Psychology

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Psychology

• A journey through perspectives

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What is psychology?
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What is psychology?
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Psychology Defined

• The science of behavior and mental processes
• Behavior - observable actions of a person
• Mental processes - thoughts, feelings,
  sensations, perceptions, memories, dreams,
  motives and other subjective experiences
• Science
• An objective way to answer questions
• Based on observable facts / data and well
  described methods

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Psychology vs. Psychobabble

• Valid psychological claims provide evidence in
  the form of scientific research
• Pop psychology is often focused on WANTS
• influence of the media

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Characteristics of pseudoscience

• associates itself with true science
• relies on/accepts anecdotal evidence
• cant be disproved
• reduces complexity to simplicity (esp. to
  consumers)

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The Limits of Common Sense

• Common sense and intuition often tell us about
  psychology
• can be inconsistent and based on hindsight

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7 Guidelines for any claim

• Define terms.
• Support with evidence.
• Analyze assumptions and biases.
• Avoid emotional reasoning.
• Dont oversimplify.
• Consider other interpretations.
• Tolerate uncertainty.

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Great Questions of Psychology

• Nature vs. Nurture
• Monism vs. Dualism the mind/body problem
• Commonalities vs. Individual Differences
• MEANING

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Ancient Greece

• Plato
• Nativism humans enter the world with knowledge
  present
• Rationalism reasoning and logic give access to
  this knowledge

• Aristotle
• Empiricism senses are
• sources of knowledge

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Renaissance

• Rene Descartes
• First modern rationalist
• Used reasoning to prove he existed!
• Mind/body problem

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Renaissance

• John Locke
• Sided with Aristotle tabula rasa
• Immanuel Kant
• Nature AND Nurture?

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Advent of Science

• Studies of Nervous System
• Darwins evolutionary theory

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Psychology as Science

• Willhelm Wundt- 1st experimental psychology
  laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, 1879
• Different approaches emerged based on
• Object of study
• Goals
• Methods

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Different Schools Emerge

• Titchener Structuralism
• analytic introspection to understand What?
• e.g. there are 4 basic tastes
• James Functionalism
• to understand how behavior is affected, and Why?
• e.g. why might we spit out something that is
  bitter?
• applied research

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Schools (Perspectives) of Psychology

• Psychoanalysis (or Psychodynamic perspective)
• Originated with Sigmund Freud
• concerned with unconscious conflicts
• Behaviorism (or Learning perspective)
• John Watson (1913)
• B. F. Skinner Baby in a Box (1945)

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Other schools

• Humanist/Existentialist approach
• Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl
• person-centered, free will
• Cognitive approach
• how the mind processes information
• e.g. memory, thinking, reasoning

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Other schools

• Biological approach
• brain, nervous system functions
• genes and heredity
• Sociocultural approach
• group dynamics
• social and cultural impacts on behavior

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The Profession of Psychology

• American Psychological Association has 53
  divisions in 2006
• areas of training and specialization (e.g.,
  developmental, clinical)
• applied (i.e., teaching in psychology, psychology
  and the law)

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Areas of Specialization

• Clinical
• abnormal behavior and psychological disorders
• psychologist vs. psychiatrist
• Counseling
• dealing with normal life situations
• provide guidance
• Health psychology
• psychological factors in physical health

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Areas of Specialization

• Developmental
• psychological change over the life span
• social, cognitive, personality
• School
• counseling and guidance in school settings
• Educational
• learning and teaching

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Areas of Specialization

• Physiological
• brain and behavior
• often uses animals as research model
• Cognitive
• experimental methods
• human memory, perception, etc.

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Areas of Specialization

• Social
• social influences on cognition and
  emotion-importance of situation
• attitudes and beliefs
• Personality
• individual differences
• Industrial/organizational
• people and work
• job satisfaction
• training and selection

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Professional Work Settings

• Colleges and universities (33)
• Clinical settings (32)
• Government (18)
• Business (12)
• Elementary and secondary schools (5)