Personality Psychology

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
 It considers what makes people unique, as well
as the consistencies in people’s behavior across
PSYCHOLOGY time and situations.
 A question from this area, for example, might
 root word psyche is a Greek word for “mind” be whether the tendency to be friendly,
 It is the scientific study of thought and behavior anxious, or hostile affects one’s health, career
choice, or interpersonal relationships

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Social Psychology
 Describe the different ways that organism
behave.  It considers how real or imagined presence of
 Explain the causes of behavior. others influences thought, feeling, and
 Predict how organisms will behave in certain behavior.
situations.  Social psychologists ask questions like: How
 Control an organism’s behavior positively, or does the presence of other people change an
negatively. individual’s thoughts, feelings, or perceptions?
Why are we attracted to particular kinds of
people?
SUBDISCIPLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY
Clinical Psychology
The field of psychology is divided into more than 25
distinct, but increasingly interrelated, subdisciplines  It focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of
(Feist & Rosenberg, 2019). mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders
and ways to promote psychological health.
Cognitive Psychology  Clinical psychologists also conduct research and
teach, and they work in universities, medical
 the study of how we perceive information, how settings, or private practice.
we learn and remember, how we acquire and
use language, and how we solve problems.
Counseling Psychology

Experimental Psychology  It deals with less severe psychological disorders.

 Counseling psychologists treat and assess
 Deals with research studies on cognition and relatively healthy people and assist them with
learning because experiments are conducted in career and vocational interest.
laboratory to address their research questions.

Health Psychology
Developmental Psychology
 It examines the role of psychological factors in
 It explores how thought and behavior change physical health and illness.
and show stability across the lifespan. It allows
us to appreciate that organisms – human or
Educational Psychology
otherwise – change and grow.
 Developmental psychologists ask questions  It studies how students learn, the effectiveness
like: How do our reasoning skills or emotional of particular teaching techniques, the social
skills change as we age? Does old age bring psychology of schools, and the psychology of
wisdom? teaching.
 It also attempts to understand special
population of students such as the academically
Biological Psychology
gifted and those with special needs.
 It includes research on all areas of connection
between bodily systems and chemicals and
Industrial/Organizational (IO) Psychology
their relationship to behavior and thought.
 Research about stress and health, studying the  It is an applied science that involves
effects of stress on hormones and behavior is an understanding real-world rather than
example of research in this field. laboratory behavior (Aamodt, 2010).
 It is an older term that is being replaced by
Industrial side- involves matching employees to
behavioral neuroscience in contemporary
their jobs and uses psychological principles and
psychology.
methods to select employees and evaluate job
performance.

Organizational side- aims to make workers more

productive and satisfied by considering how work
 environments and management styles influence
work motivation, satisfaction, and productivity

Sports Psychology
 It examines the psychological factors that affect BRIEF HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY
performance and participation in sports and Philosophy of Empiricism
exercise (Weinberg & Goul, 2007).  It is the view that all knowledge and thoughts
come from experience.
Forensic Psychology  John Locke, an English philosopher argued that
 It is a blend of psychology, criminal justice, and the mind begins as a tabula rasa, or blank
the law (Adler, 2004) slate, onto which experience writes the
 Forensic psychologists make legal evaluations contents of the mind (Locke, 1690/1959)
of a person’s mental competency to stand trial,
the state of mind of a defendant at the time of a Psychophysics of Human Perception
crime, the fitness of a parent to have custody of  The study of how people experience physical
children, and allegations of child abuse. stimuli such as sound, light, waves, and touch.
 Principle: The perception of physical properties
is not the same as the physical properties
BRIEF HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY themselves.
PREHISTORIC VIEWS
Structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt)
 the period where humans tried to cure one
 Breaking down experience into its elemental
another
parts offered the best way to understand
SHAMANS- doctors; believe that a person with
thought and behavior.
mental illness is possessed by evil spirits that’s why
 Structuralists believed that a detailed analysis of
they perform exorcisms.
experience as it happened provided the most
TREPHINATION- one of the methods employed in
accurate glimpse into the workings of the
this period which involves drilling a small hole in a
human mid.
person’ skull (Alt et al., 1997; Weber & Wahl, 2006).
INTROSPECTION- a method they use to look into
one’s own mind for the information about the
ANCIENT VIEWS
nature of consciousness and experience.
 the period where people moved away from
supernatural explanations to natural and
Functionalism (William James)
physiological explanations (Tseng, 1973).
 Argued that it was better to look at why the
 They made connections between a person’s
mind works the way it does that to describe its
bodily organs and emotions.
parts.
1. The heart housed the mind.
 relied on introspection as a primary method of
2. the liver for the spiritual soul.
understanding how the mind worked.
3. the lung for the animal soul.
4. the spleen for ideas and intelligence.
Behaviorism (John Watson)
5. the kidneys for will and vitality.
 Psychology can be a true science only if it
examines observable behavior, not ideas,
MEDIEVAL VIEWS
thoughts, feelings, or motives.
 attributed the psychological disorders to natural
causes as people were thought to be possessed
Humanistic and Positive Psychology
by demons, spirits, and the devil – not by
(Martin Seligman & Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
physical disorders.
 Humanistic psychology
ASYLUMS- house of the mentally ill
a theory of psychology that focuses on personal
growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s
MODERN VIEWS
highest potential.
 consider psychological disorders as illness and
 Positive psychology
that they should be treated as medical
a scientific approach to studying,
conditions, with appropriate diagnosis and
understanding, and promoting healthy and
therapy.
positive psychological functioning.
 the period when Emil Kraepelin, a German
psychiatrist collected data on various kinds of
Gestalt Psychology (Max Wertheimer)
psychological disorders and began
 Perception occurs in unified wholes, where the
systematically classifying and diagnosing them
whole is more than the sum of its parts.
(Shepard, 1995).
 Other views of psychological disorders and
Behavioral Genetics, Behavioral Neuroscience, and
psychotherapy approaches have emerged in
Evolutionary Psychology
this period namely: psychoanalysis, drug
 Who we are and what we do and think are very
therapy, and modern criteria for diagnosing
much influenced by genetic factors, and brain
mental disorders.
activity, with a long evolutionary past.
 SAS 2
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:
SCIENCE
EXPLAINING HUMAN BEHAVIOR comes in at least three distinct flavors (Feist, 2006b)
1. Physical Sciences
-study the world of things like stars, light,
PSYCHOANALYTIC-PSYCHODYNAMIC waves, atoms, the Earth, compounds, and
Primary Assumptions: molecules. It includes physics, astronomy,
 first 5 years of life most shape personality chemistry, and geology.
 unconscious forces are most important 2. Biological Sciences
FOCUS: -include the study of plants and animals in the
 unconscious thoughts and motives broadest sense. It includes biology, zoology,
genetics, and botany.
3. Social Sciences
BEHAVIORAL-LEARNING -study humans, both as individuals and as
Primary Assumptions: groups. These include anthropology, sociology,
 only explanation for behavior is the conditions economics, and of course, psychology.
that create behavior
 learning occurs through association and Scientific Thinking
consequences of the behavior  involves the reasoning skills required to
FOCUS: generate, test, and revise theories (Koslowski,
 behavior, learning, and environmental 1996; Kuhn, Amsel, & O’Loughlin, 1988;
conditions Zimmerman, 2007).
 Science is also an attitude that requires us to
COGNITIVE keep open eyes and questioning mind.
Primary Assumptions:
 thoughts, heuristics, and assumptions are the Scientific Method
primary forces behind behavior  the procedures by which scientists conduct
FOCUS: research, consisting of five basic processes
 thoughts, language, assumptions, memory, (O.P.T.I.C.):
decision-making strategies  Observe
researchers develop expectations about an
observed phenomenon. They express
HUMAN POSITIVE
expectations as a Theory: a set of related
Primary Assumptions:
assumptions from which testable predictions
 people strive to live meaningful, happy lives
can be made.
 people are motivated by growth and
 Prediction
psychological health
this is when the hypothesis is formulated.
FOCUS:
 Hypothesis: is a specific, informed, and
 meaningful life, psychological well-being and
testable prediction of what kind of
growth
outcome should occur under a
particular condition.
SOCIOCULTURAL  Testing
Primary Assumptions: the point where the hypothesis will be tested by
 thought, behavior, and personality are mostly selecting one of a number of established
products of social and cultural conditions research methods, along with appropriate
 there are both similarities and differences in measurement techniques. The tools or
thought, personality and behavior cross- instrument to be used must be both reliable
culturally and valid.
FOCUS:  Reliability
 cultural and society the test or measure gives us a
consistent result.
NEUROPSCHOLOGY-BEHAVIORAL GENETIC  Validity
Primary Assumptions: the test or instrument measures what it
 the foundation for thought and behavior is aims to measure.
biological and genetic forces  Interpretation
FOCUS: mathematical techniques are employed to
 brain structures, neurochemicals, and genes determine whether the results are significant
and not just a matter of chance, and whether
they closely fit the prediction
EVOLUTIONARY  Communicate
Primary Assumptions: dissemination of the research findings through
 human thought and behavior have been shaped publication or other means of sharing the
by evolutionary forces (natural and sexual results to the public
selection)
FOCUS:
 adaptive mechanisms
RESEARCH DESIGN IN PSYCHOLOGY
Correlational Studies
Research designs  it measures two or more variables and their
plans for how to conduct a study relationship to one another and determines
how strong the relationship is.
 Variable  In this design, the basic question is, Is X related
Is anything that changes, or varies, within or to Y? for instance, “Is there a relationship
between individuals. Some examples are age, between parenting style and psychological well-
gender, weight, intelligence, level of anxiety, being of adolescents?”
extraversion, etc.  it is not designed to measure causation.
 useful when the experimenter cannot
 Population manipulate or control the variable
this is the entire group a researcher is
interested in. Some examples are all humans, all Experimental Studies
adolescents, all boys, all girls, all college  it is a research design that includes independent
students, among others. (the one being manipulated by the
experimenter) and dependent variables
 Samples (outcome or response to experimental
these are the representative of the population. manipulation) and random assignment of
participants to control and experimental groups
DIFFERENT RESEARCH DESIGNS IN PSYCHOLOGY or conditions.

Descriptive Designs 1. Random Assignment

 the researcher makes no prediction and does -method used to assign participants to different
not try to control variables research conditions to guarantee that each
 the researcher defines a problem of interest person has the same chance of being in one
and describes as carefully as possible the group as another.
variables of interest.
 Descriptive studies usually occur during the 2. Experimental Group
exploratory phase of research, in which the -consists of participants who receive the
research is looking for meaningful patterns treatment or whatever it is thought to change
that might lead to predictions later on; they behavior
generally do not involve hypothesis testing.
3. Control Group
Most common kinds of descriptive methods in -consists of participants who are treated in
psychology are: exactly the same manner as the experimental
group but with one crucial difference: they do
1. Case Study not receive the independent variable or the
-it involves the observation of one person, treatment, in some cases, they get a placebo
often over a long period of time. Placebo
- a substance or treatment that appears
2. Naturalistic Observation identical to the actual treatment but lacks the
-a method in which the researcher active substance
observes and records behavior in the real
world. Quasi-experimental Design
 a research method similar to an experimental
3. Qualitative Research / Interview design except that it makes use of naturally
-it involves data gathered from open-ended occurring groups rather than randomly
and unstructured answers rather than assigning subjects to groups.
quantitative or numeric answers.
Qualitative interview -occur between two Longitudinal Studies
people, and usually eliciting open-ended  it makes observations of the same people over
answers. time, ranging from months to decades. These
kinds of studies are not only useful for studying
4. Survey Research change over time, but also can be used to study
-it restricts the possible answers to some how specific causes affect specific outcomes.
kind of numeric rating scale such as 1 for
“completely disagree” or 5 for “completely
agree.”
Twin-Adoption Studies
 research into hereditary influence on twins,
Quantitative research- Research that
both identical and fraternal, who were raised
collects any kind of numeric and
apart (adopted) and who were raised together.
quantifiable scale and often has limited
response options
Meta-Analysis
 a quantitative method for combining the results of 2. Inferential Statistics
all the published and even unpublished results on  allows us to test hypotheses and draw
one question and drawing a conclusion based on the conclusion as to how likely a sample
entire set of studies on the topic. score is to occur in a population.
 a researcher converts the findings of each study into  allow us to determine how likely is it
a standardized statistic known as effect size that two or more samples came from
Effect size the same population.
a measure of the strength of the relationship between  use probability and the normal
two variables distribution to rule out chance as an
explanation for why group scores are
different.
COMMONLY USED MEASURES OF RESEARCH ETHICS
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Ethics – are the rules governing the conduct of a person
Measures: SELF-REPORTS
or a group in general or in a specific situation – or more
Description: Participants’ written or oral accounts of
simply, standards of right and wrong.
thoughts, actions, and feelings
Use: Interviews and questionnaires
Scientific Misconduct
Limitations: Social desirability bias Lack of clear insight
 this is intentional and therefore, the most
into one’s own behavior
serious ethical violation.
 It comes in three forms:
Measures: BEHAVIORAL MEASURES
1. Plagiarism
Description: Objective observation of actions in either
when someone presents the words or ideas of
natural or laboratory settings
other people as their own.
Use: Small-scale studies on behavior
Limitations: Time required to train coders and conduct
2. Falsification
coding Participants may modify their behavior
changing, altering, or deleting scientific data.
Measures: PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES
3. Fabrication
Description: Data collection of bodily responses under
presenting or publishing scientific results that
certain conditions
are made up.
Use: Studies to determine the magnitude of
physiological change
Limitations: Specialized training on expensive
equipment, on how to collect measurements, and on ETHICAL TREATMENT OF HUMAN
data interpretation PARTICIPANTS
Measures: MULTIPLE MEASURES
1. Informed consent – tell participants in general
Description: Several measures combined to acquire
terms what the study is about, what they will do
data on one aspect of behavior
and how long it will take, what the known risks
Use: Offset limitation of any single measurement
and benefits are and whom to contact with
Complex behaviors to study.
questions.
Limitations: Expensive and time consuming
2. Respect for persons – safeguard the dignity
and autonomy of the individual and take extra
OVERVIEW OF STATISTICS IN precautions when dealing with study
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH participants, such as children who are less likely
to understand that their participation is
voluntary.
STATISTICS
 a mathematical procedures for collecting, 3. Beneficence – inform participants the costs
analyzing, interpreting, and presenting numeric and benefits of participation; minimize costs for
data. Researchers use statistics to describe and participants and maximize benefits.
simplify data and to understand how variables
relate to one another. 4. Privacy and confidentiality – protect the
 Two classes of statistics are descriptive and privacy of the participant, generally by keeping
inferential. all responses confidential. Confidentiality
ensures that participants’ identities are never
1. Descriptive Statistics directly connected with the data they provide in
 measures used to describe and the study.
summarize research.
 It includes measures of central 5. Justice – benefits and costs must be distributed
tendency (mean, median, mode), equally among participants
variability and dispersion such as
standard deviation.