The Search for Understanding

1
Chapter 1

• The Search for Understanding

Table of Contents
Exit
2
Key Questions

• What is psychology?
• What do psychologists hope to achieve?
• How did psychology emerge as a field of
  knowledge?
• What are the major perspectives in psychology?
• What roles and specialties are found in
  psychology and related fields?
• What is critical thinking?
• How does psychology differ from false
  explanations of behavior?

3
Key Terms

1. Psychology
2. Overt behaviors
3. Covert behaviors
4. Empirical evidence
5. Data
6. Scientific observation
7. Research method
8. Developmental psychologists
9. Learning theorists
10. Personality theorists
11. Sensation perception psychologists
12. Comparative psychologists
13. Biopsychologists
14. Gender psychologists
15. Social psychologists
16. Cultural psychologists
17. Description
18. Understanding
19. Prediction

4
What is Psychology?

• Psychology
• Psyche Mind
• Logos Knowledge or study
• Definition The scientific study of human and
  animal behavior
• Behavior Overt, i.e. can be directly observed
  (crying)
• Mental Processes Covert, i.e. cannot be directly
  observed (remembering)

Table of Contents
Exit
5
Empiricism The Goals

• To measure and describe behaviors
• To gather empirical evidence Information gained
  from direct observation and measurement
• To gather data Observed facts

Table of Contents
Exit
6
Fig. 1.1 Results of an empirical study. The graph
shows that horn honking by frustrated motorists
becomes more likely as air temperature increases.
This suggests that physical discomfort is
associated with interpersonal hostility. Riots
and assaults also increase during hot weather.
Here we see a steady rise in aggression as
temperatures go higher. However, research done by
other psychologists has shown that hostile
actions that require physical exertion, such as a
fist fight, may become less likely at very high
temperatures. (Data from Kenrick MacFarlane,
1986.)
Table of Contents
Exit
7
Scientific Observation

• Definition Designed and structured to answer
  questions about the world
• Research Method A systematic procedure for
  answering scientific questions

Table of Contents
Exit
8
What Might a Psychologist Research?

• Development Course of human growth and
  development
• Learning How and why it occurs in humans and
  animals
• Personality Traits, motivations, and individual
  differences
• Sensation and Perception How we come to know the
  world through our five senses

Table of Contents
Exit
9
What Might a Psychologist Research? (cont.)

• Comparative Study and compare behavior of
  different species, especially animals
• Biopsychology How behavior is related to
  biological processes, especially activities in
  the nervous system
• Gender Study differences between males and
  females and how they develop
• Social Human and social behavior

Table of Contents
Exit
10
What Might a Psychologist Research? (cont.)

• Cultural How culture affects behavior
• Animals Natural laws governing the behavior of
  any living creature

Table of Contents
Exit
11
What Are the Goals of Psychology?

• Description of Behaviors Naming and classifying
  various observable, measurable behaviors
• Understanding The causes of behavior(s), and
  being able to state the cause(s)
• Prediction Predicting behavior accurately
• Control Altering conditions that influence
  behaviors in predictable ways
• Positive Use To control unwanted behaviors,
  (e.g., smoking, tantrums, etc.)
• Negative Use To control peoples behaviors
  without their knowledge

Table of Contents
Exit
12
Article

• Indian girl 2002

13
A Brief History of Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt Father" of Psychology
• 1879 Set up first lab to study conscious
  experience
• Introspection Looking inward (i.e., examining
  and reporting your thoughts, feelings, etc.)
• Experimental Self-Observation Incorporates both
  introspection and objective measurement Wundts
  approach

Table of Contents
Exit
14
History of Psychology Structuralism

• Wundts ideas brought to the U.S. by Tichener and
  renamed Structuralism
• Structuralists often disagreed, and no way to
  prove who was correct!
• Structuralists Introspection was a poor way to
  answer many questions

Table of Contents
Exit
15
History of Psychology Functionalism

• William James (American) and Functionalism
• How the mind functions to help us adapt and
  survive
• Functionalists admired Darwin and his Theory of
  Natural Selection Animals keep features through
  evolution that help them adapt to environments
• Educational Psychology Study of learning,
  teaching, classroom dynamics, and related topics

Table of Contents
Exit
16
History of Psychology Behaviorism and Cognitive
Behaviorism

• Behaviorism Watson and Skinner
• Psychology must study observable behavior
  objectively
• Watson studied Little Albert with Rosalie Raynor
  Skinner studied animals almost exclusively
• Cognitive Behaviorism Ellis and Bandura
• Our thoughts influence our behaviors used often
  in treatment of depression

Table of Contents
Exit
17
B.F. Skinner

• Pigeons playing table tennis
• Watsons life

18
History of Psychology Gestalt

• Gestalt Psychology The whole is greater than
  the sum of its parts.
• Studied thinking, learning, and perception in
  whole units, not by analyzing experiences into
  parts
• Key names Wertheimer, Perls

Table of Contents
Exit
19
Fig. 1.2 The design you see here is entirely made
up of broken circles. However, as the Gestalt
psychologists discovered, our perceptions have a
powerful tendency to form meaningful patterns.
Because of this tendency, you will probably see a
triangle in this design, even though it is only
an illusion. Your whole perceptual experience
exceeds the sum of its parts.
Table of Contents
Exit
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
History of Psychology Freud

• Psychoanalytic Freud
• Our behavior is largely influenced by our
  unconscious wishes, thoughts, and desires,
  especially sex and aggression
• Freud performed dream analysis and was an
  interactionist (combination of our biology and
  environment makes us who we are)
• Repression When threatening thoughts are
  unconsciously held out of awareness
• Recent research has hypothesized that our
  unconscious mind is partially responsible for our
  behaviors

Table of Contents
Exit
23
History of Psychology Neo-Freudians

• New or recent some of Freuds students who broke
  away to promote their own theories
• Key names Adler, Anna Freud, Horney, Jung, Rank,
  Erikson
• Psychodynamic theories Which emphasize internal
  motives, conflicts, and unconscious forces

Table of Contents
Exit
24
History of Psychology Humanism

• Humanism Rogers and Maslow
• Goal of psychology is to understand subjective
  human experience
• Each person has innate goodness and is able to
  make free choices (contrast with Skinner and
  Freud)
• Determinism Behavior is determined by forces
  beyond our control

Table of Contents
Exit
25
History of Psychology Humanism

• Humanists helped stimulate interest in
  psychological needs for love, self-esteem,
  belonging, self-expression, creativity, and
  spirituality.
• Such needs, they believe, are as important as our
  biological needs for food and water.
• For example, newborn infants deprived of human
  love may die just as surely as they would if
  deprived of food

26
Humanism Some Concepts

• Self-image Your perception of your own body,
  personality, and capabilities
• Self-evaluation Positive and negative feelings
  you have about yourself
• Frame of Reference Mental or emotional
  perspective used for evaluating events
• Self-actualization (Maslow) Fully developing
  ones potentials and becoming the best person
  possible
• Free will The human ability to make choices

Table of Contents
Exit
27
Psychology Today

• Biopsychology Our behavior can be explained
  through physiological processes
• Uses brain scans to gather data (MRI, PET)
• Looks at neurotransmitters
• Cognitive Study thoughts, memory, expectations,
  perceptions, and other mental processes
• Eclectic Drawing from many sources

Table of Contents
Exit
28
5 ways to Look at Behavior

• Psychodynamic View
• Behavioristic View
• Humanistic View
• Biopsychological View
• Cognitive View
• Read page 15-16

29
Critical Thinking

• Imagine that you are a psychologist. You client,
  Linda, who is Native American, tells you that
  spirits live in the trees near her home. Is Linda
  suffering from a delusion? Is she abnormal?

30
Cultural Awareness

• Many thoughts and behaviors are influenced by our
  culture
• Psychologists need to be aware of the impact
  cultural diversity may have on our behaviors
• What is acceptable in one culture might be
  unacceptable in another
• Cultural Relativity Behavior must be judged
  relative to the values of the culture in which it
  occurs
• Norms Rules that define acceptable and expected
  behavior for members of various groups

31
Many Flavors of Psychologists

• Psychologists Usually have masters or doctorate
  Trained in methods, knowledge, and theories of
  psychology
• Clinical Psychologists Treat more severe
  psychological problems
• Counseling Psychologists Treat milder problems,
  such as adjustment disorders
• Not all psychologists perform therapy!

32
Specialties in Psychology

• Psychiatrists MD usually use medications to
  treat problems Generally do not have extensive
  training in providing talk therapy
• Psychoanalysts Receive post-PhD. or M.D.
  training in Freudian psychoanalysis at an
  institute
• Clinical Treat psychological problems or do
  research on clinical topics
• Counselor Adviser who helps solve marriage,
  career, work, or school problems
• Psychiatric Social Workers Many have masters
  degrees and perform psychotherapy
• Presently a very popular profession
• PAGE 19

33
Critical Thinking Key Principles

• Few truths transcend the need for empirical
  testing
• Evidence varies in quality
• Authority or claimed expertise does not
  automatically make an idea true
• Critical thinking requires an open mind

34
Critical Thinking

• Ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize
  information
• What would you expect to see if the claim were
  true?
• Gather evidence relevant to the claim
• Evaluate the evidence
• Draw a conclusion
• Oftentimes used in research

35
Pseudo-Psychology

• An unfounded system that resembles psychology
• Schemes that give an appearance of science, but
  are actually false
• P.T. Barnum Always have a little something for
  everybody
• Barnum Effect A tendency to consider personal
  descriptions accurate if they are stated in very
  general terms
• Horoscopes http//shine.yahoo.com/astrology
• Palm readings
• Fortunes

36
Pseudo-Psych

• Not on handout
• Uncritical Acceptance Tendency to believe
  positive or flattering descriptions of yourself
• Fallacy of Positive Instances When we remember
  or notice things that confirm our expectations
  and forget the rest
• Crossing over with John Edward

37
Assignment

• Horoscope assignment
• Review your horoscope for 3 straight days.
• Write horoscope
• Write interpretation of horoscope
• Write belief of horoscope
• Write where horoscope was from.

38
Quiz

• Quiz next class over Chapter 1