PSYCH 2010 H I INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY AND IT S HISTORY Dr Robin Kowalski What is Psychology History o The scientific study of behavior and mental processes o Was at first a combination of philosophy and physiology but not considered it s own o 1879 Psychology as an independent area of study began with Wundt s school of area of study structuralism Wundt is considered the father of psychology Father of experimental psychology and opened the first psychological lab in Leipzig o His student Titchner later spread structuralism to America and opened the first psychological research lab in American at John Hopkins in 1883 Titchner also created the first American Psychological Journal and the APA Aim of structuralism determine the basic elements of experience consciousness Believed the elements could be determined through intropection o 1890 William James book on psychology was published The book itself covered very broad topics James introduced the school of functionalism Functionalism investigates the function rather than the structure of consciousness o This led to new areas of study such as developmental psychology and new educational practices o 1919 Watson s notion of behaviorism dominates psychology Behaviorism focuses on over behavior with no mental processes Arose in opposition to structuralism and functionalism Anti Mentalistic sole emphasis on the environment Idea is that the mind is a black box that does not influence behavior SR o Stimulus Black Box Response Challenged by the Gestaltists and Freud o The Gestaltists phrase was the whole is greater than the sum o Freud focused on the unconscious with free association and of it s parts dream analysis As Freud was taking root in psychology behaviorism softened its approach Began to support the SOR approach to include the organism o Stimulus Organism Response o 1930s Skinner s Operant Conditioning Theory Also focuses on behavior with no mental processes Behavior is seen as a function of its consequence o If behavior is rewarded it will be repeated To control behavior one must reward the behaviors they desire o Humanistic Revolt psychoanalysis and behaviorism was seen as dehumanizing Wanted to place emphasis on the human potential o 1950s Coming of Age of Psychology o 1950s 1980s Psychology was dominated by a cognitive viewpoint o 1980s Present Changes in Psychology Stronger role was given to cultural factors Psychologists recognized that all research beforehand had focused on the Western nations Began to realize that culture can influence personality cognition perception as well as views on mental illness and treatments Recently there has been an emphasis on evolutionary theories Thoughts behaviors and emotions have evolved because they increased the chance for survival Also there is a recent emphasis on neurological foundations II RESEARCH METHODS 1 Where do psychologists get their ideas A Curiosity colleagues conversations journal articles ABC model Antecedents Behavior Consequences 2 Goals of Science A Describe behavior in one of two manners i Nomothetic want broad generalizations and universal laws that apply across a range of people ii Ideographic case study approach Describes a single unit s behavior B Understand behavior C Predict behavior D Apply behavior i Basic Research done to gain knowledge understanding i Ex SAT is a test meant to predict the participant s success in college i Applied research takes information and uses it to modify future behavior 3 Scientific Method and it s components A Systematic Empiricism i Empirical directly observable or a hypothetical construct 1 Hypothetical Construct something not directly observable but you can see the manifestation of it a Ex A flying racquet might be a manifestation of frustration ii Need the observations to be organized hence the term systematic i You want to do the studies more than once in order to see if the results are empiricism B Public Verifiability the same 1 Strength in numbers C Solvable Problems i Need to study questions that science can solve effect A Three Characteristics 4 Experimental Method often used because it allows researchers to determine cause and i Manipulation of an independent variable 1 Independent Variable variable that is changed or has different levels a Types of independent variables to pilot manipulation assistant of I Instructural change in the instructions 1 Important to account for the idiocy factor so make sure to simplify instructions where all can understand them and testing them to make sure the works II Environmental change something in the environment 1 Common example is a Confederate who acts as a participant but is actually an the researcher III Invasive change in the participant s physiology 1 Usually involves an injection of some sort 2 Dependent Variable variable that is measured 3 Easy way of remembering the difference The dependent variable s measurements depend on the independent variable a Dependent relies on the independent ii Power to assign participants to conditions 1 Commonly done through random assignment such as pulling names out of a hat 2 Matched Random Assignment when you group participants based on a shared characteristic and then randomly assign the group a ex Group people based on their IQ level and then randomly assign them to an indepent variable I Can sometimes use repeated measures which is when the study uses the same people group for each condition iii Control over extraneous variables 1 Ex Light noise temperature B Internal versus external validity i Internal Validity researchers confidence that changes in the dependent variable resulted from changes in the independent variable 1 The more control over extraneous variables the more internal validity ii External Validity generalizability of the experiment 1 Mundane Reality where you make the experimental setting as close to real life as possible 2 Experimental Reality setting is real and involving to the participants iii Experimenter s Dilemma the tradeoff between internal and external validity C Field Experiments and Factorial Designs i Factorial Design study with more than one factor or independent variable 5 Correlational Method A Can never infer the cause and effect B Correlation goes between 1 00 to 1 00 i Size of the number indicates the strength of the correlation ii Sign indicates the relation between the two factors iii Correlation of 0 means that there is no linear relationship 1 Can still be a relationship just not linear a ex Bell curve 6