PSYC 1103 1st Edition Lecture 2Outline of Last LectureI. Go over syllabusa. Goals of the courseb. Required textc. Grade calculationd. Research ParticipationOutline of Current LectureII. Is psychology a science?i. Active dreaming exampleIII. Psychology: A DefinitionIV. Psychology: SubfieldsV. Case StudiesVI. Brief History of Psychologyi. Additive DecompositionCurrent LectureI. Is psychology a science?Psychology would like to be called a science it’s marketed like that (ex: things that say “Funded by ____ Science Institute” and so on).Reasons why it could be a science: follows the scientific methodReasons why it may not be a science: Not quantifiable, you can’t directly observe properties, and you can’t really define things (ex: how do you define happiness?)Active Dreaming Robert Moss- Says you can learn how to do it and it will improve your life- His idea is that dreaming is being fully in this world while maintaining contact with another world that has deeper logic and life’s purpose- This example shows how seems more towards spirituality and not so much scienceScience principles:ProcessMeasurement: can you define the constructs you want to find?Theory: connecting all the pieces across all psych domains. There’s no big over-arching theory in psychology, which is a missing piece of the science category.II. Psychology: A DefinitionScientific study of behavior and mind- Behavior: any overtly observable action at any level of abstraction (ex: walking, speech, IQ score, anxiety symptoms, etc.)- Mind: any covert, unobservable phenomenon that relates the organism to the environment (ex: memory, perception, reasoning, fear, etc.)III. Psychology: SubfieldsClinical- very popular, the one most people think of when they hear “psychologist”Developmental- lots of focus on child psychology; why do people change and how?Social – studying at least two agents in social interactionPhysiological (called neuroscience)- understanding the brainQuantitative- study of the mathematics behind behaviorCognitive- memory, perception, reasoningIndustrial/Organizational- processes in the workplaceEducational/School- school counseling, evaluationPersonality- looking at big factors that govern personalityAnimal- how can you use animals to understand humans? Also the study of animal behaviorEvolutionary- Why are people the way they are?Community- design and evaluation of programs that impact the community in positive waysHealth- design and evaluate programs around health- Most grad students go into clinical; the next most popular are school psych and cognitive psych- Careers: Most popular is private practice, then academics (ex: PhD), then mental healthIV. Case Studies- examples of what people do in the world with psychologyEugene Goldfield- PhD; developmental psych; works in medical research- Involved in building a flexible suit for kids that can support them and help them move in a way that will enhance development. Alice Anne Howard Gola- Works at the Children’s Digital Media Lab- Looking at effects of the media on childrenJeremiah J. Trudeau- Analgesic Research in Needham, MA studying pain perceptionNicole Noble- Clinical psychologist- Looks at people post surgery with eating disordersVII. Brief History of PsychologyWilhelm Wundt- “Founder of psychology” of experimental psychology- Credited with founding the first laboratory in Leipzig (1879)- There’s the idea that you can’t study something without affecting it so therefore you can’t study it at all but he defied this and decided to test things empirically- Division between psychology and philosophy for the first time- Study of perception – mental processes- Introspection and decomposing conscious experience (into elements) quality, intensity of experienceAdditive Decomposition- Assess how long processes take- Ex: Told to hit a button when a picture of a cube appears on screenPerception Response Ex: Now told to hit the left button when a green cube appears andhit the right button when a red cube appearsPerception DecisionResponseWolfgang Kohler- Gestaltists- Argued against the idea that experience could be decomposed- There are no pieces, just whole experienceSigmund FreudPsychoanalysis- Unconscious influences on behavior- Emphasis on long-term effects of personal history (ex: traumatic childhood events)- Collision of drives (desires, sex) vs. society makes you deal with reality in different
View Full Document