Today's learning output would be:
Define psychology and know its goals
Describe various fields in psychology
Describe the origins of psychology and identify
those who made significant contributions to the field
Identify theoretical perspectives of modern
psychologists toward behavior and mental
processes
What is Psychology?
Psychology
is the scientific study of human behavior and
mental processes
goals of psychology
Description tells what occurred
explanation tells why a given event or behavior occurred
prediction happens when researchers can specify the conditions
under which a behavior or event is likely to occur
influence happens when researchers know how to apply a
principle or change a condition in order to prevent unwanted
occurrences
psychology describes, explains, influences, & predicts behavior
and mental processes
What Psychologist do?
Research
Pure research- research conducted
without concern for immediate
applications
Applied research - conducted in an effort
to find solutions to particular problems
Practice
Teaching
Fields of Psychology
Clinical
Experimental
Counseling
Industrial
School
(organizational,
Educational
human factor,
Developmental
Personality
consumer)
Health
Social
Sport
Environmental
Forensic
Where did psychology
came from?
Democritus
Aristotle - wrote Peri Psyches
Socrates
Introspection-research method
first suggested by Socrates which
up to know remained as the motto
of psychology "know thyself"
Gustav Theodor Fecher -Elements of
Psychophysics (1860)
Wilhem Wundt - father of Psychology
established the first laboratory for
psychology
Schools of thought
Classical
Structuralism
Wilhem Wundt
Structuralism breaks conscious experiences into
Objective sensations (sight, taste),&
Subjective feelings (emotional responses, will)
Mental images (memories, dreams)
Mind functions by combining objective and subjective
elements of experiences
Functionalism - William James
Behaviorism - John B. Watson
Functionalism, concerned not with structure of
consciousness, but with how mental processes
function, that is how humans and animals use
mental processes in adapting to their environment
Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) NATURAL
SELECTION. ideas about evolution and continuity
of species
Francis Galton (1822 - 1911) ARTIFICIAL
SELECTION.
William James (1842 - 1910) taught that mental
processes are fluid and have continuity rather than
the rigid, or fixed, structure.
contributions of functionalism
broadened the scope of psychology to include
the study of behavior as well as mental processes
allowed the study of children, animals, and the
mentally impaired groups that could not be
studied by structuralist
focused on applied, more practical use of
psychology by studying the educational practices,
individual differences & adaptation in work place
How today's Psychologists View
Behavior and Mental Processes
Major Perspectives of Psychology
Behaviorism
John B. Watson (1878 - 1958) redefined psychology as
the science of behavior. it confines itself to the study of
behavior because behavior is observable, measurable,
therefore, objective and scientific
emphasis:
the role of environment in shaping and controlling
behavior
the observable, measurable behavior are the
appropriate subject matter for psychology
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
Psychoanalysis Theory maintains that the
unconscious is the primary focus which
determines thoughts, feelings, and behavior
based his data from case studies of his patients
the iceberg metaphor of the human psyche
Cognitive Psychology
sees humans not as passive recipients who are
manipulated by environmental forces, but as
active participants who seek out experiences,
alter and shape those experiences, and use
mental processes to transform information in
the course of their own cognitive development
the role of mental processes - perception,
thinking, and memory underlie behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
Leda Cosmides & John Tooby
focuses on how human behaviors required for
survival have adapted in the face of
environmental pressures over the long course
of evolution
The roles of inherited tendencies that have
proven adaptive in humans
Biological (Physiological) Psychology
determines links between specific behaviors and
particular biological factors that often help explain
individual differences (study of the structure of the
brain and the central nervous system, the functioning of
neurons, heredity, etc)
belongs to the interdisciplinary field known as
neuroscience which combines the work of
psychologists, biologists, biochemists, medical
researchers, and others in the study of the structure and
function of the nervous system
Humanistic - Existential Perspective
Stresses human capacity for selffulfillment
Existentialism stresses free choice and
personal responsibility
Psychodynamic Perspective
Focus on conscious choice and selfdirection then psychoanalysis
Perspective on Learning
Social Cognitive
People modify and create their
environment
Observation
Socio-cultural Perspective
Focuses on the influence of differences
among people on behavior and mental
processes
Ethnicity, gender, culture,
socioeconomic status
How Psychologists study Behavior
and Mental Processes
critical thinking
independent thinking
suspension of judgment
willingness to modify or abandon prior
judgement
hindsight bias: (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)
is the tendency to perceive an outcome that has
occurred as being obvious and predictable
overconfidence
intuition
hindsight bias and overconfidence often lead us to
overestimate our intuition. but scientific inquiry, fed
by curious skepticism and by humility, can help us
sift reality from illusions
how to think like a scientist?
apply critical thinking which is the
foundation of the scientific method, it is
the process of objectively evaluating
claims, propositions and conclusions to
determine whether they follow logically
the evidence presented
method
description
DESCRIPTIVE
observation and
METHODS
Naturalistic and
laboratory method
Case study
recording of behavior in
its natural setting or in a
laboratory
in-depth study of one or a
behavior studied in every setting is researchers' expectation can
more natural. a laboratory allows
precise measurement of variables.
can provide basis for hypothesis
to be tested
source of information for
natural setting researcher
has little or no control over
conditions
may not be generalizable.
and/or psychological
basis for hypothesis to be
interviews and/or
can provide accurate
responses maybe inaccurate.
number of people. can track
representatvie.
observation, interview,
questionnaires used to gather
information about attitudes,
beliefs, experiences, or
Random assignment of
participants to groups.
manipulation of the independent
or events. can provide
tested later
information about large
changes in attitudes and
behavior over time
enables identification
of cause-effect
METHOD
variables an and measurement of
the effect on the dependent
relationships
correlational
method used to determine
can assess strength of
method
distort observations. in
rare or unusual conditions
behaviors of a group of people
EXPERIMENTAL
limitation
few individuals using
testing
Survey
advantage
variable
the relationship
(correlation) between to
events, characteristics, or
behavior
relationship between
variables. provide
basis for prediction
time-consuming. subject
to misinterpretation by
researcher
sample may nt be
characteristics of interviewer
may influence responses
laboratory setting may inhibit
natural behavior of participants.
findings may not be generalizable
to the real world. in some cases,
experimaent is unentichal or
impossible
does not
demonstrate cause
and effect
assignment
because psychology is a science, should it be free of value
judgement? explain your answer
aren't psychology theories mere common sense? explain your answer
is it ethical to experiment on people and animals? why and why not?
how is Psychology relevant to your course?
which of the psychological research methods discussed would be
applicable to research in your respective field of study. give
examples of topics in their course that may be studied using these
research
