organ that affects how we think and behave. To understand behavior you must understand the roots of behavior, the working of the brain and nervous system.

17. Sociocultural Perspective:
Behavior is strongly influenced by social and cultural factors. To fully understand behavior, you have to take into consideration the social and cultural environment in which it occurs.
Psychodynamic Perspective:
This is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud saw psychology as the study of unconscious because he believed unconscious motivation controlled behavior.
Behavioral Perspective:
Probably the most dominant perspective today. This is the continuation of Watson’s idea that overt behavior is the most important thing to study. A combination of this and the cognitive perspective is also popular.

18. Psychology as a Profession

19. Training Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist Many People get these confused.
They are similar in that both may work in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
They are different in that a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who may prescribe medicine. A psychologist generally has a PhD and cannot prescribe medicine.
Major difference = Drugs

20. So you wanna job?
Clinical Psychology: This is what most people think of when they hear the work psychologist. They diagnose and treat mental disorders.
Counseling Psychology: The book says they treat people who do not have mental disorders, but in reality they do the same work as clynical psychologists although they are less likely to work with people with severe psychopathology.
Developmental Psychology: They study how people change physically, cognitively, and socially over the lifespan.
School Psychology: This is the third of the three main applied areas. They diagnose and treat children with learning, behavioral, and emotional problems with an emphasis on the school envirionment.

21. Educational Psychology: They study psychological principles within an educational environment. They are different from school psychologists because they generally do not work with individual children but focus more on instruction, techniques, etc…
Cognitive Psychology: their focus is on thinking, reasoning, language, and decision making.
Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Studies aspects of behavior in work setting such as personnel selection, employee evaluation, work motivation, and leadership.
Psychobiology: Also called physiological psychology. They are interested in the brain and how it works.
Social Psychology: They are interested in social behavior. How do we act and react based on the social information we receive.
Experimental Psychology: This covers almost all of the basic areas such as perception, learning, motivation, and animal behavior.

22. The end…of this Section!

23. Psychological Research Methods and Statistics

24. Methodology What is Methodology?
- According to the text, methodology simply refers to the methods that we use to conduct an investigation.
The goals of research are to describe behavior, to explain its causes, to predict the circumstances under which certain behaviors may occur again, and to control certain behaviors. Psychologists use various methods of research to accomplish each of these goals.

25. The different types of research
Naturalistic Observation: A research method in which the psychologist observes the subject in a natural setting without interfering. (In other words…Watch, but do not touch!)
- Note: This is frequently informal and is usually the first step to allow you to get a better understanding of the behavior which allows further, more in depth investigation.
Case Studies: A research method that involves an intensive investigation of one or more participants. (long term, very involved.)
- Note: By itself, a case study does not prove or disprove anything. The researchers conclusions may not be correct. This was the technique used by Freud.
Surveys: A research method in which information is obtained by asking many individuals a fixed set of questions. This is usually used to get an idea of the population’s attitudes toward something.
- Note: These are only accurate if they are representative of the population as a whole.

26. A few more types of research
Longitudinal Study: A research method in which data is collected about a group of participants over a number of years to assess how certain change or remain the same during development.
- Note: These studies are very time consuming, but are the best way to study changes over time.
Cross Sectional Studies: A research method in which data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age.
- Note: Less expensive that Longitudinal studies and take less time, yet yield similar results.

27. What is Correlation?
Correlation: The measure of a relationship between two variables or sets of data.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?
There are 2 types of Correlation. Positive and Negative.
For example, there is a positive correlation between IQ scores and academic success. Low IQ scores tend to go with low grades.
Still confused…No problem! (High score = High score, Low score = Low score)
Another example, there is a negative correlation between the number of hours you practice catching a football and the number of times you get hit in the face with it. In other words, the more you practice, the less you will get hit in the face! (High score = Low score, Low score = High score)
It is important to remember that while the word correlation describes the relationship between 2 things, it does not always mean that one thing causes the other. Why?

28. Negative Correlation
Not enough practice = Hit in face with football.

29. Experimental Terms
Hypothesis: An educated guess about the relationship between 2 variables.
Variable: Any factor that is capable of change.
Note: There are 2 types of variables; the independent variable (the one experimenters change or alter so that they can observe its effects.), and the dependent variable (the one that can only be directly effected by the dependent variable.) In other words, The number of hours you study effects your academic performance.
Experimental Group: The group to which an independent variable is applied.
Control Group: The group that is treated in the same way as the experimental group except that the experimental treatment (the independent variable) is not applied.

30. The Principles Published by the American Psychological Association:
Ethical Issues
Ethics: The methods of conduct, or standards, for proper and responsible behavior.
In 1992 the American Psychological Association published a set of ethical principles regarding the collection, storage, and use of psychological data.
The Principles Published by the American Psychological Association:
Psychologists are responsible for the dignity and welfare of participants. Psychologists are also responsible for all research they perform or is performed by others under their supervision.
Psychologists obey all state and federal laws and regulations as well as professional standards governing research.

31. Except for anonymous surveys, naturalistic observations, and similar research, psychologists reach an agreement regarding the rights and responsibilities of both participants and researcher(s) before research is started.
When consent is required, psychologists obtain a signed, informed consent before starting any research with a participant.
Deception is used only if no better alternative is available. Under no condition is there deception about (negative) aspects that might influence a participant’s willingness to participate.
Other issues covered include sharing and utilizing data, offering inducements, minimizing evasiveness, and providing participants with information about the study.
Note: Recently the use of animals in research has caused much concern and debate. While some people oppose subjecting animals to pain for research purposes, others point to the enormous gains in knowledge and reduction in human suffering that have resulted from such research.
What do you think?

32. Animal Testing?

33. Problems and Solutions in Research
The “Self-Fulfilling” prophecy: A situation in which a researcher’s expectations influence that person’s own behavior, and thereby influence the participants behavior.
How do you fix it? There are a few options:
Single-blind experiment: An experiment in which the participants are unaware of which participants received the treatment.
Double-blind experiment: An experiment in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which participants received which treatment.

34. Problem #2:
The “Placebo” effect: A change in a participant’s illness or behavior that results from a belief that the treatment will have an effect, rather than the actual treatment.
How can this be viewed as a positive?
How can this be viewed as a negative?
Is this fair to do to someone?
Should a Person be notified that they are in effect being “tricked?”

35. ??? Some Questions ???
Why should psychologists question the results of an experiment that they have conducted for the first time?
How do scientists attempt to avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy?
How can a psychologist attempt to justify deceiving patients in testing? Should they?