Chapter 1 Psychology Yesterday and Today Psychology The science of behavior and mental processes Perspectives describing Psychology 1 Structuralism The belief that the mind is a collection of sensory experiences and that study should be focused on mental processes rather than on an explanation of mechanisms underlying those processes 2 Functionalism The belief that mental processes have purpose and that focus of study should be on how the mind adapts those purposes to changing environments 3 Behaviorism Argues that psychology should only study directly observable behaviors rather than abstract mental processes Animalistic predictability you are what you DO Ivan Pavlov 4 Humanism Highlights the special and unique features of human functioning including self image and inner feelings happiness and wellbeing Carl Rogers Abraham Maslow 5 Psychoanalytic Theory Human mental processes are influenced by the competition between unconscious and conscious forces Iceberg example only our conscious is visible above the water and our unconscious is below Sigmund Freud 6 Cognitive Laboratories thought the mind What makes people tick Memory perception attention Willhelm Wundt 7 Biological Genetics evolution How genes affect behavior Behavior is inherited Charles Darwin 8 Socio Cultural Ethnicity culture and gender affect how we act think and behave Researchers Theorists in Psychology 1 Confucius Jen Love one another to understand human beings empathy connectivity and involvement 2 Socrates Know ourselves first which is difficult because we are constantly changing 3 Aristotle Directly observe behavior Nature born vs Nurture made 4 Abraham Maslow Pyramid of self fulfillment and self actualization Humanistic belief 5 Charles Darwin Evolutionary perspective natural selection Survival of the fittest 6 Willhelm Wundt Father of experimental psychology from Germany 1st psych laboratory 7 James Functionalist perspective 8 Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic theory iceberg 9 John Watson Behaviorist theory you are what you do 10 Carl Rogers Humanist theory The Father of Science Francis Bacon scientific method Degrees Professions in Psychology 3 branches Academic Applied Clinical Counseling Cultural Cognitive Neuroscience Social Neuroscience and positive psychology Chapter 2 Psychology as a Science Scientific Method components Created by Francis Bacon based on logical reasoning governed by deductive process starting with broad basic principles that are then narrowed and applied to specific situations and smaller truths Through inductive reasoning Bacon believed that bias could be avoided if direct observations were used to produce broad conclusions Steps include 1 Analyze the problem 2 Formulate an explanation or Theory belief ideas develop a Hypothesis assumption 3 Collect Data Make Observations 4 Draw a conclusion by testing the hypothesis 5 Accept or revise the theory you have built How Research is Conducted Research is conducted in either a natural setting or a laboratory setting Natural Setting Behavior in its purest form UNmanipulated but difficult to attain Laboratory Setting Controllable factors DON T know they re being observed but once they know may change their behavior Research is also conducted by choosing a sample group of people being studied to represent the entire population through a process called random selection everyone in the population has the same equal chance of being involved in the study How Research is Gathered Research is gathered using the following methods Systematic Observations a measure of assessment by directly observing a certain group of individuals Interviews Face to face questioning Disadvantage is people will most likely say only what they know the interviewer will want to hear such as what is more socially acceptable Surveys questionnaires researchers give participants questions in paper format Still systematic but possibly anonymous which is an advantage to get more honest answers Case Studies Focuses on a single person in depth like a biography Levels of Explanation in Psychology Brain Level Structure and activity differ from each person and situation Personal level The content of the individual s mental processes and the way it influences their behavior Group Level Social and cultural environments ethnicity and culture shape a society s behavior Experiments and their Characteristics An experiment offers the highest level of explanation or proof and is a controlled observation in which researchers manipulate the presence or amount of the independent variable to see what effect it has on the dependent variable Experimental research manipulation and control of variables to identify cause and effect to better explain things differs from Descriptive Research case studies naturalistic observations surveys to observe and collect data in order to describe things There may be a blind procedure in which the participant doesn t know which side of the study they are on control or experimental or the experiment may be double blind and both participant AND researcher does not know what procedure the participant is undergoing Experimental Control Groups In an experiment there is almost always a Control Group has not been will not be exposed to the independent variable to be used as the reference point for the Experimental Group that is exposed to the independent variable Independent Dependent Groups Independent Variables or groups are the parts of an experiment being manipulated It is thought to be a factor in changing another condition or event Think of the independent variable as the CAUSE while the Dependent Variable the condition event that is expected to change as a result of variations of the independent variable as the EFFECT Assessment Measures Assessment or psychological testing use statistics Chapter 3 Human Development Developmental Theorists Paiget focused on how children s private experiments and reflections shape their cognitive development how thinking changes His theory began with naturalistic observations real life situations He hypothesized that young children s thinking process might differ from those of adults He made small changes in children s situations and watched to see how they responded He believed that everyone has mental frameworks or structures for how we think and understand the world called schemata People acquire and continuously build their schemata based on experiences He believed in Assimilation acquiring knowledge through the inclusion of new