Chapter 1
Why Study Psychology?
• True or False— Psychology is best defined as the study of insane people.
• A psychologist can tell what you are thinking.
Physiological—physical processes—
Physiological Psychology—
How and why do we experience emotions… what happens when we dream? How do both halves of the brain work? Are the brains of murderers different to ‘normal’ people?
Cognitive—thinking and understanding—
Cognitive Psychology—
Do only humans possess the ability to use language? Do all cultures perceive in the same way? What is Autism? Are humans reliable eye witnesses?
Psychology— the science of behavior and mental processes all tested by scientific research—or the scientific method.
The Scientific Method
Testing a “theory”—a theory is an explanation using set of principles that organizes and predicts observations.
Theories yield hypotheses, or testable predictions.
Predictions must be tested by collecting data and data must be evaluated for reliability and validity.
Y Basic Science
– understanding a subject without regard for immediate practical effects
Y Applied Science
– deliberate use of research to solve a problem or improve the quality of human life
The Goals of Psychology
Use behavior page 10 “Looking at Issues—someone online confesses to a murder. 56.4 % said they would call police. (Survey from trade magazine). Actually only 3 of 200 really called the police and an actual murder was committed!
Observable behaviors – watch me for a few minutes and record everything they see. Filter out subjective responses. Can psychologists learn everything they need to know by observing behavior?
Naturalistic behavior—analyzing behavior in their environment; controlled observation—behavior in laboratory condition.
Psych biases—they get in the way of observing human behavior—that is why therapists have their own therapists!
Best predictor of future behavior is past behavior—man or woman married five times, predictor or not? Psychology has an awful record of predicting what any one person will do so it works much better on groups—example 19 year old male drivers and their insurance rates.
Psychologists always strive to make humans feel better by controlling their behavior in a desired direction—example quitting vices, smoking, drinking, etc.
Try this
Apply the four goals of psychology to the most upsetting thing that has happened to you in the past six months.
Ø Describe what happened: Think like a journalist by pretending that this event happened to someone else and writing (objectively) who, what, when, where, and how.
Ø Explain what happened: Why do you think this happened to you? What is the relationship between your own behavior and the situation?
Ø Predict: Has this event happened before? Knowing yourself and those around you, how likely is it to happen again? What would change your prediction?
Ø Control: What have you learned from this situation? What could you do to prevent it from happening again? How could you respond more effectively if it did?
Chapter 1, Section 2
A Brief History of Psychology
The Origins of Psychology
First the Greek philosophers used observation as a means of understanding the world around them.
Aristotle, who was chiefly interested in what the human mind could accomplish, believed that the mind or soul, which the Greeks called the psyche, was separate from the body.
He thought the psyche enabled people to reason and was the source of the highest human virtues. The word psychology comes from the Greek words psyche (mind or soul) and logia (study).
Copernicus—earth is not the center of the universe—the sun is.
Galileo—furthered the work of Copernicus through observation— a result of the forward thinking of the Renaissance.
Descartes—prior to him 17th century philosophers believed in dualism, mind and body separate. Descartes disagreed believing instead that the two strongly influenced one another mind controls all.
Historical Approaches—differing schools
Structuralism can be defined as psychology as the study of the elements of consciousness.
Wilhelm Wundt's research assistants might describe an object such as an apple in terms of the basic perceptions it invoked (e.g., "cold", "crisp", and "sweet").
An important principal of introspection is that the conscious experience must be described in basic terms, so it can’t be called an apple.
Mostly, Wundt is remembered because he saw psychology as a science—he wanted psychology to be SCIENTIFIC and this meant doing experiments and measuring stuff.
In so doing he attracted many others to the field.
Structuralism was replaced by Functionalism—William James, father of psychology, wrote the 1st textbook, Principles of Psychology.
James said mental processes were useful to living creatures in their attempt to maintain and adapt themselves in the world of nature.
He coined the term Stream of Consciousness, which accrued experience, but often acted without deliberation.
For example, usually in an emergency, people react and then they let their emotions and reflections take hold. If you see a bear, the first (and probably fatal) reaction is to run and then feel the fright later. This "flight and fright" reaction is adaptive in nature.
Inheritable Traits
Sir Francis Galton—believed that greatness ran in families and was not the result of the environment. He also thought that the worthy members of society should propagate and those not so worthy should be sterilized. His work began the study of eugenics—crime could be bred out through sterilization.
Galton thought head size was related to intelligence despite the rumor that he had a pinhead.
Gestalt Psychology— Study of the whole of the experience, not just the parts.
Contemporary Approaches
Psychoanalytic Psychology— was the first real theory of human behavior. It was developed by Dr. Sigmund Freud, and his theory states that all behavior is a result of unconscious forces of sex and aggression, and any traumatic experience that took place in the person's childhood.
He also stated that behavior was directed by a person's unconscious drive to win the affections of the parent of the opposite sex while trying to avoid punishment from the parent of the same sex.
While most of Dr. Freud's theory has been dismissed by modern psychiatry and psychology, Freudian psychology is still practiced heavily in Europe and has several thousand followers in the United States.
Free Association—Freud asked patients to relate anything which came into their mind, regardless of how apparently unimportant or potentially embarrassing. This technique assumed that all memories are arranged in a single network, and that sooner or later the subject would stumble across the crucial memory.
Unfortunately, Freud found that despite a subject's every effort to remember, a certain resistance kept him from the most painful and important memories. He eventually came to understand that certain items were completely repressed, and off-limits to the conscious realm of the mind.
Behavioral Psychology— the belief that all behavior is a direct result of rewards and punishments. Behaviorists focus solely on what can be observed. What they believe is that every action is either reinforced or punished.
If an action is met with reinforcement, it will likely happen again. If actions are met with
punishment, it will likely not happen again. In addition, behaviorists also believe that people
can learn behaviors by watching other people being rewarded or punished.
Humanistic Psychology— this approach examines the entire spectrum of possibilities for behavior. All people have a drive inside of them that pushes them to be the best person they can possibly be. Environment is a smaller factor.
This internal drive is what causes all behavior. However, this drive can be hindered by many negative aspects of life. Any biomedical or psychological problem or abnormality can prohibit a person from achieving the best they can.
Cognitive Psychology— this is the study of how a person thinks and reacts to situations in life. It also takes into consideration how a person feels about his or herself. Therefore, cognitive psychologists try to analyze the active thinking processes that occur when a person is displaying a particular behavior.
Psychologists who follow the cognitive perspective believe that all abnormal behavior is a result of flawed thinking. Thus, the only appropriate way to treat abnormal behavior is to alter the way the person thinks.
Biological Psychology— explores the relationship between behavior and the brain. This theory of psychology assumes that all behavior is controlled and monitored by the brain. Furthermore, abnormal behavior is caused by a direct result of damage to the brain or malfunctions in the brain's biochemistry or electrical properties.
Socio-cultural Psychology—Hispanic, African-American and Asian cultures are growing larger and these cultures may be different from our own. Additionally, genders see things differently as do people of different socio-economic status.