Unit 1: The
Science of
Psychology
Why study Psychology?
 “Out
of sight out of mind” or “absence
makes the heart grow fonder”?
 Why do we always feel like we “knew it all
along”?
 How do you remember information from
class and recall it for tests? Is there a trick
to do this better?
 What causes good and bad moods?
Disorders? What’s the difference?
Essential Questions
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What are the fields within Psychology?
What are the “enduring issues” of
Psychology?
What approaches to psychology have
people taken throughout history?
Are psychological findings applicable across
cultures?
What are the various research methods?
What kind of careers can you make out of
Psychology?
What is Psychology?
 Official
definition: The scientific study of
behavior and mental processes.
 What does that mean?


Explain how people perceive, learn,
remember, solve problems, communicate,
feel, and relate to one another
Intelligence, motivation, mental and
emotional disturbances
Psychology
Social
Physiological
Industrial/Organizational
Experimental
Personality
Developmental
Clinical/Counseling
Psychological Organizations
 APA
– American Psychological
Association

53 Subdivisions (pg 6)
 APS-
American Psychological Society
Enduring Issues
 What
holds Psychology together?
 Enduring Issues are shared throughout:
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Person – Situation (You vs. Influence of surroundings)
Nature – Nurture (Were you born that way?)
Stability – Change (You now vs. you in 30 years)
Diversity – Universality ( You vs. Others)
Mind – Body (Ongoing interaction)
Psychology is a Science

Scientific Method
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Theory

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Describe, Understand, Predict, Control
Is there a link between an increase in social
networking and a decrease in social skills?
Ex: Social networking causes adolescents to use
social skills less, thus becoming less proficient.
Hypothesis

Ex: With more controls on social networking
usage, children will develop better social skills.
History of Psychology
 Psychology
was around as philosophy
since the time of Plato and Aristotle
 Late 19th century – Psychology began as
a science

1879- William Wundt opens first psychology
lab in Germany
 Voluntarism-
Our attention is controlled by
intentions and motives. We “voluntarily” select
what we will give our attention to.
History of Psychology
 Students
of Wundt spread psychology
around the world

U.S. – G. Stanley Hall creates first psych lab
at Johns Hopkins in 1883
 Titchener
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and Structuralism
Stressed basic units of experiences
What is going on when we experience
something (smell, sight, etc.)
Self-reflection
Get
serious!!
History of Psychology
 William
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James and Functionalism
Put more emphasis on past experiences
Simple sensations don’t occur by
themselves
Constant stream of consciousness
Use past experiences and perceptual
abilities to function
 Why

do we experience things?
**Evolution**
At least I
was the first
prez…
Women?

Mary Whiton Calkins was a doctoral student
of James
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When admitted to program, all men dropped
out
Denied Ph.D. from Harvard
Became first female president of APA
Margaret Floy Washburn
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Was a doctoral student of Titchener
First female to earn Ph.D. in Psychology (Cornell)
History of Psychology
 Sigmund
Freud and Psychodynamic
Psychology
 Believed ailments were largely
psychology and not physiological
 Free will is an illusion
 Driven by unconscious instincts and urges
Turn of the Century --> Turn in
Psychological Theory

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Up to the early 20th c., it was all about mental
processes
Enter John B. Watson and Behaviorism

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Can’t measure something that can’t be
observed
Based on Pavlov’s work on digestion
All mental experiences are changes caused by
conditioning
Theoretically, you could train a child to be
anything you wanted (tabula rasa)
Behaviorism (cont.)
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B.F. Skinner adds reinforcement to conditioning
In summary, conditioning determines behavior
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Why do we get “feelings” when we smell familiar
scents (i.e. cologne, perfume)
Why does the crinkling of a potato bag make us
hungry?
Why does the sound an alarm clock make us
anxious or angry?
Dominates psychology into 1960s… problems?

Where is the impact of genetics? Evolution?
Cognitive Psychology Steps In
 Behavior
is piece of puzzle, but what goes
on while learning takes place?
 Cognitive = we are active in learning
process (not passive learners)
 Precursors:
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1. Gestalt
2. Humanistic
Gestalt:
“Whole”
We see the big picture, i.e. patterns, and can complete a
picture with a few cues
Why do neon signs with alternating lights make the sign
appear to move?
Humanism
 Abraham
Maslow
 Feelings, yearnings, needs play a role in
what we do
 Depends largely on culture
 Abe
Cognitive Revolution

Recap: Shift from behavior to mental
processes that involves Gestalt and
Humanistic theories.

What are mental processes?

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Thinking, judging, learning, remembering
Use behavior to infer mental processes
I.E. Use recollection of a list of facts (behavior) to
imply how facts were encoded (connection to
other facts, location in list, etc.)
 Brain-imaging techniques assist in studying parts
of brain that are activated during different tasks

New Directions
 Evolutionary


Psychology
Origins of behavior patterns and mental
processes- how are they adaptive?
Parenting, sexual attraction, mate
selection, jealousy, violence
New Directions
 Positive
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Psychology
Studying “the good life”- happiness,
leadership, and the environments in which
they take place
We know about mental illness, but what
about wellness?
Be happy, rather than fix sadness
Critical thinking: autonomy
Multiple Perspectives
 Today,
psychologists explain events and
phenomena by accessing all
perspectives (behavioral, evolutionary,
etc.) rather than sticking to one viewpoint
 Biopsychosocial Approach – Use
biological, psychological, and social
explanations
Recap!!
 What
is behavioral psychology?
 How does cognitive psychology build
upon behavioral psychology?
 We will return to this later!!
Research Methods in
Psychology

Empirical Evidence

Information derived from systematic, objective
observation.
There are many methods through which this is
gained:
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Naturalistic Observation
Case Study
Survey
Correlational Research
Experimental Research
Naturalistic Observation
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Study human or animal behavior in natural context
Pros:
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Behavior is more likely to be genuine
Cons:
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Can’t manipulate environment or “freeze” the
situation to study an event in depth
More difficult to be “systematic”
Observer Bias

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People distort perceptions unintentionally to “see
what they want to see” or what they’re looking for
*Uninformed researchers
Case Study
 Detailed
description of one or a few
individuals
 Can include interviews, observations,
tests, etc.
 Pros:
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In-depth view of one individual
 Cons:
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Observer Bias
Tough to generalize from one person
Surveys
 Interviews
or questionnaires through which
predetermined questions are asked
 Pros:
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Can get a vast amount of information
relatively easily
 Cons:
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“leading questions”
Subjects are conscious of others’
perception- can illicit inaccurate responses
Correlational Research

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Method used to find a relationship between
two or more variables
Example: SATs and career success, Stress and
physical illness, heredity of illness
Other examples?
Pros:
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Allows us to predict behavior, outcomes, or
events
Cons:
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Correlation does not equal causation!!!!!
Experimental Research
 Can
come after correlational research to
test predictions
 **Determine cause and effect!!!!!!**
 Example: I want to know if Gatorade
improves performance in a game...
What’s my experiment???
Experimental Method: Step 1
 Form
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a hypothesis!!!!
A statement that predicts the outcome.
Should be an “IF – THEN” statement
Example: If depressed students take pill ‘X’,
then they will not experience symptoms as
severely.
Taking electrolytes before a game will
improve performance. – IF-THEN?
Create a hypothesis for our scenario!
Experimental Method: Step 2
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Select participants
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Example:
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Eliminate any confounding variables
Who could be my participants? What could be
confounding variables?
Random Assignment
Control vs. Experimental Groups

Requirement- GROUPS MUST BE THE SAME IN
EVERY WAY ASIDE FROM MANIPULATION OF
VARIABLE.
Experimental Method: Step 3
 Set
up your experiment
 What is the independent variable?
Dependent?
 Operational Definitions
Experimental Method: Step 4
 Record
results
 To avoid experimenter bias, have a
neutral person observe and score results
What do you think?
 Discuss:
What are the strengths?
Weaknesses? Loopholes??
Multimethod Research
 Why
not use all of the methods in one?
 You can!!!
 Observe in a naturalistic setting, interview
participants, compare events to establish
a relationship, or correlation
 Perform an experiment
Sample me!!!
Importance of Sampling
 Sample
must be representative of the
entire population that you are studying.
 Random sample: Every person has an
equal chance of being selected for an
experiment.
 Representative sample: Researcher
ensures that the sample reflects same
demographics as the larger population
Ethics and Psychological
Research
 Milgram
Experiment- YouTube
 Why was this seen as controversial? How
did he “hurt” participants?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIzj
u84v24&feature=related
 Zimbardo Experiment:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndBnl
j0bMFA&feature=related
Ethical concerns
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Milgram:
“Teachers” were deceived
Exhibited signs of stress (sweating, lip biting)
Self-esteem was effected
Zimbardo:
Psychological Distress
Watson:
“Baby Albert”
Landis:
“Facial Expression”
Dig for frog, get a shock
Cut off the head of a rat
APA code of ethics:
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Participants must be informed of the nature of
research
Informed consent must be documented
Risks, adverse effects, and limitations on
confidentiality must be spelled out
If participation is required by a university for course
credit, an alternative program must be offered
No deception about aspects that would affect
willingness to participate
Deception is only allow when it is necessary to the
integrity of the research**
Ethics in research on
nonhuman subjects
 Used
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
for:
Comparison
Behavior principals
Studies on the brain
 PsyETA-
Ethical treatment of animals
So what can you do with
Psychology???
Academic and Applied Psychology
 Clinical Settings
 Social Work
 Counseling
 Clinical Psychology
 Psychiatry (M.D.)
 Psychoanalysis
**A major in psychology can help in a countless
number of fields**

Do Now, Day 2:
Samantha has recently become withdrawn from her friends and
is not as “happy go lucky” as she once was. Her friends jokingly
call her “Debbie Downer,” which frustrates her. Unbeknownst to
her friends, Sam’s parents have recently been divorced and her
mother will be moving, along with Sam, to New York.
This morning, while Sam was walking through the hall, a girl that
Sam has never gotten along with accidently brushed shoulders
with Sam. Sam reacted quickly and pushed the girl against the
wall, then stormed away.
The school is deciding how to punish this behavior. They decide
to bring in the school psychologist to assess the situation.
In this situation, how might the “enduring issues” of psychology be
considered when assessing Sam’s behavior and her future?
Do Now: Day 3

Describe what is going on in this picture from the
psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and evolutionary
perspectives.
Do Now: Day 4
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Henry wants to know if there is a relationship
between wealth and good grades.
Jade wants to know more about the eating
patterns of ants.
Kylie wants to prove that healthy eating
causes people to suffer from less colds.
Drake is interested in how Judy, who has
asthma, runs marathons in under 4 hours.
Highlands’ student council needs to find out
how many people use their agendas.
So… what is each method
used for???
 Correlation….
Describing and predicting!
 Naturalistic…. Observing and describing!
 Case study….. Observing, describing, and
potentially predicting*
 Survey….. Describing!!
 Experiment….. PROVING CAUSE!!!
Consider the following:

Dr. Doom wanted to know if caffeine increases
performance on word recall. He predicted that if he gave
a group of people caffeine, their performance on word
recall would be enhanced. He selected 100 thirty to forty
year old Bergen County residents who had an IQ of 115. He
split the group in half and gave one group caffeinated
coffee and the other group decaffeinated coffee. He then
measured their performance on solving math equations.

Where in this experiment is:

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The hypothesis?
Random sample?
Random assignment?
Control group?
Experimental group?
Independent variable?
Dependent variable?
Placebo?
You create an experiment:
Question: Does “Drug XYZ” reduce symptoms of
depression in teenagers?

Where in this experiment is:

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The hypothesis?
Random sample?
Random assignment?
Control group?
Experimental group?
Independent variable?
Dependent variable?
Placebo?