EXORCISING THE DEMONS

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EXORCISING THE DEMONS

• on becoming a psychological sleuth

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Why do people believe weird things?

• Credo Consolans (it feels good)
• Immediacy (Wow, that was quick)
• Simple (easy, seems safe)
• Meaning (answers big questions)
• Experience (I know 1st hand She said..)
• Genetic (childhood credulity is natural)
• Pervasive (reports are commonplace)
• Neural Organization (pattern-seeking)
• Socialization (story-telling)

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What is Psychology???

• Internet IQ Personality Tests?
• Hypnotizing someone to bark or quack?
• Getting in touch with your unconscious?
• How to tap the unused portion of your brain?
• How to read minds?
• How to speak with the dead?
• Making use of astrology and tarot?

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Most Conceptualizations are Flawed,
Incomplete, or simply Wrong!

• Psychology is a science that attempts to
  Describe, Understand, Predict Control
  (manage/change) human behavior!
• Psychology uses a variety of tools methods to
  investigate phenomena!
• Psychology is a dynamic discipline committed to
  the overall quality of life.

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WHAT IS SCIENCE?

• process of acquiring knowledge
• conservative enterprise
• consists of various tools
• open to rejection or confirmation

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The Psychologists Toolbox

• Helping us understand our world
• Intuition (hunch, gut-feeling)
• Folk Wisdom (common sense)
• Appeal to Authority (ask an expert)
• Logic (conclusion based on inferences)
• Scientific Method

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What makes Psych. so great?

• History
• Diversity
• Research
• Application
• Organizations
• Commitment to the scientific method

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The Scientific Method

• The most powerful approach to knowledge.
• GENERAL STEPS
• Observe a phenomenon
• Generate a testable hypothesis
• Choose your method of data collection
• Run your investigation
• Analyze your results/ report findings
• Start over

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WHAT MAKES SOMETHING TESTABLE?

• VARIABLES ARE IDENTIFIED DEFINED OPERATIONALLY
• HYPOTHESIS WRITTEN SO THAT IT OR THE THEORY IT
  TESTS CAN BE AFFIRMED OR FALSIFIED
• TESTABLE DOES NOT MEAN PROVING THAT SOMETHING
  DOES NOT EXIST. (i.e. Prove there are No pink
  elephants or that I was not King Henry the VIII
  in a former life)

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What is the difference between Psychology POP
PSYCHOLOGY?

• THE QUALITY OF THEIR EXPLANATIONS
• Criteria
• Empirical/Observable/Sense It
• Parsimonious/Frugal/Elegant
• Generalizable/Applicable/Practical
• Rational/Logically Based/Probable
• Testable/Falsifiable/Tentative
• Rigorously Evaluated/Minimum Standards

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Methods of Data Collection

• SO, this is how I get information about the
  phenomenon!
• Case Study
• Naturalistic Observation
• Survey
• Correlational Research
• Experimental Method

Descriptive methods that answer WHAT
Tells HOW things relate, but never WHY
Can answer WHY
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AN EXPERIMENT

• What is the big difference?
• Offers precision and control
• Tests for causality
• What does a good experiment do?
• Uses large/random/representative sample
• Randomly assigns participants to experimental or
  control condition/group
• Manipulates 1 or more variables (Independent) to
  determine the effect on another (Dependent)
• Compares at least one experimental
  condition(group) to at least one control
  condition(group)

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A walk with psychologys grandparents

• theories and methods

384-322BCE
427-347BCE
1842-1910
1856-1939
1832-1920
1878-1958
1908-1970
1904-1990
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PSYCHOLOGYS HISTORY

• Roots in ancient Greece.
• Philosophers were asking similar questions about
  human behavior.
• Today we still recognize these connections
  formally i.e. Ph.D.

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PSYCHOLOGYS HISTORY

• Psychology as an Independent Discipline
• 1879 Wilhelm Wundt Structuralism
• -searched for fundamental aspects atoms of
  
• the mind
• -used introspection - asked what
• a few years later William James Functionalism
• -searched for purpose - asked why
• -influenced by Darwin
• -considered the first American born
  psychologists as
• well as the first applied
  psychologist

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PSYCHOLOGYS HISTORY

• Contemporary theories/schools of thought
• Psychoanalytic/Freudian/Psychodynamic
• Gestalt
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive

Refer to handout for details regarding these
theoretical perspectives!