UNIT OVERVIEW
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Pretest
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What is Psychology?
Divisions of Psychology
Fields of Psychology
Psychology as Science
Other Social Sciences
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The Growth of Psychology
- History
- Growth
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Research Methods in Psychology
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Ethics and Psychology
PRETEST
On your own sheet of paper please answer the following questions.
1. What are the major areas or subdivisions of psychology?
2. What is psychology?
3. What is the scientific method, and how does it apply to psychology?
4. How has psychology addressed human diversity, especially issues relating to
gender, racial and ethnic, and cultural differences?
5. What methods are used by psychologists to conduct their research?
6. Is it ethical for psychologists to use people in psychological experiments without
telling them? What about experiments on humans?
7. What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
Psychology:
The scientific study of the
mind and behavior (APA)
FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Within the field of psychology there are several major subdivisions:
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Developmental Psychology
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Physiological Psychology
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Experimental Psychology
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Personality Psychology
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Clinical and Counseling Psychology
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Social Psychology
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Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH
Study of human mental and physical growth from prenatal period through childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
Three Divisions of Developmental Psych
- Child Psychologists
- Adolescent Psychologists
- Life Span Psychologists
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH CONT.
Child Psychologists: Focus on infants and children
- Are babies born with distinct personalities and temperaments?
- How do infants become attached to parents and caretakers?
- At what age do sex differences in behavior emerge?
- Changes in meaning and importance of friendship during childhood
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH CONT.
Adolescent Psychologists: Specialize in the teenage years
- How do puberty, changes in relationships with parents and peers, and the
search for identity make this a difficult period for young people?
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCH CONT.
Life Span Psychologists: Focus on the adult years
- What are the different ways that individuals adjust to partnership and parenting,
middle age, retirement, and death?
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCH
Investigate the biological basis of human behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
Three Divisions of Physiological Psych
- Neuropsychologists
- Psychobiologists
- Behavioral Geneticists
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCH CONT.
Neuropsychologists: Focus on the brain and nervous system
- Investigate questions like:
- Why can’t you taste food with a stuffy nose?
- What happens when a person has a stroke?
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCH CONT.
Psychobiologists: Specialize in the body’s biochemistry
- Investigate questions like:
- How hormones, psychoactive medicines, and “social” drugs affect people
- Do changes in hormone levels – at puberty, before menstruation, at
menopause- cause mood-swings?
- Exactly how does alcohol act on the brain?
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCH CONT.
Behavioral Geneticists: Study the impact of heredity on both normal and abnormal
traits and behavior
- Investigate questions like:
- To what degree is intelligence hereditary? What about shyness?
- Do illnesses such as alcoholism and depression run in families?
- To what extent are differences in the way men and women think, act, and
respond to situations rooted in biology?
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCH
Conduct research on basic psychological processes, including learning, memory,
sensation, perception, cognition, motivation, and emotion
Focus on:
- How do people remember and what makes them forget?
- How do people make decisions and solve problems?
- Do men and women go about solving complex problems in different ways?
- Why are some people more motivated than others?
PERSONALITY PSYCH
Study differences among individuals in such traits as anxiety, sociability, self-esteem,
the need for achievement, and aggressiveness
Focus on:
- What causes some people to be optimists and others pessimists?
- Why are some people more outgoing and sociable whereas others are more
reserved?
- Are there consistent differences between men and women on such
characteristics as amiability, anxiety, and conscientiousness?
CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCH
About half of all psychologists specialize in these fields
Clinical Psychologists: Interested primarily in the diagnosis, cause and treatment of
psychological disorders
Counseling Psychologists: Concerned primarily with “normal” problems of adjustment
that most of us face at some point.
- Choosing a career
- Marital problems
CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCH CONT.
Both clinical and counseling psychologists divide time between treating patients and
researching the causes of psychological disorders and the effectiveness of different
types of psychotherapy and counseling
Controversies
- Drug Therapy vs. Psycho Therapy
- Development of new medications reflects our knowledge advances in the
genetic and/or biochemical basis of many psychological disorders
Types of Medications
- Antipsychotic = Thorazine
- Antianxiety = Valium
- Antidepressive = Prozac
DRUG THERAPY VS. PSYCHO THERAPY CONT.
Advocates
- Drugs are highly effective in relieving symptoms
- Especially schizophrenia and depression
- Foresee a day when psychotherapy will be obsolete
Opponents
- Drugs target symptoms not causes
- Psychotherapy is needed to help individuals understand events surrounding the onset of disorder
- Need help in dealing with outside problems- relationship, marital, friendship- caused by the
disorder
- Side effects of medication
- The severely disturbed may stop taking medication
- Doctors overprescribe medications
SOCIAL PSYCH
Study how people influence one another
Focus on:
- First impressions
- Interpersonal attraction
- How attitudes are formed, maintained, or changed
- Prejudice
- Conformity
- How people behave differently in a group than when on their own
INDUSTRIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL (I/O) PSYCH
Concerned with practical issues such as selecting and training personnel, improving
productivity and working conditions, and the impact of computerization and
automation on workers.
Ask questions like:
- Is it possible to determine in advance who would be good in a certain job?
- Do organizations operate differently under male and female leadership?
- Research shows workers with high morale are more productive than those with
low- are there specific strategies managers can use to improve morale?
DIVISIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychologists are drawn together by their common interest in a number of
fundamental questions about behavior that cut across their areas of
specialization
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The APA has 54 divisions or interest groups organized by members. Some
represent subdisciplines of psychology (e.g., experimental, social or clinical) while
others focus on topical areas such as aging, ethnic minorities or trauma.
Divisions of Psychology
FIVE ENDURING ISSUES
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Person-Situated
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Heredity-Environment
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Stability-Change
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Diversity
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Mind-Body
PERSON-SITUATED
To what extent is behavior caused by internal processes?
- Thoughts, emotions, motives, attitudes, values, personality, genes
To what extent is behavior controlled, caused, or triggered by external factors?
- Incentives, environmental cues, presence of other people
Seen mostly in: Behavior genetics, learning, emotion and motivation, personality,
social psychology
HEREDITY-ENVIRONMENT
“Nature vs. Nurture”
- To what extent do genetics (nature) and environment or experience
(nurture)influence behavior?
Seen mostly in: Behavior genetics, intelligence, development, personality, abnormal
psychology
STABILITY-CHANGE
To what extent do people stay relatively unchanged throughout their lives?
- How much do we change?
- Can you teach an old dog new tricks?
- Is each day a new beginning with the possibility for significant change?
Seen mostly in: Developmental psychology, personality, adjustment, abnormal
psychology, therapy
DIVERSITY
The extent to which every person is, in certain respects, a) like all other people b) like
some other people c) like no other person
Questions asked:
- Does our understanding apply equally well to every human being?
- Does it apply only to men or women, or only to particular racial, or ethnic groups,
or particular societies?
- Do we need different psychologies to account for the wide diversity of human
behavior?
MIND-BODY
The relationship between what we experience (thoughts and feelings) and biological
processes (activity in the nervous system)
Seen mostly in: Psychobiology, sensation and perception, altered states of
consciousness, emotion and motivation, adjustment/health psychology, and
disorders and therapy
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Despite their apparent differences, psychologists are drawn together in part because
of their common interest in enduring questions such as these.
In addition, psychologists share a common belief that the scientific method is the
most promising way to gain insight into the causes of behavior.
PSYCHOLOGY AS SCIENCE
Psychology: The scientific study of the mind and behavior
- Behavior and mental processes
Scientific Method: An approach to knowledge that relies on collecting data, generating a
theory to explain the data, producing testable hypotheses based on the theory, and
testing those hypotheses empirically
- Used to describe, understand, and predict
- Eventually achieve a degree of control
Theory: systematic explanation of a phenomenon; it organizes known facts, allows us to
predict new facts, and permits us to exercise a degree of control over the phenomenon
Hypothesis: Specific, testable predictions derived from a theory
EXAMPLE: MALE/FEMALE AGGRESSION
1. Find out whether men and women actually differ in aggressive behavior
- Evidence seems conclusive:
- Women and girls may yell but boys and men are far more likely to fight
2. Explain Differences
- Each explanation stands as a theory about sexual differences in
aggression
- Each theory allows us to make a number of new hypotheses
EXAMPLE: MALE/FEMALE AGGRESSION
3. Make Predictions/Hypotheses
- Speculating about the phenomenon in question (gender aggression)
4. Test Predictions/Hypotheses through Research
for
- Results indicate whether one theory is better than another at accounting
new facts and predicting new facts
5. Analyze and Control
- If one or more theories is supported by research evidence it should be
possible to control (aggressive behavior)
RULES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
1. Define the problem or question being investigated
2. Suggest a theory or reasonable explanation for the problem
3. Collect and examine all the available evidence
4. Analyze assumptions
5. Avoid oversimplifying
6. Draw conclusions carefully
7. Consider every alternative interpretation
8. Recognize the relevance of research to events and situations
SCIENCE VS. NON-SCIENCE
Psychology differs from various nonscientific explanations of human behavior
Example of Non-science
- Common sense
- Philosophy and Religion
- Pseudoscience
COMMON SENSE
A collection of untested cultural assumptions and sayings that cover almost any
situation
- Opposites attract
- Extremely intelligent people are social misfits and eccentrics
Research and psychology often contradict common sense
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Deal with important issues such as ethics, human values, aesthetics, and the nature
of life- issues that cannot be resolved through research, but are matters of faith
or logic
- Psychology does not seek to compete with, or replace philosophy and religion
- Psychologists strive to describe and explain human thought and behavior
- Questions of right and wrong, good and evil, and value judgments are beyond
the scope of science
PSEUDOSCIENCE
A theory or body of knowledge that portrays itself as science but is not based on
empirical observation or is inconsistent with broader scientific theory
- Astrology
- Palm-reading
- Fortune telling
Psychologists would be interested in how a horoscope affects a person’s attitude and
behavior
- Goal would be to investigate the power of persuasion
OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES
Psychology is not alone in applying the scientific method to the study of behavior. The
behavioral sciences are so closely related that it is often hard to tell where one
ends and another begins
Behavioral Sciences
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Sociology
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Anthropology
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Political Science
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History
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Psychology
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Economics
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Sociology:
- The study of society.
- Goal is to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity
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Anthropology:
- The academic study of humanity.
- Anthropologists study topics including Homo sapiens origin and evolution, the
organization of human social and cultural relations, human physical traits, how
humans behave, the variations among different groups of humans, how the
evolutionary past of Homo sapiens has influenced its social organization and
culture, and so forth.
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Political Science
- The study of the state, government, and politics
- Deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of
political systems and political behavior
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History
- The discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about
past events.
- Uses a narrative to examine and analyze the sequence of events
- Often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that
determine events.
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Psychology
- The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
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Economics
- Analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
HOW DO DIFFERENT SOCIAL SCIENTISTS VIEW
A SIMILAR EVENT?
EVENT: A campus protest in response to a racial incident
Describe how each type of behavioral scientist would view this event.
HUMAN DIVERSITY
Why does human diversity matter?
- Knowing the scientific bases of human diversity will allow you to separate fact
from fiction in your daily interactions with people
- Once you understand how and why groups differ in their values, haviors,
approaches to the world, thought processes, and responses to situations, you will
savor the diversity around you.
- The more you comprehend the extent of human diversity, the more you will
appreciate the many universal features of humanity.
GENDER
Refers to one’s biological makeup
The physical and genetic facts of being one sex or the other
Sex vs. Gender
Some use sex to refer exclusively to biological differences in anatomy, genetics, or
physical functioning and gender to refer to the psychological and social meanings
attached to being biologically male or female
GENDER STEREOTYPES
Masculine
preferences, attributes, and interests that are typically associated with being a male in
our society.
Feminine
preferences, attributes, and interests that are typically associated with being a female
in our society.
Gender Stereotypes
characteristics that are assumed to be typical of each sex
Gender Roles
behaviors that we expect males and females to engage in
CULTURE
Refers to two different aspects of a society:
- Tangible goods produced in a society
- art, inventions, literature, and consumer goods
- Intangible processes
- shared beliefs, values, attitudes, traditions, and behaviors
- are communicated from one generation to the next within a society
RACE AND ETHNICITY
Race
- an individuals biological heritage
Ethnicity
- A common cultural heritage, including religion, language, and/or ancestry, and is
shared by a group of individuals
Ethnic Identity
- The aspect of an individual’s self-concept that is based on his or her awareness
of being s member of a particular ethnic group
WHY IS DIVERSITY IMPORTANT?
The gender, race, or ethnicity of the experimenter may introduce a subtle, unintended
biases.
Though research methods and the scientific process strive for objectivity, subjective
values- whether they derive from race, gender, or cultural background- influence
human behavior, whether the human in question is the designer of or the
participant in the research.
HOMEWORK: THESIS STATEMENT
Answer the following prompt in the form of a thesis statement:
Psychological research is better now than it was in the 1950's. What changes in
research have occurred since the 1950's that would lead one to agree with this
statement? (Operationally define "better" in your answer.)
Due: Wed 9/26
RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY
The Experiment:
The only research method capable of showing cause and effect
-Includes a hypothesis
- A statement about the relation between two or more variables
- Must be testable, verifiable and refutable
Independent variable:
Variable manipulated by the experimenter
Dependent variable:
Measured variable influenced by the independent variable
Experimental group:
Group that receives the treatment
Control group:
Group that does not receive treatment (or receives a treatment presumed to be ineffective, e.g., placebo)
- Serves as the basis for comparison of results from the experimental group
- Also serves to eliminate alternative explanations of the results
Confounding variable:
- Any variable besides the independent variable that could influence the results of
an experiment
- Influence is unwanted
Population:
- The larger group of people or animals from which samples are drawn
Sample:
- Set of subjects drawn from particular population
Control Measures
- Counterbalancing: Controls for order effects of conditions
- Single-blind: Controls subject awareness of group assignment
- Double-blind: Controls subject and experimenter awareness of group assignment
- Randomization: Selection and assignment of subjects to groups through random
or chance procedure
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
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Behavior is observed in the environment in which it occurs naturally
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Typically, behavior is not interfered with or altered
Example: W.H. Whyte (1956) wanted to learn how people in suburban communities
chose their friends.
- Read social column in the local newspaper to find parties and lists of
those invited
- Noticed a pattern based on proximity
NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
ADVANTAGES
LIM ITAT IO N S
Provides a great deal of firsthand
behavioral info that is more
likely to be accurate than the
reports after the fact.
The presence of an observer may
alter the participant’s behavior
The subjects behavior is more
natural, spontaneous, and
varied than behaviors taking
place in the laboratory.
A rich source of hypotheses
The observer’s recording of the
behavior may reflect a
preexisting bias
It is often unclear whether the
observations can be
generalized to other settings
and subjects
CASE STUDIES
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Behavior of one person or a few people is studied in depth
Example:
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
- Carefully studied each of his 3 children as they grew and changed during
childhood.
CASE STUDIES
ADVANTAGES
LIM ITAT IO N S
Yields a great deal of detailed
descriptive information
The case(s) studied may not be a
representative sample
Useful for forming hypotheses
Can be time-consuming and
expensive
Observer bias is a potential
problem
SURVEYS
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A large number of participants are asked a standard set of questions
- Questionnaires or interviews
Example: Polls taken before big elections
- Estimates of the percentage of people that are likely to vote for a certain
candidate
SURVEYS
ADVANTAGES
LIM ITAT IO N S
Enables an immense amount of
data to be gathered quickly
and inexpensively
Sampling biases can skew results
Poorly constructed questions can
result in answers that are
ambiguous, so data is not
clear
Accuracy depends on ability and
willingness of participants to
answer questions accurately
CORRELATION RESEARCH
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Employs statistical methods to examine the relationships between two or more
variables
Example: Psychologist asked to predict which applicants for a pilot training program
will make good pilots.
- Select 100 trainees
- Give them a variety of aptitude and personality tests
- Compare results to performance in training school
- Would tell if there is some characteristic that correlates with
eventual success as a pilot
CORRELATION RESEARCH
ADVANTAGES
LIM ITAT IO N S
May clarify relationships between
variables that cannot be
examined by other research
methods
Does not permit researcher to
draw conclusions regarding
cause-and-effect relationships
Allows prediction of behavior
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
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One or more variables are systematically manipulated, and the effect of that manipulation on
other variables is studied
Experimental Method: Research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates
selected events or circumstances and then measures those manipulations on subsequent
behavior
Subjects or participants: Individuals whose reactions or responses are observed in an experiment
Independent Variable: The variable that is manipulated to test its effects on the other, dependent
variables
Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured to see how it is changed by manipulations in
the independent variable
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Experimental Group: In a controlled experiment, the group subjected to a change in
the independent variable
Control Group: In a controlled experiment, the group not subjected to a change in the
independent variable; used for comparison with the experimental group
Experimenter Bias: Expectations by the experimenter that might influence the results
of an experiment or its interpretation
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Example: Why students memories are poorer on Monday than on other days of the
week.
Hypothesis: Difficulty remembering facts and ideas on Mondays is due to lack of
sleep on the weekend
Experimental Method: Used to gather evidence to support hypothesis
Design Memory Task: Geometry task
Subjects/Participants: Group made up of equal number men/women that scored
between 520 and 550 on the verbal section of their
College Boards
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Manipulation: Control (manipulate) the amount of time the subject sleeps
Independent Variable: Amount of sleep a subject gets
Dependent Variable: Number of correct answers on memory task
Experimental Group: will be kept awake until 4:00am and woken up at 7:00am
Control Group: Allowed to sleep whenever they please
Experimenter Bias: To combat this, has a neutral party with no knowledge of
experiment grade task
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
ADVANTAGES
LIM ITAT IO N S
Strict control of variables offers
researchers the opportunity to
draw conclusions about causeand-effect relationships
The artificiality of the lab setting
may influence subject’s
behavior
Unexpected and uncontrolled
variables may confound results
Many variables cannot be
controlled or manipulates
SAMPLING
Sample
- Selection of cases from a larger population used to conduct a study
Random Sample
- Sample in which each potential participant has an equal chance of being
selected
Representative Sample
- Sample carefully chosen so that the characteristics of the participants
correspond closely to the characteristics of the larger population