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Prologue: The Story of Psychology

1. Fact or Fiction Activity

Introductory Notes

Major Professional Organizations:APA = American Psychological Association (www.apa.org)APS = American Psychological Society (www.psychologicalscience.org)

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Psychological Associations & Societies

The American Psychological Association is the largest organization of psychology with 160,000

members world-wide, followed by the British Psychological Society with 34,000 members.

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Psychology’s Big Debate

Nature versus Nurture

Darwin stated that nature selects those that best enable the organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

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• Examples of some important questions psychologists ask???• What is the relationship b/w brain and behavior, b/w brain and

mental processing?• How and why do babies develop a strong bond with their

parents?• How do we come to experience our world? Why do we see

some things that don’t exist?• How much of our world do we really experience?• To what extent do we learn new behaviors by observing

others? Do children imitate adults? TV?• How good are our memories? How can we improve them?• What is it like to suffer from severe mental disorders? What are

the causes and cures?• How are we influenced by other people? When and why do we

conform?Definition = science of behavior and mental processes

Anything an organism does, any action we can observe and recordExamples:

Internal subjective experiences we infer from behaviorExamples:

Technology has helped us further define psychology!!

****Central Conflict => DEBATE => Science or Social Studies???

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample QuestionsNeuroscience How the body and

brain enables emotions?

How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes?

How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

Behavior genetics

How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences?

To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Psychodynamic

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?

How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

Behavioral How we learn observable responses?

How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

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Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample QuestionsCognitive How we encode,

process, store and retrieve information?

How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?

Social-cultural

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?

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1. What is the date of the AP National Psych Test?

2. How do I calculate your grade?

3. What does DHP stand for?

4. Who is the author of our textbook?

5. What is the definition of psychology (2 parts)?

6. Where did psychology have its beginnings?

7. Where was the first modern psych lab?

8. Who founded the lab?

9. Who wrote the “first” book about psychology and what was his name?

10. What is the difference between nature and nurture?

11. What does APA stand for?

12. Who was the first female president of the APA?

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The Fields of Psychology

Collection of diverse subfields. Some psychologists do basic research, some do applied research, and some provide professional services…..

* study processes & changes in mental & physical growth

* Birth to Death (womb =>tomb)

Developmental Psychology

study the extent to which behavior is caused by physical & chemical processes in the bodyBrain, nervous system, etc.

Physiological (Biological)

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study basic psychological processes through experimentationi.e. learning, memory, sensation, perception, emotion, etc.

Experimental Psychology

study differences among people Traits: anxiety, sociability, self-esteem, aggressiveness, etc.

Clinical: study diagnosis, causes, and treatments of psychological disordersCounseling: study “normal” problems of life

Personality Psychology

Clinical & Counseling Psychology

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study influence of people on one another

study problems of training personnel & improving working conditions

Social Psychology

Industrial & Organizational Psychology

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Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Psychologist What she does

BiologicalExplore the links between brain and mind.

DevelopmentalStudy changing abilities from womb to tomb.

CognitiveStudy how we perceive, think, and solve problems.

Personality Investigate our persistent traits.

SocialExplore how we view and affect one another.

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Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Data: APA 1997

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Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Psychologist What she does

ClinicalStudies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

CounselingHelps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

EducationalStudies and helps individuals in school and educational settings

Industrial/Organizational

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

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Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Data: APA 1997

You should know this!

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A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with

psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments

like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients.

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry

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Psychology’s RootsPrescientific Psychology

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In India, Buddha wondered how sensations and perceptions combined to form ideas.

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Prescientific PsychologyConfucius (551-479 B.C.)

In China, Confucius stressed the power of ideas and the importance of an educated mind.

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Prescientific PsychologyHebrew Scriptures

Hebrew scriptures linked mind and emotion to the body.

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Prescientific PsychologySocrates (469-399 B.C.) and Plato (428-348 B.C.)

Socrates and his student Plato believed the mind was separate from the body, the mind continued

to exist after death, and ideas were innate.

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Prescientific PsychologyAristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Aristotle suggested that the soul is not separable from the body and that knowledge

(ideas) grow from experience.

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Prescientific PsychologyRene Descartes (1596-1650)

Descartes, like Plato, believed in soul (mind)-body separation, but wondered how the immaterial

mind and physical body communicated.

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Prescientific PsychologyFrancis Bacon (1561-1626)

Bacon is one of the founders of modern science, particularly the experimental method.

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Prescientific PsychologyJohn Locke (1632-1704)

Locke held that the mind was a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, at birth, and experiences wrote on it.

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Prescientific Psychology

Mind and body are connected

Mind and body are distinct

The Hebrews Socrates

Aristotle Plato

Augustine Descartes

What is the relation of mind to the body?

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Prescientific Psychology

Some ideas are inborn

The mind is a blank slate

Socrates Aristotle

Plato Locke

How are ideas formed?

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•Phrenology was a 19th-century pseudoscience•No scientific basis

•Phrenology linked bumps on the skull with character traits

Growth of Psychology

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Psychological Science is BornStructuralism

Focused on the elements of mind, and studied it by using introspection (self-reflection). “Psychology is the study of experiences.”

3 elements of experience: physical Senses (sights & sounds) affections or feelings (like? dislike?) images (memories and dreams)

Wundt and Titchener studied the elements (atoms) of the mind by conducting

experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in 1879.

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Psychological Science is Born

FunctionalismJames suggested that it would be more fruitful to consider the evolved functions of our thoughts and

feelings than simply studying the elements of mind.

“Psych should focus on everyday experiences”

Humans use their learning & experience to adapt & function in their environment

Influenced by Darwin, William James established the school of functionalism,

which opposed structuralism.

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book about psych… “the Principles of Psychology”

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Psychological Science is BornPyschoanalysis - The Unconscious Mind

Sigmund Freud and his followers emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and

its effects on human behavior.

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Psychological Science Develops

Behaviorism“Psych is the study of observable, measurable behavior…ONLY!!!”

Watson (1913) and later Skinner emphasized the study of overt behavior as the subject matter of scientific psychology.

From 1920 to 1960, psychology in the US was heavily oriented towards behaviorism.

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Psychological Science Develops

Humanistic Psychology

Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth

potential and our need for love and acceptance.

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Psychology Today

We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we do) and mental

processes (inner thoughts and feelings).Psychology has its roots in:

1.Philosophy2. Biology

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Click the picture for video

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Survey: What you are about to read, including chapter outlines and section heads.

Question: Ask questions. Make notes. Read: Make sure you read outlines, sections

and chapters in entirety. Review: Margin definitions. Study learning

outcomes. Reflect: On what you learn. Test yourself with

quizzes.

Close-upYour Study of Psychology

Survey, Question, Read, Review and Reflect (SQ3R)

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Distribute your time. Listen actively in class. Overlearn. Be a smart test-taker.

Close-upAdditional Study Hints

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Quizo Review Questions

1. List the 7 perspectives of Psych (NOT the sub fields!)

2. Explain the difference b/w a psychiatrist and a psychologist

3. Who was Franz Gall?

4. Define Phrenology

5. I say Functionalism….you say

Name association….

6. I say Humanism….you say…

7. I say Psychonalysis…you say ……

8. I say Wundt…you say….

9. Psychology has its roots in:

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Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

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Thinking Critically with Psychological

Science

Chapter 1

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Thinking Critically …

Description The Case Study

The Survey

Naturalistic Observation

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Thinking Critically …

Correlation Correlation and Causation Illusory Correlation Perceiving Order in Random

Events

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Thinking Critically …

Experimentation Exploring Cause and Effect

Evaluating Therapies

Independent and Dependent Variables

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Thinking Critically …

Statistical Reasoning Describing Data

Making Inferences

FAQs About Psychology

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Impression of Psychology With hopes of satisfying curiosity, many

people listen to talk-radio counselors and psychics to learn about others and themselves.

Dr. Crane (radio-shrink)

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Psychic (Ball gazing)

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The Need for Psychological Science

Intuition & Common Sense

Many people believe that intuition and common sense are enough to bring forth

answers regarding human nature.

Intuition and common sense may aid queries, but they are not free of error.

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Limits of Intuition

Personal interviewers may rely too much on their “gut feelings” when

meeting with job applicants.

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Why can’t we rely solely on intuition and common sense?

• Two phenomena – hindsight bias and judgmental overconfidence – illustrate why we cannot rely solely on intuition and common sense.

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After learning the outcome of an event, many people believe they could have

predicted that very outcome. We only knew the dot.com stocks would plummet

after they actually did plummet.Another Example(s):

“I-knew-it-all-along” Hindsight Bias phenomenon.

• On the evening of an important World Series game, your friend predicts that the Red Sox are going to win by a large margin. In fact, the Red Sox do end up winning the game, causing your friend to boast “I predicted it!”

• An individual notices that outside, it’s beginning to look a little bit gray. He says to himself, I bet that it’s going to rain this afternoon. When it actually does rain, the individual tells himself that he was certain that it would when he saw the clouds rolling in earlier.

• You are nervous to take an exam for which you waited to study until the very last minute. When you take the exam, you feel unsure about the results; however, when your grade comes back a B+, you exclaim to your friends, “I was sure that I’d aced that exam!” and actually believe it in hindsight

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OverconfidenceSometimes we think we know more than we actually know.

Anagram

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these anagrams?

People said it would take about 10 seconds, yet on

average they took about 3 minutes (Goranson, 1978).

YOUR PROJECTS!

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Psychological Science

1. How can we differentiate between uniformed opinions and examined conclusions?

The science of psychology helps make these examined conclusions, which leads to our understanding of how people feel, think, and act as they do!

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curiosity => (passion for exploration)skepticism =>(doubting and questioning) and

humility =>(ability to accept responsibility when wrong).

Critical thinking does not accept arguments and conclusions blindly.

It examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence and assesses conclusions.

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Psychologists, like all scientists, use the scientific method to construct

theories that organize, summarize and simplify observations.

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=> How do psychologists explain unseen mental processes?

1)Collect data2) Generate a theory to explain data3) Produce hypotheses (predictions)4) Test those hypotheses (i.e. experimentation)

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Research Process

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DescriptionCase Study

A technique in which one person (or 1 group) is studied in depth to reveal underlying behavioral principles.

Is language uniquely human?

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Case Study

A clinical study is a form of case study in which the therapist

investigates the problems associated

with a client.

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Clinical Study

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SurveyA technique for ascertaining the

self-reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors of people usually done by questioning a representative,

random sample of people.

A lot of data very quick Reality vs paper

# of responses Not enough choices; NA

cheap Honesty in?

“FRAMING”

Depends on situation

Mood can change things

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Survey

Wording can change the results of a survey.

Q: Should cigarette ads and pornography be allowed on television? (not allowed vs.

forbid)

Wording Effect

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Survey

A tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our

beliefs and behaviors.

False Consensus Effect

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Survey

If each member of a population has an equal chance of inclusion into a sample, it is called a

random sample (unbiased). If the survey

sample is biased, its results are not valid.

The fastest way to know about the marble color ratio is to blindly transfer a few into a smaller jar and count them.

It is impossible to study EVERYONE in the population…thus, study a small sample. BUT…your small group must meet the following 2 Sample Requirements !!

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- sample must represent accurate numbersaccording to the general population- Example:=> choosing the amount of males & females in proportion with the Nat'l pop.

Sample cannot be biased!

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Naturalistic ObservationObserving and recording the behavior of animals in the wild and recording self-seating patterns in a multiracial school lunch room constitute naturalistic observation.

Courtesy of G

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Descriptive Methods

Case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation describe

behaviors.

Summary

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Correlational Studies

When one trait or behavior accompanies another, we say the two correlate.

Correlation coefficient

Indicates directionof relationship

(positive or negative)

Indicates strengthof relationship(0.00 to 1.00)

r = 0.37+

Correlation Coefficient is a statistical measure of the relationship between two

variables.

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DataData showing height and temperament in people.

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Scatterplot

The Scatterplot below shows the relationship between height and temperament in people. There

is a moderate positive correlation of +0.53.

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Perfect positivecorrelation (+1.00)

Scatterplot is a graph comprised of points that are generated by values of two

variables. The slope of the points depicts the direction, while the amount of scatter depicts the strength of the relationship.

Scatterplots

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No relationship (0.00)Perfect negativecorrelation (-1.00)

The Scatterplot on the left shows a negative correlation, while the one on the right shows no

relationship between the two variables.

Scatterplots

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or

Correlation and Causation

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Illusory CorrelationThe perception of a relationship where no relationship actually exists.

EXAMPLES:It always rains on the week-endIt always rains after you wash the carParents conceive children after adoption.

For example, people sometimes assume that because two events occurred together at one point in the past, that one event must be the cause of the other. These illusory correlations can occur both in scientific investigations and in real-world situations.

ResearchRedelmeier and Tversky (1996) assessed 18 arthritis patients over 15 months, while also taking comprehensive meteorological data. Virtually all of the patients were certain that their condition was correlated with the weather. In fact the actual correlation was close to zero. 

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Complete the online tutorial/ module and the psych sim worksheet.

Use my website or google: “Psych Sim 5” - Correlations

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Given random data, we look for order and meaningful patterns.

Order in Random Events

Your chances of being dealt either of these hands is precisely the same: 1 in 2,598,960.

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Order in Random Events

Given large numbers of random outcomes, a few are likely to express order.

Angelo and Maria Gallina won two California lottery games on the same day.

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Experimentation

Like other sciences, experimentation is the backbone of psychology research. Experiments

isolate causes and their effects.

Exploring Cause and Effect

The Hawthorne Effect

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Many factors influence our behavior. Experiments (1) manipulate factors that interest us, while other factors are kept

under (2) control.Effects generated by manipulated factors

isolate cause and effect relationships.

Exploring Cause & Effect

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Control Group vs

Experimental Group

The group that is “NORMAL” nothing changes, nothing is added no variables!

The group that has variables that are manipulated…this is what you are researching!

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An Independent Variable is a factor manipulated by

the experimenter. The effect of the independent

variable is the focus of the study.

For example, when examining the effects of

sleep on intelligence, the amount of sleep is the independent variable.

Independent Variable

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A Dependent Variable is a factor that may change in

response to an independent variable. In psychology, it is

usually a behavior or a mental process.

For example, in our study on the effect of sleep on

intelligence, intelligence (test score) is the dependent

variable.

Dependent Variable

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In evaluating drug therapies, patients and experimenter’s assistants should

remain unaware of which patients had the real treatment and which patients had the

placebo treatment.

Evaluating Therapies

Double-blind Procedure

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Assigning participants to experimental (Breast-fed) and control (formula-fed)

conditions by random assignment minimizes pre-existing differences

between the two groups.

Evaluating Therapies

Random Assignment

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ExperimentationA summary of steps during experimentation.

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Measures what it is supposed to measure. IE..Chapter 1 test should be on Prologue and CH. 1….not Chapter 10 Emotions.

Results of research can beReproduced, ReplicatedSplit/half tests Ch. 1 test avg. last year similar to this year’s avg

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ComparisonBelow is a comparison of different research methods.

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Describing DataA meaningful description of

data is important in research. Misrepresentation may lead

to incorrect conclusions.

Figures always lie and liers always figure.

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Measures of Central Tendency

Mode: The most frequently occurring score in a distribution.

Mean: The arithmetic average of scores in a distribution obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores that were added together.

Median: The middle score in a rank-ordered distribution.

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Measures of Central Tendency

A Skewed Distribution

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Measures of Variation

Range: The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.

Standard Deviation: A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean.

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Standard Deviation

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75 Multiple choice questionsTextbook, notes, selected readingsMany questions involve application of knowledge learned from chapter 1 (applying what you have learned to a psychological situation)Some items to look over (DO not limit yourself to this list)

Key vocab words: ie – introspection, hindsight bias, overconfidence, ill correlation, SUBFields of psychologyGrowth of psychology (history) – names and roots of psychPerspectives of psychology – do NOT confuse with subfieldstypes of research methods & +/-Correlational studies – scatterplots etcsamplingapplied research vs. pure/ basic researchStrong vs. weak correlational coefficientsJames – authored =>“Principles of Psychology”Central tendencies = mean, median, mode, standard deviationExperimental terms (Ind. Variable, dep. Variable, control group, exp. group, placebo, operational definitions, random assignment)Nature vs NurturePsychiatrist vs psychologist

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Making Inferences

A statistical statement of how frequently an obtained result occurred by experimental

manipulation or by chance.

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Making Inferences

1. Representative samples are better than biased samples.

2. Less variable observations are more reliable than more variable ones.

3. More cases are better than fewer cases.

When is an Observed Difference Reliable?

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Making Inferences

When sample averages are reliable and the difference between them is relatively large,

we say the difference has statistical significance.

For psychologists this difference is measured through alpha level set at 5 percent.

When is a Difference Significant?

What does each scatterplot represent graphically in terms of a relationship b/w the 2 variables being displayed. Use the following terminology:**Perfect Positive, Strong Positive, Weak Positive**Perfect Negative, Strong Negative, Weak Negative**No correlation (zero)

Draw the # line on your answer sheet. Where would each graph fall on a number line? Insert the letter for each scatterplot on the appropriate place on the line below.

-1.0 +1.00

A. B. C.

D. E. F.

G.

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FAQ

Q1. Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?

Ans: Artificial laboratory conditions are created to study behavior in simplistic terms. The goal is

to find underlying principles that govern behavior.

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FAQ

Q2. Does behavior depend on one’s culture?

Ans: Even when specific attitudes and behaviors vary across cultures, as they often do, the underlying processes are much the same.

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FAQ

Q3. Does behavior vary with gender?

Ans: Yes. Biology determines our sex, and culture further bends the genders.

However, in many ways woman and man are similarly human.

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FAQ

Q4. Why do psychologists study animals?

Ans: Studying animals gives us the understanding of many behaviors that may have

common biology across animals and humans.

D. Shapiro, © Wildlife Conservation Society

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FAQ

Q5. Is it ethical to experiment on animals?

Ans: Yes. To gain insights to devastating and fatal diseases. All researchers who deal with animal research are required to follow

ethical guidelines in caring for these animals.

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FAQ

Q6. Is it ethical to experiment on people?

Ans: Yes. Experiments that do not involve any kind of physical or psychological harm beyond normal levels encountered in daily

life may be carried out.

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FAQ

Q7. Is psychology free of value judgments?

Ans: No. Psychology emerges from people who subscribe to a set of values and judgments.

© Roger Shepard

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FAQ

Q8. Is psychology potentially dangerous?

Ans: It can be, but it is not. The purpose of psychology is to help humanity with

problems such as war, hunger, prejudice, crime, family dysfunction, etc.