Chapter One
Day one
Essential Questions
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What is psychology?
What types of work do psychologists do?
What types of things do psychologists study?
Why is it important to study psychology?
What is psychology?
A. Greek words:
– Psyche: “mind or soul”
– Logos: study of
B. Scientific study of behavior and mental
processes
– Any action that other people can observe or
measure
– Cognitive activities like dreams, perceptions,
thoughts, memories, emotions, and feelings
– So…is psychology just common sense and therefore
EVERYONE is a psychologist?
Goals of Psychology
1. Observe and describe behavior and mental
processes to better understand them
2. A better understanding of behavior enables
psychologists to explain, predict, and control
behavior
(Not control like puppets on a string, but to help
people make their own decisions…ex: sport
psychologists can help enhance athletic
performance.)
Psychology is a Science
Social Science
Society, people
influence structure of
society which in turn
influences behavior
Natural Science
Neuroscience…the
brain controls behavior
Psychology tests ideas through
research
1. Surveys: asking questions from various
groups
2. Experimentation / Scientific Process (Ch. 2)
– Hypothesis
– Manipulate variables
– Study outcomes
Psychologists organize ideas about
behaviors into theories
A. Theories are statements that attempt to
explain why things are the way that they are
and happen the way that they do
B. Theories allow psychologists to predict
behavior
C. Thus far, what do you think is the main
VALUE of psychology?
Parapsychology: Psychology or Not?
http://www.howcast.com/videos/500930-What-Is-ESP-Extrasensory-Perception-Psychic-Abilities
Parapsychology…ESP (Extrasensory Perception)
Four forms:
1. Precognition: the ability to know about events before
they occur
2. Psychokinesis: the ability to make objects move by
thinking of them as moving
3. Telepathy: the direct transmission of thoughts or
ideas from person to person without anything being
spoken or written down
4. Clairvoyance: the ability to perceive objects that are
out of the range of human senses
Examine
Look at page 2 in your textbook. What kinds of
questions do you think a psychologist would ask
about this girl?
Chapter One
Day Two
Warm-up
• What movies have you seen or what books
have you read that have professional
psychologists as characters?
• What kinds of work did these psychologists
do?
• What areas did they specialize in?
• Was this a realistic characterization?
Clinical Psychologists in the Movies
• Dr. Macguire “Good Will Hunting”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvvx0G7XHc
• “Dressed to Kill”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qHuiCLk
YHc
Other psychologists in movies
• Child Psychology: Bruce Willis
– The Sixth Sense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsNjQhyvRnU
• Forensic Psychology: Morgan Freeman
– Along Came a Spider
– Kiss the Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxdbtnTXXY
Different Kinds of Psychologists
1. Psychiatrists: doctors who deal with
psychological problems and can prescribe
medication
2. Clinical Psychologists:
– Make up 40% of all psychologists
– Help people with psychological problems like
anxiety, depression, severe disorders, drug abuse,
weight control
– Use interviews and psychological tests
Different Kinds of Psychologists
3. Counseling Psychologists:
– Typically treat people who have adjustment
problems rather than serious psychological
illnesses
– Decisions about careers, friends, difficulties with
families, teachers, employees, colleagues
– Help clarify goals and meet challenges
– Employed by businesses, colleges, testing centers
Different Kinds of Psychologists
4. School Psychologists
– Identify students who have problems that interfere
with learning
– Peer group and family problems
– Learning disorders
– Talk to parents and teachers
– Administer tests
– Observe in the classroom
– Make recommendations regarding possible special
placement
Different Kinds of Psychologists
5. Educational Psychologists
– Concerned with helping students learn
– Generally focus on course planning and
instructional methods for an entire school
system
– Concerned with theoretical issues like how
learning is affected by psychological factors,
cultural factors, economic factors, instructional
methods
– Help prepare standardized tests
Different Kinds of Psychologists
6. Developmental Psychologists
- Studies changes that occur throughout
the lifespan
- Physical, emotional, cognitive, and social
changes
- attempt to sort out relative influences of
heredity and environment on development
Different Kinds of Psychologists
7. Personality Psychologists
– Study traits and characteristics of people
– Study development of these traits
– Study the development of psychological
disorders
– Study issues like anxiety, aggression and gender
roles
Different Kinds of Psychologists
8. Social Psychologists
– Concerned with people’s behavior in social
situations
– Concerned with the way men and women
behave in a given setting
– How do people conform to group standards
– How does behavior change in groups
Different Kinds of Psychologists
9. Experimental psychologists
– Conduct research into basic processes
– Things like motivation, memory, sensation,
learning
Different Kinds of Psychologists
10.Industrial and Organizational Psychologists:
study people in their work environment and
discover methods to improve productivity
11.Environmental Psychologists: study the
effects of environment on behavior
(crowding, pollution, isolation)
12.Consumer Psychologists: study shopping
and buying behavior
Different Kinds of Psychologists
13.Forensic Psychologists: work in the court
system and with police to try to explain
behavior and train professionals
14.Health Psychologists: study how behavior is
related to physical health and well being
15.Mathematical Psychologists: use
mathematical and computer models to
predict behavior
Different Kinds of Psychologists
16.Psychopharmacologists: study the impact of
drugs on behavior
17.Clinical Neuropsychology: study the
biological bases of abnormal behavior
History of Psychology
• This could be a course all by itself!
• Textbook pages 12 and 13
Early Current Perspectives
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Socrates: “Know Thyself”
Structuralism – William Wundt
Functionalism – William James
Watson
Skinner
Freud
Structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt
• Concerned with discovering basic elements of
conscious experience
• 2 categories
– Objective sensations: sight, sound, taste all
reflections of the outside world
– Subjective feelings: emotional responses, mental
images
Structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt
• The human mind combines both objective
sensations and subjective feelings of
experience
• EXPERIENCE gave you all that you are
• Examine your thoughts and feelings through
introspection: looking within yourself to
understand your behavior
• Begs the question: What are the elements of
psychological processes?
Functionalism
William James
• It is not the outside world and inside thoughts
and feelings
• Experience is a fluid and continuous “stream
of consciousness”
• Focus on the relationship between experience
and behavior
• Concerned with how mental processes help
organisms adapt to their environment
• Stresses the application of feelings to
everyday situations
William James
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William James brought psychology to the US.
James’s work was extremely broad
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He moved from psychology to philosophy.
General characteristics of James’s thought:
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He took a strong individualistic perspective rooted in
individual experience.
He advocated multiple levels of analysis,
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There is not one correct level of analysis.
Jamesian pluralism had several implications for his
psychology.
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He denied that there is a primary or foundational content area
in psychology.
Alfred Binet
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Alfred Binet developed the first usable tests of
intelligence.
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His goal was to identify schoolchildren who may need
extra assistance or advanced teaching.
Lewis Terman brought Binet’s intelligence tests to the
United States.
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He published the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
To place army recruits during World War I, Robert M.
Yerkes developed the Army Alpha and the Army Beta
tests of intelligence.
The Stanford Binet Intelligence Test
• Tests a subject’s MENTAL AGE
• Determines a subject’s intelligence quotient
(I.Q.)
• Mental Age / Chronological Age x 100 = I.Q.
• Scores:
– 100 = average
– < 100 = below average
– > 100 = above average
Asks:
• What are the purposes of behavior and
mental processes?
• What do the mental processes accomplish?
– Adaptive behaviors are learned and maintained
because they are successful
– Adaptive behaviors become repeated habits
– How does this translate into intelligence? I.Q.
tests
Behaviorism: John B. Watson
Reinforcement: B.F. Skinner
• Limit Psychology to observable, measurable
events – BEHAVIOR.
• Behaviorism is the scientific study of
observable behavior.
• Animals and people learn behavior better
when they have positive reinforcement.
• Rats in a maze.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnxM29B2
ln4
Reinforcement: Skinner Box
The Gestalt School
• Based on the idea that perceptions are more than
the sum of their parts.
• Rather, they are wholes that give shape, or
meaning, to the parts.
• Rejects the structuralist idea that experience can
be broken down into individual parts or
elements.
• Reject behaviorist notion that psychologists
should ONLY focus on observable behavior.
• Disagree with behaviorist view that learning is
mechanical.
• Learning is active and purposeful.
The Gestalt School
The Gestalt School
The Gestalt School
The Gestalt School
• Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are in; the olny iprmoetnt
tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and
you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh?
Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud
• Emphasizes the importance of unconscious
motives and internal conflicts in determining
human behavior
• “Freudian slip”
• Dream interpretation
• Represent unconscious wishes…often sexual in
nature
Contemporary Perspectives of
Psychology
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Biological Perspectives
Cognitive Perspectives
Humanistic Perspective
Psychoanalytic Perspective
Learning Perspective
Sociocultural Perspective
JIGSAW ACTIVITY
Biological Perspectives
• Emphasizes influence of biology on behavior
• Mental processes (thoughts, dreams, wishes,
desires, fantasies) made possible by the
nervous system.
• Key component of behavior is in the brain
• Interested in influence of genes, hormones,
heredity on behavior
Cognitive Perspectives
• Emphasizes the role of thoughts in determining
behavior
• Study mental processes (how people perceive the
world, solve problems, dream and daydream) to
understand human nature
• Information processing important
• Computer analogy: mind has long term storage,
memory, software
• Behavior is influenced by values, interpretations
and choices
Humanistic Perspectives
• Stress the human capacity for self-fulfillment and
the importance of consciousness, self-awareness,
and the capacity to make choices
• Peoples’ experiences are the most important
aspect of psychology
• We invent ourselves through our choices and
experiences
• People are basically good and helpful to others
• Get in touch with your feelings
• Group therapy
Psychoanalytic Perspective
• Stresses the influence of unconscious forces
on human behavior
• Focuses on the roles of unconscious sexual
and aggressive impulses on conscious choice
and self-direction
• Aggressive impulses are often frustrations that
were penned up and can lead to inappropriate
behaviors.
Learning Perspectives
• Emphasize the effects of experience on
behavior
• Learning is the essential factor in describing,
explaining, predicting, and controlling
behavior
• Not conscious choice – all behaviors learned
through reinforcement
• Behavior is either learned through direct
experience or observation
Sociocultural Perspectives
• Factors like ethnicity, gender, culture,
socioeconomic status have significant impact
on human behavior and mental processes
• Influences of social forces on the individual