Domain 1 Scientific Inquiry

1. Domain 1 Scientific Inquiry

2. Part 1: Introduction to Psychology

3. Defining Psychology What is psychology? What does a psychologist do?

4. Psychology • The systematic study of behavior and mental processes • Systematic – systematic collection and examination or data to support or disprove hypotheses • Behavior – directly observable or measurable • Ex: reading, talking, listening • Mental processes – not directly observable or measurable • Ex: thoughts and emotions

5. Behavior or Mental Process? • dreaming • getting excited about going out • having a toothache • singing a song 'in your head' • worrying about your performance on a test • planning an excuse to get out of a date • singing a song aloud • writing a letter • doing arithmetic 'in your head' • experiencing 'butterflies in the stomach‘ • Scratching you leg • Reading the time on your watch • Mental • Mental • Mental • Mental • Mental • Mental • Behavior • Behavior • Mental • Mental • Behavior • Behavior

6. Of Psychology • Describe –tell what behaviors or mental processes are happening • Explain – tell why these behaviors or mental processes are happening • Predict – tell what behavioral or mental processes will likely happen in the future • Control – influence individuals behavior or mental processes

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViIxq5XWbjM

8. The Origin of Psychology • 600 B.C. Psamtik I, the king of Egypt, conducts the first psychological study. • 400 B.C. Greek philosophers conclude that it is neither god nor demons that control behavior but rather the mind of the individual themselves. • 5th-15th century (middle ages) Europeans believed that problems such as agitation and confusion were signs of possession by demons. Psamtik I Witch Hunts

9. 14th-18th century (Renaissance) brought great scientific and intellectual advances • Nicolaus Copernicus – suggested that the earth revolved around the sun • Sir Isaac Newton – formulated the laws of gravity and motion • John Locke – theorized that knowledge is not inborn but rather learned from experience • Antoine Lavoisier – founded the science of chemistry • Rene Descartes – wrote about dualism Sir Isaac Newton Nicolaus Copernicus Antoine Lavoisier John Locke Rene’ Descartes

10. 1879 Modern Psychology is born • Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig Germany

11. Historical Approaches to Psychology • An approach is a perspective (i.e. view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e. beliefs) about human behavior: • Structuralism • Functionalism • Inheritable Traits • Gestalt Psychology

12. Structuralism • Wilhelm Wundt and Edward B. Titchener • Focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Interested in the basic elements of human experience • Used a method known as introspection - the detailed mental examination of your own feelings, thoughts, and motives • What are the elements(structures) of psychological processes Wundt Titchener

13. Functionalism • William James • Concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment • What are the purposes (functions) of behavior and mental processes? James The Principles of Psychology – considered to be the first modern psychology textbook

14. Inheritable Traits • Sir Francis Galton • Interested in how heredity (inherited traits) influences a person’s abilities, character, and behavior • Errors were identified in Galton's theories Galton

15. Gestalt • Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Jurt Koffka • Perception is more than the sum of its parts – it involved the “whole pattern” or Gestalt • Studies how sensations are assembled into perceptual experiences What is this a picture of? How do you know?

17. Contemporary Approaches to Psychology Unconscious motivations influence our behavior. Does excessive drinking indicate an unconscious problem or conflict? Does drinking reduce inhibitions allowing the unconscious to surface? Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic Behavioral Is alcoholism learned? Can it be unlearned? Can new habits replace the alcoholic habits? Ivan Pavlov John B. Watson B.F. Skinner Events in the environment (rewards and punishments) influence our behavior For what inadequacy do people try to compensate by drinking? Does alcohol give people a false sense of relief from inadequacy or lack of self-worth? Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers Rollo May Individual or self-directed choices influence our behavior. Humanistic What thought pattern precedes heavy drinking? Can the thoughts be analyzed and changed to curtail the drinking behavior? How we process, store, and retrieve information influences our behavior. Jean Piaget Noam Chomsky Leon Festinger Cognitive Biological factors (genes, hormones, nervous system, and brain) influence our behavior. Is alcoholism a disease? What role does genetics play in the development of alcoholism? How does alcohol affect the brain? Biological Ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status influence our behavior. How does alcoholism differ between cultures? What unique pressures of a particular culture contribute to alcohol abuse? Sociocultural

18. Careers in Psychology • U.S. Department of Labor predicts employment opportunities to increase Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Psychologists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/psychologists.htm (visited January 10, 2013).

19. Psychologist Vs. Psychiatrist

20. Fields of Psychology

22. Part 2: Research Methods

23. Why is psychological research important? • Psychologists do more than just wonder about human behavior • Psychological research has an enormous impact on all facets of our lives • how parents choose to discipline their children • how companies package and advertise their products • how governments choose to punish or rehabilitate criminals • Understanding how psychologists do research is vital to understanding psychology itself.

24. Scientific Method Question/Observation Hypothesis Test Hypothesis Results Conclusions Theory Additional hypothesis Reject and revise hypothesis Other psychologist replicate and test their theories

25. EXAMPLE Question/Observation: A psychologist observes that some college sophomores date a lot, while others do not. He observes that some sophomores have blond hair, while others have brown hair. He also observes that in most sophomore couples at least one person has brown hair. In addition, he notices that most of his brown-haired friends date regularly, but his blond friends don’t date much at all. He wonders if brown-haired sophomores truly are more likely to date than those who have blond hair.

26. Hypothesis: Based on this question, he develops a hypothesis that more brown-haired sophomores than blond sophomores will make dates with people they meet at a party.

27. Test Hypothesis: He then conducts an experiment to test his hypothesis. In his experiment, he has twenty people go to a party, ten with blond hair and ten with brown hair. He makes observations and gathers data by watching what happens at the party and counting how many people of each hair color actually make dates.

28. Results: The psychologist organizes the data collected during the experiment relating to how many people of each hair color make dates.

29. Conclusion: After analyzing his results, the psychologist now has to draw conclusions on whether his hypothesis was correct or not. If the results are contrary to his hypothesis, the blond-haired people make more dates, he’ll have to think about why this occurred and revise his theory and hypothesis. If the data he collects from further experiments still does not support the hypothesis, he’ll have to reject his hypothesis and form a new one. If the data supports the hypothesis then we move on to the publication and replication phase.

30. Research Methods

31. Correlations • Used to describe how two sets of data relate to each other • Ex: students grades and number of hours slept • Correlation coefficient measures the strength of the relationship between two variables. • Always a number between –1 and +1. • The sign (+ or –) of a correlation coefficient indicates the nature of the relationship between the variables.

32. A positive correlation (+) means that as one variable increases, the other does too. • Example: The more years of education a person receives, the higher his or her yearly income is.

33. A negative correlation (–) means that when one variable increases, the other one decreases. • Example: The more hours a high school student works during the week, the fewer A’s he or she gets in class.

34. No correlation – variables do not relate

35. The higher the correlation coefficient, the stronger the correlation. • A +0.9 or a –0.9 indicates a very strong correlation • A +0.1 or a –0.1 indicates a very weak correlation. • A correlation of 0 means that no relationship exists between two variables.

37. correlation is notthe same as causation. Two factors may be related without one causing the other to occur. Often, a third factor explains the correlation. • A psychologist uses the survey method to study the relationship between balding and length of marriage. He finds that length of marriage correlates with baldness. However, he can’t infer from this that being bald causes people to stay married longer. Instead, a third factor explains the correlation: both balding and long marriages are associated with old age.

38. Experimental Method Hypothesis Dependent variable Independent variable Control group Experimental group

39. Extraneous Variables in Experiments • Variables other than the independent variable that could affect the dependent variable are called extraneous variables. • Example: An educational psychologist has developed a new learning strategy and is interested in examining the effectiveness of this strategy. The experimenter randomly assigns students to two groups. All of the students study text materials on a biology topic for thirty minutes. One group uses the new strategy and the other uses a strategy of their choice. Then all students complete a test over the materials.

40. Dealing With Extraneous Variables • Random Assignment – participants have an equal chance of being placed in each group.

41. Advantages of Experimental Method • Can show cause-and-effect relationships between variables

42. Disadvantage of Experimental Method • Can not be generalized to the real world because an artificial situation. • Cant be used to study everything • Cant control variables • Unethical

43. Bias in Research • Bias is the distortion of results by a variable. • Sampling bias occurs when the sample studied in an experiment does not correctly represent the population the researcher wants to draw conclusions about. • Subject bias - Research subjects’ expectations can affect and change the subjects’ behavior, resulting in subject bias. Such a bias can manifest itself in two ways: • Placebo effect • Social desirability bias • Experimenter bias occurs when researchers’ preference or expectations influence the outcome of their research. Researchers see what they want to see. • Double-blind experiment

44. APA Ethical Guidelines for Research • In the past, researchers performed all kinds of questionable experiments in the name of science. • Now psychologist must submit their research proposals to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) - Procedural errors - Ethical Violations *For humans and animals*

45. Human Research 1. Informed Consent – participants must know that they are involved in research and give their consent or permission

46. 2. Deception – if the participants are deceived in any way about the nature of the study, the deception must not be so extreme as to invalidate the informed consent. Also, researchers must be very careful about the trauma deception may cause.

47. 3. Coercion – participants cannot be coerced in any way to give consent to be in the study.

48. 4. Anonymity – the identities and actions of participants must not be revealed in any way by the researcher.

49. 5. Risk – participants cannot be placed at significant mental or physical risk. This clause requires interpretation by the review board.

50. 6. Debriefing procedures –participants must be told of the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about the results.