Introduction to Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

• Fall 2006

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Fact or Fiction Exercise

• Class Project 1

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1. Full Moons affect behavior

• FICTION
• No effect when studied scientifically
• Ex. of illusory correlation if you believe it,
  you notice odd behavior

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2. We use 10 of brain.

• FICTION
• Motor and sensory cortex comprise 10.
• Association areas within each lobe account for
  90 and are used.

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3. There is a lot of evidence that even animals
dream.

• FACT
• We all dream, even animals.
• For humans, 20-25 of the night is spent
  dreaming.
• Some dont remember the dreams well

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4. IQ tests measure intelligence.

• CONTROVERSIAL
• Have to define intelligence, and there isnt much
  agreement on that.
• IQ tests do predict school achievement well.

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5. We all learn differently.

• Probably FICTION.
• Advertising works on everyone.
• Behaviorism (operant conditioning) also works on
  everyone.

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6. Most people have low self-esteem.

• FICTION.
• Self-serving bias we love us.
• Depressed people may have low self-esteem or
  really more realistic view of themselves.

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7. Per the AMA, the most dangerous drug is
cocaine.

• FICTION
• Per the AMA, the most dangerous psychoactive drug
  is alcohol.

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8.People would obey an authority figure and harm
another person.

• FACT
• Milgram study in 1960s.
• Most famous experiment of all times.
• With little encouragement, participants went
  right on shocking people.

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9. Schizophrenia means a person has several
personalities.

• FICTION. Multiple personality disorder means a
  person has several personalities.
• Schizophrenia means a split mind, or shattered
  mind.
• Term referred to the fragmentation of thought
  processes and emotions found in schizophrenic
  patients.

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10.Phobias may be cured by exposure to feared
object.

• FACT
• One treatment for a phobia is flooding, or
  confronting the person w/ the feared situation.
• Person can not keep body responding at a high
  level of anxiety and gradually calms down.

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A brief history of Psych

• Wundt, Hall, James et al.

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The Founding Father of Psy

• Wilhelm Wundt, German Professor
• Established psychology circa 1874
• 1879 established first psych lab in Leipzig

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Introspection

• Careful, systematic self-observation of ones own
  conscious experience
• Main method of structuralists

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Structuralism

• Edward Tichener studied under Wundt
• Called his school structuralism
• complex structures broken down into component
  parts of feeling/sensation

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1st school of thought

• To appear and
• To disappear rather limited
• couldnt be used to study children
• or animals
• responses varied on trials

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Functionalism William James

• Main proponent of psych in U.S.
• Supposed to be teaching physiology anatomy, but
  worked it into a Psy course by c. 1875

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What is Functionalism?

• Studied the purpose, or function, of behavior and
  mental experiences
• How do people and animals adapt to their
  environments?
• Expanded scope of psy direct observation of
  living things

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Structuralism/Functionalism

• Big debate at the time
• Structuralists were in their labs, functionalists
  were more applied
• Both schools are really gone
• But functionalism has 2 descendants behaviorism
  and applied psychology

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now the Ladies

• Mary Whiton Calkins
• Earned first female Ph.D. in Psy at Harvard
• She didnt receive the degree
• 1905, elected head of APA

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Margaret Floy Washburn

• First official pink Ph.D. (errfirst woman Ph.D.)
  1894.
• Ticheners first doctoral student
• The 2nd female APA president

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Kenneth Mamie Clark

• Documented harmful effects of prejudice
• Black doll study presented the results to the
  U.S. Supreme Ct in 1964
• lst Afro-American president of APA

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The Biggest Influence

• Sigmund Freud
• Psychoanalytic Period
• 1895-onward

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Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

• An Austrian physician
• Psychoanalysis is a theory of personality
• Unconscious conflicts cause behavior and
  personality
• Radical ideas conflicts were at root sexual or
  aggressive

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The Behaviorists

• Pavlov, Watson, Skinner
• 1906 onward

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Ivan Pavlov

• Classical conditioning
• Paired associations
• Won Nobel Prize in 1904 for digestion

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John Watson behaviorism

• Rejected consciousness
• Really, really rejected unconscious influences
• Focused on OVERT behavior (beh that could be
  measured, verified, etc.)
• Mostly studied animals (enter the rat)

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B.F. Skinner

• Behaviorist
• Studied the effects of reward/punishment on
  behavior
• Decided people ( animals) learn from the
  consequences of their behavior.

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Carl Rogers

• Humanistic Psychology (3rd Force)
• 1950s onward
• Client center therapy
• Emphasized free will and choice
• Human nature is positive, growth-seeking

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Abraham Maslow

• Maslow is famous for the hierarchy of human needs
• Started the idea of self-actualization
• Human potential movement

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Other perspectives

• Cognitive psychology
• how people process information (memory)
• develop language
• solve problems
• 1950s onward

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Neuroscience/Biopsychology

• Genetics and biology may impact behavior
• Study relationship of biology to sexuality,
  abnormal beh, learning
• 1950s onward (hot topic right now).

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Sociocultural

• 1980s onward
• Social interaction and the cultural determinants
  of behavior and mental processes

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News Flash

• Newest branch of psychology -
• Evolutionary Perspective-1980s onward
• What if our minds evolved w/ our bodies?

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Evolution

• 1. random mutation occurs
• 2. non-random natural selection occurs
• Not so much survival of the fittest but the fit
• Adaptive traits survive, non-adaptive you have
  fewer relatives