Theres nothing so useful as a good theory' Kurt Lewin

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Theres nothing so useful as a good
theory.-Kurt Lewin

• An overview of Psychology, academic
  considerations and practical applications for
  employment.
• Ms. Shapiro
• October 11, 2006
• Schalmont High School

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Basic Overview

• In psychology, there is never one agreed-upon
  theory.
• - Overall, psychology examines the human
  experience as a matter of interaction between the
  world and the self.
• - The world gives us events we in turn give
  those events meaning by interpreting and acting
  upon them.

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My BackgroundAn Overview

• Undergraduate Psychology major (Plattsburgh
  State), English minor.
• Started in doctoral program for Industrial
  Organizational Psychology, SUNYA.
• Masters program, Secondary Education, English
  concentration, Saint Rose
• Masters program, School Psychology, Saint Rose.
• 1 year internship, Troy City School District,
  Sept. 2004 - June 2005.
• Graduated in May 2005

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Areas of Psychology(the many different theories)

• Social Psychology (the power of the situation)
• The scientific study of the way in which
  peoples thoughts, feelings and behaviors are
  influenced by the real or imagined presence of
  other people.
• My undergraduate area of research in social
  psychology
• Cognitive dissonance studies-
• Safe sexual behaviors of college students.
• Smoking cessation in high school students.
• Masters-level research project
• - Correlation between attitude toward school and
  academic self-concept, SAS students, Albany High
  School.

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Personality Psychology

• The study of consistent behavior patterns and
  intrapersonal processes originating within the
  individual (individual differences).
• Personality is consistent.
• Personality Psychology vs. Social Psychology
• (Nature vs. Nurture)

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Developmental Psychology

• A field of psychology that examines the impact of
  maturational processes and experience on
  behavior.
• Focus on child development from infancy through
  adolescence.
• Adult development and aging.

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Abnormal Psychology(Clinical Psychology)

• An area of psychology that studies the four
  Ds deviance, distress, dysfunction, and
  danger.
• Deviant - different, extreme, unusual, or
  bizarre.
• Distressful unpleasant and upsetting to the
  individual.
• Dysfunctional disruptive to the persons
  ability to conduct daily activities in a
  constructive manner.
• Dangerous potential to inflict harm on
  themselves or others.

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Biopsychology

• The field that relates behavior to bodily
  processes, especially the workings of the brain.
  
• The main goal of this area of study is to
  understand behavior and experience in terms of
  their biological source.

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Cognitive Psychology

• The study of mental processes such as perceiving,
  remembering, thinking and reasoning.
• The study of mental processes is important
  because these processes are responsible for much
  of the behavior we find interesting.

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Learning and Memory

• A field that examines learning as a persisting
  change in human performance or performance
  potential.
• This means that learners are capable of actions
  they could not perform before learning occurred
  and this is true whether or not they actually
  have an opportunity to exhibit the newly acquired
  performance.

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Industrial Organizational Psychology

• Social Psychology applied to the workplace
  setting.
• Studies individual differences in behavior and
  job performance, and with measuring and
  predicting such differences.
• Topics include but are not limited to
  Motivation, performance appraisal, employee
  satisfaction, personnel, employee selection,
  work-family conflict.
• My area of doctoral-level research
• - Work-family conflict with work stress as a
  mediating factor using employees at The Endocrine
  Group, LLP.

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Behaviorism

• An area of psychology that argued for actual
  behavior as the only event worthy of analysis.
• The behaviorist approach is an orientation in
  psychology that emphasizes the importance of
  environmental determinants on behavior.

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Counseling Psychology

• A field of psychology that provides services to
  moderately disturbed patients.
• Less clinical.
• More working with people who just want to talk
  and less clients with psychological diagnoses.

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Research DesignandStatistics

• Various empirically sound designs,
  quasi-experimental research designs, and
  correlational research.
• Designs get applied to research questions or
  hypothesis.
• Descriptive statistics Used to summarize data
  and make understandable, to describe a group of
  numbers from a research study.
• Inferential statistics Used to draw conclusions
  and inferences, which are based on the numbers
  from a research study (data), but go beyond these
  numbers.

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School Psychology

• A field of psychology involving psychoeduational
  testing and evaluating, and other related
  services in a school setting.

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Job responsibilities as a School Psychologist

• Conduct Psychological Evaluations using a wide
  range of cognitive, achievement and
  social-emotional instruments.
• Complete written Psychoeducational Evaluations.
• Interpret psychological findings for diagnostic
  purposes.
• Interpret test scores for parents and teachers,
  and provide recommendations for courses of
  action.
• Participate in consultation meetings with
  teachers, administrators, and parents.
• Presented evaluation results and recommendations
  at Committee on Special Education (CSE) meetings.

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Cont

• Serve as a resource person for teachers,
  administrators, students and parents.
• Develop and assist in the implementation of 504
  plans.
• Develop and implement individual and group
  counseling treatment plans .
• Develop and implement Functional Behavioral
  Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans for
  students.
• Attended and participate in Manifistation
  Determination Hearings.
• GET INVOLVED IN YOUR SCHOOL!!!!!!

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Example

• Scenario A student gets handed back an exam at
  school with a failing grade. The student bursts
  into tears and runs out of the classroom.
• How would different areas of psychology interpret
  this event?

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A Social Psychologist would say

• This student maybe had a bad day up until this
  point. Perhaps they recently experienced an
  argument with a family member or friends. They
  were vulnerable to react in this manner due to
  situational influences (the power of the
  situation).

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A Personality Psychologist would say

• This student individual has a tendency to
  overreact regardless of the situation. Even as
  an infant, their temperament could have predicted
  this type of reaction.

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A Developmental Psychologist would say

• This student is obviously less mature than other
  students their age. They are at a maturation
  level in which they are unable to put a poor
  grade in perspective. They are developing and
  maturing at a slower rate than their peers.

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An Abnormal (or Clinical) Psychologist would say

• This student is obviously suffering from major
  depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or
  bipolar disorder.

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A Biopsychologist would say

• This students parents probably behaved in a
  similar manner when they were students. This
  behavior is probably a result of genetics.
  Parents that overreact are bound to produce
  children who overreact.

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A Cognitive Psychologist would say

• This student was probably repeating maladaptive
  (negative) thoughts over and over in their head
  all morning. They were probably thinking
• I am going to fail that test, and when I do, I
  will make a fool of myself and run out of the
  room crying. I just know I will cause a scene
  when I receive that failing test grade.

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A Learning and Memory oriented Psychologist would
say

• This is a result of social modeling that occurred
  at some point in this students life. They
  learned by watching another that this is a
  possible, acceptable, and/or normal reaction.

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An I/O psychologist would say

• A happy worker is a productive worker, and this
  student is not happy in school, therefore they
  are experiencing failure academically. The
  emotional reaction is due to work-stress.

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A Behavior Oriented Psychologist would say

• The failing grade is the unconditioned stimulus
  that provoked the unconditioned response (crying
  and running out of the room).
• In the future when the teacher passes back tests
  or papers (conditioned stimulus) the student will
  continue to run out of the room crying
  (conditioned response).

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A Counseling Psychologist would say

• This is a reaction that needs to be addressed in
  individual or group counseling. Talking about
  and processing the incident through counseling
  will lead to individual growth.

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A Statistician would say

• We need to collect data on the frequency,
  duration, time of day, antecedents, and
  consequences of this particular incident and any
  proceeding incidents of similar nature. Perhaps
  through inferential statistics and regression
  equations, we can better understand and predict
  this type of behavior in the future.

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A School Psychologist would say

• It is important to determine whether or not this
  behavior is impacting this students ability to
  learn. A functional behavioral assessment should
  be conducted and a behavior intervention plan
  should be implemented. If this behavior
  continues to occur and negatively impact this
  students education, a CSE referral may be
  warranted.

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Continuing Education in Psychology (Graduate
Programs)

• Masters, either stepping-stone to doctoral level
  study, or can lead to field specific jobs in
• Counseling Psychology
• Industrial Organizational Psychology
• School Psychology
• Jobs in Research

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Doctoral-level programs

• Doctoral programs in psychology usually are
  designed to graduate psychologists who become
  professors at universities and conduct research
  leading to publication (which generates field
  advances).
• Also
• Teaching professor.
• Applied fields Clinical, Counseling, I/O,
  School.

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Careers in Psychology

• As a psychology major, you can work in many
  fields even if graduate study is not your choice.
• Human Services (counseling advocacy, mental
  health)
• Administration
• Teaching
• Community Relations
• Program Development
• Research
• Human Resources
• Public Relations
• Marketing
• Education
• Sales

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Intro. to Psychology text

• Research Stories for General Psychology.
• Lary Shaffer and Matthew R. Merrens, Plattsburgh
  State University.
• An introduction to Psychology through current and
  relevant research.