A Brief History of Psychology

This section covers:
 The definition of psychology
 A brief history of psychology
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Goals of Psychology
To Describe Behavior
To Explain Behavior
To Predict Behavior
To Control or Change Behavior
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Experiencing Psychology: How Much Do You
Know About Behavior?
Indicate whether you believe each statement is true (T) or false (F).
1. People are either left-brain or right-brain thinkers.
T F
2. Genes only affect people during prenatal development.
T F
T F 3. For most people, intelligence peaks in their late 30s or early 40s.
4. During sleep, the brain is mostly resting and inactive.
5. Feeling good can make you smile, but not the reverse.
T
T
F
F
6. Expressing pent-up anger reduces feelings of aggression.
T F
7. Most relationships follow the idea that “opposites attract” T F
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Roots of Psychology – Philosophy

Plato (427 –347 BCE) to René Descartes (1596–
1650)
 Pondered the relationship between the mind and body, and between knowledge and experience
 Empiricists such as Locke (1632-1704)
 Viewed the mind as a blank slate

Eventually, philosophical concepts and a physiological understanding of the brain merged into what we now call “psychology”
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Structuralism – Wilhelm Wundt ( 1832 –1920) and
Edward Titchener (1867 –1923)

Key idea: our consciousness can be broken down into its essential elements
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Structuralism – Introspection

The personal observation of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
 Ignore what this object is , and instead, describe your conscious experience of it
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Functionalism – William James (1842–1910)

Key idea: our consciousness serves an adaptive purpose by helping us survive
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Psychodynamic Theory –
Sigmund Freud (1856 –1939)

Key idea: our behavior is deeply influenced by unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires
 Many unconscious drives are sexual or destructive in nature.
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Behaviorism –James B. Watson (1878–1958) and B. F. Skinner (1904 –1990)

Key idea: our behavior is learned, observable, and measurable
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Humanistic Psychology – Abraham Maslow
(1908 –1970) and Carl Rogers (1902–1987)

Key idea: we have free will to live more creative, meaningful, and satisfying lives
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Gestalt Viewpoint –
Max Wertheimer ( 1880 –1941)

Key idea: to understand consciousness, we must study the whole, not just its component parts
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Who Are These Psychologists?
First African-
American PhD, examined racism
First female psychologist to earn a PhD in
America
A Brief History of Psychology
Denied a PhD, later elected first woman president of the APA
© 2016 Cengage Learning .

Cognitive Psychology –
Ulric Neisser (1928 –2012)

Key idea: how our brain processes information influences how we behave
A Brief History of Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Contemporary Psychology

This section covers:
 Modern psychological perspectives
 Careers in psychology
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Modern Psychological Perspectives
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Integrating the Perspectives

The eclectic, or integrated, approach
 Combining several perspectives provides a more complete picture of behavior
 For example, anxiety may be described as:
• A change in brain chemistry
• A learned behavior
• An adaptive response
• A product of unresolved feelings
• Rooted in a dissatisfaction with one’s self
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Which Subfield Do Psychologists Today
Choose?
Clinical
Counseling
Social
Biological
Neuroscience
Industrial/Organizational
Developmental
Educational
Cognitive
Other
0
3,7
3,3
4,5
4,5
5,7
5,1
5,1
8,3
10
Contemporary Psychology
48,3
16,6
20 30
Percentage
40 50 60
© 2016 Cengage Learning .

Where Do Psychologists Work?
Other educational
Business/ government/ other institutions
8%
21%
College and universities
33%
Contemporary Psychology
Human service sector
38%
© 2016 Cengage Learning .

Research Methods in Psychology

This section covers:
 How to think scientifically
 Methods of conducting research
 Ethical concerns in research
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Thinking Like a Scientist

What makes scientific thinking different than everyday observation?
 Objectivity rather than subjectivity
 Systematic observation and repeatable evidence
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Developing a Research Idea

Hypothesis
 Proposed explanation for a situation: “if A happens then B will be the result”

Theory
 A set of facts and relationships between facts that can explain and predict related phenomena
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Scientific Method
Observe behavior or other phenomena
Formulate a research question
Generate a testable prediction (hypothesis) that addresses your question
Collect and analyze data
Contemporary Psychology
Draw conclusions and use them to create/refine theories
© 2016 Cengage Learning .

Selecting Participants for a Research Study
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Nonexperimental Methods: Naturalistic
Observation

Jane Goodall observing the world of the chimpanzee
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Nonexperimental Methods: Case Studies

Analyzing the case of H.M.
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Nonexperimental Methods: Surveys

Polling a large population
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Designing a Correlational Study

Measure the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables, or factors
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Measuring the Correlation

The correlation coefficient
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Understanding Causation

The third variable problem
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Designing an Experimental Study

Manipulate one variable and observe changes in others
 Independent variable: the cause
 Dependent variable(s): the effect
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Assigning Participant Groups in a Study

Randomly assign participants to:
 Experimental groups, who experience the independent variable
 Control groups, who do NOT experience the independent variable
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Problems in Experimental Research

Confounding (extraneous) variables

Experimenter bias
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

An example experiment: Does Listening to Music
While Studying Affect Learning?
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Studying the Effects of Time

Cross-sectional design

Longitudinal design

Mixed longitudinal design
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Conducting Ethical Research
Do no harm.
American Psychological Association Guidelines
Accurately describe risks to potential participants.
Ensure that participation is voluntary.
Minimize discomfort to participants.
Maintain confidentiality.
Do not unnecessarily invade privacy.
Use deception only when absolutely necessary.
Provide debriefing to all participants.
Provide results and interpretations to participants.
Treat participants with dignity and respect.
Allow participants to withdraw at any time for any reason.
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Conducting Animal Research

Can be controversial

APA guidelines for what kind of research is permissible
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Ethically Questionable Research: The Tuskegee
Syphilis Experiments

Prisoners, soldiers, and mental patients were deliberately exposed to syphilis and gonorrhea to test the effectiveness of penicillin
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Another Kind of Research Ethics Violation:
Plagiarism

Cite your research references!
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Behavioral Statistics

This section covers:
 Issues in measurement
 Descriptive statistics
 Inferential statistics
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Issues in Measurement

Reliability: consistency

Validity: accuracy
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Descriptive Statistics

Find meaningful patterns and summaries in large sets of data
 Measures of Central Tendency
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Mean

A numeric average of a data set.
 Can be skewed by extreme values.
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Median

The halfway mark in a set of data, with half of the scores above and half below
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

The Mode

The most frequently occurring score in a set of data
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Standard Deviation

Measures how tightly clustered a group of scores is around the mean
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Inferential Statistics

Reach conclusions about data
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .

Example: A Meta-Analysis of Video Game
Violence and Aggression

A statistical analysis of many prior experiments
Contemporary Psychology © 2016 Cengage Learning .