Intro. to

Psychology

Mr. Cameron – Jeannette Senior High

School

Why Study Psychology?Psychology – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Behavior – any action that other people can observe or measure

Examples:

Walking, talking, eating, pressing a button

Heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity

Behavior and Mental Processes

Cognitive activities – private, unobservable mental processes such as sensation, perception, thought, and problem solving

Dreams, perceptions, thoughts, and memories

Brain waves that indicate dreaming can be measured

Cell activity in an eye responding to color can be measured

Behavior and Mental Processes

Psychologists also want to measure emotions

Emotions affect behavior and mental processes

Emotions must be studied through psychological constructs

Psychological constructs – concepts that enable a person to discuss something that cannot be seen, touched , or measured directly

Goals of PsychologyObserve behavior and mental processes to gain a better understanding

Enables psychologists to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior

Dealing with anxiety

Positive visualization

Psychology as a Science

Psychology is a social science (sociology, history)

Closely tied to natural sciences (biology, physics)

Answer questions by following scientific research steps

1. Conducting surveys and experiments

2. Collecting and analyzing data

3. Drawing conclusions

Psychological Theories

Psychologists organize their research into theories

Theory – Statement that attempts to explain why things are the way they are & happen the way they do

Discuss principals that govern behavior and mental processes

Principals – Rule or law

Areas of Psychology

1. Clinical Psychologists

Make up the largest group of psychologists

Help people with psychological problems

Areas of Psychology

2. Counseling Psychologists

Use interviews and tests to identify problems

Treat people who have adjustment problems

Areas of Psychology3. School Psychologists

Aid students with problems that interfere with learning

4. Educational Psychologists

Focus on course planning and instructional methods

Areas of Psychology

5. Developmental Psychologists

Study changes that occur throughout a person’s life (behavior, thoughts, feelings)

Areas of Psychology

6. Social Psychologists

Study people’s behavior in social situations

Physical and psychological factors of attraction

Ways men and women behave in situations

Reasons people conform to group standards

How behavior changes when in a group

Areas of Psychology

7. Forensic Psychologists

Testify about the psychological competence of a defendant

History of PsychologyBegan as part of philosophy

Wilhelm Wundt “father of psychology”

Studied conscious experiences

Sensations, images, feelings?

Observed and measured stimuli

Stimuli = lights, sounds, pain

Stimulus – physical energy that evokes a sensory response

StructuralismWundt also used “introspection”

Introspection is “looking inward”

Basic elements of consciousness:

1. Objective sensations

2. Subjective feelings

Structuralism – Human mind functions by combining these basic elements of experience (Objective and Subjective)

FunctionalismDeveloped by William James

How the mind functions to help us survive and adapt

Influenced by Charles Darwin (natural selection)

James wanted to know how the mind helps us adapt

Adaptive behavior is learned because it is successful

Adaptive (successful) behavior is repeated and eventually becomes a habit…studying = success!

Behaviorism Cartoons!

BehaviorismBehaviorism – Study of observable behavior

John B. Watson…introspection was “unscientific”

Observed the relationship between stimuli and an animal’s response (can’t ask animals questions)

Used Pavlov’s idea of conditioning to explain behavior

Conditioned response – learned behavior to a particular stimulus

John B. Watson

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, beggarman and thief”

B.F. Skinner

Believed behavior is controlled by positive reinforcements (rewards)

Worked with animals, ideas applied to humans

If rewarded, an animal is more likely to perform act

People behave in certain ways because they have been reinforced for doing so

Gestalt School

Gestalt is German for “form, pattern, or whole”

Gestalt psychologists studied thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analyzing experiences into parts

Gestalt School

Playing the same song on a guitar and on the drums

Playing a song with only one note per hour

Perception is affected by the context in which it appears

The human eye sees objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Psychoanalysis

Emphasized unconscious motives and internal conflicts in determining human behavior

Believed that mental life is like an iceberg…huh?

Unconscious – Area of the mind that lies outside of our personal awareness

Our behavior is deeply influenced by unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desire…especially those concerning sex and aggression

PsychoanalysisFreud theorized that many unconscious thoughts are threatening, so they are repressed

Repressed – Restrained, held out of awareness

Unconscious thoughts are revealed by dreams, emotions, and slips of the tongue

Believed all thoughts, emotions, etc. are determined

There are no accidents, every thought has a cause!

PsychoanalysisFreud was one of the first psychologists to appreciate that childhood affects adult personality

“The child is father to the man”…what does this mean?

Known for creating psychoanalysis, “talking therapy”

Gained his understanding of behavior through meetings

Theorized that behavior is aimed at satisfying needs / desires

Help people find socially acceptable ways of meeting needs

Contemporary Perspectives

The study of psychology has changed over the years

Theories of Skinner and Watson have been modified

Many contemporary psychoanalysts do not use the same methods as Sigmund Freud

New perspectives still use historical traditions of psych

Each perspective emphasizes different topics/approaches

Biological Perspective

Emphasizes the influence of biology on our behavior

Assume our mental processes (thoughts, fantasies, & dreams) are made possible by the nervous system

Look for connections between events in the brain

Study brain activity when listening to music, solving problems, experiencing psychological disorders

Interested in the influences of hormones and genes

Hormones and

GenesHormones – Chemicals that glands release into the bloodstream to set in motion body functions

Body functions can include growth or digestion

Genes – Basic unit of heredity

Biological psychologists study the influence of genes on personality traits, psychological health, as well as various behavior patterns

Evolutionary

PerspectiveFocuses on the evolution of behavior and mental processes

Darwin believed that the most-adaptive organisms have a greater chance of surviving to maturity

People who are resistant to certain diseases are more likely to transmit those genes to future generations

Behavior (aggression) have a hereditary basis

Cognitive PerspectiveEmphasize the role thoughts play in behavior

Study mental processes to understand human nature

Look at the ways people perceive information, make mental images, solve problems, and dream

Cognitive psych. study the mind

Humanistic PerspectiveStresses the human capacity for self-fulfillment and the importance of consciousness, self-awareness, and the capacity to make choices

Considers people’s personal experiences to be the most important aspect of psychology

Unlike behaviorists (stimuli acting upon us) believe that we are free to choose our own behavior

View people as basically good & desiring to help others

Psychoanalytic

PerspectiveStresses the influence of unconscious forces on human behavior

Focus less on unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses

Focus more on conscious choice and self-direction

Learning Perspective

Emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior

Social learning theory – People can change their environments or create new ones

Behavior is learned either from direct experience or by observing other people

We learn to act hostile/friendly based on the situation

Sociocultural Perspective

Studies the influence of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status on behavior and mental processes

Helps people appreciate the cultural heritages and historical issues of various ethnic groups

Ethnic groups – United by heritage, race, language, and history

Sociocultural theorists also study gender

Sociocultural Perspective

Gender is not simply a matter of being male or female

Involves cultural expectations and social roles

These can affect self-concepts, aspirations, & behavior

Sociocultural psychology addresses the similarities and differences between men and women

As of 2005, women made up 72% of psychology PhD’s