Human Behavior

1
Human Behavior

• Ch. 1-1
• What is Psychology?

2
Brooke Ellison

• Accident at 11 years old.
• Paralyzed from the neck down.
• Went on to graduate from Harvard.
• Did not dwell on situation

3
Psychology

• Not limited to studying abnormal behavior.
• Scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes.
• Thoughts, feelings, and actions.
• Pg. 4 is a list of associated psychology fields.

4
Developmental Psychology

• Study physical, mental, social, and emotional
  growth and change.
• From prenatal to old age.
• Subgroups include
• Child, adolescent, and life-span psychologists.
• Would study how Brooke managed with the
  challenges of adolescence.

5
Physiological Psychology

• Study the biological basis of human behavior,
  thoughts, and emotions.
• Neuropsychologists
• Brain and Nervous system
• Biological psychologists
• Bodys chemistry
• Behavioral geneticists
• Explore heredity
• Would like to study how they can help Brooke once
  again send messages to the muscles of her body.

6
Experimental Psychology

• Conduct research on basic psychological processes
  learning, memory, sensation, perception,
  thinking, motivation, and emotion.
• Why can some achieve more in athletics, arts, and
  so on.
• Would be interested in how Brooke processes and
  remembers information.

7
Personality Psychology

• Study the differences among individuals in traits
  like sociability, conscientiousness, self-esteem,
  etc
• Like to study Brookes personality traits, did
  they always exist or were they due to her
  accident. Will they change as she gets older?

8
Clinical and Counseling Psychology

• 50 of psychologists
• Clinical
• Interested in the diagnosis, causes, and
  treatment of psychological disorders
  (depression).
• Counseling
• Interested in the problems of normal everyday
  adjustments (career choices)
• Divide time between treatment and research
• Would monitor Brooke and anyone else who had a
  difficult time with her accident. Such as her
  sister Kysten.

9
Social Psychology

• Study how social influences are exerted and the
  effects they have.
• Would study how stereotypes of handicapped people
  would affect the way in which Brooke was treated.

10
Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology

• Apply principles of psychology to the workplace.
• How to train personnel, improve productivity, and
  working conditions.

11
Enduring Issues

• What do all fields have in common?
• 5 enduring issues are evident in all
• Person-Situation
• Nature-Nurture
• Stability-Change
• Diversity-Universality
• Mind-Body

12
Person-Situation

• To what extent is behavior caused by internal
  processes (emotions).
• To what extent is behavior caused by external
  factors (incentives).

13
Nature-Nurture

• Is a person shaped by
• Heredity (genes)
• Environment (experiences)

14
Stability-Change

• Are our characteristics
• Permanent and fixed
• Change in predictable and unpredictable ways

15
Diversity-Universality

• We are all human
• Yet we all have differences
• What differences exists between
• Men and women
• Racial or ethnic groups
• Or a particular society

16
Mind-Body

• How the mind and body connect.
• Experiences (thoughts and feelings)
• Biological processes (activity in the nervous
  system)

17
Psychology as Science

• Scientific Method
• Define the problem
• Create a theory (hypothesis)
• Collect data (test)
• Analyze assumptions
• Draw conclusions
• Consider every alternative interpretation
• Redo