THE FIELD OF PSYCHOLOGY

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Sociocultural
Behavioral
Psychoanalytic
APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY
Humanistic
Biological
Cognitive
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What is Psychology?

• The scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes (humans and animals)

• Covers what we..
• Think
• Feel
• Do

• Largest association of Psychologists worldwide

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Why Study Psychology?

• Application to everyday life
• Gain insight into behavior (yours and others)

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Why Study Psychology?

• Dispel myths about human behavior

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Goals of Psychology

• Describe behavior
• Explain behavior
• Predict behavior
• Influence behavior

• Nature vs. Nurture
• Stability vs. Change
• Rationality vs. Irrationality

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History of Psychology
Phrenology Examining bumps on the skull to
determine intellect and character traits (19th
century)
Past attempts at understanding human behavior
(weird or not) have led to what we know today and
shaped the current Approaches to Psychology
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Ancient Psychology

• Aristotle

• Trephination

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Wilhelm Wundt

• Father of psychology
• Started 1st lab to study humans (1879)
• Established Psychology as formal field of study
• Introspection self observation, report
  thoughts and feelings

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William James

• Father of MODERN Psychology or
  Father of Psychology in the U.S.
• Principles in Psychology 1st Psychology Textbook

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Contemporary Approaches to Psychology

• Psychoanalytic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Sociocultural

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Perspectives
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PSYCHOANALYTIC/PSYCHODYNAMIC

• Key ideas
• childhood experiences
• unconscious forces
• Sigmund Freud (1856 1939)
• Unconscious motivations are responsible for human
  behavior
• Techniques
• Free association
• Psychoanalysis
• Dream analysis

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BEHAVIORAL

• Key ideas
• Observable Behavior
• Conditioning/Learning
• Prior experience
• John Watson (1878 1958)
• Behavior the result of conditioning We are
  what we learn to be
• B.F. Skinner (1904 1990)
• Reinforcement

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HUMANISTIC

• Key ideas
• Self-directed
• Uniqueness
• Potential to develop

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EVOLUTIONARY

• Key Ideas
• Survival of the fittest
• Inheritable traits
• Success
• Main theorist Charles Darwin

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COGNITIVE

• Key ideas
• How we .. Process, Store, Retrieve information
• Thought patterns
• Problem solving
• Behavior results from memories, expectations

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BIOLOGICAL

• A.k.a. Behavioral neuroscience
• Key ideas
• How the brain, nervous system, hormones, genetics
  influence behavior

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SOCIOCULTURAL

• Key ideas
• Cultural influence on behavior
• Gender
• Socioeconomic status

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Eclecticism

• By combining information from all of the
  approaches, psychologists stand a better chance
  of describing, explaining, predicting, and
  controlling behavior.

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Psychology as a Profession

• Psychologist
• Observe, analyze, evaluate behavior
• Doctorate degree

• Psychiatrist
• Medical degree training in psychiatric medicine

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• Clinical Psychologist
• diagnoses and treats people with emotional
  disturbances

• Counseling Psychologist
• help people deal with problems of everyday life

• Developmental Psychologist
• Study changes that occur throughout life

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• Educational Psychologist
• helps students learn

• Industrial/Organizational Psychologist
• employed by businesses to boost production,
  improve working conditions, make the workplace a
  more satisfying environment

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Research v. Applied Psychology

• Research Psychologists study origins, causes,
  results of behavior
• Applied Psychologists make direct use of the
  findings of research psychologist deal directly
  with clients

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Methods of Research

• Naturalistic Observation
• Observe subjects in a natural setting without
  interfering
• Natural behavior

• Case Study
• Intensive investigation of one or more
  participants
• long-term observations, diaries, tests,
  interviews

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• Survey
• Interviews, questionnaires, or both
• asking many individuals a fixed set of questions

• Longitudinal Study
• Data is collected over a number of years
• Development
• time-consuming

• Cross-sectional Study
• Different age groups same time compare

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Longitudinal vs. Cross-Sectional
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Psychological Experiments
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• Double-Blind Experiment
• Neither participants nor experiment knows which
  received medication
• keeps researcher unbiased

• Placebo effect
• change in illness/physical state from knowledge
  and perception of treatment
• believing it will have an effect
• fake medication