PsychSmart
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
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CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
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Psychologists at Work
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What is the science of psychology?
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What are the major specialties in the field
of psychology?
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Where do psychologists work?
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Psychology
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The scientific study of behavior and mental
processes
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Subfields of Psychology:
Psychology’s Family Tree
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Separated by the basic questions about
behavior that they address:
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How do our social networks affect behavior?
How do people sense, perceive, learn, and think
about the world?
What are the sources of change and stability in
behavior across a life span?
How do psychological factors affect physical and
mental health?
How do our social networks affect behavior?
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How Do Our Social Networks Affect
Behavior?
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Social Psychology
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Cross-Cultural Psychology
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The study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are
affected by others
Investigates the similarities and differences in psychological
functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups
What Are the Biological Foundations of Behavior?
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Behavioral Neuroscience
 Examines how the brain and the nervous system, in addition
to other biological processes, determine behavior
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How Do People Sense, Perceive,
Learn, and Think about the
World?
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Experimental Psychology
Studies the processes of sensing, perceiving,
learning, and thinking about the world
 Subspecialty
 Cognitive psychology
 Studies higher mental processes such as
thinking, memory, reasoning, problem
solving, judging, decision making, and
language
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What Are the Sources of Change
and Stability in Behavior Across
the Life Span?
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Developmental Psychology
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Studies how people grow and change from
the moment of conception through death
Personality Psychology
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Focuses on the consistency in people’s
behavior over time and the traits that
differentiate one person from another
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How Do Psychological Factors
Affect Physical and Mental Health?
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Health Psychology
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Clinical Psychology
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Explores the relationship between psychological
factors and physical ailments or disease
Deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological disorders
Counseling Psychology
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Focuses primarily on educational, social, and careeradjustment problems
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Expanding Psychology’s
Frontiers
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Evolutionary Psychology
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Considers how behavior is influenced by our
genetic inheritance from our ancestors
Behavioral Genetics
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Seeks to understand how we might inherit
certain behavioral traits and how the
environment influences whether we actually
display such traits
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Expanding Psychology’s
Frontiers
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Clinical Neuropsychology
Unites the areas of neuroscience and clinical
psychology
 Focuses on the origin of psychological
disorders in biological factors
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Where Psychologists Work
Figure 1 of Chapter 1
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Psychologists: A Portrait
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By 2010 women will outnumber men in the
field
Vast majority of psychologists in the
United States are white
Six percent are members of racial minority
groups
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Limits diversity of the field
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The Education of a
Psychologist
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PhD
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PsyD
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Doctor of psychology
MA or MS
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Doctor of philosophy
Master’s degree
BA or BS
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Bachelor’s degree
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A Science Evolves: The Past, the
Present, and the Future
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What are the origins of psychology?
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What are the major approaches in
contemporary psychology?
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A Science Evolves: The Past, the
Present, and the Future
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What are psychology’s key issues and
controversies?
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What is the future of psychology likely to
hold?
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The Roots of Psychology
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Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt
 Focused on uncovering the fundamental
mental components of perception,
consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other
kinds of mental states and activities
 Introspection
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The Roots of Psychology
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Functionalism
William James
 Concentrated on what the mind does and how
behavior functions
 Stream of consciousness
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The Roots of Psychology
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Gestalt Psychology
Emphasized how perception is organized
 “The whole is different from the sum of its
parts”
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Women in Psychology:
Founding Mothers
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Margaret Floy Washburn
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Leta Stetter Hollingworth
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One of the first psychologists to focus on child
development and on women’s issues
Mary Calkins
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First woman to receive a doctorate in psychology
Studied memory
First female president of the American Psychological
Association
Karen Horney
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Focused on the social and cultural factors behind
personality
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Women in Psychology:
Founding Mothers
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June Etta Downey
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Anna Freud
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First woman to head a psychology department at a
state university
Daughter of Sigmund Freud
Notable contributions to the treatment of abnormal
behavior
Mamie Phipps Clark
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Pioneered work on how children of color grew to
recognize racial differences
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Today’s Perspectives
Figure 3 of Chapter 1
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The Neuroscience
Perspective: Blood, Sweat,
and Fears
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Neuroscience Perspective
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Considers how people and nonhumans
function biologically
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The Psychodynamic
Perspective: Understanding the
Inner Person
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Psychodynamic Perspective
Sigmund Freud
 Behavior is motivated by inner forces and
conflicts about which we have little awareness
or control.
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The Behavioral Perspective:
Observing the Outer Person
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Behavioral Perspective
John B. Watson
 B.F. Skinner
 Focuses on observable behavior that can be
measured objectively
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The Cognitive Perspective:
Identifying the Roots of
Understanding
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Cognitive Perspective
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Focuses on how people think, understand,
and know about the world
 Information processing
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The Humanistic Perspective: The
Unique Qualities of the Human
Species
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Humanistic Perspective
Carl Rogers
 Abraham Maslow
 Emphasis is on free will
 Achieving self-fulfillment
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Key Issues
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Nature (Heredity) versus Nurture (Environment)
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Conscious versus Unconscious causes of behavior
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Observable Behavior versus Internal Mental Processes
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Free Will versus Determinism
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Individual Differences versus Universal Principles
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Key Issues
Figure 4 of Chapter 1
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Psychology’s Future
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Psychology will become increasingly specialized
and new perspectives will evolve.
Neuroscientific approaches will likely influence
other branches of psychology.
Influence on issues of public interest will grow.
Issues of diversity will become more important to
psychologists providing services and doing
research.
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Research in Psychology
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What is the scientific method?
How do psychologists use theory and
research to answer questions of interest?
What research methods do psychologists
use?
How do psychologists establish causeand-effect relationships using
experiments?
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Scientific Method
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Approach used by psychologists to
systematically acquire knowledge and
understanding about behavior and other
phenomena of interest
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Four main steps
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1. Identifying questions of interest
2. Formulating an explanation
3. Carrying out research designed to support or refute
the explanation
4. Communicating the findings
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Scientific Method
Figure 5 of Chapter 1
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Theories: Specifying Broad
Explanations
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Theories
 Broad explanations and predictions
concerning phenomena of interest
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Hypotheses: Crafting
Testable Predictions
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Hypothesis
Prediction stated in a way that allows it to be
tested
 Stems from theories
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Operational Definition
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Translation of a hypothesis into specific,
testable procedures that can be measured
and observed
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Psychological Research
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Research
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Systematic inquiry aimed at the discovery of
new knowledge
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Descriptive Research
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Archival Research
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Existing data, such as census documents,
college records, and newspaper clippings, are
examined to test a hypothesis.
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Example: Looking at college records of students’
grades to see if there are gender differences in
academic performance
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Descriptive Research
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Naturalistic Observation
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An investigator observes some naturally
occurring behavior and does not make a
change in the situation
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Example: Sitting in on a class to see how
frequently male students speak up in class, as
opposed to how frequently female students speak
up
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Descriptive Research
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Survey Research
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A sample of people chosen to represent a
larger group of interest (a population) is asked
a series of questions about their behavior,
thoughts, or attitudes.
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Example: Having a sample of people (an equal
number of male and female students) fill out a
questionnaire about their study habits and grades
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Descriptive Research
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The Case Study
 An in-depth, intensive investigation of a
single individual or a small group
 Often includes psychological testing
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Example: Investigating an academically
successful student with dyslexia to find
out what specific behaviors led to his
academic success. The findings of this
investigation could then be used to help
other students with dyslexia do better in
school.
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Correlational Research
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Two sets of variables are examined to determine
whether they are associated, or correlated.
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Variables
 Behaviors, events, or other characteristics that can
change, or vary, in some way
Correlation coefficient
 Positive
 Negative
Example: Comparing the amount of time spent
studying to students’ performance on a test to see if
the amount of time students studied affected their test
scores
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Experimental Research
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A researcher investigates the relationship
between two or more variables by
deliberately changing one variable in a
controlled situation and observing the
effects of that change on other aspects of
the situation.
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Experimental manipulation
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Experimental Research
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Experimental Groups and Control Groups
Treatment
 Manipulation implemented by the
experimenter
 Experimental group
 Receives a treatment
 Control group
 Receives no treatment
 Rules out other reasons for change
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Experimental Research
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Independent and Dependent Variables
Independent
 The condition that is manipulated by an
experimenter
 Dependent
 The variable that is measured and is
expected to change as a result of changes
caused by the experimenter’s manipulation
of the independent variable
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Experimental Research
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Random Assignment of Participants
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To make the experiment a valid test of the
hypothesis
Random Assignment to Condition
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Participants are assigned to different
experimental groups or conditions on the
basis of chance.
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Designing an Experiment
Figure 6 of Chapter 1
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Experimental Research
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Significant Outcome
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Using statistical analysis, researchers can
determine whether a numeric difference is a
real difference or is merely due to chance.
Replication
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Repeating experiment
 Meta-analysis
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Threats to Experimental
Validity: Avoiding
Experimental Bias
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Experimental Bias
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Factors that distort the way the independent
variable affects the dependent variable in an
experiment
 Experimenter expectations
 Participant expectations
 Placebo
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Research Challenges:
Exploring the Process
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What major issues confront psychologists
conducting research?
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The Ethics of Research
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Informed Consent
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Participants sign a document affirming that
they have been told the basic outlines of the
study and are aware of what their participation
will involve. They are informed about any risks
the experiment may hold and the fact that
their participation is purely voluntary. They
also are told that they may terminate their
participation at any time.
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Should Animals Be Used in
Research?
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Procedures that cause animals distress
are permitted only when an alternative
procedure is not available and when the
research is justified by its prospective
value.
Researchers are required to promote the
psychological well-being of some research
animals, such as primates.
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Thinking Critically
About Research
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What was the purpose of the research?
How well was the study conducted?
Are the results presented fairly?
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