Psychology
Elyria Catholic High School
Mr. Malbasa
Overview
• Psychology:
(yuch – mind)
(logos – study)
• The Study of Human Thought and
Behavior.
History
• Structuralism (late 19th Century)
(Wilhelm Wundt / Edward Bradford Titchener)
– Search for the basic units of experience
– Perception
– Science
• Functionalism (Late 19th Century)
(William James)
– How an organism uses perceptual abilities to function
in its environment
– Consciousness as Stream – Mental associations
allow us to benefit from experience.
History
• Psychodynamic Theory (late 19th/early 20th)
(Sigmund Freud)
– Emphasis on unconscious
– Behavior is the result on unconscious motives and
early childhood experience
• Behaviorism (1913) (John Watson)
– Studies only observable and measurable behavior
(If you cannot see it, and measure it, forget about it)
– Tabula Rosa – Environment is Everything
• Behavior is result of conditioning
– B.F. Skinner (1938) -- Reinforcement
History
• Gestalt Psychology (Whole / Form)
– Rejects structuralism / embraces functionalism
– How we perceive and experience objects as whole
patterns.
• Existential / Humanistic Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
– Mental Processes
– Broad in Concept
• Evolutionary Psychology
– Behavior as result of adaptation
Fields
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Developmental
Physiological
Experimental
Personality
Clinical and Counseling
Social
Industrial and Organizational
Developmental Psychology
• Sub-Fields:
– Child
– Adolescent
– Life-Span
• Questions:
– How do nature and nurture affect personality,
temperament, and relationships?
– How does maturation affect personality, temperament,
and relationships?
– How do humans adjust to life’s stages and demands?
Physiological
(Biological Basis of Human Behavior)
• Neuropsychology (Brain and Nervous
System)
• Psychobiology (Body Chemistry)
• Behavioral Genetics (Impact of Heredity)
Experimental
• Research on basic psychological processes.
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Learning
Memory
Sensation
Perception
Cognition
Motivation
Emotion
Personality
• Research into the causes of individual
traits:
– Anxiety
– Sociability
– Outlook
– Gender Differences
Other Fields
• Clinical and Counseling
– Therapy
– Treatment
• Social
– How do people influence each other?
• Industrial / Organizational
– Addressing organizational needs/concerns
Enduring Issues
• Person – Situation
• Heredity – Environment
– Nature v. Nurture
• Stability – Change
• Diversity
– How are we:
• Like all people?
• Like some people?
• Like no other person?
Research Methods
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Naturalistic Observation
Case Studies
Surveys
Correlational Research
– Permits Prediction
• Experimental Research
– Establishes Causation
Experimental Research
• Method
– Deliberate manipulation of selected events in
order to measure the effects of manipulation
on behavior
• Components
– Subjects/Participants
– Independent Variable
– Dependent Variable
– Experimental Group
– Control Group
Research Example
Does Sugar Free Red Bull improve test performance?
• Establishing the question
• Grounds for experimental research?
• Setting up an experiment
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Subjects/Participants
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Experimental Group
Control Group
• Review and Revision