Student Notes & Flipped Videos
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Intro to Psychology Notes
I.
History of Psychology
A. Pre-scientific psychology… People have probably always speculated about human
behavior…documented studies however date back some 25 centuries to some of the “great” Greek
philosophers
B. The following chart summarizes the pre-scientific psychological views
Relationship btw. Mind & body
Connected
C.
D.
Distinct Parts
How ideas are formed
Inborn Ideas
Blank slate
Dorothea Dix – (American) Advocate on behalf of the mentally ill. Created the first ever mental
asylums during the Civil War.
Psychology as a science
C. Structuralism – Wilhelm Wundt
A. Established the 1st formal psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
B. Focus of structuralism:
D.
Functionalism – William James
A. First distinctly American school of psychology
B. Focus of functionalism:
E.
Gestalt Psychology – Max Wertheimer
A. Focus of Gestalt:
B. Gestalt catch phrase…
F.
Psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud
A. First to focus on abnormal behaviors
B. Focus of psychoanalysis:
C. Used free association and dream analysis to explore the unconscious
G.
C.
Behaviorism – J.B Watson and B.F. Skinner
A. Focus of behaviorism:
Psychology’s Big Debate… Nature v. Nurture
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II.
Contemporary Psychology
A. Biopsychosocial Approach
Biological Influences:
Psychological Influences:
Behavior or Mental
Processes
Social- cultural Influences:
B. Psychology PERSPECTIVES (approach a psychologist might take within their career)
Perspective
Focus
Biological
Evolutionary
Behavior Genetics
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Humanistic
Social-Cultural
C. Psychology’s DOMAINS (fields in which one might have a career within psychology)
BASIC RESEARCH/
Experimental Domain
Psych
What he/she does...
APPLIED RESEARCH
Psych
Biological
Ind/Org.
Developmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Educational
Personality
Counseling
Social
Positive
Psychometric
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What he/she does...
III. American Psychological Association (APA) – scientific and professional organization of psychologists founded
in 1892 at Clark University
A.
Mary Whiton Calkins – Studied under William James, first woman president of the APA
B.
G. Stanley Hall – first American to earn a Ph.D in psychology, and the first president of the APA
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Thinking Critically With Psychological Science Notes
→ Reflect on this question now, then answer it AFTER you have taken the notes → Why is psychology as a science
more than just common sense?
Things to watch for...
● Using intuition and “common sense” in this science
○ Misremembering =
○
Hindsight bias =
●
Overconfidence =
●
Pseudoscience =
○
●
Examples:
Confirmation bias =
How we overcome these pitfalls…
→ Scientific attitude (this is the ideal)
● Curiosity
●
Skepticism
●
Humility
Critical thinking -- process of assessing claims and making judgments on the basis of well-supported evidence
The Scientific Method
● Theories – testable explanations for sets of facts or observations…it is NOT just a speculation or a guess
○ Hypothesis – testable prediction…usually implied by a theory
To make it easier to understand and evaluate their hypotheses, scientists often use operational definitions
*Operational definitions are....
This then allows for Replication =
Write an operational definition for the following items
1. Happiness
4. popularity
2. a smile
5. Good music
3. intelligence
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Research Methods Notes
How Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions
I.
Correlation =
A. Positive correlation =
B.
Negative correlation =
C.
Strong correlation =
D.
Weak correlation =
E.
Correlation coefficient =
1. What kind of relationships do the following correlations have?
a) -.78
b) +.05
c) -.43
CORRELATION DOES NOT PROVE __________________________….. What does this mean?...
F.
II.
3 Types of Research
A.
B.
C.
III.
Naturalistic Observation =
A. Valuable where other methods are likely to be disruptive or misleading
B. Process is not problem free
C. Observations can be distorted if observers expect to see certain behaviors
IV. Case Study =
A. Are especially useful when something is new, complex or fairly rare
B. Easy to generalize =
C.
V.
Yet…provide valuable raw material for further research
Surveys =
A. Use surveys to gather descriptive data on just about everything relating to behavior and mental
processes
B. Validity of data depends upon:
VI. Quasi-experiments =
A.
B.
can provide useful information about people who have and have not been exposed to different
conditions
Conclusions not as firm as those from true experiments, yet they allow research to be conducted on
topics & in settings that would otherwise be impossible
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Experiment Notes
Example Experiment Hypothesis:
Example Experiment Population:
Term
Definition
Example Experiment
Representative
sample:
a smaller group that gives a “snapshot” of the
total population
Random sample:
every one in the population has an equal
chance of being selected to participate in the
study
Stratified sample:
the population is divided into relevant
subcategories & a random sample is taken
from each subcategory
Experimental
group:
group that receives special treatment
Control group:
group (without special treatment or with
placebo) to compare to experimental group(s)
Random
assignment:
researcher randomly assigns participants to
the experimental or control group
Independent
variable:
“CAUSE”- factor manipulated by the
experimenter (exp.group gets IV, control group
doesn’t)
Dependent
variable:
“EFFECT”- factor that may change in response
to IV and is being MEASURED
Placebo:
Pseudotreatment…fake treatment
Single-blind
procedure:
Participants do not know what group they are
in (experimental or control)
Double-blind
procedure:
Participants nor person gathering data know
which group is control or experimental
Confounding
variables:
Other items that could effect the outcome of
the experiment (other than the independent
variable alone)
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