Week 1
Introduction to Psychology
Chapter 1 Overview
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Exploring psychology’s roots
Schools of thought in psychology
Descriptive research methods
The experimental method
Ethics in psychological research
Thinking about theories and research
Psychologists at work
What process do scientists use to
answer questions about behavior
and mental processes?
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Psychology: The scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
– Instead of relying on common sense,
psychologists use the scientific method
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Psychologists propose and test
theories to explain behavior and
mental processes
– Theory: A general set of principles that
explains how separate facts are related
What are the goals of
psychology?
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Description
– Identifying and classifying behaviors and mental
processes
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Explanation
– Proposing reasons for behaviors and mental
processes
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Prediction
– Offering hypotheses about how a condition or
set of conditions will affect behavior and mental
processes
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Influence
– Using research results to solve practical
problems
What are the goals of
psychology?
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Two types of research are done to
accomplish psychologists’ four goals
– Basic research
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Research that seeks new knowledge to
advance general scientific understanding
– Applied research
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Research conducted to solve practical
problems and improve the quality of life
Exploring Psychology’s
Roots
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Psychology’s roots can be traced to
the beginning of recorded history
But psychology as a formal academic
discipline began in the 1800s
What did Wundt and Titchener
contribute to psychology?
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Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
– The “father” of psychology
– Used introspection to analyze basic elements of
conscious mental experience
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Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)
– Wundt’s student
– Established a psychological laboratory in the USA
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Structuralism
– Wundt and Titchener’s school of thought
– Structuralism was criticized because of its
methods
– But structuralists established psychology as a
science
Why is functionalism important
in the history of psychology?
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Functionalism
– Focused on how humans and animals use mental
processes in adapting to their environments
– Broadened the scope of psychology to include
behavior as well as mental processes
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William James (1842-1910)
– Functionalism’s most famous proponent
– Believed that the “stream of consciousness” functions to help humans adapt
to their environment
Who were some of the individuals who
overcame discrimination to make
important contributions to the field of
psychology?
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Christine Ladd-Franklin
– Completed PhD in the mid 1880’s at John Hopkins
 but did not receive her degree until 1926
– Formulated a well-regarded theory of color vision
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Mary Whiton Calkins
– Completed the requirements for a doctorate at Harvard
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but Harvard refused to grant the degree to a woman
– Established a psychology laboratory at Wellesley College
– Developed the paired associates test
Who were some of the individuals who
overcame discrimination to make
important contributions to the field of
psychology?
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Margaret Floy Washburn
– Received PhD from Cornell University
– Wrote influential books including The Animal Mind (1908)
and Movement and Mental Imagery (1916)
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Francis Cecil Sumner
– First African American to earn a PhD in psychology, in
1920
– Chaired psychology department at Howard University
Who were some of the individuals who
overcame discrimination to make
important contributions to the field of
psychology?
 Albert Sidney Beckham
– Established first psychological laboratory at a Black
institution of higher learning – Howard University
– Conducted important studies on intelligence and how it
related to occupational fields
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Kenneth Clark
– Received national recognition for writings on the harmful
effects of racial segregation
– His writings affected Supreme Court rulings declaring
national segregation unconstitutional
Who were some of the individuals who
overcame discrimination to make
important contributions to the field of
psychology?
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Jorge Sanchez
– An Hispanic American psychologist
– Studied bias in intelligence testing during the 1930s
– Pointed out that cultural and language differences work
against Hispanic students when they take IQ tests
Schools of Thought in
Psychology
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The major schools of thought in psychology
today include
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Behaviorism
Psychoanalytic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Cognitive psychology
Evolutionary psychology
Biological psychology
The sociocultural approach
How do behaviorists explain
behavior and mental
processes?
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Behaviorists view observable,
measurable behavior as the only
appropriate subject matter for
psychology
Behaviorism also emphasizes the
environment as the key determinant of
behavior
What do psychoanalytic
psychologists believe about the role
of the unconscious?
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Sigmund Freud’s theory of
personality and his therapy
for psychological disorders is
called Psychoanalysis
According to this theory, an
individual’s thoughts,
feelings, and behavior are
determined primarily by the
unconscious
According to Maslow and Rogers,
what motivates behavior and
mental processes?
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Humanistic psychology
– Focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and
their capacity for choice, growth, and
psychological health
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Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation
– The need for self-actualization is the highest
need in the hierarchy of needs
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Carl Rogers developed client-centered
therapy
– An approach in which the client directs a
discussion on his or her own view of the problem
What is the focus of cognitive
psychology?
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Cognitive psychology focuses on
mental processes such as memory,
problem solving, decision making,
perception, and language
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Information-processing theory
– An approach within cognitive psychology
that uses the computer as a model for
human thinking
What is the main idea behind
evolutionary psychology?
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Evolutionary psychology focuses
on how human behaviors necessary
for survival have adapted in the face
of environmental pressures over the
course of evolution
How do biological psychologists
explain individual differences in
behavior and mental processes?
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Biological psychologists look for
connections between specific
behaviors (such as aggression) and
specific biological factors (such as
hormones) to help explain individual
differences
What kinds of variables interest
psychologists who take a
sociocultural approach?
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The sociocultural approach focuses
on how factors such as cultural values
affect behavior
– Proponents of this approach believe that
these factors are as important as
evolutionary and physiological factors in
affecting behavior and mental processes