Chapter 1 – Introducing Psychology

Section 1 – Why Study Psychology

Psychology can provide insight into behavior and give one the chance to acquire practical information

  1. Overview of Psychology
  2. Psychology – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes that are tested through scientific research
  3. Psychologists differ in how much importance they place on specific types of behavior
  4. They do agree that the study of behavior must be systematic
  1. Goals of Psychology
  2. Description – 1st goal is to describe or gather information about the behavior begin studied and to present what is known
  3. Explanation – they seek to explain why. Hypothesis – an educated guess about some phenomenon. Theory – a complex explanation based on findings from a large number of experimental studies. Theories change as more information is gathered.
  4. Prediction – 3rd goal is to predict, form the knowledge gathered, what things will do, think or feel in various situations. By studying past behaviors, future behavior can be predicted.
  5. Influence – Basic Science – research as compared to Applied Science – discovering ways to use scientific findings to accomplish practical goals.

Dr. Zimbardo Video #2

  1. The Scientific Basis of Psychology
  2. Psychologists rely on the Scientific Method – a general approach to gathering information and answering questions so that errors and biases are minimized
  3. Identify a problem or question
  4. Formulate a hypothesis
  5. Collect data though observation and experimentation
  6. Analyze the data

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Section 2 – A Brief History of Psychology

  1. Origins of Psychology
  2. 5th and 6th century BC – the Greeks
  3. began to study human behavior and decided that people’s lives were influenced more by their minds than by gods
  4. Mid-1500’s – Nicholaus Copernicus
  5. Earth was not the center of the universe, during the Renaissance period, experimentation through observation
  6. 17th Century – Rene Descartes
  7. Others popularized dualism – the mind and body are separate and distinct
  8. Descartes said there was a link, he assumed that the mind and body influence one another to create a person’s experiences
  9. Historical Approaches
  10. Structuralism
  11. Established modern psychology as a separate formal field of study
  12. Wilhelm Wundt started this
  13. Structuralism – the study of the basic elements of human experience
  14. Introspection – a method of self-observation in which participants report their thoughts and feelings
  15. Functionalism
  16. William James – the fathers of psychology in America
  17. Functionalism – the study of how animals and people adapt to their environments
  18. Inheritable Traits
  19. Sir Francis Galton
  20. Study of seeing if genetics/hereditary factors played a role in abilities, character and behavior
  21. Debate is still ongoing regarding genetics versus environment
  22. Gestalt Psychology
  23. A group of German psychologists disagreed with the principles of structuralism and behaviorism
  24. Believed that the whole pattern or Gestalt, was important
  25. Contemporary Approaches
  26. Psychoanalytic Psychology
  27. Sigmund Freud
  28. Interested in the unconscious mind, beneath the surface are primitive biological urges that are in conflict with the requirements of society and morality
  29. Believed that unconscious motivations and conflicts were responsible for most human behavior
  30. Had a method for indirectly studying unconscious processes
  31. Free Association – a patient says everything that comes to mind, no matter how absurd or irrelevant it may seem, without attempting to produce logical or meaningful statements
  32. No editing or censoring their thoughts
  33. Psychoanalysis – the study of how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human behavior
  34. Behavioral Psychology
  35. Ivan Pavlov
  36. Dog experiment with salivation/Classical Conditioning
  37. John B. Watson
  38. Believed that psychologists should only deal with observable facts of behavior
  39. Believed that all behavior was a result of conditioning and occurs because a stimuli is present
  40. B.F. Skinner
  41. Introduced the concept of reinforcement
  42. Reinforcement – a response to a behavior that increase the likelihood the behavior will be repeated
  43. Wrote Walden 2
  44. Humanistic Psychology
  45. Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Rollo May
  46. Human nature is evolving and self-directed
  47. Environment and outside forces are just the background to our own growth, they don’t influence us
  48. Each person is unique and has a self-concept and potential to develop fully
  49. Cognitive Psychology
  50. Jean Piaget
  51. Focuses on how we process, store and use information and how this information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity
  52. Behavior is influenced by a variety of mental processes like perception, memories and expectations
  53. Biological Psychology
  54. Emphasizes the impact of biology on our behavior
  55. Study how the brain, CNS, hormones and genetics influence our behavior
  56. Use PET and CAT scans as tools
  57. Sociocultural Psychology
  58. The study of the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and social functioning
  59. Our knowledge, ways of thinking, feeling and behaving are dependent on the culture we belong to

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Section 3 – Psychology as a Profession

  1. What is a Psychologist
  2. Psychologist – people who have been trained to observe, analyze and evaluate behavior
  3. Usually have a doctorate in Pysch
  4. Psychiatrist differs in that it is a specialty of medicine. They are medical students who do their residency in a psych ward or psych hospital
  5. Clinical Psychologist – help people deal with their personal problems
  6. Work in mental hospitals, private offices, prisons and clinics
  7. ½ of psychologists specialize in clinical psychology
  8. Counseling Psychologist – usually work in schools or industrial firms
  9. Help people adjust to the challenges of life
  10. Most states require a doctorate to be a clinical and counseling psychologist
  11. Other types of Psychologists
  12. School psychologists – help students with emotional and learning problems
  13. Social Psychologists – study groups and how they influence behavior
  14. Developmental Psychologists – study physical, emotional, cognitive and social changes that occur throughout life
  15. They study children, the elderly and the process of dying for example
  16. Educational Psychologists – deal with topics related to teaching children and young adults, such as memory, intelligence, teaching methods, and develop new instructional devices.
  17. Experimental Psychologists – perform research to understand how humans (and animals) operate physically and psychologically

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