Chapter 1 Evolution of Science What is Psychology Scientific study of behavior and the minddd Observable facts data and established methods any observable action change lack of change over time Behavior Mental Processes Thought feelings Continuous stream differs how do they Interact Where did it come from Scientific study of the mind and behavior Greek psych Soul was the mind Philosophy where psychology originated from Plato Aristotle Experiences Rene Descartes Foundations for Behavior Dualism functions interacts Physiology Branch if biology that studies functions parts of living organisms 1600 s Workings of brain in relation to behavior 1700 s Specific bodily functions can be traced to brain Phrenology Gall 1758 1828 Mind and Brain linked by size rather than gland Psychology A discipline is founded Wilhelm W ndt Father of modern psychology Uses scientific method to study psychological processes Believed scientific psychology should focus on analyzing consciousness Analyzed conscious through introspection Early Schools Structuralism Edward Tichener Consciousness broken down into basic elements Included objective introspection Died out in 1900 s Functionalism William James How behaviors function to allow people and animals to adapt in environment How mind allows people to function Adaptivity Psychological processes are adaptive able to be adjusted for use in different conditions Promote welfare and reproductions of organisms Perception language memory emotions etc Multitasking Sacrifices accuracy Autopilot Habits Mistakes of the mind are instructive Gestalt Psychology Gestalt good figure psychology Started with Wertheimer studied sensation and perception Gestalt present ideas for cognitive focuses on perception learning thought processes and problem solving New Schools Develop Psychoanalysis The unconscious is the part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness Psychoanalytic Theory unconscious mental processes shape feelings thoughts and behaviors Unconscious conflicts determine behavior and personality Freud and Psychoanalysis Unconscious mind Repressed thoughts Early childhood experiences 1st six years Modern Psychotherapy psychological treatments of mental disorders by psychological methods Behaviorism Observable action Directly seen and measured Behavior is learned Conditioning Response to stimulus Humanistic Psychology Review Structuralism functionalism psychoanalysis humanism All tried to understand the mind but had many methodological flaws Question Should psychology focus on mental health at all Modern perspectives Psychodynamic behavioral humanistic cognitive cognitive neuroscience sociocultural biopsychological evolutionary Professions in Psychology Basic research builds psychology s knowledge base through research and training Applied research tracks practical problems in industrial or other institutional organizational settings Helping profession involves counseling and clinical treatment Research Careers in Psychology Most undergraduate psychology students move on to graduate school M A or M S W 2years counseling or social work Ph D a research degree 5years Not necessary Postdoctoral fellowships specialized training Variety of career paths Faculty positions teaching research Research positions universities hospitals industries Clinical positions universities hospitals private practice Supervision training positions Methods in Psychology Scientific method Set of rules that guide the relationship between ideas and evidence Theory ideas about how and why things work the way they do Rules of parsimony simplest explanation Hypothesis falsifiable prediction made by theory 5 steps Perceiving question Form hypothesis Test hypothesis Draw conclusions Report your results Why do we need an empirical method Studying human behavior is difficult Complexity human brain is complicated Variability no two are the same Reactivity people behave differently when they are being watched Operational definition Concrete and measurable description of property we are observing How can we operationally define fear How can we measure it Why is it important to create an operational definition for measurement Defining through operational definitions How do we know it s good Validity Types Construct convergent Discriminant Predictive Measurement Reliability Tendency to get similar results each time the measure is used across different scenarios Power instruments ability to detect small magnitudes of property of effect Ex electromyography EMG Observations Naturalistic Observer effects Observer bias Laboratory Demand characteristics Other techniques Cover stories misleading participants Filler items questions that don t pertain to the true intent Double blind observation Participant observation Physiological measures Statistics Branch of mathematics used by researchers to organize summarize and interpret data Used to both describe data and as a basis for inferring information from data Statistics are often presented in a graphic or visual form Descriptive statistics Mathematical methods used to organize summarize or describe data Summary of how often various scores occur in a sample of scores Score values are arranged in order of magnitude and the number of occurrences is recorded Graphical representation of measurements arranged by the number of times each measurement was made Positive and negative skews Normal Distribution Bell curve frequency distribution where most of the measurements are concentrated in the middle Shows 50 of individuals fall above and below mean Descriptive statistics Measure of Tendency A single number that presents information about the center of frequency distribution Useful for putting information about a distribution into a more compact form summarizing the distribution with a single score that is typical in some way Mode median mean analyze carefully can lead to misleading conclusions Variability information about spread of the scores in a distribution Correlation Coefficient the statistical measure of the relationship between two variable The coefficient ranges from 1 00 to 1 00 CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION Correlation Studies show that NBA players that wear shows with their name on them score more points than players who do not have their name on their shows ex Jordan Durant Is this correlation Correlation does not equal causation Other Strange Correlations Poorer the country the larger the size of a man s penis a pirate shortage has led to