SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY (Textbook Units 1-2)
PSYCHOLOGY: The study of the mind and its mental processes,
behavior, and the relationship between the two.
Derived from:
Philosophy (understanding the world through introspection)
Physiology (the scientific study of organisms and their fx
EARLY THINKERS
❏ Plato: Dualism, Rationalism, Innate knowledge
❏ Aristotle: Monism, Empiricism, knowledge through experience
❏ Francis Bacon- empirical, atheoretical
❏ Rene Descartes – dualism, mentalistic, interactionist, Cogito
Ergo Sum
❏ John Locke – monist, Empiricism, Tabula Rasa
❏ James Mill (extreme empiricist), Monist – reductionist,
Associationist
❏ Immanuel Kant - Rationalism and empiricism, A Posteriori and
A Priori
EARLY APPROACHES
❏ Structuralism –1st major school of thought in psych. Goal was
to understand the “structure” of the mind
William Wundt, G Stanley Hall, Edward Titchener
❏ Functionalism - What do people do and why? The purpose of
bx
William James – “Principles of Psychology”
Mary Calkins
❏ Pragmatism - Knowledge is validated by its usefulness
John Dewey - Education/learning and psychology
❏ Associationism - How events are linked in mind - learning
Hermann Ebbinghaus - repetition / associations in memory
Edward Lee Thorndike - “Law of Effect” (satisfaction not time)
APPROACHES
❏ Psychoanalytic/dynamic: unconscious, childhood, trauma
Freud
❏ Behavioral: learned, reinforced
Watson, Pavlov, Skinner
❏ Humanistic: free will, choice, ideal, self-actualization
Maslow, Rogers
❏ Cognition: perceptions, thought, memory
Neisser
❏ Biological: Brain, neurotransmitters, hormones
Sperry
❏ Gestalt: whole experiences are more than the sum of their
individual parts
❏ Evolutionary: genes, survival of the fittest
Darwin
❏ Sociocultural: Cultural relativity, Social norms
John Berry
❏ Biopsychosocial Model: combined effect of biology, social
surrounding, and psych
❏ Eclectic: from a variety of perspectives
DOMAINS (see handout from class)
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Biological Psychology
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Clinical Psychology
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Cognitive Psychology
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Community Psychology
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Counseling Psychology
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Developmental Psychology
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Educational Psychology
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Experimental Psychology
Human Factors Psychology
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Personality Psychology
Psychometric Psychology
Social Psychology
Positive Psychology
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Applied Psychology: purpose is to help people
Psychologist: research or counseling-MS or PhD
Psychiatrist: prescribe medications and diagnose M.D.
OTHER IMPT PEOPLE
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Mary Calkins: First Fem. Pres of APA
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Charles Darwin: Natural selection and evolution
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Dorothea Dix: reformed mental institutions, advocate for
more humane tx
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Margaret Floy Washburn: 1st female PhD
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Stanley Hall: 1st psych lab in the US, 1st pres of APA
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William James: Father of American Psychology-functionalist,
first textbook
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Wilhelm Wundt: Father of Modern Psychology-structuralist,
first laboratory
RESEARCH METHODS
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Theory: a collection of interrelated ideas and facts
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Hypothesis: a tentative statement or idea, guess
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Longitudinal Study: people are studied and restudied over a
period of time.
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Cross Sectional Study: people of different ages are
examined at one time.
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Self-fulfilling Prophecy: when a researcher's expectations
unknowingly create a situation that affects the results
(Rosenhan and Jacobson)
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Confirmation Bias: when a researcher looks for evidence to
support beliefs and ignores evidence that refutes it
Naturalistic Observation: Observing a person or an animal in the
environment in which they/it live(s)
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Adv: real world validity (observe people in their own
setting). Disadv: no cause and effect
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Observer Effect: influence of observer once noticed
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Observer Bias: observer looks for what they want to find
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Anthropomorphic Fallacy: applying human emotions to
animal subjects
Case Study: Intense look at one group or one person
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Adv: studies ONE person (usually) in great detail--lots of info.
Disadv: No cause and effect, can’t be generalized to larger
population
Survey: determine relationships between variables
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Adv: large quantities of data quickly and inexpensively
Disadv: cannot control for confounding variables
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Courtesy Bias: saying polite or politically correct answers
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Response Bias: only some ppl return surveys
Correlation: Analysis of how variables relate
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Adv: identify relationship between two variables Disadv: No
cause and effect (CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL
CAUSATION)
Graphed using a scatterplot
Positive Correlation: variables increase and decrease
together
Negative correlation: as one variable increases, the other
decreases
The stronger the # the stronger the relationship REGARDLESS
of the pos/neg sign
Correlation Coefficient: strength and direction of a
correlation-range from -1 and +1 where -1 is a perfect
negative correlation and +1 a perfect positive correlation
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Descriptive Statistics: organizing and summarizing data
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Measures of central tendency = typical or average score in
a distribution
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Mean: Average
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Median: Middle #
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Mode: occurs most often
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Illusory Correlation: belief of correlation that doesn’t exist
Experiment: To identify cause-and-effect relationships, draw
causal inference
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Adv: researcher controls variables to establish cause and
effect. Disadv: difficult to generalize, difficult to control for
confounding variables
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Independent variable: potential cause) Condition(s) altered
by the experimenter
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Dependent variable: (result) of the experiment. Condition
measured
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Experimental Group: received the treatment (receives the
IV)
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Control group: baseline; does NOT get the independent
variable
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Placebo Effect: Show behaviors associated with the exp.
Group when having received placebo
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Single Blind: only participant blind--used if experimenter
can’t be blind (gender, age, etc)
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Double Blind: Exp. where neither the participant or the
experimenter are aware of which condition people are
assigned
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Operational Definition: clear, precise, typically quantifiable
definition of your variables--allows replication
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Confounding variable: variable that is not controlled for
Random assignment: assigns participants to either control or
experimental group at random from the sample--minimizes
bias, increase chance of equal representation (names in
hat, name generator)
Random Sample: method for choosing participants from the
population (names in hat, name generator)
Representative sample: group of participants is made up of
approximately the same demographics as the larger
population
Validity: measures what intended to measure
Reliability: same results every time
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Variability = how much scores vary from each other and
from the mean
Standard deviation = numerical depiction of variability (High
variability in data set typically means larger standard
deviation)
Inferential Statistics: interpreting data and drawing conclusions,
establishes significance (meaningfulness)
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Statistical significance: results not due to chance, lower p
value better
Ethical Guidelines (Institutional Review Boards)
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Confidentiality: names kept secret
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Informed Consent: must agree to be part of study
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Debriefing: must be told true purpose of study after study
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Deception: no deception
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No harm: physical or mental