Psychology

1. Psychology Interactive lecture Jolanta Babiak Winter semester 2019/2020

2. Grading

3. Grading

4. Content of lectures • Psychology as a science of human behavior • Learning: behaviorism and behavior analysis • Personality: theories and assessment • The role of temperament and personality in regulating behavior • The role of emotions and motivation in regulating behavior • Sensory knowledge of the world: perception processes (identification and recognition, focus, and memory) • Memory: structures and functions • Intelligence and mental processes / test 1 • Problem solving, reasoning, judgement and decision making • Psychopathology of human behavior. Stress of living and health • Psychopathology of human behavior. Mechanism of dysregulation; psychological disorders • Human development across lifespan • Positive psychology and well-being / • Social relationships and group dynamics / test 2 • Summary

5. Assigned readings • Gerrig R.J. (2012). Psychology and Life, London, Pearson Education, Ltd. –

6. Assigned Reading for lecture 1 • Gerrig R.J. (2012). Psychology and Life, London, Pearson Education, Ltd. – chapter 1 and 2

7. Whenever she is stressed out she overeats Why do I feel fearful in the presence of my brother-in-law? I don’t remember anything from berfore my accedint She is very intelligent I am always waiting until last moment to start working on my tasks He is understanding and empathetic towards his employees I love bungee jumping How to overcome fear of public speaking?

8. Psychology • Scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes • Mental processes: the workings of the human mind like thinking, planning, reasoning, remembering, creating, dreaming • Psychology draws from social sciences: sociology, anthropology; biological sciences – studies of brain processes and biochemical bases of behavior; cognitive science, health science

9. Psychology • Scientific: psychologicalresearchisconductedaccording to specificstandards • Behavior: the means, by whichorganismsadjust to environments: socialorculturalcontexts • Individual: subject of psychologicalanalysis (in a natural habitat orcontrolledconditions: laboratory)

10. Scientificstudy of the behavior of individuals and theirmentalprocesses • Psychology as a coalition of specialities • Abnormal psychology • Behavior genetics • Clinical psychology • Cognitive neuroscience • Cognitive psychology • Community psychology • Consumer psychology • Counselling psychology

11. Psychology as a coalition of specialities, cont. • Cross-cultural psychology • Developmental psychology • Environmental psychology • Forensic and criminological psychology • Health psychology • Mathematical psychology • Organizational psychology • Personality psychology • Social psychology • Sports psychology

12. What holds psychology as a discipline together? • Biological bases of behavior • Cognitive and affective processes • Developmental processes • Social bases of behavior

13. The goals of psychology • Describe behavior – accurate observations about behavior: data e.g. interviews, questionnaires • Explain behavior – how behavior works: e.g. what conditions lead people to great acts of heroism? Why do some people fear public speaking? – understanding combination of factors • Predict behavior – making statements about the likelihood that a certain behavior will take place or relationship will occur • Control behavior – making behavior happen or not happen – the goal of some psychologists: improving peoples’ quality of life

14. Modern psychology - beginnings • Utilization of the tools of science – carefully controlled observation and experimentation applied to the study of humans • Wilhelm Wundt established first formal psychology research laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879

15. Schools of thought in psychology • Structuralism – structure of the minds – elements of the conscious thought; connections between elements and laws governing these connections; elementary experiences are organized into a whole • Functionalism – what does the mind (or mental processes) accomplish e.g. what is their function ‘thinking is for doing’ • William James: function of consciousness is to guide behavior that will help the organism adapt to the environment “Principles of Psychology” 1890

16. Schools of thought in psychology, cont. • Behaviorism: observable behavior as a subject matter; Edward Thorndike’s cats • Gestalt psychology: making connections; Max Wertheimer: complex mental experiences exist on its own; perception is composed not of elements but of structured forms • Cognitive revolution: information processing

17. Psychological research process

18. Quantitative and qualitative approaches to research • Quantitative: methods that measure psychological processes through numbers, e.g. scores on anxiety inventory • Qualitative: methods that measure psychological phenomena non-numerically e.g. from conversations, interviews, obesravtions of behavior naturalistically • The choice of theses methods depends on the purpose of the study

19. Research process – selected terms • Scientist’s biases: the distortion of evidence because of the personal motives and expectations of the viewer • Standardization • Operationalization • Variable • Independent variable • Dependent variable

20. Survey research • Correlational studies • Causal data analysis • Reliability • Validity • Inferences