Lecture Guide Chapter 1 The Science of Psychology Based on the text Psychology Ciccarelli and White 2009 Gen Psych Sciartelli F09 Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process how people think feel and behave Psychology s Four Goals 1 Describe What is happening What is the situation What is effecting the situation Who is involved 2 Predict Will it happen again Will it happen in this situation What behaviors are associated together 3 Explain Why is it happening What causes behavior 4 Control Can it be controlled or changed The application of psychology History of Psychology World s Briefest 1 The three founding names of psychology Wilhelm Wundt 1879 first psychology research laboratory G Stanley Hall first president of American Psychology Association William James published Principles of Psychology most important text Harvard professor studies self unconscious behavior etc 2 Pavlov Freud Skinner Watson Binet Piaget Psychology Today A science AND a profession Psychology as an identified independent field of study is less than 150 years old Psychology as a science Looks to answer questions about thinking feeling and behaviors in both humans and animals Psychology as a profession Takes scientific conclusions and applies it to real people and situations All about application applying what we learn to individual people and their lives with the goal of improving lives Both psychology as a science and a profession are both equally important Work Settings and Subfields Chart from book Work 34 of psychologists are working at universities and colleges 22 are working privately for profit 18 are self employed 10 working privately not for profit 1 Subfields 35 identify themselves as clinical psychologists 15 as counseling psychologists 10 as developmental psychologists Growth Over the last 60 years number of articles written about psychology increased by about 50 000 Both research and clinical work are steadily growing Theoretical Perspectives NOLG What is a theory Our understanding or perspective of why things are the way they are Today in psychology no one theory dominates Different theories often focus on different aspects of development so they don t necessarily compete It is actually helpful to have multiple theories to draw from in our attempts to understand behavior Another benefit of living now eclectic accepted recognition that all do something none do everything We group the existing theories into 7 broad categories The breadth and diversity of the different theory groups and the facts help all of us in some way What does Eclectic mean And why is it important Eclectic means to pick choose and draw from a variety of theories schools perspectives to get the best understanding of why things are the way they are Psychology Today Modern Perspectives 1 Psychodynamic analytic perspective modern version of Freud s work a Freud s work suggests unconscious motives and drives sex and aggression determine behavior Our mind s attempt to deal with these drives outside of our cognitive awareness by affecting our behaviors b Now more focus on discovery of unconscious needs motives behind behavior other than sexual motives development of the self and importance of early experience c Early recognition appreciation for role of early childhood experiences on later behavior and the possibility of the unconscious impacting behavior 2 Behavioral learning perspective a A major force in the 20th century Associated with Skinner b Focus solely on what you can see thought conscious or unconscious is not important Believe that behavior is a result of the environment c Classical and operant conditioning Classical behaviors become automatic or reflexive due to the environment operant behaviors based on rewards or punishment that we receive 3 Humanistic perspective a Early founders Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers b Humanists believe that people have free will the freedom to choose their own destiny Belief states that behaviors are not due to the environment unconscious we are in control of our own behavior c Emphasize human potential the ability of each of us to become the best person we can possibly be Self actualization achieving one s full potential or actual self 2 4 Cognitive perspective language and learning a Focuses on mental tasks memory attention intelligence perception problem solving b Jean Piaget Information Processing Model Parallels the brain to a computer how does the brain restore and retrieve data like a computer See which parts of the brain are active when people experience emotions are learning etc c Contributions our understanding of thinking and its development from school and other applications 5 Sociocultural perspective a Focuses on the impact of social settings and expectations including culture on social behavior How do other people and our own expectations impact our behavior b Combines two areas Social Psychology the study of groups social roles expectations relationships etc on behavior Cultural Psychology the study of cultural norms values and expectations on behavior 6 Biopsychological perspective a Attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body such as genetic influences hormones and the activity of the nervous system b Two way system behavior can impact the body too How does our body affect our psychological behavior vice versa c How much of our personality intelligence level etc is inborn or based on our genes Research shows about 50 of personality intelligence is predictable based on genes 7 Evolutionary ethological perspective a Focuses on the biological bases of mental characteristics that all humans share b Ethological behavior has strong ties to biology and is tied to evolution What is it about our behavior that increases our chance of survival or not What behaviors are we born with because they have evolved over time from helping survival c Behavior is seen as having an adaptive or survival value otherwise it would die out d Perspective began with animal research and imprinting done by Lorenz Baby geese follow the first thing they see moving after they hatch demonstrates survival value to follow the mother Jon Bolbey in 1970s does research with newborn human babies demonstrates survival value associated with wanting something that first touches the baby s cheek e Using the scientific method to meet the goals of Psychology A Mini Course in Research Methods Why do this There are no perfect studies but some are better than
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