The Nature of

Psychology
Angelyn B. Machate
Instructor
Intended Learning Outcomes
• Understand psychological theories, concepts, research
paradigms and research findings, and be able to make
links to the relevant historical background.
• Describe the precursors to the establishment of the
science of psychology
• Appreciate the diverse, wide-ranging nature of psychology
and an ability to make links between different areas of the
discipline.
 What is Psychology?
✢ Psychology: Greek words
▪ psyche or mind, soul, or spirit

▪ logos or study

✢ Psychology is defined as the ‘scientific

study of behavior and mental
processes’.
3
What is Psychology?
✢ Mind
○ the contents of subjective experience

○ sensations, thoughts, and emotions

✢ Behavior
○ observable actions

○ thoughts and feelings

○ activities of cells
5
Why is Psychology a Science?

❑ Psychology is an

objective and
systematic study
of how people
behave and think.
Why is Psychology a Science?

❑ Its goals are to:

✓ describe,

✓ explain,

✓ predict,

✓ and change behavior

Goals of Psychology
Describe

▪ Describe the actual phenomenon thru the

use of variety of research methods.

▪ What is considered normal or healthy and

what is abnormal or unhealthy behavior.
Goals of Psychology
Explain

▪ Why do people act the way they do?

▪ What factors contribute to development,

personality, social behavior, and mental
health problems?
Goals of Psychology
Predict

▪ Making predictions based on how people

previously thought and acted.

▪ When, why, and how a certain behavior

will appear again in the future.
Goals of Psychology
Control / Change

▪ Psychology strives to change, influence,

and/or control behavior to make
constructive, lasting changes in people's
lives.
Some Research Topics in Psychology
✢ What part of the brain is responsible for language?
✢ What crises do adolescents experience?
✢ Why do we forget?
✢ Why do we need to sleep?
✢ What factors influence attraction to another person?
✢ How can we control aggression?
✢ Is fear of spiders abnormal?
✢ How did Ilearn to study?
11
Western History of Psychology
Greek philosophers:
Studied the nature of the mind, the soul,
Early dates (Socrates, Plato,
the body, and human experience
Aristotle)
Nativist View:
17th Century Rene Descartes
some ideas are innate
Empiricist View:
John Locke Knowledge is acquired through experiences
& interactions with the world
Sir Francis Galton of Studied individual differences> dev’t of
1869
England intelligence tests
Father of Psychology
Established the first psychological laboratory
1879 Wilhelm Wundt (Germany @ Leipzig Univ. ) Research:
senses (vision), attention, emotion and
memory
 First American to finish doctoral studies in psychology
Granville Stanley Established the 1st psychological laboratory (US @ John
1883
Hall Hopkins Univ) Founded the 1st American Journal of
psychology
James McKeen
1888 1st psychology professor in the US
Cattell
Structuralism:
Specified mental structures & analyzed the basic
19th Century Titchener elements of mental life.
Introspection: the examination of one’s own emotional
states & mental processes.
Functionalism:
William James Functions of the mind & behavior to adapt to the
environment

First American to finish doctoral studies in psychology

Granville Stanley Established the 1st psychological laboratory (US @ John
1883
Hall Hopkins Univ) Founded the 1st American Journal of
psychology
14
 Behaviorism:
John B. Watson
Only observable behavior should be studied
1920’s Ivan Pavlov B.F.
Classical Conditioning
Skinner
Operant Conditioning

Gestalt Psychology:
1912 Max Wertheimer “Gestalt” means form or configuration “the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts”
Psychoanalysis:
20th
Sigmund Freud Human behavior is deeply influenced by unconscious
Century
thoughts, impulses, & desires (sex & aggression)

Views humans as information processing systems

Modern Linguistics: study of how mental structures
Recent Herbert Simon are required to comprehend & speak a language
dev’ts Noam Chomsky Neuropsychology:
studies the relationship between neurobiological
events & mental processes

15
Philippine History of Psychology
Univ. of Sto. Tomas (1st institution to offer
Taught in two Phil. undergraduate, master’s & doctoral degrees
17th Century
Univ. in Psychology) Univ. of San Carlos (Cebu)

1926 Agustin Alonzo Head of the 1st Dept. of Psychology, at UP.

Sinforoso Padilla, Ph.D.

Established the 1st psychological clinic at
1932 (Univ. of Michigan,
UP.
1928)
Jesus Perpinan, Ph.D.
Set up the FEU psychological clinic
(Iowa State Univ, 1933)

Elias Bumatay, Ph.D.

Dean of the College of Education at NU
Educ Psych (Univ. of
(National University)
Texas, 1940)
Philippine History of Psychology
Estefania Aldaba-Lim,
Started the psychology program at PWU Set
1948 1962 Ph.D. Clinical Psych
up the Phil. Psychological Corp.
(Univ. of Michigan)
Alfredo Lagmay, Ph.D.
1955 Experimental Psych Headed the Psychology Dept. of UP (22 yrs)
(Harvard Univ., 1955)
Mariano Obias, Ph.D.
Comparative &
Led the personnel dept. of Caltex Phils.
Physiological Psych
(Stanford Univ., 1955)
Jaime Bulatao, S.J.
1961 Ph.D. Clinical Psych Established the Dept. of Psych at ADMU
(Fordham Univ., 1961)

All pioneers (except for Founded the P AP (Psychological Assoc. of

1962
Bumatay) and Alonzo the Phils.)
“It is not primarily our physical
selves that limit us but rather
our mindset about our physical
limits.”
- Ellen J. Langer

17
Perspectives in Psychology
✢ Psychodynamic Approach
✢ Behavioral Approach
✢ Cognitive Approach
✢ Biological or Behavioral Neuroscience Approach
✢ The Phenomenological or Humanistic Approach
✢ The Sociocultural Approach
✢ The Evolutionary Psychology Approach

18
Psychology Perspectives
▪ An approach is a perspective (i.e., view) that
involves certain assumptions (i.e., beliefs) about
human behavior.
▪ Most psychologists would agree that no one
perspective is correct.

19
Psychodynamic Approach
o Originated by Sigmund Freud and later
adapted by his followers.
o Emphasizes unconscious psychological
processes
o Contends that childhood experiences
are crucial in shaping adult personality

20
 Psychodynamic Approach

According to Freud
(1915), the
unconscious mind is
the primary source of
human

behavior. Like an
iceberg, the most
important part of the
mind is the part you
cannot see.

22
Psychodynamic Approach
✢ Freud explained the human mind as like an
iceberg, with only a small amount of it being
visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is
the unconscious, submerged mind that has the
most, underlying influence on our behavior.

23
Psychodynamic Approach
❖ The conscious mind, which consists of all the
mental processes of which we are aware, and this is
seen as the tip of the iceberg.
❖ The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings
that a person is not currently aware of, but which
can easily be brought to consciousness (1924).

24
Psychodynamic Approach
❖ According to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind
is the primary source of human behavior. Our
feelings, motives and decisions are actually
powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and
stored in the unconscious.

25
Psychodynamic Approach
✢ Freud believed that the unconscious mind consisted of
three components:

o The id – pleasure principle. Itcontains two main instincts:

▪ Eros – life instinct, which deals with basic survival, pleasure

and reproduction.
▪ Thanatos – death/aggressive instinct, whose energies,
because they are less powerful than those of 'Eros' are
channeled away from ourselves and into aggression towards
others.
26
Psychodynamic Approach
✢ Freud believed that the unconscious mind consisted of
three components:

o The ego – reality principle. The ego develops to

mediate between the unrealistic id and the external
real world. It is the decision-making component of
personality.

27
Psychodynamic Approach
✢ Freud believed that the unconscious mind consisted of
three components:

o The superego - incorporates the values and morals of

society which are learned from one's parents and
others. The superego consists of two systems: The
conscience and the ideal self.

26
Psychodynamic Approach

29
 Psychodynamic Approach
Id Ego Superego
“You want to go out with your “Balance! Study now and after “You must study all night or
friends! Don’t study!” you do well on your test you you won’t pass the test!”
can spend time with friends.”
“I love to eat a cake” ”You can eat, but just a small “You are on a diet, right?”
amount”
Maggie couldn’t remember the answer to test question #12, even though she had studied. Nate
was the smartest kid in the class, and from where Maggie sat, she could see his answers if she
turned her head slightly. When Mrs. Archer turned her back, Maggie almost cheated, but her
conscience stopped her because she knew it was wrong. Instead, Maggie took a guess at the
answer and then turned in her paper.

30
Psychodynamic Approach

31
Behavioral Approach
✢ John B. Watson: Father of Behaviorism
✢ Behaviors are activities of people or
other organisms that can be observed by
others.
✢ States that “when we attempt to
understand an event, we need to look at
the observable behaviors & their
environmental determinants”.

32
Behavioral Approach
✢ Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea
that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning,
and conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment.
✢ Behaviorists believe that our actions are shaped by
environmental stimuli.
Behavioral Approach
- The behaviorist approach proposes two main processes
whereby people learn from their environment: classical
conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical
conditioning involves learning by association while
operant conditioning involves learning from the
consequences of behavior.
Behavioral Approach
o Classical Conditioning (CC)—also
sometimes referred to as Pavlovian
conditioning—was studied/discovered
by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov.

o The principles of CC have been applied in

many therapies.

33
Behavioral Approach
o Unconditioned stimulus - a stimulus or trigger
that leads to an automatic / involuntary response.

o Neutral stimulus - a stimulus that doesn't initially

trigger a response on its own.

o Conditioned stimulus - a stimulus that was once

neutral (didn't trigger a response) but now leads to
a response.
33
Behavioral Approach
o Unconditioned response - an automatic response or a
response that occurs without thought when an
unconditioned stimulus is present.

o Conditioned response - a learned response or a

response that is created where no response existed
before.

33
Behavioral Approach

39
Behavioral Approach
FIVE KEY PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

1. Acquisition is the initial stage of learning, when a

response is first established and gradually
strengthened.
2. Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned
response decrease or disappear.
3. Spontaneous recovery a learned response can
suddenly reemerge, even after a period of extinction.
33
Behavioral Approach
FIVE KEY PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

4. Generalization is the tendency for a conditioned

stimulus to evoke similar responses after the
response has been conditioned.

5. Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between

a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have
not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

33
Behavioral Approach
o Operant conditioning was first described by
behaviorist Burrhus Frederic Skinner.
o Sometimes referred to as
instrumental conditioning, is a
method of learning that employs
rewards and punishments for
behavior.

42
Behavioral Approach

43
Behavioral Approach
Reinforcement Punishment
Something
Something
is added to decrease th
Positive is added to increase the
e likelihood of a
likelihood of a behavior.
behavior.
Something Something
is removed to increase t is removed to decrease
Negative
he likelihood of a the likelihood of a
behavior. behavior.

44
45
 Behavioral Approach
Skinner Box Experiment

46
 Cognitive Approach
✢ Ulric Neisser is considered the founder /
father of cognitive psychology.

✢ Cognitive psychology involves the study

of internal mental processes—all of the
workings inside your brain, including
perception, thinking, memory, attention,
language, problem-solving, and learning.
(Sternberg RJ, Sternberg K. Cognitive Psychology.
Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. )
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/ulric-neisser-who-
reshaped-thinking-on-the-mind-dies-at-83.html

47
 Cognitive Approach

✢ Findings from cognitive psychology help us

understand how people think, including
how they acquire and store memories. By
knowing more about how these processes
work, psychologists can develop new ways
of helping people with cognitive problems. https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/the-cognitive-
approach-therapies.htm

48
 Cognitive Approach
✢ Cognitive behavioral therapy and
rational emotive behavior therapy are
two methods in which clients and
therapists focus on the underlying
cognitions, or thoughts, that contribute to https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cognitive-psychology.html

psychological distress.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an approach that helps clients identify irrational beliefs and
other cognitive distortions that are in conflict with reality and then aid them in replacing such thoughts with
more realistic, healthy beliefs.

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) developed by
psychologist Albert Ellis. REBT is an action-oriented approach that’s focused on helping people deal with
irrational beliefs and learn how to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a healthier, more
realistic way.
49
Cognitive Approach

https://www.sketchbubble.com/en/presentation-cognitive-approach.html

50
 Biological Approach
✢ The biological perspective is a way of
looking at psychological issues by studying
the physical basis for animal and human
behavior.
✢ The biological approach combines
psychology and biology to provide
“psychological explanations for human
behavior. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-
athletes-way/201309/these-are-revolutionary-times-
the-biology-psychology

40
 Biological Approach

✢ The biological perspective tends to stress the importance of

nature (how genetics influence an individual's personality).
✢ is often referred to as biopsychology or physiological
psychology.
✢ By looking at the biological bases of human behavior,
psychologists are better able to understand how the brain and
physiological processes might influence the way people think,
act, and feel.
40
Biological Approach

40
 Phenomenological or
Humanistic Approach
✢ Humanistic psychology is a perspective
that emphasizes looking at the whole
person (holism), and the uniqueness of
each individual.
✢ It begins with the existential assumptions
that people have free will and are https://mindisthemaster.com/humanistic-
psychology-vs-positive-psychology/

motivated to achieve their potential and

self-actualize.
42
Phenomenological or
Humanistic Approach

✢ Humanistic psychologists look at

human behavior, not only
through the eyes of the observer,
but through the eyes of the
person doing the action.
https://mindisthemaster.com/humanistic-
psychology-vs-positive-psychology/

42
Phenomenological or
Humanistic Approach
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS:
1. People have free will.
2. People are basically good, and have an innate need to make
themselves and the world better
3. People are motivated to self-actualize (Self-actualization concerns

psychological growth, fulfillment and satisfaction in life).

4. The subjective, conscious experiences of the individual is most

important
42
 Phenomenological or
Humanistic Approach

✢ Two of the most influential and

enduring theories in humanistic
psychology that emerged in the
1950s and 1960s are those of https://counsellingtutor.com/biography-of-carl-
rogers/

Carl Rogers and Abraham

Maslow.

https://www.verywellmind.com/biography-of-
abraham-maslow-1908-1970-2795524
42
https://www.sketchbubbl
e.com/en/presentation-
humanistic-
psychology.html
42
https://www.sketchbubble.com/en/pres
entation-humanistic-psychology.html

42
The Evolutionary Approach
✢ Evolutionary psychology is a scientific discipline that approaches
human behavior through a lens that incorporates the effects of
evolution.
✢ It combines the science of psychology with the study of biology.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/
Evolutionary_psychology

60
The Evolutionary Approach

✢ Emphasizes the importance of

adaptation, reproduction, and
survival of the fittest in
explaining behavior.

✢ Focused on how evolution

shaped the mind and behavior.

61
The Evolutionary Approach
✢ Observed behavior is likely to have
developed because it is adaptive.
✢ The mind is equipped with
“instincts” that enabled our ancestors to
survive and reproduce.

62
The Evolutionary Approach
✢ Observed behavior is likely to have
developed because it is adaptive.
✢ The mind is equipped with
“instincts” that enabled our ancestors to
survive and reproduce.

63
The Evolutionary Approach
FIVE PRINCIPLES:
1. Your brain is a physical system that instructs you to behave in a manner
appropriate and adaptive to your environment.
2. The neural circuitry of your brain helps you solve problems in an appropriate
manner.
3. Most of your psychological behaviors are determined subconsciously by your
neural circuitry, and you are largely unaware of these subconscious processes.
4. Neural circuits in the brain are specialized to solve different adaptive problems.
5. Your mind is based on adaptive changes that originated in the Pleistocene era.

64
The Sociocultural Approach

✢ It examines the influences of

social and cultural environments
on behavior. A major influence
on people’s behavior, thought
processes and emotions are
other people and the society they
have created. https://bpb-us-
w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.gsu.edu/dist
/5/5785/files/2017/03/ACIA_Figure
_15.19-1hp20dz.png

65
The Sociocultural Approach
✢ Studies the ways by which social and
cultural environments influence
behavior.

✢ A person’s cultural context should be

considered in order to understand behavior.

✢ Focuses on comparing behaviors across

countries as well as across cultures within a
country.
66
The Sociocultural Approach

✢ Psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed that

parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture
at large are responsible for developing the
brain's higher-order functions.
✢ According to Vygotsky, human development
relies on social interaction and, therefore,
can differ among cultures. https://elearningindustry.com/sociocultural-
learning-theory

67
The Sociocultural Approach

68
Perspectives in Psychology
Consider an issue like aggression. The psychoanalytic
perspective might view aggression as the result of childhood
experiences and unconscious urges. The behavioral perspective
considers how the behavior was shaped by association,
reinforcement, and punishment. A psychologist with a social
perspective might look at the group dynamics and pressures that
contribute to such behavior.

69
Research Methods

47
 Experimental Method
✢ Involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes
in one variable cause changes in another variable.

- Independent Variable: variable to be manipulated; this

variable is assumed to cause some type of effect on
another variable.

- Dependent Variable: variable that changes as the result

of the independent variable manipulation. It is the effect.

71
 Experimental Method
✢ Involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes
in one variable cause changes in another variable.

- Independent Variable: variable to be manipulated; this

variable is assumed to cause some type of effect on
another variable.

- Dependent Variable: variable that changes as the result

of the independent variable manipulation. It is the effect.

72
Experimental Method
✢ For example:
A researcher is investigating how
sleep influences test scores, the
amount of sleep an individual gets
would be the _______ variable and the
test scores would be the ___________
variable.

73
Experimental Method
✢ Five Basic Experimental Process:
1. Identifying a problem to study.

2. Devising the research protocol.

3. Conducting the experiment.

4. Analyzing the data collected.

5. Sharing the findings (usually in writing or via

presentation).
74
Experimental Method

75
Correlational Method
✢ The objective of this method is to determine
whether two or more variables are
associated or related to each other.

- Positive correlations: Both variables increase or

decrease at the same time. A correlation coefficient
close to +1.00 indicates a strong positive
correlation.
76
Correlational Method
- Negative correlations: As the amount of one variable
increases, the other decreases (and vice versa). A
correlation coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong
negativecorrelation.
- No correlation: There is no relationship between the
two variables. A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates no
correlation.
77
 Correlational Method
✢ An example would be height and weight. Taller people
tend to be heavier.

✢ An example would be height above sea level and

temperature. As you climb the mountain (increase in
height) it gets colder (decrease in temperature).

✢ For example their is no relationship between the

amount of tea drunk and level of intelligence.
78
Correlational Method

79
Survey Method
✢ Surveys involve collecting information,
usually from fairly large groups of
people, by means of questionnaires
but other techniques such as
interviews or telephoning may also be
used.
https://www.voxco.com/blog/student-survey/

80
The Survey Method
✢ Employs either a written questionnaire or an
interview schedule.
✢ Ex. Political opinions, or product preferences
✢ Allows us to gather data about experiences,
feelings, thoughts, and motives that are hard
to observe directly.

56
Questionnaires
✢ A questionnaire is a research instrument
consisting of a series of questions for the
purpose of gathering information from
respondents.
✢ Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of
written interview. They can be carried out https://www.iedunote.com/questionnaire

face to face, by telephone, computer or post.

82
 Case Studies
✢ Case studies usually involve the detailed
study of a particular case (a person or small
group). Various methods of data collection
and analysis are used but this typically
includes observation and interviews and
may involve consulting other people and https://www.packback.co/case-studies/

personal or public records.

83
Case Studies
✢ Descriptive record of an individual’s
experiences or behavior, or both, as
kept by an observer.

✢ The main objective is to obtain a case

history of the person being studied.

62
The Naturalistic Observation Method
✢ Involves observing the phenomenon of interest as it occurs
naturally.
✢ A method of observing people in their normal environment.

- Example: Observing primates in their natural

environment, systematically observing the behavior of
newborn babies, and observing couple’s public display of
affection (PDA) in the school campus.

85
86
Standardized Tests
✢ Respondents are required to answer a series of questions
and their responses scored to reflect something about
their persons. A respondent’s score is compared with
those of the others who took the same test. Example:
- Otis Test, Stanford-Binet Test (IQ)
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Panukat nang Pagkataong Pilipino (PPP)
- Panukat nang Katalinuhang Pilipino
61
Archival Research
✢ Written records (i.e. public and private
documents),statistical archives, and physical traces
of human beings are systematically
studied in lieu of actual behaviors.

✢ Example: Diaries, letters, paintings, books, poems,

newspaper or magazine articles, movies, and
speeches.
63
64
 Fields/Specializations in Psychology
✢ Clinical Psychology: deals with the diagnosis and treatment of
emotional and behavioral problems. (e.g. mental illness, drug
addiction, marital & family conflicts)
✢ Counseling Psychology: concerned with personal issues
(academic, social, or vocational problems)

✢ Industrial-Organizational Psychology: deals with the application of

psychological principles and research methods in the workplace, in
the interest of improving productivity & the quality of work life.
✢ Developmental Psychology: involves the study of psychological,
cognitive, and social development & the factors that shape behavior
from birth to old age (i.e. a person’s life span)
64
 Fields/Specializations in Psychology
✢ Social Psychology: focuses on how people think, influence, and relate with
one another, and on the ways interactions with other people influence
attitudes and behavior.

✢ Experimental Psychology: employs the behavioral and cognitive

perspectives, as well as the experimental method in studying how people
react to sensory stimuli, perceive the world, learn and remember, and
respond.

✢ School and Educational Psychology: deals with the evaluation of learning

and emotional problems of individuals in schools.
91
 Psychology Specialties
✢ Consumer Psychology: deals with the activities directly
involved in selecting, obtaining, and using products, services,
and ideas.
✢ Cognitive Psychology: study of human thinking and
information-processing abilities.
✢ Cross-Cultural Psychology: study of culture’s role in
understanding behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
✢ Engineering/Human Factors Engineering Psychology: study
of how people and machines are related and how to improve
this relationship.

92
Psychology Specialties
✢ Environmental Psychology: deals with the relationship
between humans and the environment.
✢ Forensic Psychology: applies psychology to the law and
legal proceedings.
✢ Health Psychology: study of cognitive,affective,
behavioral, & interpersonal factors affecting health & illness.
✢ Neuropsychology: deals with the diagnosis and rehabilitation of
brain disorders.
✢ Peace Psychology: study of the psychological aspects of
violence, social inequalities, peacemaking, and the pursuit of
social justice. 93
Psychology Specialties
✢ Personality Psychology: study of individual differences & the
development of personality theories and tests for assessing
personality traits.
✢ Physiological/Biological Psychology: employs the biological
perspective & seeks to discover the relationships between
biological processes & behavior.
✢ Political Psychology: interdisciplinary field studies the
influence of psychological processes on political behavioral &
the effect of the political system on the thoughts, feelings, and
motives of individuals.
94
Psychology Specialties
✢ Psychology of Women: emphasizes the
importance of promoting research on
women.

✢ Sports Psychology: applied theories and

knowledge in psychology to enhance the
performance of athletes and coaches.

95
References:
• Milagros F. Frando, PhD and Elmerando T. Mores, MA, General
Psychology, Simplified, Revised Edition, 2014
• Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland White, Psychology (3rd
Edition), Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, 2012
• Gregory J. Feist and Erika L. Rosenberg, Psychology:
Perspectives & Connections (2nd Edition), The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc., New York, 2012
• Simply Psychology
• Very Well Mind
• Study.com
96
Thank you!!!

97