Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 1
Name:________________________
Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology
Section 1: What is psychology?
 Introduction
o _____________________________________: the scientific study of behavior and
mental process
o Seek to explain how we perceive, _______________________, remember, solve
problems, ______________________________, feel and relate to other people
o Late 20th century psychology expanded dramatically—specializations, new
behavior studies, etc.
 Fields of Psych
o Developmental Psych
 study human ___________________ and __________________ growth
from prenatal period until old age
 Interested in ______________________________ patters—patterns of
everyone, and cultural patterns
o Physiological Psychology
 Investigate the biological basis of human behavior,
______________________, and emotions
 Look at ___________________________________
o Experimental Psych
 Conduct research on basic psychological processes, including learning,
__________________________, sensation, perceptions,
__________________________________, motivation, and emotion
 How do they remember and why do they forget?
 They focus on the __________________________
o Personality Psychology
 Study the differences among individuals in such traits as
_______________________, sociability, self-esteem, and the need for
achievement and aggressiveness
 Try to determine what causes peoples moods
o Clinical and Counseling Psych
 ________________________________--Interested in the diagnose, cause,
and treatment of psychological disorders
 __________________________________—deals with eh “normal’
problems that many of us face like choosing a career or dealing with martial
problems.
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 2
o Social Psych
 Study how ________________________________ influence one another
o Industrial and Organizational Psychology
 Issues like selecting and _____________________________ personnel,
improving productivity and working conditions
 Psychology as a Science
o Psychologists rely on the scientific method when seeking answers to questions.
o ____________________________________________: collecting data, generating
a theory to explain the data, producing a testable hypothesis based on the theory,
and testing those hypotheses
 _________________________________: explanation of a phenomena, it
organized facts, and predicts new facts
 ___________________________________: specific testable predictions
derived from a theory
Section 2: The Growth of Psychology
 The “New” Psychology: A science of the mind
o Psychology was “born” in _____________________ the year Wilhelm Wundt
founded the first psychological lab in Germany
 Voluntarism and Structuralism
o Wundt believed that our mental processes could not be studied scientifically, but
set out to find ways that it could be studied scientifically
 _________________________________: attention is actively controlled by
intentions and motives
 Moved psych out of the realm of philosophy to the world of
_____________________________
o Edward Bradford Titchener
 Student of Wundt
 Ideas differed from Wundt
 _______________________________________________: stressed the
basic units of experience and the combinations in which they occur
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 3
 William James: Functionalism
o First academic to challenge structuralism
o _______________________________________________ Theory: mental life and
behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities in
its environments
 We act out of ________________________________________, and the
more we do something it becomes easier than the time before
 Sigmund Freud: Psychodynamic Psychology
o Most well know and controversial
o We are motivated by ______________________________________ desires
 Saw unconscious as a mixture of primitive sexual and
________________________________ desires, forbidden desires,
nameless fears and wishes, and traumatic childhood memories
 Although repressed, they still come out in forms of
________________________, mannerisms, slips of the tongue, and mental
illness
o _______________________________________________________ Theory:
personality theories contending that behaviors result from psychological forces
that interact within the individual, often outside the conscious awareness
 Redefining Psych: The Study of Behavior
o John B. Watson: Behaviorism
 Idea of mental life was ____________________
 You cannot see or define consciousness and if you cannot locate or
measure something, it can’t be studied ______________________
 ________________________________: studies only observable and
measurable behavior
 We can train, or condition people to do the thing we want them to
do
o B.F. Skinner: Behaviorism Revisited
 Leader in behaviorists school of psychology
 Added to the theory by __________________________ his subjects for
behaving the way he wanted them to
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 4
 The Cognitive Revolution
o Gestalt and Humanistic Psychology
 _________________________________________: studies how people
perceive and experience objects as whole patterns
 When we look at a tree that is what we see, we don’t see various
branches and thousands of leaves individually
 ____________________________________________: emphasizes
nonverbal experiences and altered states of consciousness as a means of
realizing one’s full human potential
 Importance of love, belonging, self-esteem, self-expression,
 Cognitive Psychology
o Devoted to studying the mental processes but in the broadest sense
 Thinking, ____________________________, learning, remembering,
making decisions, and judgments
o How people process information
 New Directions
o Evolutionary Psychology
 Concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental
processes, their ____________________________________value, and the
purpose that continue to serve
 How did we get to where we are today?
o Positive Psychology
 Focuses on positive experiences, including subjective well-being, selfdetermination, the relationship between positive emotions and physical
health, and that factors that allow individuals, communities, and society to
flourish
 Women in Psychology
o Many contributions to psychology came from women
o They presented papers and joined the national professional association when it
was formed in 1892
o Often faces much discrimination:
 Some universities and colleges did not grant
___________________________ to women
 Professional journals were reluctant to
______________________________ their work
 Teaching positioned where often closed to them
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 5
Section 4: Research Methods in Psychology
 Introduction
o All sciences—psychology, sociology, economics, political science, biology, and
physics re quire empirical evidence
 _____________________________________________________________
________: information derived from systematic, objective observation
o Various Research methods to gather Empirical Evidence
 _____________________________________________ Observation
 Case Studies
 _______________________________________
 Correlation Research
 Experimental Research
 Naturalistic Observation
o Systematic study of animal or human behavior in natural settings rather in the
laboratory
 Advantage—behavior observed in everyday life is likely to be more natural,
spontaneous, and varied then in a lab
 Disadvantage—
_________________________________________________: expectations
or biases of the observer that might distort of influence his or her
interpretations of what actually happened
 We twist what actually happened to fit your prediction of what
would happen
 Case Studies
o Intensive __________________________________ and analysis of a single
individual or just a few individuals
o Similar to naturalist observations, but uses a variety of methods to receive
information—doesn’t just watch them
o Disadvantages
 Observer Bias
 Can’t draw _______________________________ conclusion from just one
person because everyone is different
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 6
 Surveys
o RESEARCH TECHIQUE IN WHICH
___________________________________________ OR INTERVIEWS ARE
ADMINISTERED TO A SELECT GROUP OF PEOPLE
 CAN BE DONE FACE-TO FACE OR ON A QUESTIONAIRE
 Correlation Research
o Research technique based on the
___________________________________________ occurring relationship
between 2 or more variables
 Ex: The Air Force, is asked to predict which applicants for pilot-training
program will make good pilots
 Experimental Research
o _________________________________________________________: research
technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or
circumstances and then measures the effects of those manipulations on
subsequent behavior
o First step is to selecting
______________________________________________—individuals whose
reactions or responses are observed in an experiment
 Then you follow the Scientific Methods to organize an experiment
 ________________________________________________ Variable:
variable that is manipulated to test its effects on the other,
dependent variables
 _________________________________________________ Variable
: variable that is measured to see how it is changed by manipulations
o There are 2 groups of participants in an experiment
 __________________________________________Group: the group
subjected to a change in the independent variable
 __________________________________________Group: the group not
subjected to the change in independent variable
 Ethics In Psychology
o American Psychological Association first published the Code of Ethics in 1953
o The code is assed each year
o Outlines the ethical outlines for research and teachings psych
o Set ethical standards for psychologists who offer therapy and other profession
services
Psychology
Chapter 1 Notes
Ms. Litza
Page 7
 APA Code of ethics
o Participants must be ________________________________ of the nature of
research in clearly understandable language
o Informed _________________________must be documented
o Risk, possible adverse effects, and limitations on confidentiality must be spelled
out in _______________________
o If participations is a condition of course credit, equitable alternative activities
must be offered
o Participants cannot be ______________________________________ about
aspects of the research that would affect their willingness to participate, such as
risks or unpleasant emotional experiences
o Deceptions about the goals of the research can be used only when absolutely
necessary to the ______________________________________of the research
Section 5: Careers in Psychology
 Academics and Applied Psych
o Pursue advances degrees in psych—master’s degree or
____________________________
 Usually works with colleges and universities
 Work in ____________________________ settings like schools, health,
industrial, commercial, and educational psych
o Nearly half of all doctoral psychologists are _____________________________or
counselors who treat people experiencing mental, emotional or adaptation
problems
 Clinical Setting
o Licensed Social Workers (LSW)
o Counseling Psychologists (MFCC)—help cope with situational problems
o Clinical Psychologists (Ph.D or Psy.D.)—asses and treat mental, emotional and
behavioral disorders
o Psychiatrists (M.D.)—diagnoses and treatment of abnormal behavior
o Psychoanalysts—psychiatrists with additional specialization in psychoanalytical
theory