Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology

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Chapter 1 The Science of Psychology
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What Is Psychology?

• Psychology-the scientific study of behavior and
  mental processes
• Fields of Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Physiological Psychology
• Experimental Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Clinical and Counseling Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Industrial and Organizational Psychology (I/O)

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What Is Psychology?

• Five enduring issues
• Person-Situation
• Nature-Nurture
• Stability-Change
• Diversity-Universality
• Mind-Body

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What Is Psychology?

• Psychologists use the scientific method
• Theory-systematic explanation of a phenomenon
• Hypothesis-specific, testable predictions derived
  from a theory

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The Growth of Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt
• Birth of psychology as a science
• Voluntarism
• Edward Bradford Titchener
• Structuralism
• William James
• Functionalism
• Sigmund Freud
• People are motivated by unconscious
• Free association
• Psychodynamic theories

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The Growth of Psychology

• The study of behavior (early 1900s)
• John B. Watson
• Focus on observable and measurable behavior
• Behaviorism based on work of Pavlov
• Idea of tabula rasa
• Little Albert experiment
• Concept of generalization
• B. F. Skinner
• Concept of reinforcement
• Experiment with cage and food pellets

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The Growth of Psychology

• The Cognitive Revolution (late 1960s)
• Gestalt psychology-the study of how people
  perceive and experience objects as whole patterns
• Humanistic psychology-emphasizes nonverbal
  experience and altered states of consciousness as
  a means of realizing ones full human potential
• Cognitive psychology-the study of our mental
  processes including thinking, feeling, learning,
  remembering, making decisions and judgments
• New Directions (21st century)
• Evolutionary psychology-concerned with the
  origins of behaviors and mental processes, their
  adaptive value, and the purposes they continue to
  serve
• Positive psychology-focuses on positive
  experiences studies the origins and nurturance
  of mental wellness

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Human Diversity

• Gender stereotypes---how do these affect our
  behavior?
• Feminist psychology-a variety of views on the
  social roles of women and men, the problems and
  rewards of those roles, and prescriptions for
  changing those roles
• Sexual Orientation---a relatively new area of
  research in the field of psychology

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Human Diversity

• Race-a biological term used to refer to a
  subpopulation whose members are genetically
  similar and have identifiable characteristics in
  common (facial features, skin color, etc.)
• Ethnicity-a common cultural heritage-including
  religion, language, or ancestry-that is shared by
  a group of individuals
• Culture-the values, attitudes, behaviors, and
  beliefs that are passed from one generation to
  another

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Research Methods in Psychology

• Naturalistic observation-observing/studying human
  or animal behavior in its natural context
• Case studies-a detailed description of one person
  or a few individuals
• Surveys-questionnaires or interviews are
  administered to a selected group of people
• Correlational Research-determining the
  relationship between two or more variables

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Research Methods in Psychology

• Experimental Research-an investigator
  deliberately manipulates selected events or
  circumstances and then measures the effects of
  those manipulations on subsequent behavior
• Participants-individuals observed in an
  experiment
• Independent variable-the variable that is
  manipulated to test its effects on the dependent
  variable(s)
• Dependent variable-the variable that is measured
  to see how it is changed by manipulation in the
  independent variable
• Experimental group-the group subjected to a
  change in the IV
• Control group-the group not subjected to a change
  in the IV
• Experimenter bias-expectations by the
  experimenter that might influence the results of
  an experiment or its interpretation

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Research Methods in Psychology

• Multimethod Research-combination of methods
• Sample-a subgroup of a population
• Random sample-sample in which each potential
  participant has an equal chance of being selected
• Representative sample-sample carefully chosen so
  that the characteristics of the participants
  correspond closely to the characteristics of the
  larger population

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Ethics and Psychology

• APA code of ethics
• Participants must be informed of the nature of
  research in clearly understandable language
• Informed consent must be documented
• Risks, possible adverse effects, and limitations
  on confidentiality must be spelled out in advance
• If participation is a condition of course credit,
  equitable alternative activities must be offered
• Participants cannot be deceived about aspects of
  the research that would affect their willingness
  to participate, such as risks or unpleasant
  emotional experiences
• Deception about the goals of the research can be
  used only when absolutely necessary to the
  integrity of the research