Psychology 20
Unit 1 - What Is Psychology?
Mr. J. Lehrer - Balfour Collegiate
What Is Psychology?
definition: Social psychology is the study of
thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals
further: psychology deals with human
interaction - the way people relate to one another
and the way people influence one another
What Is Psychology? (continued)
Watch the video one more time:
List as many concepts that the
video shows, that we MAY be
covering in Psychology this
semester.
Psychology is:
The science of mental life.
(William James 1842-1910)
What Is Psychology? (continued)
Psychology describes:
mental functions: the human mind has
knowledge, feelings & desires
Immanuel Kant
1724 - 1804
'Trilogy of the Mind'
(Ernest Hilgard, 1980)
• Cognition (Knowledge & Beliefs)
• Emotion (Moods & Feelings)
• Motivation (Goals, Desires, Needs, Purpose)
Lastly ... Psychology is:
- a soft, social, behavioural science: both basic & applied
• social - we live in a society ... try to understand how
the individual lives within a social setting - group
dynamics
• basic - how does the mind work?
• applied - understanding how the mind works and applying
this knowledge
- a way to study mental disorders (schizophrenia, addictions,
depression, anxiety, criminal actions, etc.)
- a biological science: neuroscience, genetics, evolution, bodily
systems (cns, endocrine, immune), brain imaging (cat/pet/mri
scans)
Psychology - making a
positive difference
Social psychologists have worked to understand such
phenomena as economic depression, attitude formation,
racial prejudice, adaptation of immigrants, friendships and
relationships, the effects of the Canadian multiculturalism
policy, social norms of behaviour, group dynamics,
propaganda and conformity, the development of racial
identity among native children, conflict resolution, cognitive
processes such as memory, attention and problem solving,
environmental issues, marital conflicts, addiction and
aggression (Alcock et al., 1998, p. 9).
What Influences Human Social
Action & Interaction?
Life is what happens to you while you’re making plans ... John
Lennon
•
What is the biological
basis for our behaviour?
How is it that human beings have dreams, make plans, feel joy or hunger, fall in love, read and
understand this page, or remember events that took place ages ago?
This question is about the relationship between biology, brain, and behaviour and the answer is
at once most simple and most complex. The simple answer is this. All of our thoughts,
feelings and behaviours originate from basic biological processes – more specfically from the
brain.
• What are the various ‘systems of
support’ that influence our behaviour?
- family
- school
- community structures (ex. police)
- health care
- employment opportunities
- cultural values
- political systems
- the law
- economic systems
•
In what ways do heredity, experience and/or the
systems of support influence how we think, feel and
behave?
NATURE vs. NURTURE
NATURE = behaviour comes from your genes
NURTURE = behaviour comes from experiences
- Psychologists and biologists have long debated whether interaction with the
environment—a person’s family and culture, for instance—is more important than
genes in shaping disease, character, and behaviour.
- It is becoming more obvious that environment and genes have different degrees
of influence, depending on the trait.
Muscle Strength
Music Ability
Academic
Intelligence
Height
Activity 3
Name some of your traits:
★ who did you get them from?
★ are they nature or nurture, or both?
Trait
Got From
Music Ability
My mom
Nature/Nurture
?
?
Genetics 101
• the human body is made up of millions & millions of cells
• inside the middle of each cell is a nucleus that contains genetic information called ‘dna’
• cells have different shapes and functions
• all cells come from the original cell that was your mother’s egg, which was fertilized by father’s
sperm
• the genetic information is contained inside the ‘chromosomes’ of each nucleus
• we have 46 chromosomes in each cell. 23 that come from our mother and 23 from our
father.
• chromosomes are arranged in pairs (23 pairs)
• the 23rd pair are the ‘sex chromosomes’
• each chromosome carries thousands of ‘genes’
• serious problems arise from having too many chromosomes:
- Down’s syndrome: have 47 chromosomes instead of 46
- Mental retardation: have an extra Chromosome 21
• a change in function or structure of a gene is called a ‘mutation’
Genetics ... con’t
Interesting Facts about Genetics
• The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953.
• If you unraveled all the chromosomes from all of your cells and placed the DNA end to end, the
strands would stretch from the Earth to the moon about 6,000 times!
• We have 30,000- 40,000 genes, each with coding for important functions.
• The language of the genome is comprised of four letters:
A = Adenine, T = Thymine, G = Guanine C = Cytosine
These letters are scrambled several million times to make the genetic code.
• The Human Genome Project has a complete catalogue of the entire human genome. This catalogue is
the size of several hundred average-sized telephone books and has the letters A, T, G, C in various
permutations and combinations.
• Finding every gene in the human body is like finding details on every person in every country of the
world.
• We still don't know the function of more than 80 per cent of our DNA.
http://www.mountsinai.on.ca
Genetics
DNA - material that contain genetic material for all living
organisms. DNA is often compared to a set of
blueprints/recipe/code. DNA contains the instructions for building
cells.
(Wikipedia, 2011)
dna is formed as a ‘double helix’
genes - a unit of heredity in a living organism
(Wikipedia, 2011)
Nature vs. Nurture: killers
Psychopathic killers are the basis for some must-watch TV, but
what really makes them tick? Neuroscientist Jim Fallon talks
about brain scans and genetic analysis that may uncover the
rotten wiring in the nature (and nurture) of murderers. In a toostrange-for-fiction twist, he shares a fascinating family history
that makes his work chillingly personal. (TED.com, 2011)
GENDER IDENTITY
definition: the classification of ourselves (and others) as
male or female, boy or girl, man or women, etc.
•
How does gender influence our
thoughts, feelings and behaviours?
Questions:
1. Does gender control behaviour? Why do
you say that?
2. Do people get treated differently based
on their sex?
3. If you could swap genders, would you?
ARE THESE TRUE?
QuickTime™ and a
None decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
How times have changed ... from 1955.
Homosexuality - Nature vs. Nurture?
Article:
The Science of Sexual Orientation (CBS
News)
The Samoan - ‘Fafafini’
Families choose whether their male children
will grow up as 'fafafini': that is men who live
their lives as women.
In Samoa if you act like a woman, you are a
woman. Thus when men have a relationship
with a fafafini it is considered to be
heterosexual.
Assignment #4
Choice #1
Choice #2
‘Homosexuality’
‘Samoan Fafafini’
60 Minutes
National Geographic
• In Microsoft Word, by yourself or with a partner,
summarize one of the videos above, touching on the
most important points.
• Then give your opinion on the topic, bringing in the
nature vs. nurture debate.
Gender - videos
Tough Guise Video
Gender Stereotypes in Media
Gender Roles - Interview with Kids
Difference According to ‘Friends’
Gender Roles - I Love Lucy
Gender Beer Commercial
Dissolving Gender Roles - pt 1
Dissolving Gender Roles - pt 2
A Fictitious Public Service Announcement
PepsiMax advertisement
Fighting in Hockey
Activity #5?
Does Fighting Belong in Hockey?
• What is your personal opinion ... does fighting
belong in hockey?
• Interview 3 other people (one must be an adult)
... ask them the same question and summarize
their answer
• From interviewing 3 people did your opinion
change?
• Is fighting in hockey related to the ‘Tough Guise’
video we watched in class the other day? Why or
Why not?
Premature Sexualisation of Children
Let Girls Be Girls was launched in early 2010, and grew from
Mumsnetters' concern that an increasingly sexualised culture
was dripping, toxically, into the lives of children.
The campaign aims to curb the premature sexualisation of
children by asking retailers to commit not to sell products which
play upon, emphasise or exploit their sexuality.
6 Psychological ‘Perspectives’:
Possible ways human thoughts, feeling & behaviours are interpreted:
• Psychodynamic Perspective
• Behavioural Perspective
• Cognitive Perspective
• Humanistic Perspective
• Evolutionary Perspective
• Socio-cultural Perspective
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Advocates of the psychodynamic perspective believe that behaviour is motivated
by inner forces, memories and conflicts that are generally beyond people’s
awareness and control.
- Psychodynamic perspective developed by S. Freud
- the unconscious part of our personality contains
infantile wishes, desires, demands & needs ... hidden
because of their disturbing nature.
- Freud believed that our unconscious is responsible for
a good part of our behaviour.
- Freud believes we have 3 parts to our personality:
1. the id
2. the ego
3. the superego
- other supporters of this perspective: Erikson & Jung
... what were their ideas?
Freud Documentary
Part 1
Part 2 Part 3
Sigmund Freud
Id • Ego • Superego
• Id - the raw, unorganized, inborn part of the
•
•
personality that is present at birth. It represents
primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression
or irrational impulses: called the ‘pleasure
principle.’
Ego - the part of your personality that is
rational & reasonable ... also called the
‘reality principle.’ This part restrains you
and allows you to be part of society. Sort
of acts like a ‘buffer’ between the Id and
the outside world.
SuperEgo - the part of your personality that represents a
person’s conscience ... ie. distinguishing between right &
wrong. Learned around age 5 or 6 ... learned from parents,
teachers, etc.
The Behavioural Perspective:
This perspective suggests that the keys to understanding development are
observable behaviour and outside ‘stimuli’ in the environment. If we know the
stimuli, then we can predict behaviour!
•
•
•
•
in this perspective, people do NOT pass through a series of stages.
we are affected by things in our environment
famous ‘Behavioural’ psychologists: Watson, Skinner & Pavlov
famous ‘Behavioural’ theories: Classical & Operant Conditioning
Definitions:
Classical Conditioning - learning to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate events
Operant Conditioning - learning to associate a response & its consequence,
Classical
Conditioning
Example #1
Pavlov’s Dog
Classical
continued
Conditioning
So to review the
previous example:
Example #2
• bell - neutral stimulus
• food - unconditioned stimulus
• Rover salivating - unconditioned response
• pairing food repeatedly with bell - classical
conditioning
• bell - conditioned stimulus
• salivating to bell - conditioned response
So in this example:
- name the neutral stimulus
- name the unconditioned stimulus
- name the unconditioned response
- when does classical conditioning
occur?
- name the conditioned stimulus
- name the conditioned response
Operant Conditioning
‘Using consequences to form
behaviour.’
Example!
In operant conditioning, Skinner demonstrated
that individuals learn to act deliberately on their
environments in order to bring about desired
consequences. In a sense, then, people operate
on their environment in order to bring about a
desired state of affairs. Reinforcement is the
process by which a stimulus is provided that
increases the probability that a preceding
behaviour will be repeated. In addition,
punishment will decrease the probability that
the preceding behaviour will occur in the future
(Feldman, 2000, p. 18)
The Cognitive Perspective:
The cognitive perspective focuses on the processes that allow people to know,
understand and think about the world.
in this perspective psychologists hope to understand how children & adults process
information, and how their ways of thinking and understanding affect their behaviour
(Feldman, 2000, p. 20).
•
•
•
•
Psychologist Jean Piaget had the largest impact on creating this perspective.
From his observation of children, Piaget understood that children were creating
ideas. They were not limited to receiving knowledge from parents or teachers; they
actively constructed their own knowledge. (Wikipedia, 2010)
Jean Piaget says that all people pass through a series of developmental stages of
‘cognitive development.’
courtesy: Davidson Films
Videos - Cognitive Perspective
Sensorimotor
birth - 2 yrs
Preoperational
2 - 7 yrs
Concrete Operational
7 - 11 yrs
Formal Operational
12 - ?
Surf YouTube and find videos that explain each of Piaget’s
4 developmental stages. Show your favourite one to the
The Humanistic Perspective:
The humanistic perspective says that people have a natural tendency to make
decisions about their lives and control their behaviour. This perspective emphasizes
free will.
•
•
Psychologist Carl Rogers suggests that people have a need for positive regard that
results from an underlying wish to be loved and respected. (Feldman, 2000, p. 22)
Rogers also says our view of ourselves (and our self worth) is a reflection of how we
think others view us.
Not the Humanistic Approach!
The Humanistic
Approach
Definitely NOT
the Humanistic Approach!
The Evolutionary Perspective:
In this perspective behaviour is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution,
and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods. Evolutionary approaches grow
out of the groundbreaking work of Charles Darwin (Feldman, 2000, p. 22)
•
Psychologist Konrad Lorenze discovered
that geese are ‘genetically
preprogrammed’ to become attached to
the first moving object they see after birth.
Duck ‘imprinting’
on dog
Bill Lishman
aka - Father Goose
Are humans ‘preprogrammed’
to behave certain ways?
The Socio-cultural Perspective:
Every person has his or her individual learning history, but each of us is also
embedded in a larger culture that helps shape who we are. (Passer, 2008, p. 25)
•
•
definition: ‘Culture’ refers to the values, beliefs, behaiours, and
traditions shared by a large group of people and are passed on from
one generation to the next. (Brislin, 1993)
definition: ‘Norms’ are rules that describe what is acceptable and
expected for members of a cultural group. (Passer et al, 2008, p. 26)
Activity #6:
1. Why do human form cultures?
2. In two paragraphs, describe the ‘Canadian’ culture
to an alien who has arrived on earth.
3. Make a list of 10 one sentence ‘norms’ that you
follow every, or most days.
Making Sense of Our Behaviour
Methods of Research:
1. Experimental Methods
2. Interviews
3. Observation
4. Case Study
5. Topical
6. Survey
Psychological Research
‘methadological’ issues...
Reliability - the ‘consistency’ of a set of measurements ... the extent to which a
measurement gives consistent results.
For instance, if we were conducting an observational study of the play behaviours of children during
recess, and our findings at the end of one study indicated that the boys were more aggressive than
girls, but when we repeated our study at a different school and we found the opposite, that the girls
were more aggressive than the boys, then we could not claim that our study was reliable.
Validity - the degree to which something measures what it is suppose to measure.
Continuing with our example of the play behaviours of young children, is the observational approach a
valid means of studying the topic? Let’s say that we had chosen to do an interview, and we interviewed
the children and asked them questions about what happened at recess time. Would this method be
considered valid as a way to gain information from which we could draw a conclusion? Probably not, or
not as valid as directly observing them.
Psychological Research - ‘ethical’ issues...
➡ Confidentiality
The right of privacy for subjects concerning their participation in research. All steps must be taken to
assure that subjects’ participation is confidential. If any possibility exists that someone other than the
researcher may have access to the data, the subject must be informed of this possibility before they
provide their informed consent to participate (Buskist et al., 2002, p. 42)
➡ Informed Consent
Requires that potential subjects understand exactly what is expected of them during the course of the
research and that the investigator protects participants from physical and psychological discomfort,
harm and danger (Buskist et al., 2002, p. 42).
➡ Debriefing
Requires that research participants be given full information about all aspects of the study after they
have participated in it, thus assuring that they leave with a full understanding of its purpose, and
receive a full disclosure of the information gathered (Baron et al., 1998, p. 31)
➡ Biases
Researchers must be careful to avoid subtle biases that influence results, such as gender (male or
female), ethnicity (people’s common traits, background, and allegiances which are often cultural,
religious, or language based), and cultural (a person’s racial and ethnic background, religious and
social values, artistic and musical tastes, and scholarly interests) bias (Lefton et al., 2000, p. 15).
Ethical Psychological Research?
Milgram Experiment
The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University
psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to
perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, and later discussed his findings in greater depth in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An
Experimental View.
The experiments began in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Milgram devised his psychological study to answer the question: "Was it that Eichmann and his accomplices in the Holocaust had mutual
intent, in at least with regard to the goals of the Holocaust?" In other words, "Was there a mutual sense of morality among those involved?"
Milgram's testing suggested that it could have been that the millions of accomplices were merely following orders, despite violating their
deepest moral beliefs. (Wikipedia, 2011)
Activity 7 - in Microsoft Word, summarize the Milgram experiment and then give you opinion on
whether this is an ethical experiment or not.
How to make research more valid & reliable
Sample size - the number of times an observation is made.
Representative sample - make sure the sample is typical of the general population.
Blind experimenters’ - people gathering data should be unaware of the purpose of the research.
‘Control’ groups - gather data on two samples that are similar in every way except one.
Statistical significance - when researchers find a difference between two groups, they have to
consider the possibility that the differences occurred purely by chance.
The Scientific Method
Psychology is a science. Science is fundamentally a rational process.
In its simplest form, the model consists of four steps:
(1) formulating a theoretical problem, which is then translated into testable ‘hypotheses’
(2) selecting the appropriate research method, and designing and carrying out the study
(3) analyzing and interpreting the results
(4) using the results to confirm, deny or modify the theory (Alcock et al., 1998, p. 17).
Research Methods
1. What are theReview
four steps
in the scientific
questions
process?
2. Name the 6 methods in psychology research
... also, give a one sentence description of each
method.
3. What does ‘reliability’ mean in relation to
research?
4. What does ‘validity’ mean in relation to
research?
5. Briefly explain the 4 ‘ethical issues’ in
research.
6. Name the 5 ways to make your psychological
AWAKENINGS
Background Info: Encephalitis lethargica
After you watch the movie, in Microsoft Word, type up a
three page overview/essay of the movie.
• You may use Wikipedia as a reference, but everything MUST be in your own words.
• You may quote 3 sentences out of the Wikipedia article.
• You must put 4 or 5 pictures from the movie into your essay, using the Microsoft Word
‘text wrap’ feature.
• You must outline your essay first. (Mr. Lehrer will help you get going on this.)
• Your outline must appear at the end of the essay.
• Proofread your essay.
• Get a partner to proofread your essay.
• Print your essay ... making sure you’ve titled it, and put your name at the top.
• You should have two pages of print, in 1.5 spacing using 14 pt font. The pictures will
make your essay 2.5 to 3 pages long.
Four Part Research Activity
PART ONE - AUDIO INTERVIEW
Choose a person in the class to interview.
• you will record the interview with your partner,
using the GarageBand software.
• you will interview them, and they will interview you.
• you will interview the other person on the topic of:
‘Role Models.’
(With your partner, brainstorm 10 questions you can
ask each other on this topic.)
• after you’ve interviewed each other you must
‘transcribe’ EVERYTHING your partner said in Microsoft
Word.
Interview FAQ’s
Four Part Research Activity
PART TWO - VIDEO INTERVIEW
• choose a group of two or three
• one person in your group with be interviewed on the
a topic of your choice
• with your partner(s), brainstorm 10 questions you can
ask the ‘interviewee’ on this topic.
• get a quick lesson on how to videotape someone WITH
microphones
• edit the interview in iMovie
• export the finished product as a Quicktime movie
Three Part Research Activity
PART THREE - SURVEY
In a group of 1, 2 or 3:
• create a survey using Survey Monkey.com on a topic listed below:
•
• Should parents be legally permitted to spank their children?
• Should the government be launching a national day care program paid for by taxpayers?
• Should parents be held accountable in some way for the behaviour of their children?
Should we abolish the military and use the money to fund social programs, (e.g., health and education)?
• What, or who, are the primary influences on you?
• Should animals be used for scientific research purposes?
• What are the qualities you most admire in a friend?
• Should the legal age to drive a car be raised to 18?
• Should the legal age to consume alcohol be raised to 21?
• Do you agree with euthanasia (mercy killing)?
• Do you think we should reinstate capital punishment?
• Do you believe in fate?
• What is the most important human value?
• What is the most important quality in a parent?
• If you could swap genders, would you? Why?
• Is it right to steal life-saving medicines that you cannot afford?
• Should you tell the police if your best friend committed a crime?
• email your survey to each member of our class, including Mr. Lehrer
• fill out ALL the surveys you receive through your email
• at the end, type up a one page analysis of the results of your survey
due: Wednesday, November 17th
Survey FAQ’s
Four Part Research Activity
PART FOUR - OBSERVATION
(‘naturalistic’ observation)
In ‘naturalistic research’, the observer does not intervene at
all. For all intents and purposes, the researcher is invisible
and works hard to not interrupt the natural dynamics of the
situation being investigated.
• choose a location to do a ‘naturalistic’ observation
ex. the mall food court, your kitchen table,
your family room, volleyball game, etc.
• trying to be as ‘invisible’ as possible,
do a ‘naturalistic observation’ for exactly 10 minutes
• write down EVERYTHING you observe
• due: Friday, November 19th
• practice: Mutch Hall (5 min.)