1. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 1 Psychology An Introduction Tenth Edition by Benjamin B. Lahey Slides by Ann Butzin Owens State Community College

2. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 2 What Is Psychology 1

3. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 3 The Origins of Psychology Aristotle Psyche – essence of life Psychology – study of life What Is Psychology

4. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 4 Definition of Psychology Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. Science – careful, controlled observation Mental processes – private thoughts, emotions, feelings, motives that others cannot directly observe What Is Psychology

5. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 5 Goals of Psychology Describe Predict Understand Influence What Is Psychology

6. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 6 The Many Viewpoints in Psychology and Their Origins What Is Psychology Wilhelm Wundt First laboratory in psychology, 1879 William James Lab in Harvard University, 1875 Many people founded psychology

7. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 7 Nature of Conscious Experience Wundt and Titchner Introspection Observe contents of own mind Describe sensations Structuralism Structure of mind J. Henry Alston Studies of sensations of heat and cold What Is Psychology

8. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 8 Nature of Conscious Experience Max Wertheimer Gestalt psychology Gestalt – the whole Phi phenomenon – the whole is different from the sum of its parts What Is Psychology

9. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 9 Functions of the Conscious Mind William James Functionalism Interested in what the mind could do Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution Critical of structuralist view What Is Psychology

10. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 10 Functions of the Conscious Mind Hermann Ebbinghaus Measurement of memory Meaningful and nonsense information Mary Calkins Functionalist Memory and related bits of information Paired associates method What Is Psychology

11. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 11 Functions of the Conscious Mind Cognitive psychology Modern version of functionalism Strongly influenced by Gestalt and structuralism Cognitive processes – functions of human consciousness Cognition – all intellectual processes What Is Psychology

12. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 12 Psychometrics: Alfred Binet Founded 1st psychology lab in France Developed way to measure intelligence Identify intelligent children for extensive education in France Test modified in U.S. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Psychometrics – measurement of mental functions What Is Psychology

13. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 13 Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory Behaviorists influenced by Darwin and learning from experience Ivan Pavlov Conditioning – simple form of learning Precise scientific way of studying learning What Is Psychology

14. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 14 Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory John Watson and Margaret Washburn Impressed by Pavlov’s scientific precision Behaviorism - human behavior learned through classical conditioning Should study only overt behavior B.F. Skinner Strict behaviorist – no mental processes What Is Psychology

15. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 15 Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory Social learning theory Broader version of behaviorism Albert Bandura Most of behavior learned from others in society Important theroetical view today What Is Psychology

16. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 16 Neuroscience Perspective Interested in relationship between biological nature and psychological nature How structures of brain influence behavior Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution – compare different species and humans Neurons and complex connections Active and inactive states of human brain What Is Psychology

17. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 17 Nature of the “Unconscious Mind” Mental processes that we are unaware of Sigmund Freud Founder of psychoanalysis Unconscious mind Innate motives Conflicts influence behavior Sexual and aggressive are most important What Is Psychology

18. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 18 Nature of the “Unconscious Mind” Humanistic psychology Maslow, Rogers, and Frankl Human fate based on conscious decisions Society is cause of self-defeating unconscious mind – bombarded with inaccurate information Self-concept – our view of what we are like Negative information causes anxiety Difficult to have accurate self-concept What Is Psychology

19. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 19 Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology Sociocultural perspective People are different – gender, cultural heritage, age, sexual orientation, and unique experiences Derived from social anthropology Shaped by social learning theory – personalities, beliefs, attitudes, and skills learned from others Full understanding within sociocultural context What Is Psychology

20. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 20 Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology Sociocultural perspective Culture – patterns of behavior, beliefs, values shared by a people Ethnic group – persons who are descendants of common group of ancestors Ethnic identity – one’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group; sharing their culture What Is Psychology

21. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 21 Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology Sociocultural perspective Gender identity – viewing oneself as female or male Cultural relativity Think in relative terms, not judgmental All cultures are different, none inferior Usually more differences within groups than between groups What Is Psychology

22. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 22 Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology Sociocultural perspective in psychology Psychology overemphasizes same, neglects diversity History of psychology – Prejudiced against females and people of color Roadblocks in education and employment Today – formal barriers dropped but some prejudice still exists What Is Psychology

23. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 23 Evolutionary Psychology Studies behavior of animals and humans Influenced by Darwin’s natural selection Spontaneous change or mutation in gene – the fittest survive Fitness – reproducing offspring to carry mutated gene to future generations Hard wired differences in men and women What Is Psychology

24. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 24 Evolutionary Psychology Positive psychology movement Study positive aspects of human lives Seligman – positive psychology as new school of thought Study health and happiness What Is Psychology

25. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 25 Specialty Areas of Modern Psychology Applied psychologists – research studies Basic areas of modern psychology Biological psychology Sensation and perception Motivation and emotion Developmental psychology Sociocultural psychology What Is Psychology Cognition Personality Social psychology

26. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 26 Specialty Areas of Modern Psychology Applied areas of modern psychology Clinical psychology Counseling psychology Educational and school psychology Industrial and organizational psychology Health psychology What Is Psychology

27. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 27 Specialty Areas of Modern Psychology Relationship between psychology and psychiatry Psychiatrist – M.D. degree, residency training in psychiatry and medical internship Psychologist – Ph.D. or Psy.D., internship in clinical psychology What Is Psychology

28. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 28 What We Know About Human Behavior Human beings are biological creatures Every person is different, yet much the same Can fully understand people in their social context Human life is continuous process of change Behavior is motivated Humans are social animals People are active in creating experiences Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive What Is Psychology

29. © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 29 The End 1 What Is Psychology