Psychology in Everyday
Life
David Myers
PowerPoint Slides
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
Worth Publishers, © 2011
Psychology’s Roots, Big
Ideas, and Critical Thinking
Tools
Chapter 1
Psychology’s Roots
 Psychological Science Is Born
 Contemporary Psychology
Four Big Ideas in Psychology
 Big Idea 1: Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking
 Big Idea 2: Behavior is a Biopsychosocial
Event
 Big Idea 3: We Operate With a Two-Track
Mind (Dual Processing)
 Big Idea 4: Psychology Explores Human
Strengths as Well as Challenges
Why Do Psychology?
 The Limits of Intuition and
Common Sense
 The Scientific Attitude
How Do Psychologists Ask
and Answer Questions?
 The Scientific Method
 Description
 Correlation
 Experimentation
Psychology’s Roots
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
One of the first thinkers to ask serious questions about
learning and memory, motivation and emotion,
perception and personality.
Psychological Science is Born
The first psychology
experiments
•Leipzig, Germany1879
•Wilhelm Wundt and his
students attempt to study the
“atoms of the mind”
•Experiment: How long for
subjects to press a button after
a ball drops.
Psychology’s early pioneers came
from many disciplines
• Wilhelm Wundt – German philosopher &
physiologist
• Charles Darwin – English naturalist
• Ivan Pavlov – Russian physiologist
• Sigmund Freud – Austrian physician
• Jean Piaget – Swiss biologist
• William James – American philosopher
William James
• William James was an
American philosopher,
and wrote the highly
influential Principles
of Psychology in
1890
A Man’s World?
William James’ student, Mary
Calkins, became the first female
president of the APA
Animal behaviorist Margaret Floyd
Washburn was the first female
psychology PhD (from Cornell) and
the second female APA president
The Definition of “Psychology”
• For early pioneers, psychology was defined as
“the science of mental life”
• This has evolved over the years as new
perspectives were developed
Behaviorism
Cognitive
Revolution!
Freudian
Psychology
Humanistic
Psychology
“Science of
mental life”
time
Cognitive
Neuroscience
B. F. Skinner
John B. Watson
Behaviorism
• Behaviorism: The view that
psychology (1) should be an
objective science that (2)
studies behavior without
references to mental
processes.
• You can observe behaviors, but
not thoughts or feelings
• Today, most research
psychologists agree with (1) but
not (2)
Behaviorist Experiment: Little
Albert
• John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner showed
fear could be learned, in experiments with the
baby known as “Little Albert”
Freudian Psychology
• Sigmund Freud was an
Austrian physician
• Emphasized the importance
of unconscious sexual
conflicts and the mind’s
defenses against its own
wishes and impulses
Humanistic Psychology
• Humanistic Psychology emphasized the growth
potential of healthy people and the individual’s
potential for personal growth.
• Humanistic psychologists (like Abraham Maslow and
Carl Rogers) found Freudian and behaviorist
psychology limiting.
• Drew attention to the ways that a loving, accepting
environment can enhance personal growth.
The Cognitive Revolution
• In the 1960’s, a group of psychologists led the
field back on the study of mental processes:
how the mind perceives, processes, and
remembers information
– They sought to make this renewed study into a
scientific discipline.
• Cognitive Neuroscience: the interdisciplinary
study of brain activity linked with mental activity
(including perception, thinking, memory, and
language).
Psychology Today
• Today, we define psychology as the science
of behavior and mental processes
• Behavior: the study of an animal’s observable
actions”
• Mental processes: Internal states and events
such as thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
• Note: Even mental processes are related to
behavior: we infer feelings and thoughts from
what someone says and does.
Contemporary Psychology
What are psychology’s current perspectives?
• Perspectives range from biological to sociocultural
• Settings range from laboratory to clinic
• Common goal: to describe and explain behavior
and the mind underlying it
Psychology’s Subfields
Psychologist
Biological
Developmental
Cognitive
Personality
IndustrialOrganizational
What they do
Explore the links between brain and mind.
Study changing abilities from womb to
tomb.
Study how we perceive, think, and solve
problems.
Investigate our persistent traits.
Study and advise on behavior in the
workplace.
Psychology’s Subfields (cont’d)
Psychologist
What they do
Counseling
Help people cope personal and career
challenges by recognizing their strengths
and resources.
Clinical
Assess and treat mental, emotional, and
behavior disorders
Social
Explore how we view and affect one
another
Four Big Ideas in Psychology
1. Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking
2. Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event
3. We Operate with a Two-Track Mind (Dual
Processing)
4. Psychology Explores Human Strengths as
Well as Challenges
Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking
• Critical Thinking: Thinking that does not
blindly accept arguments and conclusions.
Rather, it examines assumptions,
uncovers hidden values, weighs evidence,
and assesses conclusions.
Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event
• Biopsychosocial approach: An integrated
apprach that incorporates different but
complementary views from biological,
psychological, and social-cultural
perspectives
• Culture: The enduring behaviors, ideas,
attitudes, and traditions shared by a group
of people and transmitted from one
generation to the next
Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event
Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event:
Nature v. Nurture
• Nature-nurture issue:
The longstanding
controversy over the
relative contributions that
genes and experience
make to the development
of psychological traits and
behaviors.
• Today, we see traits and
behaviors arising from the
interaction of nature and
nurture
Question:
How are differences
in intelligence,
personality and
psychological
disorders influenced
by heredity and by
environment?
We Operate with a Two-Track Mind
(Dual Processing)
• Dual Processing: the principle that information
is often simultaneously processed on separate
conscious and unconscious tracks.
• Example: Visual Processing
– Visual perception track enables us to recognize
things and plan future actions
– Visual action track guides our moment-to-moment
actions
Psychology Explores Human Strengths
as Well as Challenges
• Positive Psychology:
the scientific study of
human functioning, with
the goals of discovering
and promoting strengths
and virtues that help
individuals and
communities to thrive
Why Do Psychology?
 The Limits of Intuition and
Common Sense
 The Scientific Attitude
The Limitations of Intuition and
Common Sense
•
Intuitions and hunches are a good place
to start, but must be followed up by
critical thinking
“The first principle is that you must not
fool yourself – and you are the easiest
person to fool.”
– Richard Feynman
Hindsight Bias
Hindsight Bias or the “I-knew-it-all-along”
phenomenon.
The tendency to believe, after learning an
outcome, that we could have predicted it.
Overconfidence
Sometimes we think we
know more than we actually
know.
How long do you think it
would take to unscramble
these anagrams?
People said it would take
about 10 seconds, yet on
average solvers took about
3 minutes (Goranson, 1978).
Anagram
WREAT
WATER
ETYRN
ENTRY
GRABE
BARGE
The Scientific Attitude
The scientific attitude is composed of curiosity
(passion for exploration), skepticism (doubting and
questioning) and humility (ability to accept
responsibility when wrong).
The Scientific Attitude: Curiosity,
Humility, and Skepticism
Randi: Do you see an aura around
my head?
Aura-seer: Yes, indeed.
Randi: Can you still see the aura if
I put this magazine in front of my
face?
Aura-seer: Of course.
Randi: Then if I were to step
behind a wall barely taller than I
am, you could determine my
location from the aura visible
above my head, right?
The Amazing Randi
How Do Psychologists Ask
and Answer Questions?
 The Scientific Method
 Description
 Correlation
 Experimentation
How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer
Questions?
Psychologists, like all scientists, use the
scientific method to construct theories that
organize, summarize and simplify
observations.
Theory
A theory is an explanation using an
integrated set of principles that organizes
and predicts behavior or events.
For example, “low self-esteem contributes to
depression.”
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a testable prediction, often
prompted by a theory.
It enables us to accept, reject or revise the
theory.
“People with low self-esteem will score
higher on a depression test.”
Research and Observations
We then test our hypothesis in a controlled
setting.
Have participants take two tests: one that
tests self-esteem (e.g., “agree or disagree: ‘I
am fun to be with.’”) and one that test for
symptoms of depression.
If the hypothesis is correct, people with low
scores of self-esteem will have high levels of
depression.
Reporting and Replicating Results
• Psychologists often use an operational
definition, a statement of the procedures used
to define research variables.
– E.g., depression may be operationally defined as
scoring above a threshold on a depression test.
• Exact descriptions allow others to replicate the
research, repeating the essence of the study to
see whether the basic findings extends to other
participants and cirumstances.
The Scientific Method
Description
As we seek to understand people and
refine our theories, we can gather
descriptive information in one of three
systematic ways:
– The Case Study
– Surveys
– Naturalistic Observation
Case Study
Case study: a descriptive technique in
which one person is studied in depth in the
hope of revealing universal principles.
Caveat: Just because something is true of one of us,
that does not mean it will be true in all of us.
E.g., just because you have an uncle who smokes 3
packs a day and lived to be 100, doesn’t mean
smoking doesn’t have adverse health effects.
Survey
A survey is a descriptive technique for
obtaining the self-reported attitudes or
behaviors of people, usually by
questioning a representative, random
sample of them.
Important to remember:
– Wording effects
– Random Sampling
Wording Effects
Wording can change the results of a survey.
Should cigarette ads and pornography be
allowed on television?
vs.
Should cigarette ads and pornography be
forbidden from being on television?
Random Sampling
Random sample: a sample that fairly
represents a population because each member
has an equal chance of inclusion
Surveys
• Think critically before accepting survey
findings
• Consider the wording and the sample
• The best basis for generalizing is from a
representative sample of cases
Naturalistic Observation
A descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior
in naturally occuring situations without trying to change or
control the situation.
Like case studies and
surveys, it describes
behavior, rather than
explaining it.
[Insert pic of Frans de
Waal from p. 27]
Correlation
• Correlation: a measure of the extent to which two
events vary together, and thus how well either
predicts the other.
• The correlation coefficient expresses the
relationship mathematically, ranging from -1 to +1
• Positive correlation, noted as a number from zero
(no correlation) to 1, means that variables increase
and decrease together, like shoe size and height.
• Negative correlation, a number from 0 to -1,
means that one variable going up predicts the other
one going down, like self-esteem and depression
scores
Correlation coefficient
• When we have information of people with different heights and
temperament scores, we can plot them on a graph.
• This graph, a scatterplot, shows a positive correlation (upward
slope) but the correlation is low (the dots are not close to
forming a line).
Correlation and Causation
Correlation does not equal causation!
Illusory Correlation
The perception of a relationship where no
relationship actually exists.
For example, we may notice the times that odd
behavior happens with a full moon, and develop
the illusion that the two events generally tend to
go together.
Order in Random Events
Given large numbers of randomly generated
outcomes, a few sequences of events are going
to appear to be signs of order or meaning.
Angelo and Maria Gallina won two California
lottery games on the same day.
Experimentation
Exploring Cause and Effect
As in other sciences, experimentation is the
backbone of psychological research.
Experiments isolate causes and their effects.
Exploring Cause & Effect
Many factors influence behavior.
Experiments (1) manipulate factors that interest
us, while other factors are kept under (2) control.
When we see an effect from manipulating only one
variable at a time, we have isolated and
discovered a cause-effect relationship.
Experiments
• Many factors may influence a
phenomenon
• In an experiment, researchers vary one or
more factors (independent variables) to
observe the effect on some behavior or
mental process (dependent variable)
Experiments
• If possible, participants should be
randomly assigned to control and
experimental groups
• Experimental group: exposed to the
treatment (one version of the IV)
• Control group: contrasts the experimental
group, serves as comparison to assess
the effects of the treatment
Effects of mother’s milk
(Lucas et al., 1992)
• 424 hospital preterm infants randomly assigned
to either formula feedings (control) or breast-milk
(experimental)
• Tested at age 8, the breast-milk group scored
higher on intelligence tests
• Random assignment make sure no other
difference between the group (mother’s age,
intelligence, etc) explains the difference in
intelligence scores
Experimentation
Summary: Value of Experiments
• Correlational studies uncover naturally
occurring relationships
– Unclear about causality
• Experiments manipulate factors to
determine their effects
Tools for Controlling Bias
• Placebo effect: Expectations about treatment
effects can translate to real effects
• Control groups may be given a placebo – an
inactive substance in place of the experimental
treatment
• Many studies are double-blind – neither
participants nor research staff knows which
participants are in the experimental or control
groups.
Comparing Research Methods
Frequently Asked Questions About
Psychology
Q1. How do simplified lab experiments help us
understand general principles of behavior?
Ans: Experiments study simplified versions of
human behavior under controlled conditions. The
goal is to isolate variables and discover general
principles underlying human behavior.
FAQ
Q2. Why do psychologists study animals? What ethical
guidelines safeguard human and animal research
participants?
Ans: Psychologists may study animals to learn about
different species. Studying animals also helps us to
understand people – we are animals, after all. From animal
studies, we have gained insights to devastating and fatal
diseases.
All researchers who deal with animal research are required
to follow ethical guidelines in caring for these animals.
There are also ethical guidelines researchers must follow
for experimenting with human subects.
FAQ
Q3. How do personal values influence psychologists’
research and application? Does psychology aim to
manipulate people?
Ans: Values affect what we study, how we study it, and how
we interpret results. And although psychology has the power
to deceive, its purpose is to enlighten.