Chapter 1 1 What are some potential problems with basing psychology thought on common sense Folk psychology makes its determination on common sense Pseudoscience claims to be scientific but doesn t adhere to the scientific method not supported by evidence Example o Scientific accurate measurement o Pseudoscience ball park measurement 2 What are some treatments that scientific research has shown potentially harmful Facilitated communication people who couldn t speak so they has a therapist who was supposed to help them say what they wanted but it ended up being a problem because the therapist was basically making up what they wanted the kid to say Boot camps scared straight interventions actually show to have the opposite effect because they are put in an atmosphere w a bunch of other bad kids and the behavior is actually encouraged D A R E program kids are more likely to do drugs because it exposes kids to things they may not otherwise know about same w abstinence programs Not only do they not work they are bad To avoid these problems research is key 3 How do we define psychology today The study of human behavior and mental processes PSYCHE mind or soul 4 What are three big philosophical questions that guide theories of psychology Dualism monism o Dualism belief that your mind and brain are separate o Monism belief that your mind and brain are one Free will vs determinism o Our own decisions vs our fate o Free will ability to make choices unconstrained by external o Determinism all events are caused by things that come before and result in set consequences Nature vs nurture o Are our psychological traits inherent deeply rooted Or factors inherited o How we are the way we are 5 Who are the important historical figures in psychology Begins with the ancient Greeks modern psychology Wilhelm Wundt studied reaction time o Father of psychology o Founded the first psychological lab o Results people react quicker to things they hear than the things they see o Helped the movie business Edward Titchener o Structuralism o What things ARE William James o Functionalism o What things DO John B Watson o Behaviorism o What is actually happening and why that matters Sigmund Freud o Psychoanalysis underlying desires wants conflicts that we don t know about ourselves o First real psychotherapy Modern Psychology o Most psychologists work in mental health services but also in educational settings administration management and research 6 What are some of the areas of research and service for psychiatrists Examples of areas of research o Biopsychology behavioral neuroscience o Evolutionary Psychology why do these things exist the way they do Look at how that s developed over time Ex anxiety o Cognitive psychology study how we think and our thoughts o Developmental psychology what happens to us as we grow up Giraffe babies come out of the womb being able to walk etc human babies can do nothing o Social Psychology why do we act differently in the presence of other human beings and different social settings Examples of areas of services o Clinical Psychology implementing therapy applying the things we know to everyday life depression anxiety o Counseling Psychology day to day when people just need to talk to someone not mental instability o School Psychology classroom setting school psychologists that give you IQ tests create better learning environments o Industrial Organization I O Psychology do things to maximize workers in a professional setting Ex Google lets workers take naps and exercise o Psychiatry treat illness through pharmaceutical therapy and drugs 7 What are the basic assumptions of scientific thought and the scientific method Science is all about thinking understanding and doing Not absolute truth or magic Science does not give us complete certainty instead supporting ideas with evidence the burden of proof for and scientific theory Good science is built on systematic study and critical thinking Scientific method o Make an observation o Ask a question operationalize find a way to measure o Form an hypothesis statement that relates two things o Conduct an experiment methods o Accept hypothesis or reject hypothesis theory building 8 What are the major components a good theory must have Prediction tells you how things should happen Replicability people can also prove the theory with the experiment Falsifiability people should also be able to prove it false Parsimony the simplest explanation is usually the best 9 How are subjects or participants selected for an experiment Sampling selecting a subset of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole o Population o Representative sample demographic of the people certain number of o Random sample anyone can participate not a set number of certain women people 10 What are the key components of an experiment Variable any condition that can change and that might affect the outcome of the experiment o Independent the one you set the one you are changing o Dependent what you are measuring at the end o Extraneous distracting variables that aren t supposed to be part of the experiment Bias knowledge o Participant bias people influence their answers because of their o Researcher bias if the researcher really wants something to work he could misinterpret the results o Placebo seems like it is a treatment but its not they could be thinking they are getting a pill but could get a tic tak o Double blind person conducting the experiment doesn t know what group they are in and neither does the person like if they are getting the tic tak or the pill Experimental design o Experimental o Control o Random Assignment so people have equal opportunity to be in each group o Participants humans o Subjects animals o Population Sample Groups o Other types of research design Experimental variations Blind studies Experiments must me able to be repeated 11 What are some nonexperimental research designs Observational just sit and watch natural environment and record results o Naturalistic Descriptions of behavior in natural environment Problem observer effect Observer bias slightly different He could focus on one kid in the class and not all the kids in the class relate to each other o Case history look at one particular person and talk about them as a unique individual Natural clinical tests Problem hard to generalize Phineas Gage railroad spike through his head and survived usually people with rare circumstances o Survey gives a