Module 1: Discovering Psychology

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Module 1 Discovering Psychology

• Mr. Kennedy
• 213

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Defining Psychology

• The systematic, scientific study of behaviors and
  mental processes
• Behaviors- observable actions
• Eating, speaking, reading
• Mental processes
• Thinking, imagining, dreaming, studying

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4 Goals of Psychology

1. Describe- the different ways an organism behaves
2. Explain- the cause of the behavior
3. Predict- how organisms will behave in certain
   situations
4. Control- an organisms behavior

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Modern Approaches

• Biological Approach
• Examines how our genes, hormones, and nervous
  system interact with environments to influence
  learning, personality, memory, motivation,
  emotions, coping techniques, and other traits and
  abilities.

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Modern Approaches

• Biological Approach
• Examples
• EEG
• Cat Scan
• Pet Scan
• Physical reaction to external stimuli.
• Human Genome

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Modern Approaches

• Cognitive Approach
• Focuses on how we
• process
• store and use information
• and how this information influences what we
  attend to
• perceive
• learn
• remember
• believe
• and feel
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Use of EEGs, Cat Scans, Pet Scans to view the
  living brain during mental tasks
• http//youtube.com/watch?y3eZTAAlt3QUmoderelate
  dsearch
• EEG equipment, PET scans and MRI machines
  (youtube.com)

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Modern Approaches

• Behavioral Approach
• Analyze how organisms learn new behaviors or
  modify existing ones, depending on whether events
  reward or punish these behaviors
• Ivan Pavlov?

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Modern Approaches

• Psychoanalytic Approach
• Stresses the influence of unconscious fears,
  desires, and motivations on thoughts and
  behaviors.
• The development (first 5 years) of personality
  traits affected a persons psychological problems
  later in life.
• Unconscious can cause fear and anxiety

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Modern Approaches

• Humanistic Approach
• Emphasizes that each individual has great freedom
  in directing his/her future, a large capacity for
  achieving personal growth, and considerable
  amounts of intrinsic worth and potential for
  self-fulfillment.

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Modern Approaches

• Cross-Cultural Approaches
• Examines the influence of cultural and ethnic
  similarities and differences on psychological and
  social functioning of a cultures members

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How Did Psychology Begin?

• Wilhelm Wundt
• Father of psychology
• Established the 1st psychology laboratory
• in Leipzig, Germany
• Established the world's first experimental
  laboratory in psychology, the
• Institut fur Experimentelle Psychologie (1879)
• Often referred to as the
• "Father of Experimental Psychology"
• the "Founder of Modern Psychology"

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Wilhelm Wundt

• Structuralism
• Study of the most basic elements
• primarily sensations perceptions that
• make up our conscious mental experiences
• Introspection
• Method of exploring conscious mental processes by
  asking subjects to look inward and report their
  sensations perceptions

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William James

• Functionalism
• Study of the functions rather than the structures
  of consciousness
• Interested in how our minds adapt to changing
  environments
• William James
• Viewed mental activities as having
• developed through ages of evolution
• because of their adaptive functions
• Wrote 1st Psych Textbook

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Gestalt whole pattern Psychologists

• Emphasized that perception is more than the sum
  of its parts
• Studied how sensations are assembled into
  meaningful perceptual experiences
• Max Wertheimer

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Gestalt whole pattern Psychologists
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Behaviorism (John B. Watson)

• Emphasized the objective, scientific analysis of
  observable behaviors
• John B. Watson
• Rejected introspection as a psychological
• technique because its results could not be
• scientifically verified by other psychologists

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Behaviorism

• Give me a dozen healthy infants Ill guarantee
  to take any one at random and train him to become
  any type of specialist I might select (Watson,
  1924)

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Careers in Psychology

• Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist
• A psychologist is someone who has completed 4 or
  5 years of postgraduate education and has
  obtained a Ph.D. in psychology
• Some states permit individuals with masters
  degrees to call themselves psychologists
• A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (M.D.) who has
  spent several years in clinical training, which
  includes diagnosing possible physical and
  neurological causes of abnormal behaviors

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Careers in Psychology
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Careers in Psychology
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Careers in Psychology
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Areas of Specialization

• Social Personality
• Social psychology involves the study of social
  interactions, stereotypes, prejudices, attitudes,
  conformity, group behaviors, and aggression
• Personality psychology involves the study of
  personality development, personality change,
  assessment, and abnormal behaviors
• Developmental
• Examines moral, social, emotional, and cognitive
  development throughout a persons life span
• Experimental
• Includes areas of sensation, perception,
  learning, human performance, motivation, and
  emotion

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Areas of Specialization

• Biological
• Involves research on the physical chemical
  changes that occur during stress, learning, and
  emotions
• Cognitive
• Involves how we process, store, and retrieve
  information and how cognitive processes influence
  our behaviors
• Psychometrics
• Focuses on the measurement of peoples abilities,
  skills, intelligence, personality, and abnormal
  behaviors