The History and Scope of Psychology

1. The History and Scope of Psychology

2. What is Psychology? • A. Define Psychology – • a scientific study of human behavior and mental processes • 2. It is broken down into various subfields of study. . . a. Biological – Neuronal, brain, hormonal b. Developmental – Life’s changes c. Cognitive – Thought processes d. Personality – Who am I? e. Social – Meeting others. . . eHarmony.com f. Clinical – Behavior disorders . . . g. Others . . .Sports, forensics

3. Pre-scientific psychology • Buddha – how sensations and perceptions combine to form ideas • Confucius – stressed the power of ideas and of an educated mind • Hebrew scholars linked mind and emotion to the body

4. Here come the Greeks • Socrates & Plato (the student) – concluded the mind can exist without the body • Knowledge is innate • Aristotle – challenged Soc and Plato – said knowledge is NOT pre-existing, but grows from experiences stored in our memories.

5. Back when the French mattered (just kidding ) • René Descartes (1595-1650) – agreed with Socrates and Plato about innate ideas and the mind’s ability to survive without the body • Part scientist, part philosopher • Dissected animals & found that their brains contained ‘animal spirits’ that flowed from the brain through nerves to the muscles • Memories flowed into the brain through open pores (along with the animal spirits)

6. Are we really a blank slate? • John Locke wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding • Argued that we are a tabula rasa • (a Blank Slate) • Helped to form Empiricism • The view that • 1. knowledge comes from experiences through the senses • 2. science flourishes through observation and experimentation.

7. Psychology is born • It all happened on a cold, dreary December day in 1879 in a small, damp room on the third floor of a rundown building at the University of Leipzig in Germany… • Two students were furiously working with their professor, Wilhelm Wundt, on an experiment – a machine to measure the time between a person hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. • As it turns out, people will respond in 1/10 of a sec when they hear a noise, and 2/10 of a second when they wait to recognize the noise

8. Schools of psychology • Wundt: • Pursued introspection techniques of consciousness. • Really took Psych from philosophical to empirical. • Psychology became broken down into different schools of thought • Structuralism • Functionalism • Gestalt psychology • Behaviorism • Psychoanalysis

9. Structuralism • Edward B. Titchner • Goal was to discover the elements of the mind • Engage people in introspection, training them to report elements of their experience as they looked at a rose, listened to a metronome, smelled a scent, or tasted something • Wanted to know immediate sensations, images & feelings

10. Structuralism • Problems with introspection?? • Requires smart, verbal people • Results will always vary by person • Self-reports and recollections often are wrong  We really don’t know why we feel the way we do…

11. functionalism • William James • Influenced by Charles Darwin • Assumed thinking, like smelling, developed because it was adaptive • Contributed to our ancestors’ survival • Consciousness serves a function – enables us to consider our past, adjust to our present circumstances, & plan our future… • Functionalism = a school of psych that focuses on how mental and behavioral processes function – how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

12. The schools • Biological – hormones, genes, the CNS • Evolutionary – Natural selection and adapting to the environment promoted one’s survival. . . • Psychodynamic – unconscious is examined. Childhood conflicts exposed. • Behavioral – One’s actions created by rewards + punishments. • Cognitive – Thoughts + mental processes • Engineering Psych – The Human factor • Humanistic – One’s attempt to become unique and achieve one’s potential . • In total – many Psychologists take an eclectic approach to examining behavior.

13. Something else you should know… • Fechner – studied mental processes while observing one’s reactions to sensory stimuli. Established psychophysics study

14. Is it really that hard to define psychology? • Wundt and Titchner focused on inner sensations, images, & feelings • James focused on introspection • Freud emphasized emotional responses to childhood experiences & our unconscious thoughts • James Watson introduced behaviorism • Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow focused on humanistic approach • Role of environment on current situations

15. Cognitive Psychology • Supports ideas of considering internal thoughts as well as scientific methods for the ways we perceive, process and remember information

16. Nature versus Nurture • Nature vs. nurture: the conflict between the contributions genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors • The use of twins in studies • Darwin’s natural selection (survival of the fittest) • Traits that have proven successful will be passed to the next generation

17. Website • http://bcs.worthpublishers.com/myers8einmodules/default.asp

18. The Biopsychosocial Approach Biological Influences: - genetic predisposition - genetic mutations - natural selection of adaptive behaviors & physiology - genes responding to the experiment Psychological Influences - learned fears and expectations - emotional responses - cognitive processing & perceptual interpretations Behavior or Mental Processes Socio-Cultural Influences - presence of others - cultural, societal & family expectations - peer & other group influences - compelling models (media)

20. Basic Research • Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base • Biological Psychologists: explore the links between brain and mind • Developmental Psychologists: Study our changing abilities from womb to tomb • Cognitive Psychologists: Experiment w/ how we perceive, think, & solve problems • Personality Psychologists: Investigating our personality traits • Social Psychologists: How we view & affect one another

21. Applied Research • Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

22. FYI… • Counseling psychologist – assists people w/ problems in living (school, work or marriage) & in achieving greater wellbeing • Clinical psychology – studies, assesses & treats people w/ psychological disorders • Psychiatry – branch of medicine dealing w/ psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments (drugs) as well as psychological therapy

23. Thinking Critically With Psychological Science Chapter 1 Myers

24. Sociocultural factors that impact • Humans are humans but the similarities stop there. . . • Culture is . . . the way one lives. . . Impacts behavior • a)Individualistic cultures – Personal goals • b)Collectivist cultures – Group goals

25. Since it is so new. . .Psych has had a difficult time establishing a foundation because it lacks “EMPIRICAL” evidence. . .which is the attempt to collect data. . .so one can evolve from the “I think” . . . To the “I know” category • Intuitions experiment…

26. Website!! • http://www.intropsychresources.com/ • This is an online text that can provide additional information for topics you may have a hard time understanding

27. Psychological Research a. Critical thinking evolves around 5 stages (1) What am I being asked to believe or accept? (2) What evidence is available to support my assertion? (3) Are there alternate paths to my conclusion? (4) What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives? (5) What logical conclusions are evident. . .What makes the most “sense”?

28. Research commonalities a. Hypothesis --Your best guess b Operational Definitions -Specific steps to completing the research . . .The How to c. Variables :- Factors that are manipulated d. Data. . .objective. . .quantifiable e. Reliability – Can it be repeated f. Validity - Assessment of the topic at hand. . . g. Theories – Predictions on why it happens. . . h. Laws . . .It’s a pretty sure phenomenon

29. The scientific Method

30. Goals of the Scientific Method 1. Describe the Phenomenon 2. Make Predictions about the phenomenon 3. Establish enough control over the procedures to provide for an . . . 4. Explanation of the phenomenon. .

31. Five Research Methods a. Natural Observation (1)WYSIWYG (what you see if what you get) (2) Will participants change their behavior because you are there? (3) Doesn’t explain why. . .will observer make inferences? b. Case Studies (1) intensive study (2) not representative (3) Psychologists determines what is important. . .may overlook critical data. (4) LONGITUDINAL, (5) cross-section

32. Case study • Psychologists study one individual in great depth in the hope of revealing things true of all of us. • Can suggest hypotheses for further study • Also show what can happen Remember this: individual cases can suggest abundant ideas, but we need to use other methods to come up with generalizations about the entire population 

33. Stress Management Picture yourself near a stream. Birds are singing in the crisp, cool mountain air. Nothing can bother you here. No one knows this secret place. You are in total seclusion from that place called the world. The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. The water is clear. You can easily make out the face of the person whose head you're holding under the water. There now, feeling better?

34. Five Research Methods continued c. Surveys (1) Asking the right questions. . . (2) Will audience tell you what you want to hear? (3) Do participants represent population? (4) Lot’s of data at a small price. d. Correlativestudies (1) Relationship between variables (a) Positive – strong tendencies (b) Negative, Opposite tendencies (c) None – No tendencies (2) Does not show cause + Effect 3. Challenger Demo 1+2

35. POSITIVE CORRERALTION + 1.00

36. NO RELATIONSHIP 0.00

37. PERFECT NEGATIVE CORRELATION -1.00

38. Correlation Studies Continued • Positive correlation = 2 sets of scores tend to rise and fall together • Calories consumed and weight • No correlation = the sets of scores have no effect on each other • Calories consumed and amount of sleep • Negative Correlation = the 2 scores relate inversely (1 goes the other goes ) • As tooth brushing goes up, tooth decay goes down

39. The Last Research Method - Experiments • Tests (or measures . . . ) • Cause-effect • Manipulation of variables • Independent (IV) – Experimenter manipulates • Dependent (DV) - Observed by experimenter because it happens because of IV (Note: One is testing the effect of ___ on ___.) • Confounding or Random. May also impact DV’s

40. Experiments - Continued • Group Assignments • (a) Experimental – Gets the IV • (b) Control – No treatment • (c) Assignment – • Sampling reflects total population – Random • Group Assignment – is also random 3.

41. Experiment Model • Flaws – • Placebo effect • Experimenter bias – double Blind theory. • Ethics violations

42. Hindsight Bias • The tendency to believe after learning as outcome, that one would have foreseen it (I-knew-it-all-along) • Errors in human recollection show why we need psychological research… • Researchers have found hindsight bias in studies across the world and across age-groups

43. Hindsight Bias Example • Unscramble these words • WREAT • ETRYN • GRABE • Answers • WATER • ENTRY • BARGE

44. Collection of Data Analyzing the data • Descriptive Stats – A summary of. . . ((a))Measures of Central tendency ((1)) Mode – Value of # that occurs most often . . . . ((2)) Median – halfway point. ½ above. . .1/2 below ((3)) Mean – the average. It is affected by actual value of each score. Example – 1,2,2, 3,5 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, Mode = 8 Median = 5/6 Mean = 5

45. Measures of variability – (1)Range – Difference between Highest + lowest score (2) Standard Deviation – Ave difference between each score + the mean of the data set. Higher the SD, the more variability of data. i.e. +1, +2, +3 . . . (3) Correlation – how strongly one variable relates to another. . .0 to +1 ((a)) Correlation coefficient= r. . .an “r” greater than 0 is positive. . .an “r” less than zero is negative. ((b)) on a “curved” distribution. . . If data is plotted on the left. . .that is positive skew If data is plotted on the right . . .that is a negative skew

46. Human Development

47. Data can’t tell the whole story a. Behaviorial genetics. The beginning of the nature v. nurture controversy (1) The hunt for DNA (a) Chromosomes are string like molecules comprised of DNA, Each of us has a slightly different set of copied exactly into each body cell. Humans have 46 separate chromosomes arranged in 23 matching pairs. (2) Each chromosome has thousands of functional units called genes. (3) During reproduction -When a sperm fertilizes an ovum, the 23 chromosomes of each cell match up (meiosis) to produce a new single cell called a zygote with a complete set of 46 chromosomes specifying a blueprint of a completely new heritage.

48. More about your Genetic Make-up  (4) Your particular DNA code is your genotype. Some genes are used more “strongly” than others. Thus, your phenotype, or how you actually look and act, is not always a clear-cut manifestation of genotype. (a) Dominant genes are DNA codes that are always expressed in the phenotype when such codes exist in an organism’s genotype. (b) Recessive genes are DNA codes that are only expressed in the phenotype when there are no dominant genes coding for the same type of protein in the organism’s genotype..

49. And More…. • Family studies explore the extent to which behavioral tendencies, like genes, tend to “run in the family.” A problem with such studies is that common environments also run in families, and may explain behavioral similarities. Soo o o o o is it nature or is it nurture????

50. Twin Studies • These studies stem from the fact that identical, or monozygotic twins result from the duplication and separation of the same zygote, so they are genetically identical. Non-identical twins result from two separate zygotes, and thus are genetically unique. • Adoption studies : examine the behavioral similarity of biological families, who share similar genes, but who have been raised separately from birth, This provides an excellent venue for proving nature as a dominant factor. . .