PSYCH

• Psychology as a Science

  • Prevent possible biases from leading to faulty observations
  • Precise and careful measurement
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• Sociocultural Perspective


  • Focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture
• Wilhelm Wundt’s Psychology Laboratory was developed in Germany


  1897
• Gestalt Psychology


  • Focuses on perception, learning, memory, thought processes, and problem solving
• Psychology’s Four Goals

  • Description
  • Explanation
  • Theory
  • Prediction
  • Control
• Modern Perspectives

  • Psychodynamic
  • Behavioral
  • Humanistic
  • Cognitive
  • Sociocultural
  • Biopsychological
  • Evolutionary
• Objective introspection


  Process of objectively examining and measuring one’s thoughts and mental activities
• Psychoanalysis


  • Theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud
  • Emphasizes the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences
• Humanistic Perspective


  • Focuses on human potential and self-actualization
  • Founded by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
• Biopsychological Perspective


  • Attributes behavior to biological events in the body such as genetic influences, hormones, and the nervous system
• Behavior

  • Think
  • Feel
  • Act
  • Outward or overt actions and reactions
• Mental Process


  • Internal, covert activity of our minds
• Cognitive Perspective


  • Focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning
• Structuralism


  • Focused on the structure or basic elements of the mind
  • Died out in the early 1900s
• Behaviorism

  • Focuses on observable behavior only
  • Based on the work of Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson
  • Introduced the concept of conditioning and reinforcement
• Evolutionary Perspective


  • Focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics and adaptive behavior
• Functionalism proposed by William James

  Influenced the modern fields of Educational psychology, Evolutionary psychology, and Industrial/organizational psychology
• Psychiatric Social Worker


  A social worker with some training in therapy methods who focuses on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug abuse
• Naturalistic observation


  1. Watching animals or humans behave in their normal environment

  2. Major advantage: realistic picture of behavior

  3. Disadvantages: observer effect, participant observation, observer bias, uniqueness of each setting
• Surveys

  1. Researchers ask a series of questions about the topic under study

  2. Given to a representative sample

  3. Advantages: data from large numbers of people, study covert behaviors

  4. Disadvantages: need representative sample, people not always accurate (courtesy bias)
• Types of Psychological Professionals

  • Psychiatrist
  • Psychoanalyst
  • Psychiatric Social Worker
  • Psychologist
• Psychiatrist


  A medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
• Case study

  1. Study of one individual in great detail

  2. Advantage: tremendous amount of detail

  3. Disadvantage: cannot apply to others
• Psychologist


  • A professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one or more areas of psychology
  • Can do counseling, teaching, and research and may specialize in any one of a large number of areas within psychology
  • Areas of specialization in psychology include clinical, counseling, developmental, social, and personality, among others
• Finding Relationships

  1. Correlation is a measure of the relationship between two variables

  2. Correlation coefficient ranges from -1.00 to +1.00, closer to 1.00 or -1.00 indicates a stronger relationship

  3. Correlation does not prove causation

  4. Variable is anything that can change or vary

  5. Positive correlation: variables are related in the same direction, negative correlation: variables are related in opposite directions
• Descriptive Methods

  1. Lead to the formation of testable hypotheses

  2. Include naturalistic observation, laboratory observation, case study, surveys
• Psychology and the Scientific Method

  1. System of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced

  2. Steps: Perceive the question, Form a hypothesis, Test the hypothesis, Draw conclusions, Report results for replication
• Evolutionary perspective


  • Focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share
  • Looks at the way the mind works and why it works as it does
  • Behavior is seen as having an adaptive or survival value
• Population


  The entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested
• Psychoanalyst


  Either a psychiatrist or a psychologist who has special training in the theories of Sigmund Freud and his method of psychoanalysis
• Laboratory Observation


  1. Watching animals or humans behave in a laboratory setting

  2. Advantages: control over environment, allows use of specialized equipment

  3. Disadvantage: artificial situation that may result in artificial behavior
• Control Group

  Subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment
• Single-blind study


  Subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group
• Independent variable (IV)


  Variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter
• Approximately 7% of psychological studies use animals
• Double-blind study

  Neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group
• Placebo Effect


  Phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior
• Perfect correlation = -1.00 OR +1.00
• Four Basic Criteria of Critical Thinking

  • There are very few “truths” that do not need to be subjected to testing