Susheel Kaur
psyks@nus.edu.sg
PLB1201: Psychology
in Everyday Life
Welcome to Class!
Susheel Kaur (Instructor)
Email psyks@nus.edu.sg
Office AS4 02-19
• Teaching: PLB1201 Psychology in Everyday Life, PL1101E
Introduction to Psychology and PL3105 Social Psychology
• Areas of Interest: Introductory 5 Core Areas of Psychology
and Social Psychology
• Research Participation Coordinator for PL1101E, PL2131 and
PLB1201 students
• Alumni Coordinator, Department of Psychology
Course Overview: CANVAS
• Lectures: Tuesday, LT14, 2 pm – 4 pm
• 5 Tutorials: Fortnightly, Week 3 (start Odd Week)
Participation in Activities, Demonstrations & Discussions
• Research Participation (RP) Programme (Week 2)
Assessments
CA1
15%
Reflection 1
(Essay)
Week 5 (Canvas)
CA2
30%
Mid-Term Paper
(Short Questions)
Week 7, LT14
CA3
30%
Group Project
(Class
Presentation)
Week 9 - Week 10
CA4
15%
Reflection 2
(Essay)
Week 13, LT14
Participation
10%
Tutorial
Participation
Tutorial Activities
Recommended Reading
Plotnik, R., & Kouyoumdjian H. (2013).
Introduction to Psychology.
Cengage. ISBN-13: 9781133943495 |
ISBN-10: 1133943497
10th Edition
Print book:
Promocode:
Student price: $63.00
Lecture 1
Introduction to Psychology in
Everyday Life
Definition of Psychology
What do psychologists study?
Psychology - the systematic, scientific study of
behaviors and mental processes
Behaviors
• observable actions or responses in both humans
and animals
Mental processes
• not directly observable; refer to a wide range of
complex mental processes, such as thinking,
imagining, studying, and dreaming
Historical Approaches
Structuralism: Basic elements,
sensations and perceptions, our
conscious mental experiences
Functionalism: Studied the
function rather than the structure
of consciousness
Introspection: method of exploring
conscious mental processes
How our minds adapt to our
changing environment
Father of Psychology: studying
reaction time
Historical Approaches (cont’d)
Behaviorism: an objective,
experimental science, the
analysis of observable behavior
learned from the environment
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang
Kohler & Kurt Koffka
Perception is more than the
sum of its parts and studied
how sensations are
assembled into meaningful
perceptual experiences
Historical Approaches (cont’d)
Cognitive Revolution
Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud
• unconscious mind,
memories, thoughts and
behaviors
• dream analysis, projective
tests, hypnosis
Goals of Psychology
1. To describe the different ways that organisms behave
2. To explain the cause of behavior
3. To predict how organisms will behave in certain
situations
4. To control an organism’s behavior
Application of Goals of Psychology
Example 1: Autism
Example 2: Test Anxiety
(Performance)
• impaired social
interactions, avoiding
people, no eye contact
• grave problems in
communicating,
developing spoken
language e.g., Donna
Williams
• repeating the same
behaviors, or rituals
• a combination of
physiological, emotional,
and cognitive components
• stress of taking exams,
public speaking (class
presentations)
• interferes with one’s
concentration, planning,
and academic
performance
How do psychologists answer questions?
Approaches
•Biological
•Cognitive
•Behavioral
•Psychoanalytic
•Humanistic
•Sociocultural
•Evolutionary
•Biopsychosocial
Areas of specialization
Clinical and counseling
Social
Developmental
Experimental
Biological
Cognitive
Psychometrics
Industrial/organizational
Answering Questions: Biological Approach
How our genes, hormones, and nervous system interact
with our environments to influence learning, personality,
memory, motivation, emotions, traits and abilities
Example 1: Autism
Social problems may be
linked to less activity in
mirror neurons, cells
associated with human
experience of empathy
Example 2: Test /
Performance anxiety
Biological responses include
increased heart rate, dry
mouth, and sweaty palms
Psychologists using the biological approach in
collaboration with other specialties: Neuroscience
The Science of Stage Fright
Answering Questions: Cognitive Approach
Cognitive approach: Examines how we process, store, and
use information; how information influences what we attend
to, perceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel (Autism)
Cognitive neuroscience: involves taking images and
identifying the structures and functions of the living brain
during performance of a variety of mental or cognitive
processes, such as thinking, planning, naming, and
recognizing objects (Performance Anxiety)
Answering Questions (cont’d)
Behavioral approach (Performance Psychoanalytic approach (Autism)
Anxiety/Stage Fright)
• How organisms learn new or
modify behaviors, depending
on their environments (to
reward or punish)
• Albert Bandura includes
mental or cognitive
processes in addition to
observable behaviors
• How childhood experiences
influence the development
of later personality traits
and psychological problems
• Unconscious fears, desires,
and motivations on
thoughts, behaviors, and
the development of
personality traits and
psychological problems
Answering Questions (cont’d)
Sociocultural approach
(Autism)
• Influence of social and
cultural factors on
psychological and behavioral
functioning
• Differences in diagnosis for
autism: environmental and
genetic factors (US) vs “lack
of love” stigma (Korea)
Biopsychosocial approach
Application: Falling in Love
Biological Approach?
Sociocultural Differences?
Application: Psychopaths
Genes and the Environment - Epigenetics
Answering Questions: Research Methods
Armchair Psychology
Scientific Method
A multi-step precise technique
of gathering information and
answering questions so that
errors and biases are
minimized (empirical process)
Review the literature
Formulate a hypothesis
Design the study
Collect the data
Draw conclusions
Report the findings
Descriptive Research: Survey
A method used to obtain information by asking many
individuals (in person, telephone, mail, or the Internet)
• To answer a fixed set of questions
Advantages: Efficient way to collect information on behaviors,
beliefs and experiences (large sample)
Disadvantages: Errors, bias
How questions are worded and who asks them
Descriptive Research: Naturalistic Observation
A method to gather information by observing individuals’
behaviors in a relatively normal environment without
attempting to change or control the situation
Advantages: To study behavior in real-life situations in
natural settings likely to be more “typical”
– Reduces social desirability
Disadvantages: Researcher’s own beliefs may bias
interpretation of observations, time-consuming and lack of
control makes it impossible to assign cause
Descriptive Research: Naturalistic Observation
Jane Goodall study of
chimpanzee’s personalities
Tanzania - Gombe Stream
National Park
Observation of Sleep Patterns
Descriptive Research: Case Study
• In-depth analysis of the thoughts, feelings, experiences,
behaviors of a single individual
Advantage: Detailed information allows greater
understanding of a particular person’s life
Disadvantages: Memory errors, researcher bias,
testimonial - observation of a person’s own personal
experience, beliefs, self-fulfilling prophecy
Correlational Research
• An association or relationship between the occurrence of
two or more events - Correlation coefficient
– The closer the number is to –1.00 or +1.00, the
greater is the strength of the relationship
Advantages
– Provide clues to the actual causal relationship
– Help predict behavior
Disadvantage: Assumption of cause and effect
Experimental Research
A scientific method for identifying cause-and-effect
relationships by following a set of rules to minimize error,
bias, and chance occurrences
Rule 1:
Rule 2:
Rule 3:
Rule 4:
Rule 5:
Rule 6:
Rule 7:
Ask - Hypothesis
Identify - IVs (treatment) vs DVs
Choose - Sample (random selection)
Assign - Experimental vs Control groups
Manipulate - Double-blind, unaware of group
Measure - How IVs affect DVs (behaviors)?
Analyze – Statistical procedures
Experimental
Research (cont’d)
Advantages: Identifying cause and
effect relationships
– Helps eliminate extraneous
variables as causes
Disadvantages: Not representative of
population, experimenter bias,
participant expectations, ethical
concerns
Controversial Procedures in Psychology
Father of Behaviorism – John Watson
Social Psychology: Philip Zimbardo
Martin Seligman: Positive Psychology
Ethics in doing Research
Concerns about being a participant
• Code of ethics and conduct for psychologists to follow
when doing research, counseling, teaching
• Code spells out the responsibilities of psychologists and
the rights of participants
• Debriefing - Includes explaining the purpose and method
of the experiment, asking participants their feelings
about participating in the experiment, and helping the
subjects deal with possible guilt or doubts that arise from
their behaviors
Ethics in doing Research
• Role of deception
• Justification of the
deceptive techniques by
the scientific, educational,
or applied value of the
study, only if no other
reasonable way to test
the hypothesis is
available
Before we go…recap