Psychology 2000 Seth Borgstede Lecture 1 Psychology and its history Psychology The scientific study of behavior and mental processes Behaviors any action Mental Processes perceptions thoughts emotions Goals of Psychology Describe Explain Predict Control Influential Psychologists Wilheim Wundt o Father of psychology psychology Founded first lab o Objective introspection formalized way Edward Titchner o Wundt s student Translated his work o Structuralism most basic elements William James Tried to bring some objectivity measurement into Observing what s going on in own mind in standard Study consciousness by breaking it up into smallest o One unbroken stream of consciousness The mind is always going o He said Psychology shouldn t bother with structuralism o Functionalism Study the function of the consciousness How the mind allows people to work play or adapt Max Wertheimer o How we experience the world as a whole Gestalt Psychology Sigmund Freud o Developed psychoanalysis o Focused on the early childhood development and psychosexual stages o Focused on the role of the unconscious Where unwanted urges and the desires are pushed forward John Watson o Behaviorism study of observable behavior o Little Albert Study Freud phobias are the result of unconscious conflicts Watson tried to create a phobia using the conditioning technique discovered by Pavlov Pavlov and his dogs Interested in reflexes Discovered reflexes could be conditioned learned Famous women psychologist o Mary Whiton Calkins Memory research o Mary Cover Jones Behavior Therapy Famous Minority Psychologists o Francis Summer Studied effects of segregation in the educational system o George Sanchez Studied IQ testing and cultural bias Modern Perspectives of Psychology Psychodynamic o Modern version of psychoanalysis Behavioral Perspective o How to manipulate voluntary behavior Humanistic Perspective o Interested into free will o Client centered therapy Cognitive Perspective o How people think remember and store information Sociocultural Perspective o Combines social and cultural psychology Biopsychosocial Perspective o Mental Processes explained through biological social and psychological factors Evolutionary Perspective o Argues human behavior is a result of psychological adaptions Ex Afraid of snakes Psychological Professions Psychologists o Doctoral degree Research o Basic research Ex How do patients with Alzheimer s disease experience emotion o Applied research Ex How can we use the intact emotional responses of some Alzheimer s patients to improve their quality of life Therapists o Trained in psychological intervention o Psychologists are not allowed to prescribe medicine Psychiatrists o Medical specialty Lecture 2 Research Methods in Psychology Examples Scared Straight Programs o Proven to not work Critical Incident Stress Debriefing o Support groups have been proven to worsen symptoms Tendency to notice the positive information Confirmation Bias Scientific Method A system to reduce bias Descriptive Methods Naturalistic Observation Psychologists will sit and write down observations in a particular environment o Advantages o Limitations Realistic picture of behavior Observer effect tendency of people to behave differently knowing they are observed Observer bias tendency of observers to see what they expect Laboratory Observations o Advantages Control over the environment Allows use of special equipment o Limitations Artificial situation may result artificial behavior Difficult to relate to real world Case Study Studying a particular person for a long period of time Tremendous amount of detail Findings may not generalize to others Survey Self recording attitudes opinions or behaviors of people o Advantage o Limitation o Advantages o Limitations Data from large numbers of people Study covert behaviors private information People are not always accurate Small variations in wording can affect outcomes People are not always accurate Examining Relationships Correlations a measure of the relationship between two variables o Positive Correlation Related in the same direction One goes up the other goes up o Negative Correlation Variables are related in opposite direction One goes down other goes up o Correlation and Causation Correlation does not prove causation Ice cream sales and drowning If casually related correlation won t tell which is cause and effect Self esteem and school performance Experiments A deliberate manipulation of a variable o Independent Variable Variable manipulated o Dependent Variable The variable being tested Operational Definition o Variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured Aggression option to play loud noise in a room with Subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the IV another test subject Experimental and Control Group o Experimental Group o Control Group Random Assignment Allows researchers to test back to something o Puts people into random groups to provide equivalent backgrounds across groups Potential Issues with experiments o Confounds extraneous variable that affects the variables you are interested in studying Experimental and control groups Radom assignment o Demand Characteristics perceive the experiment is about Get around using deception o Placebo effect Participants change their behavior based on what they Expectations of participants can influence their behavior Experiments expectations can unintentionally influence Single bind study o Experimenters effects the results of the study Double blind studies Quasiexperimental Designs o Not considered true experiments Effect of alcohol use during pregnancy and performance school Research Ethics o Autonomy Allows people make own decisions Informed consent Deception Debriefing Right to withdraw participation o Beneficence Maximize benefits while minimizing harm Monitor and intervene when something bad happens Keep a participants data confidential o Justice fair treatment Selection of research participants Lecture 3 Animal Research Controversial Reasons o Greater control o Allows research that would otherwise be unethical Lecture 4 The Biological Perspective 90 of the cells in our nervous system are glial cells Supportive role provide nutrients repair damage form myelin get rid of waste Action Potential Neuron Firing How neurons communicate with one another Release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge with axon All or nothing response Strength of the message o More or less neurons o Faster
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